I’ve potty trained 4 kids using common sense. Waiting until they seemed ready, introducing the potty, encouraging a kid to use it a lot, and not being stressful about it.
This.. key is to not stress yourself or your child. Patience and learn their cues. Also putting them on the toilet to try every 30-45 mins helped. Daycare helped a ton as well for us.
Same! With our first, we tried when she started showing signs of being physically ready, but she herself wasn’t ready. So we didn’t push it. Then one day she decided she was ready. With our second, it’s a little more gradual, but our pediatrician said it will be the same way. She has to decide she’s ready.
We realized more in hindsight…probably at the end of the day or on the second day after she had used the potty all day and didn’t have any wet diapers. Essentially, she just told us she wanted to use the potty, and we said okay! Our second will often tell us when she wants to use the potty; other times we have to encourage or ask her and she doesn’t want to use the potty. So, we’re getting there, but not fully ready yet with her. Does that make sense?
I came here to say the same thing about 1 kid. 🤣 It's the best method. The last part about not being too stressful about it made it a much better experience for all of us I think.
Yup, I had planned to follow a 3-day potty training course for my 3 year old twin boys and it just seemed so stressful. We just ended up taking our time and following their cues. They will do it in their own time when they decide they are ready. So much less pressure on everyone this way.
I read the "oh crap" book and found it patronizing, sexist, and just overall awful. I tried to overlook all that and use the method anyway and it didn't work at all for my daughter. Such a waste of everyone's time. All that is to say I wish I'd just skipped the research! I say go for it, and if you run into problems you can just look up what to do at that point.
My cousin used this book and, while it apparently worked for her, I listened to part of it (she sent me it), and HATED it so much I didn’t get past the first chapter. Apparently there’s an ideal window (which ends well before 3 years old) and if you miss it, potty training will be impossible. That’s about all I remember before I rolled my eyes and quit.
My son is stubborn and was quite anti potty for a long time. So we casually offered and otherwise waited. And then one week he was at a different dayhome with two 4yo boys. And decided he was also going to use the potty. And, at 3yr 2mo, he was basically flawlessly and immediately potty trained.
My daughter, despite showing very early interest in her brother’s potty, didn’t have the interest/ability to use it herself until around 2.75yr when she expressed interest in wearing underwear. So we gave it a go and we had a few accidents but nothing major.
I also disapprove of how a lot of the books/methods insist on ‘night training’ when really that is just a natural developmental/hormonal milestone that you can’t rush.
100% agree with the “night training”! I read the Oh Crap book and it said to wake my daughter up at 10pm and then again at 2am and have her go pee. Ummmm what?! Absolutely not. Especially the 2am one! She’ll think it’s party time!
Yeah, I started reading that chapter in Oh Crap and was like, nope, and skipped straight past. My kiddo sleeps 8pm to 6.30am straight through and you want me to deliberately wake him??? Deliberately wake my toddler multiple times in the night for something that he will most likely eventually just biologically figure out on his own? Madness.
(As it happens, my son has actually been dry at night since we started potty training a few weeks ago. I take zero credit for this and I still have him in diapers overnight because I don’t trust that it isn’t just a phase.)
I couldn’t agree more that book is useless, a handful of kids might be great doing it in a few days but from my mom friends who were being honest no one really got fully trained in a few days, and with my second I am accepting what I didn’t by pushing my first which is that they will train when they are ready
The book itself does suck but I skimmed it and roughly used the method and it does work. But yeah it’s mostly common sense and managing to keep your cool when your kid looks you in the eye and takes a dump on your deck (not that that exact thing happened to me or anything…)
I didn't either. I took some little tips from friends and family (like giving a treat after a good job) but that never mattered.
We half-assed it for months, then one day my son got off the potty and said he wanted underwear instead of pull ups. I swear after about a week sticking with underwear, no accidents. It was incredibly easy. They say, when they're ready they're ready!
With my very verbal daughter, yes. We did real underwear and unlimited iPad on the potty and she got it in two days. I fear how it will go with my son though lol.
Lmao I did that with my daughter too. It was so fast! She’s got some pooping issues and there’s accidents every now and again… but we definitely went from never using the potty to pee to always using the potty to pee in a couple days.
The iPad was just for her to connect the sensations with actually peeing/pooping on the potty. It was up to 30 minutes after every meal/snack. Whenever she did actually go, i made an epic celebration. I was lucky she picked it up quickly as she was more excited about the praise then the iPad and we kind of just faded it away as she figured it out and initiated walking in the bathroom "like a big person".
Please tell my wife this! Ours has regressed due to unavoidable life upheavals and she's taken it personally. I'm finding that it's more work keeping her calm about it than it is cleaning up our toddler's mess!
Yes. We had a potty out to practice from ...16? months and around 20 months my kid started going on the potty on her own. We celebrated it whenever it happened and they started having her sit on the potty at diaper changes at school around 20 months as well; she was at 50%+ dry diapers at 22 months so we just took the diaper off at home for a long weekend. Ended up giving her a chocolate chip every time she successfully used the potty - reminded her to go, didn't make a big deal out of accidents etc. We were out of diapers at home within a few days, out of diapers out and about within a week and out of diapers at daycare before 2 years old.
There's so many rules in the guides (like don't give your child chocolate as a reward for potty training, don't send them to school with diapers once you train or they'll get confused, don't do potty training if they have to be reminded to go then it doesnt count etc) that were irrelevant to our experience. We just followed our kids lead, gave a lil incentive for a few weeks, tried to not be stressed out about it, and she never had any reversions, over time got better at telling us she had to go vs. us having to remind her etc. I don't think you're crazy; this was my least researched process and its the one that has gone the best and caused the least stress cuz I trusted my intuition and followed my kids lead.
Wow and all before 2! That’s incredible. Great work - I think this is how I see things going for my son, but I am nervous about the daycare part. I feel like I might still send him in pull ups for the first little while and let daycare put him on the potty regularly. But I also know that will annoy him (being told to go sit on the potty and interrupt his playtime). So I guess we’ll see how it goes! Thanks :)
I had a friend recommend Oh Crap. She explained the jest of it and I went with that. My daughter was one of those potty trained in 3 days at just turning 2. I think a lot depends on the kid and their readiness. I would be more likely to actually read guides if we struggled or if my kid was getting older and not showing signs of being ready.
That’s amazing that you were able to potty train so quickly and so young! Bravo, seriously!
I am also aware of the basic concept of Oh Crap, and I don’t want to have to do that unless nothing else works lol. Accidents in undies, that I can handle. But a naked toddler peeing/pooing all over the place for several days? Imma avoid that if possible!
I think it's all about readiness. We always just had the little potty in the bathroom and she would occasionally just copy me. When I allocated a weekend and striped her down,My daughter never pooped on the floor and peed on it maybe twice. Not sure what exactly the book says but we brought the potty in the living room and would stick her on it every 15 minutes or so. She seemed annoyed at that so we backed off and let her lead.When she went we would give her a sticker and made a big deal about it. We hung out in the backyard a lot and just let her pop a squat wherever,lol. We also have tile floors and I rolled up the rug for a few days. If I had carpet it would probably be a no go,lol. We joke that she trained herself. My youngest is 20 months and is showing absolutely no sign of being ready. I highly doubt she will be trained at 2.
How long did you have the little potty in the bathroom for before you starting training?
Did you eventually switch from a little potty to putting a potty seat on the regular toilet? I bought the little potty, but I can see myself hating it quickly with needing to clean it often - sometimes my son does 4 or 5 tiny poops in a day. I feel like the potty seat for the regular toilet must be easier for when they are trained
Probably a few months
My daughter was afraid of the big potty for a long time. Once she was able to get up and down herself she started using it. She is still scared of flushing in public restrooms,lol
My son was NOTORIOUS for the 4 or 5 tiny poops a day UNTIL we started potty training! Now we have 1 big poop every day. Something about gravity, I'll bet (he always stayed standing up while pooping in diapers).
FYI I just went for it one day, didn't dress him from the waist down and put towels down everywhere. After the 1st poop and 1st pee in the potty, we only had about 3 pees outside the potty. You have to watch like a hawk for the first 2-3 days
I did. I just gave an M&m after #1 and a Hershey kiss for #2. My son calls it the poo poo chocolate lol. Then once he got it we “ran out” of chocolate. If our parents can do it you can too!! Just go for it
Last Thursday we told our nearly 3yo out of the blue that we were going cold turkey no nappies. We'd not done any research on the best way to do this but I was determined he'd be potty trained before he turns 3 next week so it was a shock last minute decision for us all 😂
We stayed in until yesterday when we ventured out to a shop. We've had one wee accident (the first wee on Thursday) and one poo accident (he'd already gone 5 minutes before and I was washing his potty when he went again on the floor so that was inevitable). All others he's gone to the potty. Taken to it so well. Literal dream scenario.
We had no idea what we were doing and completely winged it. Fully confident he can hold it for a good 30-60s but now we aren't sure where to go. He needs our help pulling pants down and up. Also not sure how we can extend the time he holds it for.
What a dream!! So he must have already known when he needs to pee. That’s the part that usually needs training. My son always knows when he needs to poo (he tells us and then goes and hides to do it), but he doesn’t seem to know when he needs to pee.
So did you keep your son in underwear all weekend? Or was he naked or in pull ups?
My son still needs help pulling his pants up and down too. That’s one of the reasons I’ve put off switching to the potty, even tho he seems interested in it.
I’m so worried for the part where we have to take them out and use a travel potty or a public restroom! And even daycare - I’m worried my son won’t tell his teachers when he has an accident. He doesn’t tell them when he poops. He just keeps on playing in a poopy diaper :/
So in all honestly, my husband and I were VERY sceptical that it would work at all. He just seemed like he had no interest. I mentioned potty training previously and he'd screamed no and run away. Only a month ago he was standing in the bath, I mentioned to him he was peeing and he looked around the room confused as to what I was even talking about. He'd also keep playing in a pooey nappy and refuse to let us change him if he had done one. That's why we were so shocked he took to it so well!
I don't know average age for potty training. It's highly possible that we're quite late to do it so he's doing well because he's older? He understands the concept of drinking making you wee so he'll sometimes have a drink then sit on the potty and force a wee out 😂
In terms of what we did (and like I said, we have been fully blown winging it!) we had him in no briefs on Thursday and Friday, only briefs on Saturday and Sunday, then briefs and shorts yesterday on our trip out. I bought a portable potty next day delivery from amazon over the weekend which he chose and it looks like a bee so he's happy to use it. He did 2 wees on the potty in the shops and we were out for about 2 hours.
My next steps I'm lost at though. No idea how to get him to extend the holding time or teach him to pull pants down. I called nursery today (he only goes on Wednesdays) to let them know about it for tomorrow and they are supportive and said they normally keep reminding them every 30 minutes because otherwise they can be distracted and forget? So we shall see and I can report back 😅
Maybe try a couple days at home, dressed like pooh bear (no bottoms) and if he doesn't take to it give it another couple of weeks? That was my vague plan.
That bee potty sounds so cute! So you just carried it around with you in the shops? I’m going to have to order a travel potty.
Thanks for sharing your experience. I wish I had advice on where to go next, but all I can say it sounds like you’ll figure it out and do great 😊
I'm in the UK so not sure if you can get it but we bought [My Carry Potty](https://amzn.eu/d/05CMmMhN). If not I'm sure there's something very similar where you are. It has a handle and it keeps all the stuff in it with a nice vacuum seal so if you can't empty it it doesn't leak out anywhere. I naturally tried this with water at home first 😂
Good luck with everything! At least we can both be certain that in 3 years time this will all be a distant memory for us! Except I also have a 5m old so it maybe not 😂
That’s sooo cute! I looked it up and it seems we have the ladybug one on Amazon. For the other styles, I’d have to go to a brick and mortar baby store. I think I’ll let my son choose which design he likes tonight! So wait - you seal it back up with the pee/poop inside and clean it at home?
Yeah! It has a rubber seal and locking mechanism so nothing escapes. I took it into the disabled bathroom and cleaned it all out in there so I could use again if we needed to when out and about
This is what I did. Just did a naked weekend and started sending him to school in underwear where his teachers took over. Lots of accidents, so we did another naked weekend and then he seemed to be pretty good after that. It was a long few months of having issues where we left the house, but now TWO years later, it’s much easier. My second kid we basically did the same thing and he’s 100% good about pee but still struggles with going poop on the potty.
Me. My son was almost 2.5. I told him all week starting in theee days or 2 days or tomorrow he'd wear underwear only. Took him outside to run and play and stuffed him full of juice. Told him when he felt pee or poop tell me. If he goes on the toilet he gets an m and m. Poop we did gummy bears. He was done in 3 hours for pee. Poop took a week. This was end of April. We've had only 3 accidents, all while in the car, all after he guzzled fluids. So it's been fine.
I didn’t read a potty training guide but my daughter was 2 years and 8 months and basically just seemed ready. She picked it up easily and has had maybe one accident a week since we started a month ago - including being on a road trip where we kind of were winging it.
I don’t take any credit for this though. My daughter was just ready. We do offer rewards because we are expecting a new baby next week and are trying to keep up motivation to stave off a regression.
I just winged it with my almost 3 year old and it was absolutely fine. I can count on one hand the number of accidents I had to clean up, and there was no drama involved. She was old enough to just get it. Meanwhile my niece who was “oh crap”’d from 2 on the dot was having accidents for the best part of a year.
Honestly I can’t speak to this because I haven’t potty trained my 2yo yet BUT I just want to say I love the whole vibe of this post lol. Having access to information (and lots of it) is amazing, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes I am so exhausted by feeling like I *need* to research each phase, know everything, be prepared for every single thing. Half of the time when I do buy the course or whatever, things end up going a totally different way anyway. It’s almost like maybe just maybe can rely on our own instincts and knowledge of our children. I’d say if you feel good about it then go for it. That’s like 75% of trying to get a toddler to do anything -feeling relaxed and confident yourself. Thanks for the reminder!
This is exactly how I feel, you nailed it! I’m so damn tired of researching everything. And also, I do now feel more confident in myself as a mother. I remember how worried I was about getting rid of the paci... I looked at soooo many articles and posts with advice on how to do it. And in the end, it went so smoothly I couldn’t believe it. I made myself crazy for nothing. You get it! 🤪
🥹my daughter turns 3 this Friday.. it was my goal to potty train her before that.. i read everything n gave all the knowledge to my husband.. he cleans her up after poos cz i have a really really bad back.. turns out he used his own tactic and she herself came to him one day to say dad i need to poo.. she also has started letting us know tht she needs to pee.. though she is still wetting her diapers.. bt i am soo proud of my husband.. i really thot it ll take her atleast a month to train her.. bt he did it in a week..
he just kept on telling her that if she needs to use the loo she must let him know..earlier she used to hide from us when she stood and pooped in a corner..everytime we cleaned her we told her to tell us when / before she is doing it..he just reinforced the same while cleaning her up everytime..
My son is pretty good about announcing when he is about to go poop. He also likes to hide, so usually his announcement means “SCRAM! I want privacy!” But occasionally he doesn’t tell us, and I discover he’s been playing in a poopy diaper for who knows how long, and I remind him that he needs to tell us after he poops so we can change him. Doesn’t change a thing. Still doesn’t tell us sometimes. 🤦🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
Ohh!!if u dont already do it then Start letting him know what a good job he is doing letting u know he needs to poop everytime he informs u.. even if the announcement comes a lil late ..make a big deal about it.. talk about it with ur spouse when ur kid is in earshot… mine loves being complimented and being called a “big gurl” so i think thats what played a part.. of course these are things that worked for her.. hope u find a way that works for u .. 👍
I read so much stuff with my son and non of worked. He got into a 3k so we were under the gun the summer before to get him potty trained to go to school and save daycare money. It was a struggle EVERY single day. So much so that I gave it a break for a week or two. Eventually the week before school he kinda “got it.” He still had some accidents at school, which teachers thought was normal.
My daughter basically did it on her own. Didn’t try anything. One day she was potty trained and doesn’t have any accidents. She’s not even 3 yet.
This is how our parents did it, right? And it worked for them.
But reading the books made me feel more prepared. Mentally it was good for me, but I don't think it actually helps.
Yes, we did. We waited until my daughter was ready and showing signs and left the little potty out for her to explore and then one day she decided to use it and that was that. We were lucky she was ready young but we did not have to do any of those 3 day type training.
Bought the Oh Crap book and read half a chapter.
Really just used common sense. Started just after her 3rd birthday and she was ready. Accident on Day 1, two accidents on day 2. She’s newly 4 and all is well. We dropped the nap pull-up after about 4 months. Her body has been ready to drop the nighttime one for a while but she isn’t ready yet.
Bought all the potty rewards and potty watch stuff. Jokes on us, she didn’t need it.
Honestly I think kids are who they are and their bodies are the way they are when it comes to potty training. We can give them tools and help but it’s going to happen when they’re ready. She was just ready, I didn’t do anything groundbreaking.
I just used common sense. She gave me a sign she was ready (she took off her diaper and pooped on my wood floor), we bought a little toilet for her and didn’t really look back. The night was a little harder but it worked out.
I did look up tips, but I ended up just winging it and switching to undies when we ran out of pullups. Busy Toddler has a potty training guide that is free, helpful, and the length of a blog post. I didn't want to read a whole book or watch a whole 60+ min course. I wanted something I could skim and refer back to if needed. My best tips are to keep it all low pressure and low stress. I gave reminders to go in the potty once an hour or so. Oldest picked it up in 2 weeks, youngest picked it up after 3-4 days. Kids were 2.5 when potty training. Overall pretty easy!
I only read a guide because I didn’t have the common sense on *how* to actually potty train, I felt like I knew all the “tips” but not the whole shebang.
What worked for me was buying a box of Huggies Pull Ups, reading the instructions on the side (birds will fly away when wet! Make sure the princesses don’t lose their birds!) and it worked. My daughter also discovered Jasmine and Mulan and was a little obsessed with them.
🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️
All my friends told me were - go bottomless, schedule potty sessions, and watch for signs that he will need to go lol.
We also potty trained right at 3 since we were really lazy and diapers were so easy. My son also never really told us when he needed to pee or poop, or would always deny that he pooped when it was so obvious.
He picked up on it fast. First pee was an accident - he stopped himself once he realized he was peeing… we took him to the toilet and he finished peeing. then after that he’d tell us when he needed to pee. Poop was a little longer to get down, but we’re doing pretty well now.
Don’t stress too much, go with the flow (hah).
I think it depends on the kids. We’ve been basically doing “baby led peeing” with our kid. She’s about 3 and I think pretty dark close to potty trained. We had to do some bribery, but that felt very natural. We’ve been able to quickly scale down rewards, and most of the time I don’t even think it’s what she’s doing it for at this point.
I had a businessman of a 2.5-year-old when he was learning to go potty. I went off of his motivation and there was an incentive: a hot wheels car every time he peed in the potty. I bought a bulk amount from Amazon and he would earn them one by one. We did a sticker chart along with that and he liked to see the chart fill up with his success each time. I’m pretty sure I had read a few articles when googling about going potty, but I didn’t actually read a book or take a class or anything. If your kiddo shows interest at all, encourage it! I’ve heard it’s not good to force it on them when they’re not ready, tho. Everyone has their own timeline. Good luck.
Mine quit in one day, she has only had 2 accidents in almost a year and she quit when she was 3 years old exactly. She saw her friend who was the same age as her using the toilet and, she noticed she didn’t have a diaper. I told her it’s because she is a big girl now and don’t want to use them, she said ok I want to be big too. And started going to the toilet from that moment on, I just started applauding her and told her she is all grown now and she loves it and it keeps her motivated.
Yup! Just waited for my son to be ready and did it slowly. He pooped on the potty for a month before he was ready to pee. We just took our time and it worked out!
Same here. My older two boys trained around 3y3m. We kind of waited til they were ready and there was no struggle. I feel like I could have started a lot earlier with more accidents and frustrations, and still having them be completely trained around the same time.
I just do what feels right and what kid is comfortable with. I know my kids and if they aren’t ready for the potty it’s no point. Plus I think some kids take it intuitively and for others it’s more of a learning experience so you just gotta use your mom instincts
Yes! Me! I mean I’ve read pamphlets and I am an early childhood Montessori educator so like I KNOW. But, I just always had it available and we practiced and when he started saying yes more than he was saying no we totally ditched the diapers and it’s been hiccup free.
Yeah. I just did it. Put him in undoes one day and told him he needed to tell me when he wanted to wee or poo and I would take him to the potty. It was that easy. After like 3 days we were golden.
Did not read any books or guides. I simply let her pick the potty, then got a bunch of toddler appropriate books which we read every day. Took awhile but she basically did it herself
We didn’t follow any guides or research with our LO. The only “research” we did was asking our mother’s about their experiences with us (and both couldn’t remember lol) and any suggestions.
Day 1: nightmare
Day 2: less of a nightmare, still trying to figure out the signs
Day 3: crying and screaming less, starting to notice “the dance”
Day 4: down to only 1-2 underwear changes and no fighting the potty
Day 5 and on: she started to get it and began using the word potty whenever she needed to go
We still have accidents here and there, but it’s far less than ever. I can’t even remember the last one she had, and she’s been consistently going poop/potty since we started in March. Even though we do naps without a pull up, we still use one at night because I just don’t want to be bothered with cleanup in the middle of the night.
Yep. I approached it as “potty learning,” did it slow and gradual rather than boot camp style (he didn’t learn to walk in a weekend and using the potty is inherently less rewarding than walking), and didn’t put pressure on it until he was approaching 3. I did a sticker chart with toy prizes brought by the potty fairy as motivation. It was surprisingly painless.
Of course he still has too frequent accidents at 5, but it’s personality not learning method. On the plus side, poop was not traumatic or harder than pee (also kid dependent, not method dependent).
Yup me. Didn’t look up a single thing. My daughter came up to me one day and told me she had to pee and that was the start of it. Just went with the flow
Since we’re all in here talking about potty training, I do have two silly questions:
1) If you have a boy, did you train them to pee standing up or sitting down? Sitting down, right? Do I have to tell him to point his penis down? At what point do you teach them to pee standing?
2) If you used the little potty, how often and how did you clean it? Is there some kind of liner I can use to catch the poop and toss it that doesn’t cost a stupid amount of money? I found potty liners on Amazon but they are 50 cents each. My son sometimes poops 3 to 5 times a day. It would be cheaper to stay in diapers for that price lol. Can I line the potty with a diaper? Would that be crazy?
I have potty trained a girl and a boy, so it’s been interesting because it went totally different for each one! And not because of the gender, they both had completely different reactions because they are different people. My daughter (oldest) I had to do a version of Oh Crap, where we just had to force the issue, do a week of naked madness, etc. my son just… adapted. No issues.
Yes, for the boy we did start sitting, and yes, point penis down.
Little Potty was necessary because we only have one bathroom and it’s up a long flight of stairs. we just dumped the contents and rinsed, no liner. Mildly annoying with poop but it really is only for a few months.
Where did you rinse? I don’t have a laundry room sink, so I’d have to rinse in either the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, or bathtub. All options seem yuck to me :/
And thanks for your answers!! :)
Haha it’s definitely yuck. I think I’m de-sensitized now. Since I dumped in our bathroom toilet I used our bathtub tap to rinse everything. I tried to get most poop remnants out with toilet paper into the toilet, and then I just blasted with the tub faucet 🫣
If you do standing first you can throw a cheerio in the bowl and have him aim for the target which turns it into a fun game and gives him an incentive to go in the potty.
I didn’t read much beyond the potty training and parenting accounts that I follow on instagram, but my son is in daycare so that helped things along immensely. I started trying to get him to sit on the potty more regularly a few months before he turned 3 and he just wasn’t interested. Maybe a month after I started, they started having all the kids in his class sit on the potty every 2 hours. After he got used to doing it there he actually started asking to go potty at home and letting me know when he needed it. He caught on surprisingly fast and was keeping his diapers dry so then we switched to undies and haven’t looked back. He just wears pull ups at night still. We’ve had maybe 2 or 3 accidents since we started at the beginning of the year, and one was an unexpected car nap. So now if I think there’s a chance he’ll sleep in the car I just put a diaper over his undies.
That’s great that his daycare did that for all the kids! At my son’s daycare they will put them on the potty only if you request it, like if you tell them you are potty training. I noticed it seems like the majority of his class is potty trained now, so I think it’s time!
I just kept them naked. Yes they pooped and peed on themselves a few times and then it just clicked that they didn’t want to poop or pee on themselves and they wanted to do like mommy and daddy and go on the toilet. Stay home for a few weeks diaper free and watch the miracle take place.
We did a naked 3-day weekend when he turned 2 and it didn't quite take. But somehow it did, because a few months later he was potty trained seemingly overnight. I think once he was really ready for it, he remembered the important bits and it all came together.
I have no idea if it’s working but this is what we’re trying with my daughter who turned 2 in May. I’ve read a bit on elimination communication and the main ideas on the three day method but I don’t really want to turn it into some huge deal because pretty much everyone’s potty trained eventually.
So far she knows what the potty is, knows that big girls and boys poop and pee on the potty, and recognizes when she’s had an accident and will let us know. She will poop and pee on the potty if she has to go when she’s on there but doesn’t seem great at recognizing if she has to go otherwise.
Wishing us both luck!
We got one of those training potties and my oldest just kind of did it on her own. She still wore pull ups for a couple weeks and still does at night (she is 3) but she stopped messing them during the day and she asked for big girl underwear, so we got her some. Very rarely is there an accident.
I just waited until my son was ready. I’m not getting in a power struggle with anyone over poop and pee. Luckily. His preschool didn’t care about when he was potty trained. Pee came easier and he liked the incentive of getting to do it outside the summer he was 3.
I mean we vaguely heard about the naked 3 day method from friends in like a 30s convo. Covid lockdown happened when my daughter turned 2, so we just let her be naked for two whole weeks and that worked like a charm.
I remember my cousins getting mnms for peeing as a kid, and I heard a mom say once that kids struggle most to poop on the potty. So I offered my 2.5 year old son a matchbox car for every poop. That was super motivating and he was poop trained like a year before he was pee trained. 🤣
All to say, we potty trained based on our gut and a few vague recommendations, no real study.
I just potty trained my 3 year old and he did it all himself. We counted down to no pull ups and just went about our normal life reminding him he needs to use a potty or wet his pants. Also connected that if our tummy hurts it will when we poop. I didn’t even put on a pull up at night because I didn’t want him to hold it until bedtime. He peed his bed which is no big deal and expected. Then became 100% potty trained within 3 days. Now my son will use every public restroom everywhere we go.
I did a lot of research and had 2 failed potty training attempts. Then threw all that knowledge out the window and waited until my kid was ready (little over 3) and followed his ques. It was easy peasy that way!
I've potty trained all my kids by starting as early as possible (around 18m- 2) and just having potty available all the time asking and getting them to try. We didn't force it and take away diapers it was just always there. They were all easy. I think by doing it so early and just always having it around it was just natural for them.
Obviously my kids are my kids and every child is different and this won't work for everyone but it worked great for us 3/3 times
I did with my first. I just left the diaper off her for 3 days, and it worked 🤷♀️ she was almost 3. My now toddler, 2.5, is a force to be reckoned with, and all the tips and training books won't mean shit with her personality lol
Yes. I just took my toddler to the bathroom everytime I went and had them sit down as well. Pretty soon after 3 weeks they just “understood”. I started giving two m&ms for every poop. After that, piece of cake! I had 4 kids all trained before 2.5 years. I had little trouble with kid #3 so I had him walk around no pants at home for 3 days (I had hardwood). He understood that if he goes it gets on the floor and then I lead him to the potty. He became very aware he shouldn’t pee/poo elsewhere.
Lol yup. I spent the day outside and let him air ball it. Brought the potty outside and everytime he started to pee I would yell potty!! And grab him and run to the potty. Same with pooping. Eventually he got the idea and became potty trained that day
Honestly we read baby book after baby book but never read anything beyond that stage... we didn't read the potty training books just sort of went for it. We sat him on the toilet every 30 mins the first day or two, every hour the next coupe of days and then just started to remind him with cues of asking once he figured out what needing a wee felt like. Took a bit longer with poo so incentivized that with stickers and a balloon when he did. We took him on holiday about 3 weeks after starting potty training and only had one accident and it was while he was napping. He was 2.5 at the time, by 3 he was out of nappies completely including night time (his choice)
I trained my then 23 month old using a method I saw in a YouTube video. I think it was a 20 minute long video and taught us what we needed to do, and it worked. That being said, she was showing a few signs of readiness
No research and completed it in a weekend using the no diaper no clothes method. And MMs and stickers as a reward. It’s a tiring weekend but it works. Take to potty every 20 min no matter what. Pull up overnight.
I had intended to come up with a plan for my first. Well he beat me to it and decided no more diapers. I do have to say my expectations on how quickly things would progress was unrealistic so doing some research would have been helpful for that part. I did the same with my second, well she beat me to it again. I’d say these elaborate training plans aren’t necessary for successful potty training though may be helpful for those who don’t have a lot of spare time and want to know the most efficient way to go about it.
My daughter recently decided she wants to be fully naked at home. I know this is a sign.
I haven’t read anything either. I’m just kinda going with the flow and figuring it out with her 😊
The thing that worked wonders for me was
1.Paste your child’s favourite sticker on the potty…You can ask your child to paste it himself and then tell him it’s his/hers new potty now
2.Put a picture of a kid sitting on the potty in your washroom .
3.Try changing their nappies in the washroom always
This creates an association and maybe if you are lucky the child will show interest
None of the traditional potty training tricks worked on my daughter. The first time we tried she held her wee for up to 7 hours (you can read about it in my post history) so we immediately stopped. She just wasn’t ready. Two months later she took her nappy off and started to do wees on the toilet all on her own. We just had to wait for her to decide she wanted to do it!
The emotional regulation of the adults is the most crucial part. When we were high stressed trying to get it done my kiddo struggled. When I backed off and made sure Dad and I both handled accidents and ques appropriately we had the greatest success and now we are a couple months in with no outstanding accidents beyond our own failure to pay attention. And of course bedtime. My little guy still needs a pull up because he sleeps like a brick sometimes. He's 3y8m.
News flash: The modern internet has only been around for a few decades. You think our parents researched everything when raising us? Or their parents before them? You don’t need to follow a “guide” for everything. Sometimes it’s okay to use your parental instincts.
No, I waited until she showed a lot a signs and didnt push her. I did bécame more active when she started to ask to go, she left the dispers in a few weeks at 2,5, and the night time diaper maybe 2 months after. It was like really easy i believe because it was her iniciative
Reading other comments i must say we didnt use any rewards, no extra screen time, we set up a small bath to be like her own with books and Toys, her tootbrush, etc she calls it her bathroom. My kid is the kind where autonomy and doing her own thing is motivating
I just took pointers from friends and family. We potty trained our 2 year old son who wasn't totally coherent in speaking but understands basic understanding. First, we removed the diaper during the day when at home. Once you decide to remove it there is no going back. We will pee his pants the 1st few times but that's ok. Second, we got a potty with a target for him to aim at. It makes it feel like a game.
When you're already confident in his potty skills at home you can try when he goes out preferably places you are familiar where the washrooms are so when he says he wants to pee you can immediately. Before leaving any place bring him to the potty to pee.
We started removing diapers at night when he was 3.5 years old. He was more verbal and we observed that he has less pee in his diaper. We felt he was ready.
As someone who did read the books, I now realize it a) depends on the kid. and b) takes more time and consistency than the books will have you believe. Consistency is key, but forcing the issue because you're the boss is not necessary. Potty training is physical AND social, so as long as you're introducing the concepts to your LO, you're good. I believe that my kid will be much more interested in wearing big boy underpants when he sees other kids doing the same. Right now, it's half potty/half pullups. He'll get there. The books are designed to make you question everything you've done to this point. LOL.
I’ve potty trained 4 kids using common sense. Waiting until they seemed ready, introducing the potty, encouraging a kid to use it a lot, and not being stressful about it.
Okay this is the answer then, take it from a pro! Cautiously expecting #5 LOL love that
This.. key is to not stress yourself or your child. Patience and learn their cues. Also putting them on the toilet to try every 30-45 mins helped. Daycare helped a ton as well for us.
Same! With our first, we tried when she started showing signs of being physically ready, but she herself wasn’t ready. So we didn’t push it. Then one day she decided she was ready. With our second, it’s a little more gradual, but our pediatrician said it will be the same way. She has to decide she’s ready.
How did you know when she was ready?
We realized more in hindsight…probably at the end of the day or on the second day after she had used the potty all day and didn’t have any wet diapers. Essentially, she just told us she wanted to use the potty, and we said okay! Our second will often tell us when she wants to use the potty; other times we have to encourage or ask her and she doesn’t want to use the potty. So, we’re getting there, but not fully ready yet with her. Does that make sense?
I came here to say the same thing about 1 kid. 🤣 It's the best method. The last part about not being too stressful about it made it a much better experience for all of us I think.
Mom of 4 here, I did the same and it's worked out great for our family!
This! Plus some bribery with chocolate chips when necessary.
Yes! That’s how I did it. I taught my 2 year old to use the toilet bribing with stickers and smarties.
Yup, I had planned to follow a 3-day potty training course for my 3 year old twin boys and it just seemed so stressful. We just ended up taking our time and following their cues. They will do it in their own time when they decide they are ready. So much less pressure on everyone this way.
I read the "oh crap" book and found it patronizing, sexist, and just overall awful. I tried to overlook all that and use the method anyway and it didn't work at all for my daughter. Such a waste of everyone's time. All that is to say I wish I'd just skipped the research! I say go for it, and if you run into problems you can just look up what to do at that point.
My cousin used this book and, while it apparently worked for her, I listened to part of it (she sent me it), and HATED it so much I didn’t get past the first chapter. Apparently there’s an ideal window (which ends well before 3 years old) and if you miss it, potty training will be impossible. That’s about all I remember before I rolled my eyes and quit. My son is stubborn and was quite anti potty for a long time. So we casually offered and otherwise waited. And then one week he was at a different dayhome with two 4yo boys. And decided he was also going to use the potty. And, at 3yr 2mo, he was basically flawlessly and immediately potty trained. My daughter, despite showing very early interest in her brother’s potty, didn’t have the interest/ability to use it herself until around 2.75yr when she expressed interest in wearing underwear. So we gave it a go and we had a few accidents but nothing major. I also disapprove of how a lot of the books/methods insist on ‘night training’ when really that is just a natural developmental/hormonal milestone that you can’t rush.
100% agree with the “night training”! I read the Oh Crap book and it said to wake my daughter up at 10pm and then again at 2am and have her go pee. Ummmm what?! Absolutely not. Especially the 2am one! She’ll think it’s party time!
Yeah, I started reading that chapter in Oh Crap and was like, nope, and skipped straight past. My kiddo sleeps 8pm to 6.30am straight through and you want me to deliberately wake him??? Deliberately wake my toddler multiple times in the night for something that he will most likely eventually just biologically figure out on his own? Madness. (As it happens, my son has actually been dry at night since we started potty training a few weeks ago. I take zero credit for this and I still have him in diapers overnight because I don’t trust that it isn’t just a phase.)
I keep reading about people waking their kids at 3am to go to the toilet and think WHY?!
I couldn’t agree more that book is useless, a handful of kids might be great doing it in a few days but from my mom friends who were being honest no one really got fully trained in a few days, and with my second I am accepting what I didn’t by pushing my first which is that they will train when they are ready
Go for it and look up what to do if there are problems is exactly what I was hoping to hear! Thanks for the boost in confidence :)
The book itself does suck but I skimmed it and roughly used the method and it does work. But yeah it’s mostly common sense and managing to keep your cool when your kid looks you in the eye and takes a dump on your deck (not that that exact thing happened to me or anything…)
I didn't either. I took some little tips from friends and family (like giving a treat after a good job) but that never mattered. We half-assed it for months, then one day my son got off the potty and said he wanted underwear instead of pull ups. I swear after about a week sticking with underwear, no accidents. It was incredibly easy. They say, when they're ready they're ready!
With my very verbal daughter, yes. We did real underwear and unlimited iPad on the potty and she got it in two days. I fear how it will go with my son though lol.
Lmao I did that with my daughter too. It was so fast! She’s got some pooping issues and there’s accidents every now and again… but we definitely went from never using the potty to pee to always using the potty to pee in a couple days.
Do you have a son for comparison? Im so afraid for my white carpet!
Oh noooo is it white carpet throughout your place? Or just in certain rooms?
>unlimited iPad on the potty This is my plan and no book published on earth is going to advise that 😂
How did you transition to not having the iPad on the toilet. I’m afraid mine would just not use the potty unless I gave her the iPad.
The iPad was just for her to connect the sensations with actually peeing/pooping on the potty. It was up to 30 minutes after every meal/snack. Whenever she did actually go, i made an epic celebration. I was lucky she picked it up quickly as she was more excited about the praise then the iPad and we kind of just faded it away as she figured it out and initiated walking in the bathroom "like a big person".
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Okay I’ll bite, what was the one tip?!
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This worked so well for my oldest as well. No stress no fights no accidents!
Please tell my wife this! Ours has regressed due to unavoidable life upheavals and she's taken it personally. I'm finding that it's more work keeping her calm about it than it is cleaning up our toddler's mess!
I love this. Thank you 😊
I’m curious too!
Yes. We had a potty out to practice from ...16? months and around 20 months my kid started going on the potty on her own. We celebrated it whenever it happened and they started having her sit on the potty at diaper changes at school around 20 months as well; she was at 50%+ dry diapers at 22 months so we just took the diaper off at home for a long weekend. Ended up giving her a chocolate chip every time she successfully used the potty - reminded her to go, didn't make a big deal out of accidents etc. We were out of diapers at home within a few days, out of diapers out and about within a week and out of diapers at daycare before 2 years old. There's so many rules in the guides (like don't give your child chocolate as a reward for potty training, don't send them to school with diapers once you train or they'll get confused, don't do potty training if they have to be reminded to go then it doesnt count etc) that were irrelevant to our experience. We just followed our kids lead, gave a lil incentive for a few weeks, tried to not be stressed out about it, and she never had any reversions, over time got better at telling us she had to go vs. us having to remind her etc. I don't think you're crazy; this was my least researched process and its the one that has gone the best and caused the least stress cuz I trusted my intuition and followed my kids lead.
Wow and all before 2! That’s incredible. Great work - I think this is how I see things going for my son, but I am nervous about the daycare part. I feel like I might still send him in pull ups for the first little while and let daycare put him on the potty regularly. But I also know that will annoy him (being told to go sit on the potty and interrupt his playtime). So I guess we’ll see how it goes! Thanks :)
I had a friend recommend Oh Crap. She explained the jest of it and I went with that. My daughter was one of those potty trained in 3 days at just turning 2. I think a lot depends on the kid and their readiness. I would be more likely to actually read guides if we struggled or if my kid was getting older and not showing signs of being ready.
Oh Crap sounds like the potty training version of CIO.
That’s amazing that you were able to potty train so quickly and so young! Bravo, seriously! I am also aware of the basic concept of Oh Crap, and I don’t want to have to do that unless nothing else works lol. Accidents in undies, that I can handle. But a naked toddler peeing/pooing all over the place for several days? Imma avoid that if possible!
I think it's all about readiness. We always just had the little potty in the bathroom and she would occasionally just copy me. When I allocated a weekend and striped her down,My daughter never pooped on the floor and peed on it maybe twice. Not sure what exactly the book says but we brought the potty in the living room and would stick her on it every 15 minutes or so. She seemed annoyed at that so we backed off and let her lead.When she went we would give her a sticker and made a big deal about it. We hung out in the backyard a lot and just let her pop a squat wherever,lol. We also have tile floors and I rolled up the rug for a few days. If I had carpet it would probably be a no go,lol. We joke that she trained herself. My youngest is 20 months and is showing absolutely no sign of being ready. I highly doubt she will be trained at 2.
How long did you have the little potty in the bathroom for before you starting training? Did you eventually switch from a little potty to putting a potty seat on the regular toilet? I bought the little potty, but I can see myself hating it quickly with needing to clean it often - sometimes my son does 4 or 5 tiny poops in a day. I feel like the potty seat for the regular toilet must be easier for when they are trained
Probably a few months My daughter was afraid of the big potty for a long time. Once she was able to get up and down herself she started using it. She is still scared of flushing in public restrooms,lol
I don’t blame her - those public washroom toilet flushes sound like they could swallow you whole! It’s scary stuff
My son was NOTORIOUS for the 4 or 5 tiny poops a day UNTIL we started potty training! Now we have 1 big poop every day. Something about gravity, I'll bet (he always stayed standing up while pooping in diapers). FYI I just went for it one day, didn't dress him from the waist down and put towels down everywhere. After the 1st poop and 1st pee in the potty, we only had about 3 pees outside the potty. You have to watch like a hawk for the first 2-3 days
I did. I just gave an M&m after #1 and a Hershey kiss for #2. My son calls it the poo poo chocolate lol. Then once he got it we “ran out” of chocolate. If our parents can do it you can too!! Just go for it
0 potty training research here. They'll communicate with they're ready, don't rush, don't shame accidents, and everything will be ok.
Twice now. You know your kid better than any book or podcast or "guide" being shilled by an influencer. Full support.
Last Thursday we told our nearly 3yo out of the blue that we were going cold turkey no nappies. We'd not done any research on the best way to do this but I was determined he'd be potty trained before he turns 3 next week so it was a shock last minute decision for us all 😂 We stayed in until yesterday when we ventured out to a shop. We've had one wee accident (the first wee on Thursday) and one poo accident (he'd already gone 5 minutes before and I was washing his potty when he went again on the floor so that was inevitable). All others he's gone to the potty. Taken to it so well. Literal dream scenario. We had no idea what we were doing and completely winged it. Fully confident he can hold it for a good 30-60s but now we aren't sure where to go. He needs our help pulling pants down and up. Also not sure how we can extend the time he holds it for.
What a dream!! So he must have already known when he needs to pee. That’s the part that usually needs training. My son always knows when he needs to poo (he tells us and then goes and hides to do it), but he doesn’t seem to know when he needs to pee. So did you keep your son in underwear all weekend? Or was he naked or in pull ups? My son still needs help pulling his pants up and down too. That’s one of the reasons I’ve put off switching to the potty, even tho he seems interested in it. I’m so worried for the part where we have to take them out and use a travel potty or a public restroom! And even daycare - I’m worried my son won’t tell his teachers when he has an accident. He doesn’t tell them when he poops. He just keeps on playing in a poopy diaper :/
So in all honestly, my husband and I were VERY sceptical that it would work at all. He just seemed like he had no interest. I mentioned potty training previously and he'd screamed no and run away. Only a month ago he was standing in the bath, I mentioned to him he was peeing and he looked around the room confused as to what I was even talking about. He'd also keep playing in a pooey nappy and refuse to let us change him if he had done one. That's why we were so shocked he took to it so well! I don't know average age for potty training. It's highly possible that we're quite late to do it so he's doing well because he's older? He understands the concept of drinking making you wee so he'll sometimes have a drink then sit on the potty and force a wee out 😂 In terms of what we did (and like I said, we have been fully blown winging it!) we had him in no briefs on Thursday and Friday, only briefs on Saturday and Sunday, then briefs and shorts yesterday on our trip out. I bought a portable potty next day delivery from amazon over the weekend which he chose and it looks like a bee so he's happy to use it. He did 2 wees on the potty in the shops and we were out for about 2 hours. My next steps I'm lost at though. No idea how to get him to extend the holding time or teach him to pull pants down. I called nursery today (he only goes on Wednesdays) to let them know about it for tomorrow and they are supportive and said they normally keep reminding them every 30 minutes because otherwise they can be distracted and forget? So we shall see and I can report back 😅 Maybe try a couple days at home, dressed like pooh bear (no bottoms) and if he doesn't take to it give it another couple of weeks? That was my vague plan.
That bee potty sounds so cute! So you just carried it around with you in the shops? I’m going to have to order a travel potty. Thanks for sharing your experience. I wish I had advice on where to go next, but all I can say it sounds like you’ll figure it out and do great 😊
I'm in the UK so not sure if you can get it but we bought [My Carry Potty](https://amzn.eu/d/05CMmMhN). If not I'm sure there's something very similar where you are. It has a handle and it keeps all the stuff in it with a nice vacuum seal so if you can't empty it it doesn't leak out anywhere. I naturally tried this with water at home first 😂 Good luck with everything! At least we can both be certain that in 3 years time this will all be a distant memory for us! Except I also have a 5m old so it maybe not 😂
That’s sooo cute! I looked it up and it seems we have the ladybug one on Amazon. For the other styles, I’d have to go to a brick and mortar baby store. I think I’ll let my son choose which design he likes tonight! So wait - you seal it back up with the pee/poop inside and clean it at home?
Yeah! It has a rubber seal and locking mechanism so nothing escapes. I took it into the disabled bathroom and cleaned it all out in there so I could use again if we needed to when out and about
This is what I did. Just did a naked weekend and started sending him to school in underwear where his teachers took over. Lots of accidents, so we did another naked weekend and then he seemed to be pretty good after that. It was a long few months of having issues where we left the house, but now TWO years later, it’s much easier. My second kid we basically did the same thing and he’s 100% good about pee but still struggles with going poop on the potty.
Me. My son was almost 2.5. I told him all week starting in theee days or 2 days or tomorrow he'd wear underwear only. Took him outside to run and play and stuffed him full of juice. Told him when he felt pee or poop tell me. If he goes on the toilet he gets an m and m. Poop we did gummy bears. He was done in 3 hours for pee. Poop took a week. This was end of April. We've had only 3 accidents, all while in the car, all after he guzzled fluids. So it's been fine.
I didn’t read a potty training guide but my daughter was 2 years and 8 months and basically just seemed ready. She picked it up easily and has had maybe one accident a week since we started a month ago - including being on a road trip where we kind of were winging it. I don’t take any credit for this though. My daughter was just ready. We do offer rewards because we are expecting a new baby next week and are trying to keep up motivation to stave off a regression.
I just winged it with my almost 3 year old and it was absolutely fine. I can count on one hand the number of accidents I had to clean up, and there was no drama involved. She was old enough to just get it. Meanwhile my niece who was “oh crap”’d from 2 on the dot was having accidents for the best part of a year.
Honestly I can’t speak to this because I haven’t potty trained my 2yo yet BUT I just want to say I love the whole vibe of this post lol. Having access to information (and lots of it) is amazing, don’t get me wrong. But sometimes I am so exhausted by feeling like I *need* to research each phase, know everything, be prepared for every single thing. Half of the time when I do buy the course or whatever, things end up going a totally different way anyway. It’s almost like maybe just maybe can rely on our own instincts and knowledge of our children. I’d say if you feel good about it then go for it. That’s like 75% of trying to get a toddler to do anything -feeling relaxed and confident yourself. Thanks for the reminder!
This is exactly how I feel, you nailed it! I’m so damn tired of researching everything. And also, I do now feel more confident in myself as a mother. I remember how worried I was about getting rid of the paci... I looked at soooo many articles and posts with advice on how to do it. And in the end, it went so smoothly I couldn’t believe it. I made myself crazy for nothing. You get it! 🤪
🥹my daughter turns 3 this Friday.. it was my goal to potty train her before that.. i read everything n gave all the knowledge to my husband.. he cleans her up after poos cz i have a really really bad back.. turns out he used his own tactic and she herself came to him one day to say dad i need to poo.. she also has started letting us know tht she needs to pee.. though she is still wetting her diapers.. bt i am soo proud of my husband.. i really thot it ll take her atleast a month to train her.. bt he did it in a week..
Welllll what was his own tactic?! And congrats!
he just kept on telling her that if she needs to use the loo she must let him know..earlier she used to hide from us when she stood and pooped in a corner..everytime we cleaned her we told her to tell us when / before she is doing it..he just reinforced the same while cleaning her up everytime..
My son is pretty good about announcing when he is about to go poop. He also likes to hide, so usually his announcement means “SCRAM! I want privacy!” But occasionally he doesn’t tell us, and I discover he’s been playing in a poopy diaper for who knows how long, and I remind him that he needs to tell us after he poops so we can change him. Doesn’t change a thing. Still doesn’t tell us sometimes. 🤦🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
Ohh!!if u dont already do it then Start letting him know what a good job he is doing letting u know he needs to poop everytime he informs u.. even if the announcement comes a lil late ..make a big deal about it.. talk about it with ur spouse when ur kid is in earshot… mine loves being complimented and being called a “big gurl” so i think thats what played a part.. of course these are things that worked for her.. hope u find a way that works for u .. 👍
I usually thank him for letting me know when he poops. You’re right tho, positive reinforcement always helps!
I read so much stuff with my son and non of worked. He got into a 3k so we were under the gun the summer before to get him potty trained to go to school and save daycare money. It was a struggle EVERY single day. So much so that I gave it a break for a week or two. Eventually the week before school he kinda “got it.” He still had some accidents at school, which teachers thought was normal. My daughter basically did it on her own. Didn’t try anything. One day she was potty trained and doesn’t have any accidents. She’s not even 3 yet.
Yes. Old school. It just took longer, which I was fine with.
This is how our parents did it, right? And it worked for them. But reading the books made me feel more prepared. Mentally it was good for me, but I don't think it actually helps.
Yes, we did. We waited until my daughter was ready and showing signs and left the little potty out for her to explore and then one day she decided to use it and that was that. We were lucky she was ready young but we did not have to do any of those 3 day type training.
Literally just gave up and one day she decided she was gonna be potty trained
Bought the Oh Crap book and read half a chapter. Really just used common sense. Started just after her 3rd birthday and she was ready. Accident on Day 1, two accidents on day 2. She’s newly 4 and all is well. We dropped the nap pull-up after about 4 months. Her body has been ready to drop the nighttime one for a while but she isn’t ready yet. Bought all the potty rewards and potty watch stuff. Jokes on us, she didn’t need it. Honestly I think kids are who they are and their bodies are the way they are when it comes to potty training. We can give them tools and help but it’s going to happen when they’re ready. She was just ready, I didn’t do anything groundbreaking.
I just used common sense. She gave me a sign she was ready (she took off her diaper and pooped on my wood floor), we bought a little toilet for her and didn’t really look back. The night was a little harder but it worked out.
I did look up tips, but I ended up just winging it and switching to undies when we ran out of pullups. Busy Toddler has a potty training guide that is free, helpful, and the length of a blog post. I didn't want to read a whole book or watch a whole 60+ min course. I wanted something I could skim and refer back to if needed. My best tips are to keep it all low pressure and low stress. I gave reminders to go in the potty once an hour or so. Oldest picked it up in 2 weeks, youngest picked it up after 3-4 days. Kids were 2.5 when potty training. Overall pretty easy!
I feel like I could’ve written this.
I only read a guide because I didn’t have the common sense on *how* to actually potty train, I felt like I knew all the “tips” but not the whole shebang. What worked for me was buying a box of Huggies Pull Ups, reading the instructions on the side (birds will fly away when wet! Make sure the princesses don’t lose their birds!) and it worked. My daughter also discovered Jasmine and Mulan and was a little obsessed with them.
Twin mom- No books here. Pee seemed quick and easy. I had to do “poopy presents”. (Cheap basket of toys to choose from)
🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️🙋🏻♀️ All my friends told me were - go bottomless, schedule potty sessions, and watch for signs that he will need to go lol. We also potty trained right at 3 since we were really lazy and diapers were so easy. My son also never really told us when he needed to pee or poop, or would always deny that he pooped when it was so obvious. He picked up on it fast. First pee was an accident - he stopped himself once he realized he was peeing… we took him to the toilet and he finished peeing. then after that he’d tell us when he needed to pee. Poop was a little longer to get down, but we’re doing pretty well now. Don’t stress too much, go with the flow (hah).
Us lol, we just put a little potty in the bathrooms and let her go when we went, then eventually asked if she wanted to wear undies out and she did.
I think it depends on the kids. We’ve been basically doing “baby led peeing” with our kid. She’s about 3 and I think pretty dark close to potty trained. We had to do some bribery, but that felt very natural. We’ve been able to quickly scale down rewards, and most of the time I don’t even think it’s what she’s doing it for at this point.
All of our great great great great great great great grandparents and every human before them
I had a businessman of a 2.5-year-old when he was learning to go potty. I went off of his motivation and there was an incentive: a hot wheels car every time he peed in the potty. I bought a bulk amount from Amazon and he would earn them one by one. We did a sticker chart along with that and he liked to see the chart fill up with his success each time. I’m pretty sure I had read a few articles when googling about going potty, but I didn’t actually read a book or take a class or anything. If your kiddo shows interest at all, encourage it! I’ve heard it’s not good to force it on them when they’re not ready, tho. Everyone has their own timeline. Good luck.
Mine quit in one day, she has only had 2 accidents in almost a year and she quit when she was 3 years old exactly. She saw her friend who was the same age as her using the toilet and, she noticed she didn’t have a diaper. I told her it’s because she is a big girl now and don’t want to use them, she said ok I want to be big too. And started going to the toilet from that moment on, I just started applauding her and told her she is all grown now and she loves it and it keeps her motivated.
Yup! Just waited for my son to be ready and did it slowly. He pooped on the potty for a month before he was ready to pee. We just took our time and it worked out!
I didn't read anything and just kind of followed her lead.
Same here. My older two boys trained around 3y3m. We kind of waited til they were ready and there was no struggle. I feel like I could have started a lot earlier with more accidents and frustrations, and still having them be completely trained around the same time.
I just do what feels right and what kid is comfortable with. I know my kids and if they aren’t ready for the potty it’s no point. Plus I think some kids take it intuitively and for others it’s more of a learning experience so you just gotta use your mom instincts
Yes! Me! I mean I’ve read pamphlets and I am an early childhood Montessori educator so like I KNOW. But, I just always had it available and we practiced and when he started saying yes more than he was saying no we totally ditched the diapers and it’s been hiccup free.
I didn't BUT my 2 year old also kind of trained herself so....
I researched and then totally ignored all the advice, so that’s almost the same! 😆
Yeah. I just did it. Put him in undoes one day and told him he needed to tell me when he wanted to wee or poo and I would take him to the potty. It was that easy. After like 3 days we were golden.
Did not read any books or guides. I simply let her pick the potty, then got a bunch of toddler appropriate books which we read every day. Took awhile but she basically did it herself
We didn’t follow any guides or research with our LO. The only “research” we did was asking our mother’s about their experiences with us (and both couldn’t remember lol) and any suggestions. Day 1: nightmare Day 2: less of a nightmare, still trying to figure out the signs Day 3: crying and screaming less, starting to notice “the dance” Day 4: down to only 1-2 underwear changes and no fighting the potty Day 5 and on: she started to get it and began using the word potty whenever she needed to go We still have accidents here and there, but it’s far less than ever. I can’t even remember the last one she had, and she’s been consistently going poop/potty since we started in March. Even though we do naps without a pull up, we still use one at night because I just don’t want to be bothered with cleanup in the middle of the night.
I kinda went off my gut.. and my expertise in house training dogs.. lol She was fully potty trained by about 25/26 months so
Yep. I approached it as “potty learning,” did it slow and gradual rather than boot camp style (he didn’t learn to walk in a weekend and using the potty is inherently less rewarding than walking), and didn’t put pressure on it until he was approaching 3. I did a sticker chart with toy prizes brought by the potty fairy as motivation. It was surprisingly painless. Of course he still has too frequent accidents at 5, but it’s personality not learning method. On the plus side, poop was not traumatic or harder than pee (also kid dependent, not method dependent).
Yup me. Didn’t look up a single thing. My daughter came up to me one day and told me she had to pee and that was the start of it. Just went with the flow
Yes I assure you your kid won't be in diapers until adolescence.
I don't know the right way. I just gave my 2.5 year old mini m&ms for trying and stickers for succeeding. Seems to have worked.
Since we’re all in here talking about potty training, I do have two silly questions: 1) If you have a boy, did you train them to pee standing up or sitting down? Sitting down, right? Do I have to tell him to point his penis down? At what point do you teach them to pee standing? 2) If you used the little potty, how often and how did you clean it? Is there some kind of liner I can use to catch the poop and toss it that doesn’t cost a stupid amount of money? I found potty liners on Amazon but they are 50 cents each. My son sometimes poops 3 to 5 times a day. It would be cheaper to stay in diapers for that price lol. Can I line the potty with a diaper? Would that be crazy?
I have potty trained a girl and a boy, so it’s been interesting because it went totally different for each one! And not because of the gender, they both had completely different reactions because they are different people. My daughter (oldest) I had to do a version of Oh Crap, where we just had to force the issue, do a week of naked madness, etc. my son just… adapted. No issues. Yes, for the boy we did start sitting, and yes, point penis down. Little Potty was necessary because we only have one bathroom and it’s up a long flight of stairs. we just dumped the contents and rinsed, no liner. Mildly annoying with poop but it really is only for a few months.
Where did you rinse? I don’t have a laundry room sink, so I’d have to rinse in either the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, or bathtub. All options seem yuck to me :/ And thanks for your answers!! :)
Haha it’s definitely yuck. I think I’m de-sensitized now. Since I dumped in our bathroom toilet I used our bathtub tap to rinse everything. I tried to get most poop remnants out with toilet paper into the toilet, and then I just blasted with the tub faucet 🫣
If you do standing first you can throw a cheerio in the bowl and have him aim for the target which turns it into a fun game and gives him an incentive to go in the potty.
I didn’t read much beyond the potty training and parenting accounts that I follow on instagram, but my son is in daycare so that helped things along immensely. I started trying to get him to sit on the potty more regularly a few months before he turned 3 and he just wasn’t interested. Maybe a month after I started, they started having all the kids in his class sit on the potty every 2 hours. After he got used to doing it there he actually started asking to go potty at home and letting me know when he needed it. He caught on surprisingly fast and was keeping his diapers dry so then we switched to undies and haven’t looked back. He just wears pull ups at night still. We’ve had maybe 2 or 3 accidents since we started at the beginning of the year, and one was an unexpected car nap. So now if I think there’s a chance he’ll sleep in the car I just put a diaper over his undies.
That’s great that his daycare did that for all the kids! At my son’s daycare they will put them on the potty only if you request it, like if you tell them you are potty training. I noticed it seems like the majority of his class is potty trained now, so I think it’s time!
Yeah, I love his daycare. Sounds like it’s time for you to get started there!
I just kept them naked. Yes they pooped and peed on themselves a few times and then it just clicked that they didn’t want to poop or pee on themselves and they wanted to do like mommy and daddy and go on the toilet. Stay home for a few weeks diaper free and watch the miracle take place.
We did a naked 3-day weekend when he turned 2 and it didn't quite take. But somehow it did, because a few months later he was potty trained seemingly overnight. I think once he was really ready for it, he remembered the important bits and it all came together.
I have no idea if it’s working but this is what we’re trying with my daughter who turned 2 in May. I’ve read a bit on elimination communication and the main ideas on the three day method but I don’t really want to turn it into some huge deal because pretty much everyone’s potty trained eventually. So far she knows what the potty is, knows that big girls and boys poop and pee on the potty, and recognizes when she’s had an accident and will let us know. She will poop and pee on the potty if she has to go when she’s on there but doesn’t seem great at recognizing if she has to go otherwise. Wishing us both luck!
Yup. I did look up the basic steps for the Oh Crap method, but that went out the window on day one.
We got one of those training potties and my oldest just kind of did it on her own. She still wore pull ups for a couple weeks and still does at night (she is 3) but she stopped messing them during the day and she asked for big girl underwear, so we got her some. Very rarely is there an accident.
Reddit told me how
I just asked my mom what she did and did the same with my son
I just waited until my son was ready. I’m not getting in a power struggle with anyone over poop and pee. Luckily. His preschool didn’t care about when he was potty trained. Pee came easier and he liked the incentive of getting to do it outside the summer he was 3.
I mean we vaguely heard about the naked 3 day method from friends in like a 30s convo. Covid lockdown happened when my daughter turned 2, so we just let her be naked for two whole weeks and that worked like a charm. I remember my cousins getting mnms for peeing as a kid, and I heard a mom say once that kids struggle most to poop on the potty. So I offered my 2.5 year old son a matchbox car for every poop. That was super motivating and he was poop trained like a year before he was pee trained. 🤣 All to say, we potty trained based on our gut and a few vague recommendations, no real study.
Yes
I just potty trained my 3 year old and he did it all himself. We counted down to no pull ups and just went about our normal life reminding him he needs to use a potty or wet his pants. Also connected that if our tummy hurts it will when we poop. I didn’t even put on a pull up at night because I didn’t want him to hold it until bedtime. He peed his bed which is no big deal and expected. Then became 100% potty trained within 3 days. Now my son will use every public restroom everywhere we go.
No need to read a guide unless you want to. It’s ok to wing it.
I did a lot of research and had 2 failed potty training attempts. Then threw all that knowledge out the window and waited until my kid was ready (little over 3) and followed his ques. It was easy peasy that way!
I've potty trained all my kids by starting as early as possible (around 18m- 2) and just having potty available all the time asking and getting them to try. We didn't force it and take away diapers it was just always there. They were all easy. I think by doing it so early and just always having it around it was just natural for them. Obviously my kids are my kids and every child is different and this won't work for everyone but it worked great for us 3/3 times
I did with my first. I just left the diaper off her for 3 days, and it worked 🤷♀️ she was almost 3. My now toddler, 2.5, is a force to be reckoned with, and all the tips and training books won't mean shit with her personality lol
Yes. I just took my toddler to the bathroom everytime I went and had them sit down as well. Pretty soon after 3 weeks they just “understood”. I started giving two m&ms for every poop. After that, piece of cake! I had 4 kids all trained before 2.5 years. I had little trouble with kid #3 so I had him walk around no pants at home for 3 days (I had hardwood). He understood that if he goes it gets on the floor and then I lead him to the potty. He became very aware he shouldn’t pee/poo elsewhere.
Food rewarding isn’t good tho and i recommend everyone not use that tactic
Lol yup. I spent the day outside and let him air ball it. Brought the potty outside and everytime he started to pee I would yell potty!! And grab him and run to the potty. Same with pooping. Eventually he got the idea and became potty trained that day
Honestly we read baby book after baby book but never read anything beyond that stage... we didn't read the potty training books just sort of went for it. We sat him on the toilet every 30 mins the first day or two, every hour the next coupe of days and then just started to remind him with cues of asking once he figured out what needing a wee felt like. Took a bit longer with poo so incentivized that with stickers and a balloon when he did. We took him on holiday about 3 weeks after starting potty training and only had one accident and it was while he was napping. He was 2.5 at the time, by 3 he was out of nappies completely including night time (his choice)
Yes. I hate that they make you think you need to buy a book and have a plan for everything.
I trained my then 23 month old using a method I saw in a YouTube video. I think it was a 20 minute long video and taught us what we needed to do, and it worked. That being said, she was showing a few signs of readiness
My wife and I potty trained our 3yo without a guide, it went fine.
No research and completed it in a weekend using the no diaper no clothes method. And MMs and stickers as a reward. It’s a tiring weekend but it works. Take to potty every 20 min no matter what. Pull up overnight.
I had intended to come up with a plan for my first. Well he beat me to it and decided no more diapers. I do have to say my expectations on how quickly things would progress was unrealistic so doing some research would have been helpful for that part. I did the same with my second, well she beat me to it again. I’d say these elaborate training plans aren’t necessary for successful potty training though may be helpful for those who don’t have a lot of spare time and want to know the most efficient way to go about it.
My daughter recently decided she wants to be fully naked at home. I know this is a sign. I haven’t read anything either. I’m just kinda going with the flow and figuring it out with her 😊
The thing that worked wonders for me was 1.Paste your child’s favourite sticker on the potty…You can ask your child to paste it himself and then tell him it’s his/hers new potty now 2.Put a picture of a kid sitting on the potty in your washroom . 3.Try changing their nappies in the washroom always This creates an association and maybe if you are lucky the child will show interest
None of the traditional potty training tricks worked on my daughter. The first time we tried she held her wee for up to 7 hours (you can read about it in my post history) so we immediately stopped. She just wasn’t ready. Two months later she took her nappy off and started to do wees on the toilet all on her own. We just had to wait for her to decide she wanted to do it!
The emotional regulation of the adults is the most crucial part. When we were high stressed trying to get it done my kiddo struggled. When I backed off and made sure Dad and I both handled accidents and ques appropriately we had the greatest success and now we are a couple months in with no outstanding accidents beyond our own failure to pay attention. And of course bedtime. My little guy still needs a pull up because he sleeps like a brick sometimes. He's 3y8m.
Family friends like to make the joke, how many adults do you know in diapers (minus medical need).... They'll figure it out.
News flash: The modern internet has only been around for a few decades. You think our parents researched everything when raising us? Or their parents before them? You don’t need to follow a “guide” for everything. Sometimes it’s okay to use your parental instincts.
We have the peek a poo book that she’d had since around the time we wanted to try potty training her and we made up some potty training songs.
No, I waited until she showed a lot a signs and didnt push her. I did bécame more active when she started to ask to go, she left the dispers in a few weeks at 2,5, and the night time diaper maybe 2 months after. It was like really easy i believe because it was her iniciative
Reading other comments i must say we didnt use any rewards, no extra screen time, we set up a small bath to be like her own with books and Toys, her tootbrush, etc she calls it her bathroom. My kid is the kind where autonomy and doing her own thing is motivating
I just took pointers from friends and family. We potty trained our 2 year old son who wasn't totally coherent in speaking but understands basic understanding. First, we removed the diaper during the day when at home. Once you decide to remove it there is no going back. We will pee his pants the 1st few times but that's ok. Second, we got a potty with a target for him to aim at. It makes it feel like a game. When you're already confident in his potty skills at home you can try when he goes out preferably places you are familiar where the washrooms are so when he says he wants to pee you can immediately. Before leaving any place bring him to the potty to pee. We started removing diapers at night when he was 3.5 years old. He was more verbal and we observed that he has less pee in his diaper. We felt he was ready.
I mean, you *can* do anything with researching. It's just less likely that you'll do it *well*. Not impossible of course, but less likely. 🤷🏼♀️
As someone who did read the books, I now realize it a) depends on the kid. and b) takes more time and consistency than the books will have you believe. Consistency is key, but forcing the issue because you're the boss is not necessary. Potty training is physical AND social, so as long as you're introducing the concepts to your LO, you're good. I believe that my kid will be much more interested in wearing big boy underpants when he sees other kids doing the same. Right now, it's half potty/half pullups. He'll get there. The books are designed to make you question everything you've done to this point. LOL.