A child who has become familiar with bathroom procedures and equipment is more likely to become trained quickly and easily than one who has not. How can you best do this? Here are some toilet training tips to start doing before you start the potty training sessions. You can start doing them days or weeks before the big day. It really depends on you and your child
- Take your child into the bathroom with you – It’s especially helpful if fathers and brothers set the example for boys, and mothers and sisters set the example for girls. Brothers or sisters are often pleased to act as role models. Some adults have a real problem with people being in the bathroom with them – even if it is your own child or grandchild. Get over it! If your child is in day care, they can watch how their peers use the potty and will most likely imitate them. In fact, this can actually speed up the process significantly
- Introduce your child to his/her feces -‘while changing diapers, show them their poop and pee, so they’ll know it’s a separate part of their body.
- Introduce your child to the sensations –Try to help your child recognize the sensations of “being wet,” “wetting now,” and “about to be wet.” Encourage your child to talk about these sensations — especially “about to be…” sensations – without pressing your child to be toilet trained. Comment on signs you notice, such as the child’s pausing in play or walking as if he or she is uncomfortable after elimination. Use statements such as, “You are going poop,” rather than asking the general question, “What are you doing?” Asking your child to let you know when the diaper is wet or messy is another way of increasing awareness.
- Help them understand what they are doing when they poop or pee – Let your child go nude in appropriate settings to help the child “see” what he or she is doing, and to help make the mental connection between the words and what they refer to. Of course, there will be accidents, so investe in a cheap carpet cleaner to take care of that!
- Introduce them to the bathroom – Changing a diaper in the bathroom will also associate the process with the place. Children over age 2 should be off the changing table for exactly this reason.
- Teach them how to say it – Although much ado has been made about using the proper terminology for body parts and functions, you should use the words that come most easily to you and your child. “Peeing,” for example, may be more effective than the term “urinating” if the latter is a forced term.
However, you SHOULD use specific terms. “Going to the bathroom” is too vague. “Go pee on the potty” is not.
Try not to use words that will make your child think of his or her bodily functions as being dirty or disgusting. Avoid saying things like “dirty,” “stinky,” “yucky,” etc. - Help your child learn the meaning of the terms “before” and ” after” by using them yourself in other contexts such as, “After I eat dinner, I’ve got to clean up the dishes.”
- Talk about the advantages of being potty trained –Explain them that there will be no more diaper rash, no more interruptions for diaper changing, and the pleasure of being clean and dry. Discuss training as an important stage of growing up. If your child is truly ready to use the potty, he or she will be able to understand you.
- Start dry training – Let your child practice lowering and raising training pants sometimes, or putting them on and taking them off. Pull-ups are great for teaching them this concept. You will want to consider buying “big boy britches” for boys or “pretty panties” for girls before starting the process. By this, we mean actual underwear with a favorite character on them or frilly, lacy panties that can make your girl or boy feel special. Using this tactic also helps them embrace the desire not to soil their special pants.
- Introduce them to the potty – Have a potty chair handy on which the child may sit even with clothes on perhaps while you are in the bathroom yourself, but only if he or she wants to. The intent is not to get results, but to provide familiarity with the equipment.
Some children won’t use a potty chair at all, but having one available is a good idea anyway. There are all sorts of fun potty chairs on the market today, so find one that your child can be proud of and identify with. The idea is to have your child sit on the potty chair and become comfortable with being on their own little throne. If they want to haul it into the living room and sit there while watching TV, let them. Don’t get all caught up in appropriateness when potty training. You have to relax just a little bit and let your child lead the way – at least for a little bit! - Let your child flush the toilet for you – It will help him or her get used to the noise it makes and avoid possible fear later on. We found it helpful to “wave bye bye” to the pee or poop as it drained out. This made it fun for him!
- Watch videos or read books about potty training – Personally I like Once Upon a Potty For Him/her and Winston’s Potty Chair, but there are manty other good ones.
- Positive reinforcement – encourage them on everything they do. encouraging their independence will strength their will to succeed.