Toilet Training: What Worked For Us

Toilet training is that one milestone I guess all parents dread reaching although when it’s over and done with it is such a great relief, isn’t it?

This isn’t going to be a post about telling you what you should and shouldn’t do but merely just sharing my experience of what worked for us, this could help you or not as the one thing I’ve learnt on our toilet training journey is that every child is different hence you cannot follow the same method as everyone else.

It has now been over a year since A has been toilet trained so this post has been a long time coming!

So without further ado, let’s get straight into it!

What didn’t work?

The naked method – the usual typical method that the majority use, keeping the little one naked below and letting them run freely, this had an opposite effect and was distressing so we gave up on that.

The Potty – I bought her a potty that looked exactly like a toilet so she’d think she’s doing the same thing as mummy, I even placed it in the bathroom and encouraged her to sit on it whilst I do my business, she’d sit but wasn’t really interested so we gave up on that too, eventually.

Reward Chart – Oh yes, this didn’t do great either. This started off well but she’d just get annoyed because she wanted all the stars straight away and not on the actual chart so we let this one go too.

The Important Stuff

Are they ready?

There’s so much pressure to toilet train when a child reaches a certain age and many start this journey when the child isn’t even ready which results in tears. 

Listen to your child and not those around you, you know your child better. 

Some examples to look out for but not limited too:- 

• Do they recognise that they’ve done something in their nappy.
• They’re irritated by a dirty nappy.
• They tell you they’ve done something.
• They are dry for a good amount of time.

Are YOU ready?

This is the one thing that is overlooked, we are so focused if our little one is ready but not if we are too.

Toilet training requires dedication from us. This is the one mistake I made – although A was ready, I wasn’t. I wasn’t able to put a dedicated time aside because of work and I’d end up trying to train her on weekends and although she’d do great but because of lack of consistency she’d go back to square one.

This leads onto… 

Environment

This might be relevant for some children and for others not a problem but for us it was. As mentioned above, I’d try to train her on weekends and during the weekday my mum would try to continue. 

A just wasn’t happy about it – the bathroom in my mums home is upstairs and A wouldn’t feel comfortable having to keep going up the stairs. So we tried the potty downstairs but of course she wasn’t a fan of that either.

Although as my mum knew when A would be doing her big business, she’d place her on the toilet. The toilet was never the issue it was always the stairs.

So what happened?

We gave up that year, I thought to myself until I can fully dedicate myself, I won’t stress myself. My Mum continued to put her on the toilet whenever need be but we didn’t pressure A to tell us. 

She was ready, I wasn’t.

What changed?

Lockdown 1.0 happened and it was honestly a blessing in disguise for anyone wanting to toilet train their kids! I was working from home so it made it all the more easier. 

I started placing her on the toilet every 15 minutes and then gradually increased the timing and eventually she started to tell me. 

What to use:

Toilet training seat – If your child isn’t a fan of the potty then this is a must.

Cloth underwear – the previous year I had bought a couple of Bambino Mio cloth underwear from Aldi and these were the best thing ever. I didn’t want to jump to normal underwear so cloth was better which meant if she had an accident, she would be aware but at the same time not much mess to clear up. 

Books – 

No More Nappies – this is such a fun and interactive book and A was instantly taken by it. I loved the fact that it showed one child happily using the potty and the other who preferred to go straight to the toilet. This really helped her to understand the entire process.

Bing’s Toilet Train – Hands down the best thing out there! No matter how annoying I find Bing but he has been very helpful in training A to use the toilet! 

A was going through a Bing obsession phase so this was perfect. This was honestly a game changer not just because it was A’s favourite tv show but the buzzer on the front really did the trick. 

I told her if she needed to use the toilet she could press that and the rest is history! 

Out and about?

So because of COVID19 we’ve not ventured far much but when we need to go out for example to the doctors, I take this portable seat with us, it’s compact and fits on toilet seats perfectly. 

However, for longer journeys I’ve managed to make use of the potty finally. She did need a lot of encouragement but when she really needed to go she just gave in. So in a normal potty, I put a plastic bag with tissues and have turned it into a potty on the go! 

Night time?

A hormone called antidiuretic hormone is what stops children from bed wetting. So until that is produced you can’t expect a child to go dry at night. 

When does this happen? It varies, some children can be 3 years old and some 6 years old, it’s a natural process we cannot control.

What about A?

A became dry at night after a month of being fully toilet trained during the day. But I still kept her in nappy pants at night just in case, for quite a while. However, one night my mum encouraged me to just leave her in her underwear as she was waking me up at night to go to the toilet which meant there were less chances of having an accident.

And that is it! 

Our journey wasn’t a typical one but I do hope this was helpful!

How did you find this stage of parenthood? Do you have any tips to share?