Potty training for toddlers is a significant and exciting parenting milestone as you ditch the diapers and ease the load of your pockets.
While you may have a mental time frame for potty training, your toddler will only master it when he is ready. Some toddlers are ready to potty train between 18 to 24 months, and many may need to wait longer until 36 months.
Some signs of potty training readiness include:
- Staying dry for at least two hours in the day, and dry after a day nap.
- Being well coordinated by managing to pull his pants up and down.
- Knowing when he is doing a pee or poo
- Increasingly independent and keen to carry out simple tasks
- Acting on simple instructions
Your child may be physically ready, but if he isn’t mentally ready, potty training may need to wait. Putting pressure on to use the potty before he is ready may result in more accidents and the upset caused by frequent wet and soiled pants may make your child resistant.
Tips to help with potty training for toddlers
Potty training for toddlers can be a little daunting as cleaning puddles and toilet dashes beckon.
Here are some potty training tips you can adopt for your toddler:
- Placing his favourite teddy on the potty so that he can play ‘parent’ – telling teddy how to use the potty.
- Get yourself, an older sibling or a friend whom he looks up to, to show him how to use the potty. Toddlers are often keen to imitate.
- Take him shopping to buy some underpants. Explain that he can wear his new pants once he is potty trained.
- Dress your child in easily managed clothes such as bottoms with elastic waists.
- Let your child personalise his potty with stickers or his name to help him ‘own’ it.
- A simple reward sticker chart may be beneficial. Tell him a treat awaits after a certain number of stickers collected.
- Give lots of praises and encouragement. Adopt a patient and positive attitude to support him.
Potty training tips for dry nights
Nights without diapers don’t naturally follow that once your child can stay dry during the day, he is able to manage to hold on through the night. Know that your toddler might be ready to stay off diapers during the night when he has a dry diaper first thing in the morning, or wakes up with a diaper that’s wet but warm. This suggests that he just had a wee slightly before waking up.
Your toddler indicates readiness too when he wakes up during the night to let you know he needs a pee, or when he manages to stay dry for longer periods of time during the day, stretching up to four hours.
With these ready signs, dry nights can be implemented with some night potty training tips.
Help yourself and your toddler be ready for dry nights by:
- Getting him a washable waterproof mattress or laying a waterproof cover over the bedsheet.
- Ensuring that the walkway to his potty is clear and well lit so he doesn’t stumble when he wakes up to pee.
- Avoiding liquid intake within the last hour of bedtime, and getting him to pee before sleep.
- Waking your child up to pee during the night can help to condition his body to get out of bed during the night if he needs to pee.
Don’t expect quick success. It’s quite normal to take a while before your toddler can manage to stay dry reliably each day and night, even with the best potty training tips recommended.
There will be opportunities for your little one to miss getting to the potty in time. It is a normal part of his learning process. When accidents happen, bring in patience and change your child promptly without a fuss. Assure him with lots of understanding and support in this potty training journey of his.
