We Potty Trained our babygirl in 2 weeks before the age of 2 - here’s how!
As Amanda was approaching the next big milestone, becoming 2 years old, I thought it’s time to introduce the potty! She actually used the potty almost exclusively from 6-12 months but then turned away from it after her first birthday, and then I tried to offer it again, but she wasn’t interested or keen on it, so I left it. In a few months, I tried again, but with no luck. So I let her be and gave her more time. But she did great in the mornings. After waking up, she would always have a pee in the potty, (maybe when she was 18-20 months old). So that’s my first tip - test if your child has interest in the potty, but don’t force it - and once they also learn to dress themselves then that might be another sign or trigger for the potty.
So we started full on ‘potty training’ around mid-January - I bought some thicker underwear as well, so that when she would wet herself, it wouldn’t really go all over the place. (find the link here) But actually she’s only had a handful of accidents (both with 1 and 2s), but surprisingly it all went down better than I expected. Some tips I tried:
Explain her what’s happening - I told her what we’re doing and also when I used underwear instead of the nappy I explained her that let’s try to keep these dry and please tell mummy when you need the toilet (also she won’t like the feeling of wet when she’s wearing underwear as it’s a lot different than a nappy that soaks everything in). I would also put her on the potty, when I was using the toilet, and told her look mummy is also on the potty just like you! And she loves to copy me of course!
Set a timer - in the first days, set a timer of 30-40min and offer the potty. No need to ask if you want to use the potty as a toddler will usually answer no to most questions, just say it’s time for potty.
Make it fun - you can’t just expect her to sit on the potty and do it, make it fun - read a book or bring a toy to make it more exciting and to keep her there until she does her thing. If it doesnt happen, pants up and set another timer.
No rewards - I don’t like the idea of offering something in return for something that should be natural. But of course I couldn’t help but praise her a bit with my words - well done etc as it just comes naturally, although I’d like to refrain from it. I also don’t shame her or make her feel bad, when she didn’t make it to the potty - i just said ‘now the pants are wet, let’s change them and let’s try to keep them dry and make the pee in the potty next time’.
More than 1 potty - we had two potties - one upstairs and one downstairs, as when she needed to go she ran to me and told me: Pee-pee and looked for the potty - so I felt its easier to have it next to us, as it can be messy in the beginning. But soon she started running towards the potty as kids learn fast and realise what to do!
Pull up nappies - so after just 2 weeks, she’s been without a nappy daytime and during the 3-4 week we also don’t put it for our walks as she asks for it! I do use pull-up nappies if I have to put any, as they’re easy to pull up and down. And we do use a nappy still at night, although 90% of the nights, it’s still dry in the morning!
So that’s about it! It’s also important for any caregivers to follow up with your routine and not use nappies when you’re not around as that would only confuse the child. If you have any questions, comments or tips, please feel free to comment or email me! Hope this was helpful!
