Potty Training- The Four Tools that helped us!

As some of you may already know who follow me on facebook, we have begun potty training our toddler! I wanted to be prepared. I looked into every “how to” book.  Asked every mom I knew for advice. And of course they all said COMPLETELY different things!

So as with all things parenting…we had to find the things that worked for us.

Tool #1

We knew wanted to start potty training on a weekend that we could be at home with no other commitments. And that for us meant a weekend before Christmas. Thankfully, my husband wanted to be involved and he made sure he was around to help.  We picked out a potty chair- the Baby Bjorn one. It looked like it would be most comfortable and easiest to clean. It looks like this:

I love it. It has grip on the bottom so it doesn’t slide aroun on the floor, or tip over when being sat in. It’s also dishwasher safe. Are you all saying eeewwww yet?? LOL. I haven’t done that yet, but I think it’s great that I can occasionally put it in an empty dishwasher and sanitize the heck out of it! If that grosses you out- maybe stop reading now? 🙂

Tool #2

The Second thing we got that I think has really helped us is an E-book. It’s the book that we followed to the letter, in potty training our daughter. It was one of the recommendations we got when I was asking for ideas on Facebook. It came from a fellow mom Krysta, who’s parenting philosophy I know to be very gentle and child focused. I knew if she liked it. It was probably pretty good. Plus, she said that it was the only thing that helped her to potty train her  little boy who had previously had a hard time. I’m so grateful she told me about it.

The Book is called “Oh Crap Potty Training”

And if you click on that title above – it will take you to the website I downloaded it from. I get nothing from the site if you click on it- I’m just sharing what worked for us!

The book is written in a very funny, very frank manner. I liked that- but some people might find it a little jarring. The basic philosophy is that potty training is best done without bells and whistles and stickers and lots of material incentive. It does suggest lots of love and encouragement. But I think you should know that about the book going in- in case you are really committed to the treat for going route. That works for lots of people. Just isn’t the process in this book.

I also really loved that it had a very clear plan. What to do two weeks before you start. Exactly what to do Day 1, Day 2, Day 3- week 1. It also includes a section on trouble shooting what may be going wrong, and possible fixes if you have already started potty training. Also how to push the reset button. I am very grateful to have found this E-book, for us it was the hand holding we needed. And if I ever met the author Jamie on the street – I might have to hug her.

Tool #3

We are only Potty Training during the day – not at night or naps. Our daughter is 29 months old, and we feel like it’s unfair to ask her to be in control of what she is doing when she’s not actually conscious! She wear her diapers for a nap, or for bedtime. But as soon as she is up- they come off. And if we don’t do it fast enough she tells us “dipey off! I a big girl! Go potty!”

I’ll worry about night time training when I feel like daytime is is 100% not a problem. And when I am comfortable with our daughter using a potty at night without help. And right now- I like her safe in her crib at night:)

Tool #4

Fun sippy cups & fun stuff to drink – in the beginning.  Another wise mom Autumn showed me that supermarkets sell these fun little juice bottles. The Hello Kitty one below is the one we have. But they have Thomas Train, Spider Man, Batman, Tweety Bird- you name it. I usually wouldnt get something like this- as we prefer to reuse a sippy cup and prefer to serve water. But ya know what? After the juice is used in these- you can refill them with water or whatever. And for my toddler at least- the novelty encourages her to drink a LOT more liquids than she does if I give her a sippy cup or a straw sippy. And more liquids helped the potty training take hold- because it gave her more chances to um, practice;)

I’ll do another post soon about how our experience with Potty Training went more in depth. But I wanted to write first about these tools that I think really helped us! The pumpkin has been day potty trained for many weeks now- no accidents after the first day! She gets excited about using the potty everytime. And I know that she feels a lot of pride in accomplishing this milestone!

I’d love to hear what tools have helped you with Potty Training! Wishing everyone dry days!!