At 2 years and 9 months, our boy was fully daytime potty-trained (pee and poop) in a week. That’s right, just a week. The first four days were at home. The next three were at daycare. I wrote down an entertaining diary of sorts for that first week if you want to check out the play by play.
For the first 3 days, we did “no bottoms”. On the 4th day, when he went back to daycare, we did pull-ups at school and undies at home. On days 5, we decided to commit fully, and did undies all day, and pull-ups only for sleeping. Days 6 and 7, we were accident free in underwear with pee and poop. We’ve also been 99% accident free ever since then.
We did the reward system, one m&m for pee, 2 for poop. One hot wheel car for an accident free day at home and at school. After the first week was over, we weaned him off the prizes, and went to just praise.
To help you save time (and money), here are the products we used.
Books for mom and dad
There are a lot of potty training methods out there. This book comes highly rated but keep in mind, you may feel a little parent-shamed. This one claims to get your kid potty-trained in day.
Books for your toddler
Books for toddlers serve 2 purposes. 1) to help teach your toddler the process of going on the potty 2) to get them relaxed and distracted enough to go. This “Potty” book and “P is for Potty- Sesame Street” was is highly rated on Amazon. It’s short, simple, and gets to the point. The illustrations help your toddler understand what’s going on. Our toddler loves “Look-and-find” books. Elmo and Paw Patrol were his favorite and they were very age appropriate.
Potty or Potty seat for toilet
It’s your preference whether you go with a potty or a seat for the toilet. This potty comes highly rated for its functionality and price. We decided to use potty seats for the toilet. We had two differently shaped toilets in our home so we had two different seats. We keep this potty seat in our master bathroom because you can remove it and it “stands” on its own. For this other potty seat that doesn’t budge at all , we kept in the bathroom that he would frequently use.
Travel potty
Public restrooms can be nasty. You don’t want your kid exposed to any more germs than they have to be. Keep a travel potty close by. The Potette convertible ones are the best. They functions as a potty seat for the toilet AND a potty. We have this compact seat and it definitely works for us.
Step stool
The step stool can be used if you’re potty training on the toilet and if you not, it can be used to help your toddler was his or her hands at the sink. You need something sturdy with enough room for them to turn around and step down like this step stool.
Sink Extender
Our sink was not made for toddlers. Even with the step stool, we had to lift him up a little bit in order to wash his hands. This sink extender is great and it made him feel like a big boy to wash his hands by himself.
Flushable Wipes
Baby wipes can clog up your toilet. Toilet paper might cause irritation for potty trainers. We used these flushables wipes to help get everything clean.
Candy/Stickers
Say what you will, but I think the reward system did wonders. Our son caught on quick when he knew something was in it for him. Small candies or stickers or progress chart might be just the ticket for your child.
Prizes
Again, it’s up to you. We did hot wheel cars for major milestones: asking to go poop and successfully pooping on the toilet, sleeping through nap time with a dry pull-up, getting up in the middle of the night to tell us he had to go potty.
Pull-ups
You might not need for daytime training, but you may still need them for nap time and bedtime. The ones that break apart at the seam are good for easier cleaning with soiled pull-ups.
Underwear
I think his favorite part was picking out his underwear. Definitely get multiple packs, because there may be a learning curve. The ones with characters such as these superheroes undies or Paw Patrol were his favorite because we explained that “they don’t like to get wet”.
Mattress Cover
When you do go to full-time underwear, a mattress cover is a must. You might as well get two of these mattress covers for toddler bed or twin beds and a couple of extra bed sheets.
RELATED:
A Day by Day Breakdown of Potty Training Successfully in a Week
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