Potty Training Toddlers: Potty Training Tips and Advice for Parents

Potty training tips for parents

Most parents are afraid how potty training will go; how long it will last and how they will teach their child how to live without diapers.

Before you start potty training process, there are some tips and advice that can make the whole process easy and save your nerves and valuable time.

There are three areas that need to be prepared in order to have stress free potty training process. The worst thing is not having enough time or resources to handle the potty training.

The first area is your home. You should prepare your home in advance, so you won’t have to worry about wet couch or not having enough clothes to change your child in.

The second area is going out. Always having addition clothes, knowing where is the nearest toilet outside your home can make your life much easier.

And the most important area is you. Prepare yourself well. Be ready for additional efforts and support.

Things to prepare at home:

• Buy enough underwear and extra clothes – 10 panties will be enough. Buy panties with cartoon characters on them and ask your child to keep them dry. Replace body suit with undershirt, that way you will only have to change the panties when your child pees herself/himself. Buy 4 trousers for wearing at home.

• Buy waterproof sheets for beds where your child sleeps in. This will protect your mattresses.

• Buy extra cotton sheets, so you don’t have to wash them every day.

• Protect your furniture, especially your sofas. Cleaning the floor is not a big deal, but washing the sofa from your child’s pee can be exhausting. Use disposable changing pads and put them on your sofa. Cover them with large towels and above all that put some nice blankets. This way, when your child pees on the sofa, you will only have to change the towels and blanket, instead of having to clean the whole sofa and getting rid of smell.

• Keep the potty near your child all the time. If your child asks to go, you won’t waste the time on looking for the potty.

• Buy interesting books your child can read while sitting on the potty. Read them together and the time will pass in better mood. The final result will be full potty.

• Buy interesting toilet paper, made especially for kids. That will also contribute to the whole process being interesting and funny.

• Buy nice toilet seat, in case your child will feel more comfortable doing it on the toilet instead the potty.

Things to prepare when going out:

• Reorganize your life the first few weeks of potty training. Avoid long walks far away from your home. Instead, use the time to visit grandparents, relatives or friends and be somewhere where your child can pee the minute they ask for it or where you can change them without stress if it has an accident.

• Buy nice, small backpack and have it ready and prepared whenever you go somewhere. Put two panties, one undershirt, socks, shirt and trousers inside and carry it with you wherever your go to somebody’s house or shopping mall. That way you won’t feel stress and fear that your child will pee in the pants somewhere away from home and you won’t have anything to change it in.

• If you have to go somewhere or when you start living normally with your child again, think in advance where they can pee when you’re out. This way you won’t find yourself in ugly situation to drag your child through town or shopping mall looking for toilet and hoping that he or she will stay dry.

• Use cotton diapers or waterproof cotton pads to protect car seat in the beginning of potty training.

• Trust your child that it will tell when it has to go when you find yourself outside of your home. Children act differently at home and out of their home.

How to prepare yourself:

• Accept that your child will have small accidents up to 7 or 8 times per day at the begging of potty training process.

• Be ready to spend more time putting your child to sleep because it can ask for potty two or three times before going to sleep (even if you are just at the beginning of the process and your child still sleeps with diapers). After some time, limit it to once. When you take off the night diapers start putting your child to potty right before going to sleep and you will avoid getting from the bed again and asking for potty.

• Accept that you will have to wash the clothes every other day.

• Be prepared to change the whole clothes and bedding even a few times during the night.

• Be prepared to clean the floor and furniture a numerous times per day.

• Be prepared to be tired both physically and emotionally during the first few weeks.

• Don’t feel guilty if you lose the temper at the end of the day.

Remember, after one month your child will be living without diapers and everything else later will be much easier to handle.

Potty training advice

You will probably expect for things to go much smoother than they will. This is normal. We all expect the best and hope that everything will go just fine (if not perfect).

But bear in mind following facts, so you can be more optimistic and less depressed wanting to give up.

• During the first month your child will have little accident at least once per day. This doesn’t mean that they will pee in the panties, but their panties will be wet, because they wouldn’t ask for potty on time.

• Don’t expect your child to ask to go to the potty every time they need to go. This won’t happen for the next three months. Asking every second or third time is great.

• Be prepared to put your child on potty every 45 to 60 minutes during the first week.

• Be optimistic, your child will be able to be without peeing for over two hours after two to three weeks.

• Be ready to change the sheets almost every night the first week. After that nighttime accidents should only happen from time to time.

• Be ready to wash the laundry every other day. But, this will only last for a month or a little more.

• Don’t lose temper; don’t yell at your child. Potty training is part of growing up and taking control. Explain what potty is used for in a calm way and after that just clean the floor and change your child. This will past soon, no need to put the extra pressure on the child.

Conclusion

Potty training toddlers can be hard, difficult, ask for much energy, efforts and patience. The more things you prepare in advance, the easier the whole potty training process will be.

You should always count on unexpected things and situations, but having most of the things under your control or being aware of them will help you be less tense and stressed out at the end of the day.

All children get rid of diapers sooner or later, for some it is a longer and more complicated process, while some handle it easily. Parents contribute to the whole process more than they think.

Being calmed and supportive is the most important. Being ready for some extra emotions and physical effort is even more important.

Here is a suggestion how potty training process can go nicely just dividing it into three simple steps.