From Diaper to Potty

An e-mail popped into my inbox about potty training recently so I thought I'd talk a bit about Naomi's potty training journey so far.

Frankly, the lazy Mum in me kind of groans when it's time to do this. Let's face it: diapers are really convenient albeit costly. Transitioning to the potty would save you money in the long run, but is messy and limiting. You've got to be ready at an instant to pop the kid on the pot, or that mess that I mentioned? That's what you'll be cleaning up. 

For this reason, I tend to delay potty training till I'm sure that both my child and I are ready. Yes, that's both of us.

I started popping Naomi occasionally on the potty at the start of the year, just before she turned 2, to get her used to the idea. Most of these attempts didn't yield much result -- something I fully expected. I only started getting more serious about it after her birthday. Off came her diapers during certain times of the day. She got wet a lot, but she progressed to knowing when to release, and in the past couple of weeks, I realised that she can now tell me accurately when she needs to pee. Only when the diapers are off though. When they are on, she might occasionally ask to pee in the potty but by and large she just goes in the diaper. We've made it through a number of days with only the occasional accident. Hurray! Poop-training is still a work in progress. 

We are not out of the woods yet, but I thought it might be fun to join Mama J's Friday Five linky with our tips for potty training so here are 5 pointers that we found useful in our potty training journey:

1. Make sure that you and your child are ready.

The experts always talk about child-readiness, and I think it is one of the biggest factors affecting the success or failure of your attempt to potty-train. Personally, I've found that 24 months is a good age to start. Some things I look out for include the child having the word for "pee" and "poop", and having the ability to communicate these. She should also be able to take instructions. I came across this Potty-Training Readiness Checklist (2-years) from BabyCentre which has a number of other behavioural characteristics that might be helpful.

Let's however not forget that potty-training is a combined parent-child effort. It can be a lot of work for the parent and you have to be prepared to put aside time to follow through for it to succeed. So don't pick a period of time when you're stressed or feeling overwhelmed or just having your hands full. Delay it if necessary till you feel you are able to commit the time and effort to this and are up for the challenge. 

2. Just take their diapers off.

This was the advice of a Mum of 6 (yes, 6 kids!) no less, and after trying this on both of mine, I agree that taking off their diapers was really necessary to get them started on the potty-training journey. Kids need to feel wet and uncomfortable before they realise how their body works. They are just too dry and comfortable with their diapers on to care! If you dislike the mess, try cloth nappies with plastic pants to contain the mess. For training purposes, I don't think pull-ups are effective because they are just too similar to diapers, though they do come in handy for a child under training when you're both out of the house.

Once the diapers are off, you will also get a better sense of your child's rhythm. Like how soon she would need to use the potty after eating/drinking. This will help you plan potty times better. 

Of course, once they start getting wet, they might resist wanting to take their diapers off. Naomi now complains and gets teary when we want her to do diaper-free time. "I need my diaper! I like diapers!" she would wail. But I persist, because I know she can do it, and over time, she's learning that too.  

3. Be consistent.

Following from the above, I think once you decide to start potty training, common sense dictates that you should try to do this consistently over a period of time in order to train effectively. I tried to find a pocket of time everyday when I would be free to tend to Naomi, to watch her and attend to her cues while she does her diaper-free time. In the early stages, I would try to put her on the potty at intervals to get her comfortable with the idea and to see if I would actually get her to pee. I figured it would also get Naomi used the idea of using the potty, and help me understand when she needed to go.

Now that Naomi's gotten pretty good with peeing, I make her go without her diapers during two periods of in a day: immediately after her morning milk and immediately after her afternoon nap. She still complains but she's getting used it, and better too. Sometimes we have to go out and the diaper definitely goes back on, but I try not to let her get away with that too often.

4. Get a potty that is stable and easy to sit on.

Whether you choose to use a toilet seat placed over the toilet bowl or a stand-alone potty is a matter of preference. I think there are benefits and drawbacks to both. I prefer a stand alone potty because the child can get to it on her own and it's easier to sit comfortably, but you do have to wash it out every time. But whatever your choice, I think it helps to get a seat that your child is comfortable and feels secure with. There were a couple I bought because they, err, looked cute, but Noey didn't even like sitting on them, so that was that. The current model we've got was bought by my Mum, and the seat cover can be lifted off and placed over the toilet bowl to be used as a child seat if you so choose. I tried that with Naomi, but in the end it was much easier to use the potty. I think she also felt better when she was able to put both feet on the ground.

By the way, if you're wondering, I did train my son to pee sitting down first, but it wasn't difficult for him to transition eventually to standing to pee when he got older -- and tall enough to reach the toilet!

5. Heap on the praise! 

I think this requires no further explanation! And the proud smile that I get from Naomi when I praise her for remembering to use the potty? That's priceless.

 

Linking up with:

*I know it's no longer Friday but can we just pretend that I'm early for next week?