Potty Training Essentials
The most important thing to potty training is to make sure your kid is “ready” before you begin this process. I though my girl Isabella was ready at 18 months because she was showing some of the signs of readiness but I was wrong. She had a very hard time with it so we waited a bit more. Then one day, I watched her go into the bathroom (where I kept her little potty) take down her pants, take off her own diaper and sit on the potty.
She just turned 2 at that time and I knew I had to potty train her now! Even though I myself wasn’t ready to take on this challenge. There was always something going on in the week so it was never the "right time", but it had to be done. The method I used requires you to stay home for at least a week, so you have to be committed
Some of the signs of readiness include:
Telling you when they wet their diaper
Telling you to change their diaper. (Isabella wanted her diaper changed immediately after she pooped)
Being able to hold their pee and poo for much longer
Turning their back to you or hiding to go pee or poo in their diaper
We used the method of potty training from a book Oh Crap! Potty Training by Jamie Glowacki. It basically requires the kid to go naked (bottom less) for about 3-10 days depending on the child and how fast they learn. If you don’t have time to read or listen to this book, then just look at chapter 5, it has the most important information. It really takes you step by step through the process.
I decided to hold off on potty training for naps and nights, which the book recommends doing all at once. I will tackle nights when the 2nd baby arrives since I’ll be up with the baby at night anyways, and ill have to wake up Isabella a few times during the night to use the potty.
A few tips before you start!
Months before you decide to start potty training, teach your child to take their pants on and off on their own. This will make things go a lot easier once you begin. And when you teach them to “pull down your pants” don’t use the word “pull” because that is just more confusing for them. Better to explain it as “push your pants down”, as they are pushing their pant down not pullings.
As you buy your child clothes around the time of potty training, make sure to buy "potty training friendly" clothes. Meaning things like lose fitting pants, no tight waistbands and dresses for girls are very convenient.
Don't use pull ups (as suggested by the book) unless you want to prolong this process.
Have extra pants everywhere. Meaning your diaper bag, the car, your purse, grandmas house etc. They will have accidents and you want to be prepared for them.
Don’t praise their success with treats, stickers, toys etc. it’s an expected behavior and it doesn’t need to be rewarded like walking, sleeping etc. Dont go overboard on the verbal praise as well. Constantly saying good job just leads to the child needing more of it and if they don’t they feel worse about themselves. Just praise effort “you pulled your pants down all by yourself instead of good job”
Below you will find all the necessities you need for potty training. These items have worked out for us very well. Im not including anything that is sleep related for potty training since we are not there yet.
The necessities:
Buy the book Oh Crap! Potty Training by Jamie Glowack. Either on amazon or audible if you prefer the audio book. This book is all you need. Its a simple method, just takes time and your full attention.
One or two portable potty seats for your house, depending on how big your house is. Here are the ones I bought: Nuby and BABYBJORN. I spread them around the house so she had quick and easy access when she had “to go”. Also this JoolBaby for the big toilet seat is great too. Just make sure you have a little step stool they can go up on to sit on the big toilet.
A portable “on the go” potty seat. This OXO one is amazing and I’d have to say the most important thing you can get. It is super easy to use and very small. So you can throw it into your backpack or purse or leave it in the car for extremely easy use. You can buy a small roll of bags that can attach to this seat, here. Or it comes with a few very convenient bags that have a little pad attached on the inside/bottom part of the bag so there isn’t much mess since the pad absorbs the pee.
A few of those doggie pee pads to have in the car. Lay one out inside the car seat just in case they have an accident for easy clean up.
A few potty books can be helpful! These two were Isabella’s favorite:
