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Sun’s out, little bum’s out 🍑
When the weather’s warmer, it can be easier to potty train as you can have more naked time without worrying they’re cold. Whenever you decide to train, here’s our top tips and real potty-training stories from the Mum & You mums to show you the good, the bad (and the yucky!) of potty training.
Our top 5 tips to help you along the journey:
🚽Have a potty upstairs and one downstairs
🚽Take puppy pads with you everywhere – if you are visiting family place them on the sofa, if you go out in the car place them in the car seat, you get the idea
🚽Lots of naked time, this removes the security of having a nappy on
🚽Have fun and relax – It might help to chat to your little one about everything in the bathroom or read them stories
🚽Pull back a little bit – when you have shown your little one what to do on the potty, leave it for a little while and see if they tell you they need to go.
For more tips read our blog on starting potty training.
Real potty training stories by the Mum & You mums…
Rachel – Lead Digital Marketing Manager and mum to 3 children
I decided to potty train my twins when they were 2 years and 2 months. We were trying for another baby and I wanted my girls out of nappies so I wasn’t dealing with 3 nappy changes! Plus it was summer and easier to be naked and outside. But I was dreading it before hand, twins, two at once!
I love to research when it comes to anything parenting related! And found the method from the book ‘Oh Crap Potty Training’ very useful for understanding when children are physically and mentally ready and how to teach them. After all, its a new skill for them to learn after spending so long just ‘going’ in their nappy without thinking about it!
So I committed to staying in for a week, didn’t tell friends and family so there wasn’t that pressure, and kept the girls naked from the waist down for a few days. I had potties dotted about on puppy pads , wipes nearby, gave them extra drink for lots of practice and I watched them like a hawk for clues of when they needed a wee (could be a certain look, a little dance, grabbing their crotch, suddenly stopping what they were doing) and then I would rush them to potty to help signal you need a wee and this is where to go.
Day 1 we had some accidents but the potty gods looked down on me and both girls got it very quickly (well-deserved I thought after having twins!). As per the book’s method we didn’t put ours in knickers for a few weeks until they had completely got it (theory being knickers can feel like a nappy and that an accident can actually help them realise its not nice to go in your trousers!) They were also dry at night from the start which I was pleasantly surprised about as it’s very normal for this to take much longer.
We had a short set back with one twin with poos who was a little scared for a couple of weeks. But once I relaxed, she just suddenly got it!
When it came to my boy, I was a little worried about there being wee everywhere as he does like a little play with his bits! We started when he was 2 and 8 months following the same techniques but after two days, the house (and me!) smelling of wee and picking up several poos, I felt like giving up. But I kept going and by day 3 and 4 it clicked and that was that! For him, it was better if I completely backed off, didn’t prompt and he also preferred wearing underwear. A year on he still has the odd little accident if he’s distracted playing but that’s totally normal.
Emma – Senior Innovation Manager and mum to Martha
Having worked in the baby industry for a long time, when it came to potty training Martha I felt confident I knew the theory and it would be straightforward – I couldn’t have been more wrong!
The reality was very different! I started when Martha was 15 months old – mainly because I was really struggling to change her nappy, but after many accidents and a lot of stress we gave up feeling she wasn’t ready.
When we started again it was totally driven by her – I noticed there was nothing in her nappy first thing in the morning after a few nights in a row and just asked her ‘Would you like to not wear a nappy at night like a big girl?’ – she answered yes and that was that – she was dry at night all by herself. Day time dryness took a little longer and nursery were invaluable in helping out. But coming home with those bags filled with wee soaked clothes day after day was certainly not fun.
The real low points were having to stop the car in some very dodgy area of London or on a dark winters evening to climb into the back seat and get out the porta potty.
Not to mention the time her uncle put her on my car drivers seat so she could ‘drive the car’. Of course she wet herself leaving me to drive home sitting in a pool of wee – thanks for that Uncle Dave!
What I learned was to go with the flow – let Martha lead and if it became a source of tension to just back off. Although I got sick of the sound of my own voice, asking her if she needed a wee all the time – it reminded her to go and helped avoid accidents. But most of all -everyone’s journey is different and it’s really important to not compare your child to others or put pressure on yourself to ‘achieve’ by a certain age – they will all get there in the end.
Faye – Supply Chain Manager and mum to Tilly
I decided to potty train Tilly at 2, during the lockdown in January. I thought it would be easier as we didn’t need to go out anywhere. I decided on the cold turkey route, straight from nappies to knickers. I very naively only bought 10 pairs 😂.
On day 2 when we had successfully gone through all available clothes (hers and some of mine) and unsuccessfully achieved anything on the potty. Mainly because this is where flamingo was usually taking a nap (see above), I thought she wasn’t ready and I was ready to give up. However, on day 3 with the washing machine on constantly, another 10 pairs of knickers and stickers being delivered I decided to carry on. This is where we started to see some improvement By day 5 she was requesting to go on the toilet rather than the potty. So toddler toilet seats were purchased and flamingo’s bed was put away and we haven’t looked back since. She occasionally has an accident but fortunately for me mostly at nursery.
It’s tough and its stressful and when you have no idea how long you are going to have to try and catch toddler wee (and the rest) it can seem like a lifetime but in the end they all ‘get it’.
Sylvia – Creative lead and mum to 2 children
Both my children were potty trained at around 2 years and a half.
My daughter was super easy. I was 5 months pregnant with my second child and thought it might be a good idea to do it ahead of the birth so she had enough time to feel confident and maybe avoid a regression. Her nursery teacher (who was also her nanny) and had loads of experience on the subject said she felt she was ready. We explained to my daughter what potty training was and asked her if she would like to try – and she said yes. One afternoon we went together to buy some knickers. She was very excited and chose a Frozen set with Elsa & Anna & Olaf kickers that made her feel very grown up and special. The next day we took the nappy off during the day and had one accident. She didn’t like it at all. The following day she had another accident and that was it. We started with the potty but soon after we went with a toilet adapter. At nights, for a month we used pulll ups and after that they were gone.
My son was a bit more challenging. We started when he showed interest and started sitting on the actual toilet before going in the tub (he never used the potty nor an adapter – he wasn’t interested). And his teacher also recommended to get started as well, even though it was March. We did the same thing as my daughter, we went to buy underwear with him – he chose and Avengers set – and we started on a weekend. By Monday we’d had 3 or 4 accidents at home. And at nursery he had at least one or two every two days for a couple of weeks. They said to keep at it, we could not go back. So eventually, after a couple of months there were no accidents during the day. At night he slept with pull ups, and when he woke up in the morning he would go and do a wee by himself. When the nappy was dry for a couple of weeks, we decided to take it out. We’ve been 1 week completely potty trained and with no accidents now.
Two children, two genders, two very different experiences 😉 C’est la vie!
Julie – Senior Customer Service Representative and mum to twins
With the twins I left it late on purpose (closer to 3.5 years). We had started ahead of their 3rd birthday in the summer and then Peppa Pig World was looming coupled with camping at PPW so I chickened out and kept them in nappies! Epic mummy fail or genius as my friends said!
We then dabbled through the start of nursery in the September with a mix of knickers and pull-ups only to be handed back wet knickers on a regular basis from the teaching assistants – lovely. So, it turned out the one size fits all approach did not work for twins, they are different in the toilet department! Ava happily forged ahead suddenly as she only wants to be a sparkly clean ballet dancer/princess and the bulky pull-ups were not a good look under the tutu! Isabella was mortified if a number 2 tried to escape so waited at least 4 days and we took to bribery, prescribed kiddie laxatives, stickers, and sweets.
Thankfully all a distant memory now and they would probably not even remember 🙂
Happy toilet training everyone!
One final note… when you start potty training get ready to add some new disgusting things you do as a parent… like when you take a picture of potty successes and send it to your partner! 💩
Do you have any tips and tricks that helped you? Or hilarious stories of your own experience? Share them with us in the comments below!
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