With my son’s second birthday approaching, I couldn’t help but feel anxious about beginning the potty training process. The task seemed daunting!
He is my strong-willed child, and making him do something he doesn’t want to do is a tough battle.
Sleep training took longer than for most babies. Getting him to transition from a bottle to a cup took A LOT of patience and firmness on my part. So I was mentally preparing myself for a long and tiring journey.
We began the potty training process a month before his second birthday. To my huge surprise (and relief!) it only took a couple of days! And after those couple of days, we had no more daytime accidents!
After the third day, he even began asking to go to the bathroom at night (we still put on nighttime diapers just in case). I was one proud mama!
Now, if you are struggling with potty training and find it taking longer than you expected, I don’t want this post to make you feel bad about yourself or your toddler. Each toddler has his/her own preferences and temperament. They will get there eventually!
BUT, if you are looking for tips to expedite the process, I am sharing six things we did to potty train our toddler boy in just three days. This means that after three days he asked to go both number one and number two in the toilet without accidents (for the most part!)
1. Introduce the Toilet Beforehand (or toddler potty seat)
To potty train, we decided to use the actual toilet with a toddler seat and began sitting Caleb on it every two hours throughout the day. He was terrified at first. He would cry and ask us to take him off right away. After two days of doing this (with no success), he came down with the flu and we ended up postponing the potty training process for a couple of weeks.
Although unsuccessful, these two days introduced Caleb to the toilet so that when we officially started potty training, it was not totally new to him.
During this introduction phase, he would still wear diapers and we left the house whenever we needed to, so I don’t count it as the actual training process.
2. Take Your Toddler to the Toilet Every Two Hours
There are many potty training tips that tell you to take your toddler to the toilet every 15-20 minutes. But if you think about it, we don’t use the bathroom that often, and toddlers don’t need to either.
It also prevents the process from being a positive one because leaving your toys to go to the bathroom every 15 minutes would be annoying to anyone. My goal was not to prevent accidents (that is an essential part of the process) but to get Caleb used to going to the toilet.
3. Show Your Excitement
You want your toddler to WANT to go to the bathroom, and if he sees your excitement when he uses the toilet, he is much more likely to want to go again next time.
Every time my toddler would go number one or two in the toilet, I would go “YAY! GOOD JOB!” and give him a high-five. He looked so proud of himself after seeing my excitement and began clapping himself every time he was finished (it was too cute!).
4. Use Positive Reinforcement
The first time Caleb successfully used the toilet, we gave him a small treat. We gave him a small treat for the first couple of weeks until going to the bathroom was just something he did and he eventually stopped asking for one. And by “small treat”, I mean a blueberry or a piece of dried mango.
This is another way to get your child to want to use the toilet. However, you want to keep the treat small because your toddler may ask for it for the first couple of weeks every time he uses the toilet. And if you are giving him a piece of candy, the sugar really adds up.
5. Avoid Using Diapers or Pull-Ups
Leaving your toddler in a diaper while potty training will slow down the process.
You want them to feel the wetness, and with a diaper, it all gets absorbed. This will (hopefully) encourage them to use the toilet instead.
I dreaded this part because I knew it would mean accidents everywhere, including the rugs and couch. To prepare, I took out our living room rug and placed puppy training pads under the fabric of our couch for protection.
Just know that accidents are an essential part of the training. They help encourage your toddler to go to the bathroom. We honestly only had two days of accidents, and I guess that was enough for Caleb to realize he did not like feeling wet.
6. Avoid Leaving the House for a Couple of Days
Plan for potty training ahead of time and do what you need to do to be able to stay home for the first couple of days of training.
You don’t want to take a “break” from the training during the initial stage. You want to be consistent by taking your toddler to the toilet every two or so hours and leaving their diaper off during the day. That way when they do go in their pants, they feel it.
If you are leaving the house to run errands and are putting a diaper back on your toddler, you may be prolonging the training process.
I hope that these tips were helpful for you and your little one. Just remember EVERY TODDLER IS DIFFERENT, so if you are doing everything you can on your end and it is still taking them longer to learn, IT’S OKAY. This process requires patience and consistency!
