From Diapers to Potty; Tips to Make it Easier

So the time finally came and I decided to take the leap and start to potty train my 26 month old son. Being my first time I decided to educate myself and find out all the do’s and don’ts. After spending hours reading books, watching videos online and reading blogs I felt more than ready.

But theory and reality are two totally different things, as I was about to find out. From my living room being flooded with toddler wee to having an almost successful moment, I said almost, this ended up with my son getting up from the potty mid number two, it falling to the floor and him stepping in it and sliding….yep I will just stop there.

Lets just say potty training starts with a LOT of accidents and cleaning. Bleaching products become your best friend!

You will come across a lot of mothers proudly saying they completed the process in a week. A week!? I believe the time it takes is dependent on the child and the most important thing is to be PATIENT. This is a totally new concept for your little one and it takes time. Here are a few tips that made the process easier for me.

Educate yourself and read up about potty training but don’t over do it, there is so much information out there
Do not start too early, watch for clues that they are ready, e.g they know when they have a wet/dirty nappy
Start to talk to your child about what a potty is for and how they are now too big for nappies
Buy story books about potty training
Reward charts – your little one will begin to associate a success with a prize, just be careful what the prize is. (Stickers are usually sufficient.)
Make it fun, plan lots of fun activities to do indoors during the early stages
Praise, praise, praise
Do not compare your little ones progress to others
Use pull ups before the transition to big boy/girl pants

In the end it took the whole summer to potty train my son, I decided to take a calm and patient approach. Now he is fully potty trained during the day and only wears a nappy at bedtime. At one point I wanted to give up, especially when other mums were having better success but with perseverance we got there.

Potty training is not easy but with time your little one will eventually get a hold of it. Don’t give up! Though the process isn’t a joyous one, success is!