So! You are either thinking about potty training or currently in the thick of it. Either way, I wish you luck! As I am writing this, we are probably three weeks in to potty training. I can say that the first few days were A LOT but if you do the first few days right, I truly believe you will be on track for a success potty training situation. We have had multiple days in a row with our daughter having no accidents. We have gone to the park, walked over a mile to the library and back, gone to a restaurant, and a few other activities and there have been no accidents. However…our daughter did not magically potty train herself.
Prepare Yourself
If you want a “quick fix” for potty training, you can stop searching online and get this one book. It pretty much covers everything and has been our holy grail for success. If reading this book is all you do, you will be in good shape. Read it as early as possible. There are some sections that may or may not apply to your situation but it is better to be prepared. Feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions!
The First Few Days
The first few days of potty training were kind of like a roller coaster. There were moments of YES she has got this! And there were other moments of OMG we need to abandon ship I don’t know if she is getting it (if you read the book, you will know not to abandon ship). Our daughter caught on fairly quick. She is in the stage of “me, me, I want to do it” with everything. If I ask her if she wants me to carry her anywhere I hear, “no, I wanna walk.” I will say we probably got lucky with timing. We hit the sweet spot between 20 – 28 months old. So she wanted to pee in the potty. We had the hardest time figuring out what her potty dance was…even while staring at her, she would just be doing something normal and then there would be pee running down her leg. We got better at prompting her to go when we were pretty sure she had to do (the book has great advice about different kinds of prompting and when to prompt). After three weeks, we still do quite a bit of prompting, mostly because we want to make sure she is having successes to build her confidence. She definitely goes to the potty on her own, just not every time. We think it is our job right now to remind her and slowly release that responsibility to her. Even after a couple days, she would have ten straight successes in her potty and then the moment I would let off my attention she had an accident. This is why we started doing a better job at prompting. She will begin to learn more and more how to know when she has to go and how to hold it until she gets to her potty, but she is still in the early stages of learning.
Going Places With a Fresh Potty Trained Toddler
My parents live about 40 minutes away. For some of you that might not seem too bad but just wait…when your toddler is just figuring out how to consistently use the potty, 40 minutes feels like a year! This to-go potty has been great for public restrooms (and even works if you were hiking and wanted a potty). If you use it in a public restroom, make sure you bring post-its to cover the auto-flush sensor so it doesn’t scare the crap out of your kid. Actually…if they’re constipated, maybe skip the post it!! (kidding) You don’t want them to get scared of public toilets. That to-go potty can allow you to avoid public toilets all together though. Still a good idea to have them use it as a toilet cover once in a while. Could you imagine an adult who refuses to use a public toilet? It would be hard to go anywhere and even though they do make adult to-go toilets, they are nowhere near as easy to cary as the OXO one. So, let’s help our kids and diversify their potty experiences. Anyway, there is an Oasis on the Interstate about halfway to my parents house so we have the luxury to stop there for a restroom break. Sometimes our daughter can go the full 40 minutes without going to the potty but what if she just drank 8oz of milk? Good luck. You should map out where there is a public toilet en route or plan to have a to-go toilet, OR if you have a mini-van, you can even bring the toilet they use at home and have them use the potty in the van. We have done this on multiple occasions. They key to success here is making sure you keep an eye on liquid intake about an hour prior to going anywhere so you know how often you will need to provide an opportunity for your kid to use the potty. We chose to only use pull ups for naps and nighttime so we do not use them for car trips but this is obviously up to your ow judgment.
What’s Next?
Send me a quick message if you want more details on specific parts of our story, more details, etc. I am happy to dig deeper and help in any way I can. It is so cool to watch your kid start using the potty. The difficulties of the first few days/first week or two really pay off with the benefits of no diapers. Ditching diapers also saves that cash money 😉 and the environment.
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