Chaos Mandy's Foolproof Potty Training Method

Well, it might not be foolproof, but I'm happy to say that our potty training method has paid off since Emily is now completely potty trained.

We started out slow by getting her one of those training potty's. She used it sometimes, but potty training didn't really start clicking until she was big enough to use the regular potty.

Because of this, I would recommend not getting a training potty. I know think they are a big waste of money. It would probably be a better idea to get the child seat for the actual potty.

Once Emily was big enough to sit on the actual potty, we would sit her on the potty once an hour. This worked pretty well, especially I was a stay at home mom at the time. But this will only take you so far as well.

My big girl!

What really worked for us, was asking her when she had to potty. From there, she started knowing when and telling us that she had to go. At first, she wanted either me or my husband in the bathroom with her, but once she got the hang of getting on the potty (we used a step stool for a while) and getting her pants down, she was able to go on her own.

We also took potty training in stages. First stage was going to the potty at home. Once she mastered that, we worked on going potty in public restrooms. The loud flushing in public potties scares her a little even now, but she'll go, jump off the potty and put her hands over her ears.

Once she had mastered going on the potty during the daytime, we didn't push nighttime potty training. I've heard there are kids who are four or five years old who still don't go to the potty during the night. But it turned out that we didn't have to do any training since Emily nighttime potty trained herself.

It started with naptime, which I wasn't there for because I had started working. But finally we started just letting her wear her undies for bedtime. She only has had one accident so far and will come out to the bathroom in the middle of the night. She does want one of us to come with her, partly because she is afraid of the dark. We have a nightlight in the hall, but can't have one in the bathroom. This is because the lights have to be on for the electrical plugs in the bathroom to work. But that is a minor issue.

So, Miss Emily has been completely potty trained for a little while now. It's pretty awesome to not have the expense of diapers anymore and she's happy to be such a big girl.


If you like my blog, please rate it at Top Mommy Blogs!