Toilet Training can seem like it'll never happen but when it does we celebrate and take a huge sigh.. Here are some ideas (contributed by real customers) that may help to get you on your way.
Potty Train With Friends!
We bought an extra potty for our son so his favourite toy could go to the potty with him, whenever it was time to go. It made it more fun for him, and he loved telling Gruffalo that it was time for him to go to the potty too. We also bought him some of his favourite stickers to decorate his potty, and get him excited about using it.
-Eleanor
Use Cloth Nappies
Cloth nappies leading up to the actual potty training meant bébé could feel when he had weed himself and didn't like the feeling of the wetness on his bum. He realised pretty early on after that if he did it in the potty he wouldn't have to have a wet bottom!
-Miss J Tan
Change Your Language
Instead of constantly asking my little Miss "Do you want to go to the toilet" I changed my language to "Tell Mummy when you need to go to the toilet". This gave her back the control and she was completely toilet trained in 4 days. Not a bad achievement considering she is only 19months old.
-Koreena
Take Aim
When toilet training a little man I strongly advise having something for them to aim at otherwise the wall and seat and anywhere else they can fire at will become a target. 😱😂 We used a ping pong ball for a while until Mr 2.5 decided he like balls ALOT so we then used a cork from a wine bottle. You can purchase Wee pads that stick to the toilet to aim but these ideas are little less on cost and easily changed and recycled. Even our older 2 boys used to aim as well.
-Jen
Make A Sandwich
The best advice I was given by a friend was the brolly sheet 'sandwich' (requires 2 sets of sheets and 2 brolly sheets). Step 1. Make the bed as normal with a fitted sheet and brolly sheet (and I like a mattress protector too just in case). Step 2. Put another fitted sheet and brolly sheet on top.
This gives you maximum protection, covers for multiple accidents, and minimizes the fuss and maximizes independence for your children.
-Lauren.
A Few Bribes Won't Hurt
The best tip I did with my two when they were reluctant to go on the toilet was bribery with a smarty each time they did something on the toilet and two for poo!! So a very small bit of chocolate each time. It helps if they are not actually allowed many sweets so it really is exciting for them. But whatever they are not allowed to have much would work!!! Also always encouraging even when nothing comes. As it’s quite daunting sitting on a big hole that you could fall into!
-Amanda
Sing Like No-One Can Hear You
We both go to the toilet at the same time, my 18month old girls sits on her porta potty in front of me, I sing silly songs like, ' this is how we pee in the morning, pee in the morning...etc, then clap or high five her, even if she hasn't pee'd or pood is just to make it fun. When she did pee for the first time we clapped because we were both so proud. My tips make it fun, sing and let them watch you.
-Chiara
Take The Plunge
I couldn’t get my second child (3 yr girl) to night train, she was great during the day but when I put on a pullup she’d always wet it. If I put the pull-up on during the day she’d also wet it. So… after months of trying to get her to train, I took the plunge and said…. Right, no more pull-ups. Undies from now on. (I put on your absorbent pads for bedtime ) – and she never has wet since. She must’ve just been feeling lazy, and knew the pull-up would soak up the wees, and as soon as she was just wearing undies, she knew she had to go to the toilet! Right from that day, she has never wet her bed. Sometimes you just have to take the plunge! After a few months, Miss 3 asked, Why do you put this thing on my undies mum? And I had a good think, Well, why do I? She’s never wet the pad! So just undies now!
-Sally.
Different Strokes for Different Folks
I honestly believe successful toilet training is a milestone a child will achieve when they are ready. At 2.5 years old, I gently nudged my daughter down the path of toilet training even though she did not show any key indicators she was ready. This resulted in alot of accidents and confusion. I decided I would take a different approach with my second child. With him, I waited until he started asking questions and experimenting with the toilet. At 3 years (and one month), he literally woke up one morning and said 'no more nappies mum'! One year down the track and we have had very little accidents.
-Joanne
Who's The Boss?
With my delightfully ‘assertive’ son, telling him to go to the toilet regularly was going to end in a power struggle! Instead, I set the timer on my phone with a cute alarm, the “wee alarm”. Then the phone quacked every 20 minutes he’d tell me (not vice versa) that he had to sit on the toilet. Over the day i’d lengthen the time between alarms until he was holding on and going every few hours, and was basically trained by the end of the day. No power struggles, no accidents on the carpets, no more nappies during the day!
-Eleanor
Thank you to all the lovely people who have contributed to these ideas and tricks that have worked for them. If you're still stuck, give me a yell and I'll see if there's something else that will help.
