Our Best Potty Training Tips

Mia has been potty trained for about 5 months now, so I figure it is time to document what helped us reach our potty training goal. After all, I will need these tips again myself in about a year with our little guy! So whether you haven’t started potty training yet or are in the middle of it, here are some tips that might help you!

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1) Introduce the Potty and Let them Play

As Mia was our first and only child at the time, we introduced the potty early, right before she turned 1. It wasn’t a huge event and we didn’t push it, it was just there. At first we just set it out and she used it as a play chair and a seat. We wanted her to be comfortable with it and not scared of it.

After awhile, we started sitting her on it at key times of the day like before nap, bath, and bed. Some days she liked it and had fun. We would read books or she would sit and play. Some days she wouldn’t be up for it and we would not push it. We didn’t want to make it a stressful or scary event.

With Wyatt, we have not introduced the potty as early, but when we do this will be the first step, even if we wait until he is after 2.

We got our potty second hand, but it is very similar to this one and can be a stand alone potty as well as a snap onto the toilet seat.

I actually like this one better because it can also be used as a step stool too which is all Mia needs now. It would have saved us another object in our house!

2) Discuss Who Uses the Potty

When it was clear that Mia was more interested in the potty and she was more vocal about her diaper changes, we knew it was time to start pushing potty training more. We started discussing that “big girls” go potty on the toilet and babies use diapers. We used examples as well. We pointed out when anyone she liked used the potty like Mommy or Aunt Kylie. The What is Poop? book was also a great conversation starter.

3) Run Naked

Soon, it was time to drop the diapers, but we didn’t cover up just yet. We let Mia run naked from the waist down around the house. This helped her become aware of when she was peeing. We did try underwear first, but Mia didn’t care as much when they were wet. If she peed on the floor, she was very aware and knew that wasn’t where she was supposed to go! It only took a few messes before she started realizing when she needed to go to the bathroom. No underwear also made it a lot easier to get onto the toilet!

4) Buy Fun Underwear

When she became more consistent with using the potty, it was time to use the underwear. Not the boring plain kind either. We bought underwear with puppies and kitties on them. We have underwear with castles and flamingos on them. We even have some dinosaur and cow print underwear. Mia’s goal: Don’t pee on the puppies! 😀 She knew if she peed on the puppies she would have to change them. This was an extra motivator for her. (Other than not peeing on the floor of course!)

5) Celebrate Wins

Potty training is all about motivation and what is more motivating than celebrating? We celebrated every potty win, but not always in the same way. Daycare used a piece of candy, so we did too, at first. We also used more intrinsic motivators like high fives and shouting hurray! Surprisingly enough, getting to dump her little potty in the toilet and flushing it was also lots of fun for her.

After she started getting the hang of using the potty, we only offered candy when she asked for it. If she forgot and was running off to play something else, we didn’t remind her. Eventually she stopped asking all together and weaning her off of rewards wasn’t too difficult. Now we will still tell her good job occasionally after going to the bathroom, but she likes using the potty and not wearing diapers.

6) Don’t Punish Accidents

Just as important as it is to celebrate wins, it is also important to handle accidents calmly. We never punished Mia or got mad at her for having an accident. We always approached it with a, “try better next time,” attitude. After the accident, we would take her to the potty and sit her on it. We would also reiterate that we go poop or pee in the potty, not on the floor, chair, or panties (wherever the accident was!) Accidents were just that – accidents. We did not punish them as that would create fear, worry, and aversion around the whole potty experience.

7) Wait Until They are Ready

While all of the tips above make it sound like our potty training experience was a breeze, it was NOT. We were forgetting the most important tip of all: wait until the child is ready. Because I was pregnant with Wyatt, we tried to potty train at 18 months to avoid 2 in diapers. It lasted about 2 days. Then we tried right at 2 and we failed again. Finally, another attempt was made a month after she turned 2 and we were successful.

The key was making sure Mia was ready. You can’t fight and force a child to use the bathroom if they don’t want to. I don’t regret trying the first few times because she did show little signs, but when it didn’t work out and I was stressed and cleaning up accidents non stop, I didn’t regret putting her back in diapers either. We waited a few weeks or months and tried again, and finally it clicked and we were diaper free!

8) Focus on Daytime Training, Not Nighttime

But, maybe I am getting ahead of myself saying that we are diaper free, because really, we aren’t. Not completely. But that’s okay. Mia still wears pull ups at night. (Huggies are our favorite so far!) She really likes her milk before bed and sometimes in the middle of the night. This isn’t a comfort I am ready to take away from her at this time. She isn’t three yet, and it isn’t uncommon for kids to have wet nights until even 5 or 6.

When she starts waking up dry more mornings than wet, we will start considering trying to get her through the night, but for now she can wear her “princess panties” to bed every night and mom can get a full night’s sleep!

Other Suggestions

So what other tips do you have for a potty training mama? I know there are more than I could have listed here, these are just the major ones that worked for us. Every kid is different, so what works for one might not work for another. I know the next time around might be completely different! Bring on all the boy potty training tips!!