I have successfully potty trained my son within a week. It sounds great right!
Today in this article, I am going to share with you about how I potty trained my naughty toddler. I hope this article will help your kids to say goodbye to diapers, at least during daytime.
Traditional Indian approach to potty training:
During our childhood days we were diaper free. The use of diapers actually came from West. In our Indian culture, potty training begins at a very early age before the child can even crawl.
My mother told me that when we were babies she used to hold us in her arms over a bowl or newspaper and give two different verbal cues for pee and poop. You can also refer to the ways to potty train your toddler.
Modern Indian approach to potty training:
In today’s hectic multitasking society, I know we can’t imagine a baby without diapers.
For majority of us things haven’t turned out in that old way but there are still a few parents out there who never use diapers for their babies. Hats off to those parents.
A good friend of mine trained her daughter very early from one month or so and never used diapers for her baby. I was surprised to know this.
The only disadvantage she told was her daughter won’t pee or poop without a potty seat. So she has to carry it wherever she goes out for a picnic or tour.
- Modern cloth diapers – A guide for beginners
- Cloth diapers vs disposables : FAQs answered
- How to wash and care cloth diapers?
My way of potty training my toddler:
For me, potty training happened to be a trial and error method.
Why I am saying this was when we first tried to potty train our son when he turned one, it was totally a flop. He cried like anything whenever we put him on potty. So my hubby suggested to let him acquire the verbal communication first and maybe then we could train him.
Again around age 2 that is 1 month back, we tried and it was successful.
Remember that each baby is different on their own way and it’s not must that you have to train them around age 2.
It’s up to you to try and decide at what age your baby is ready. Most importantly parents should be ready to train them with tons of patience overloaded.
Materials I used for my 2 year old to be toilet trained:
Before commencing potty training we bought the following things.
1. Potty Chair
Buy a potty chair from a shop. Just a simple one will do.
Purchase a potty according to your kid’s size. If you want, you can purchase an extra seat that can be attached over a potty.
It is very important to go for a potty in which your child should be comfortable sitting on potty with his feet down to get proper stability.
We purchased a simple dismantling potty chair with an extra seat. Personally I suggest not buying very expensive or fancy ones that are available in markets.
2. Toddler Training Pants
Buy cotton training pants with thick padding in the middle.
Training pants can absorb more urine in case of urine leaks. Switch them to underwear once they are fully toilet trained.
3. Toilet Paper Towels
You can use tissue papers to absorb the urine on the floor and after that mop the area with a disinfectant.
I used to mop the floors every night before I go to bed.
4. Alcohol Wipes
Use alcohol wipes to sanitize your kid’s toys and play mats everyday once you start potty training.
5. Carpet and Sofa Cleaner (optional)
If your kids pee on sofa or carpet, first put some tissue paper on that area to absorb the urine.
Allow it to dry and clean the area using carpet and sofa cleaner available in super markets. They come with an attached brush.
Things to do a week before potty training:
There are a few things you need to be ready with a week before toilet training your kid. They are as follows.
- Pretend
We all know kids always learn from examples.
Just pretend the act of going for pee and poop on the potty chair very often in front of your kid. It seems very funny, but for some kids it really works.
- Video
We downloaded the following video from YouTube, saved in pen drive and connected to television.
We showed this video quite regularly to him a week before potty training. He loved watching this video. Surprisingly he tried to imitate the little toddler in this video.
I recommend this video as this helped my little one to certain extend in potty training. I found this as one of the best that will help you on potty training.
How we toilet trained our little one?
What I had heard from others was that it was so messy. I do agree with it, but not as messy as you think. Maybe for first few days it will be like that.
- Pee
In the initial 3 or 4 days we moved the potty around the house with us so that he could get to the bathroom quick. After a week we stopped doing and left the potty near the bathroom.
Believe me, once we start potty training they will drip each and every 15 minute or so, trying our patience to the peak. But please don’t be frustrated or give up, they will get trained within 5 days or so.
We were just cleaning, moping and drying at most times for the first five days.
When Rithvik pee on sofa or floor, we try to show sad faces, have him help us clean it up and have him sit on the potty again.
- Poop
This task was very easy. By seeing his facial expressions, we easily predicted that he is going to poop.
For the first one week, we kept the potty chair on living room where he access most of the time. When he is about to poop we either bring the potty to him or make him sit on it.
For the first two days, we made him sit on potty for poop. From third day onwards, he himself sat on potty for poop.
Luckily no single poop accident till now.
When you take away the poop to flush, make sure you take your toddler along with you to bathroom.
We used to make him press the flush button and that is the best part he enjoyed.
How to maintain hygiene while potty training your toddler?
- Keep 3 or 4 small cotton mats extra at home. Put a cotton mat then place the potty chair on it.
For boys, sometimes pee will not fall on the potty cup. You can keep changing the cotton mats when it becomes wet.
- Once you wake up in morning fill up bucket or tub with water by adding a cap-ful dettol. Dip your toddler soiled pants in it.
Once it’s collected, by late afternoon or night-time, you can wash it together and dry it.
- Keep washing your toddler’s hands and legs frequently.
- Try to wipe the toys with alcohol and mop the floor daily night before you go to bed.
Suggestions:
- When you start training give your full attention or else you will end up in very bad messy situations.
- When your baby wakes in the morning remove the diaper, clean them and wear the training pants.
- Each and every one hour take the child to the potty chair, remove their pants and make them sit on it.
- Do not use words like ‘dirty’ or show ‘yuck yuck’ faces when they poop.
- Trust me for the first two days, they won’t pee on that potty, maybe cries a lot. Encourage them to pee, but never force them. Each time they pee or not, just praise them.
- Before going to night-time sleep, make them sit on potty and put on diaper. When your toddler becomes 100 percent accident free, try slowly giving up the night-time diaper.
It will take more time. Wait until they are ready for that.
- Once you are almost successful with potty training, try to take them outside home for half an hour or one without diapers just to check whether they do accidents.
We used to take him outside for a walk without diapers. First day he peed on his trousers. After that incident he learnt to hold urine and never peed on his trousers.
- Keep them well hydrated.
Conclusion
Googling potty training and getting my little one potty trained was one of my routines for the past one month. Now that I mastered the potty training trick, I could share with you all. I hope this helps and good luck with your training.
Do share with your little one’s potty training experience with us. Is your son/daughter potty trained? How did you train them? Kindly share with us in comments.
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