Potty training your toddler can be exhausting. Here are some tips for potty training that will ease up the stress of the process.
If you’re anything like me, potty training our toddler was the last thing on my mind when she turned two. Between working a full-time job and being pregnant with Ailey, I didn’t have the energy or stamina to tackle the toilet with Annabelle. We were very fortunate that her baby school introduced potty training for us, but we didn’t stress ourselves out at home with the idea or pee pee on the potty every two hours. Ultimately, we ended up being responsible for getting rid of diapers by age three per preschool rules, so I feel confident in sharing tips for potty training your toddler.
Here are some tips for potty training your toddler that will ease up the stress of the process.
Timing is everything so do NOT rush your child.
When your child starts to show an interest in the bathroom or tells you she has to go pee pee before she actually does, then introduce the toilet. If you force anything on a toddler, chances are you’ll be met with resistance or worse, you can traumatize the child so she’s afraid of taking off her diaper. Annabelle took over a year to be fully potty trained and I truly believe our laid back approach is why we rarely have an accident.
Create a schedule.
Once you and your child decide its time to potty train, set up a schedule for going to the toilet. Annabelle’s baby school teacher brought all of the children (ages 1 1/2 – 2) to the tiny toilet every two hours on the dot. Even if the children have a dirty diaper, she sat them on the toilet and told them to try. Eventually, Annabelle would keep her diaper dry just to go pee on the potty.
When Annabelle started preschool in August, her new teacher did the same routine. Potty every two hours and a diaper change. However, school rules state when she turned three, she was no longer allowed to wear diapers. We stepped up our game at home and followed the same schedule, but also encouraged her to tell us when she had to go.
Rewards are essential.
One of the best ways to potty train a toddler is to have some kind of reward in place for each time they use the bathroom on their own. The baby school teacher used stickers as a reward for sitting on the potty and preschool used stickers to show who actually went potty on the toilet. At home, I used a handmade chart and stickers to record when Annabelle sat on the potty. One sticker for sitting and two stickers for using the potty. When she had earned six stickers, she was able to get a treat from the store. (Wearing underwear to school was a whole other chart and she earned a big toy for staying dry five days in a row).
Be creative with your potty prizes.
Once Annabelle had accomplished pee on the potty, we had to entice her to go the other route. Sweets proved to be the best reward for a poo on the pot. TEDDY SOFT BAKED Filled Snacks are one of the yummiest ways I’ve enticed my daughter to go potty in the bathroom.
My daughter loves how she gets such a BIG treat for going to the bathroom on the potty. When she remembers to go poop on the potty she deserves something that is so much fun to eat.
Those are so cute, and I kind of want to reward myself with these (maybe for working out instead of using the bathroom!). My kids would go crazy for them! We got my daughter potty trained fast and early (miraculously) before she was 2. My son is about the same age now and started to show interest a couple months ago so I spent last weekend trying to use the 3-day method like I did with my older daughter, but no dice. He is great about going on the potty, but not about realizing he has to go. He loved his undies so I figure we will switch between diapers and undies for now. Love your tip to stay laid-back – might be the trick with him!