Tips For Potty Training Success

This post and giveaway were made possible by iConnect and Pampers. I was compensated for my participation in this campaign, but all opinions are 100% mine.

The weather is getting warmer and for many parents of toddlers that means it’s potty training season. Though my family is out of this season of our lives I know many of you are still working on it so I wanted to share a post with some of the tips I learned during the process. I also wanted to share some tips from Dr. Laura Jana, a potty training expert.

Her first tip is to watch for signs of readiness. Just about all children give subtle (and some not-so-subtle) signs that they are ready for potty training. These signs of readiness typically include using their words to express themselves, toddling their own way to the bathroom, pulling down their own pants, saying they want to use the “big potty,” and being aware of the sensation of peeing or pooping, characteristically noticeable when young children suddenly stop what they’re doing as they feel themselves start to go. It is also helpful and increases the likelihood of potty training interest when children start to be bothered by their messy diapers, as that can serve as a good motivation for using the potty instead!

I found this was the biggest factor to finding potty training success for my kids. I tried potty training before my boys were ready and failed because I was trying to train them too early. I learned that there is no magical age to start potty training but it is instead all about when they start to show signs of readiness. My boys both have Sensory Processing Disorder, and my youngest is also on the Autism Spectrum, so they both took longer to develop the awareness that they had soiled themselves and even longer to realize when they needed to go to the bathroom. Once I waited for them to become aware of these things potty training became much easier.

Dr. Jana’s second tip is to prepare for potty training by making sure you have all supplies on hand. These supplies will help you through any obstacle and can help foster your child’s interest and independence – from a step stool (to improve access to the toilet) or potty seat to training pants. Pampers Easy Ups training pants are designed to help the diaper-to-underwear transition by allowing potty-training toddlers to set aside their diapers and wear something with a more underwear-like look and feel that still helps contain accidental messes no matter wherever they happen: at home, on-the-go or overnight.

We liked using training pants because they helped reduce messes. I also found that they were easiest for our always on the go family. Pampers Easy Ups training pants, available in sizes 2T through 5T, are a good choice because they have fun designs featuring your child’s favorite characters like Thomas & Friends® and Dora the Explorer®. The super-stretchy sides make them easy to pull up and down when using the potty so children feel a sense of independence when using them.

Her third tip is to celebrate every win. As with any learning experience, young children can learn a lot from both their potty successes and their setbacks. While potty accidents are an inevitable (and admittedly inconvenient) aspect of potty learning, they shouldn’t dominate your day-to-day discussions. Instead, simply help your child learn to cope with and clean up any messes, and focus your attention on celebrating your child’s efforts and successes with plenty of hugs and words of encouragement.

I found that focusing on my kid’s successes and encouraging them to keep trying was really important. Our kids were really motivated by sticker charts and the possibility of earning small special toys when they had enough stickers. This also made the process more fun for them.

Want even more potty training tips? Join Pampers on April 28th from 9-10pm EST as they host a Twitter Party with Dr. Laura Jana, pediatrician, award-winning parenting book author and potty training expert who co-authored to Its You and Me Against the Pee…and the Poop, Too! Dr. Jana will be sharing her tips to help simplify and improve the potty training experience for little ones and their parents. RSVP here.

What tips do you have for making potty training less stressful? I’d love to hear in the comments below and I’m even giving you a chance to win a great prize pack if you leave a comment!

GIVEAWAY:

One person will win a $25 AMEX Gift Card, Pampers wipes & Pampers Easy Ups

HOW TO ENTER:

Leave a comment below sharing a potty training tip

OPTIONAL 2ND ENTRY:

Share this post on social media (adding the hashtag #PampersEasyUps) and comment with the link

This giveaway ends May 10, 2016 at 11:59pm CST. Must be a US resident, 18 or older to enter.

260 thoughts on “Tips For Potty Training Success”

  1. For boys, have them fo to the bathroom with dad or older brothers. My youngest son was in such a hurry to be just like his two older brothers that he literally potty trained himself by 18 months.

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  2. Use a small reward to motivate the training and use a potty they are not intimidated with.
    jslbrown2009 at aol dot com

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  3. My tip is to work on potty training exclusively for an entire weekend. Try to make the transition between diapers and potty very defined.

    Thanks for the chance to win!
    wildorchid985 at gmail dot com

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  4. I use a potty training chair that sits on the floor and helps child feel stable when starting out. Then I put a big potty training chair on the toilet so child can learn how to potty train.

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  5. shared on Facebook–https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=264856820519382&id=100009851985013&pnref=story

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  6. Patience. I’m not a quick trainer with my kids. I really wait for them to be totally ready so I’m not running them to the bathroom nonstop.

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  7. My tip for potty training is to do it in the summer when less clothes are on makes it easier for the child to get training pants on and off and easier on mom with laundry!

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  8. Don’t try to rush things. When the child is ready, they will let you know. And when you’re in the bathroom, don’t try to hurry them along. It will only stress them out.

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  9. My tip is to have patience and give little rewards for going on the potty. If you get stressed, the child will get stressed, so stay calm and positive about potty training.

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  10. I am training one of my grandboys right night and we like reading books, he reads a bit on the potty and then he wants me to read,, and so far no wetting during the day lol :)

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  11. My biggest tip is to follow your child’s lead. You can’t force them – when they’re ready, they’ll be ready (even though we’re all eager to say goodbye to diapers! lol!)

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  12. My best tip for potty training is not to give up easily. Keep taking your child to the potty every two hours without missing a beat. Accidents will happen… so DON”T give up.

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  13. My tip is to allow your child to lead. Make them really involved, they get to pick out the undies, the stickers and the treats, use a special watch or timer to keep track of when they need to take a potty break and then CELEBRATE success!

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  14. My tip is to allow your child to lead the pace and never get angry or frustrated with them over potty training.

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  15. My potty tips is to be very excited when your child let’s you know they have to go potty and makes it in time. The excitement, praise and letting them know how proud you are of them goes a long way.

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  16. My best tip is to use a reward system, we used stickers. My son would get so excited to wear a sticker and another sticker to chart on a calendar. We made to make a big deal (lots of positive reinforcement) when he successfully used the potty.

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  17. My kids seemed to be able to tell me when they had to go potty, and I knew that they were ready to start using the big potty.

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  18. We allowed the child to pick out their own underwear and put them on the adult potty every 15 minutes. We woke them up in the middle of the night to go the potty. We never brought the kiddy potty…Made sure they washed their hands everytime. Did not give rewards because they grow up expecting that every time. We quit giving food and drink after 7 or 8pm except for tiny sips of water. Within 3 days, they trained and had very few accidents after that..

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  19. we use a sticker chart
    everytime we use the potty we get a sticker when the row is full we earn a small surprise

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  20. I used Cheerios for my son to aim at and try to sink them. I used blue food coloring in the toilet water so he could watch it turn green. I also used a sticker chart and waited until he was actually ready to train. Going to the store and letting him buy “big boy” underwear with his favorite characters helped too.

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  21. Don’t use diapers so that the toddle will find it uncomfortable to potty without it and will right away want to use the training potty, it really works and fast too.

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  22. My only tips are to wait until they’re really ready to learn and to make potty training as fun as possible for them.

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  23. My tip is to let them watch older kids use the potty. My girls were two years apart and my two year old potty trained herself while I tried to get her four year old sister to get out of diapers. lol

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  24. My tip is to always let the child tell you when they have to go. dont force them to go. they will learnn on their own and go at their own time

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  25. When potty training always have your child go potty before leaving any location whether it is home or a public place. Better to have a empty bladder than a messy car ride home!

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  26. My tip is to try potty training, but don’t stress if it doesn’t work. Wait and try again in a few months.

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  27. I always said I wouldn’t, but my best tip that worked with all four of my kiddo’s is a bribe! I would do a small piece of candy after each try and a dollar store at the end of the week if they succeeded! It worked like a charm and was worth every penny!

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  28. y tip is to not force potty training on your child. If your child fights it, try again in a few weeks. Also, rewards like stickers help the child get excited about potty training!

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  29. After potty training 6 kids, my best advice is to wait until they’re ready. Then when they are truly ready it’s so much easier….we also celebrate each success and reward with a little treat, like an M&M or chocolate chip.

    ~ Mara

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  30. My biggest tip is: Don’t push them. Often they’ll refuse because they can. It’s a way to feel “in control.”

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  31. I made a sticker chart with the days of the week on it and every time my daughter used the potty she got to place a star sticker on that day. Every time she had an accident I put a sad face on the day she had an accident. She was appalled at getting sad faces so she potty trained quickly.

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  32. My potty training tip is to have patience! Every kid moves at their own pace and will be ready at their own time.

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  33. my potty training tip is to start early and use positive reinforcement. i like to use a rewards system. it works for us.

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  34. My tip is this: after you know they know how to use the potty, but just won’t, put them in underware and let them have an accident. For some kids all it takes is one time for them to start using the potty (that was my older son)…and one mess clean up is worth it to see if that’s your kid. But if you have to clean up a second mess and they weren’t trying to get to the potty, than put the pull ups back on cause that’s not your kid. (I’ve had one of both).

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  35. after potty training 4 kids and now training 2 granddaughters my best tip is relax. Do not get stressed over accidents or resistance. Just be consistant and they will get through it.

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  36. My best potty training tip is to automatically take your little one to the bathroom every time you go to the bathroom or at least every two hours so they get into the habit of going & don’t get distracted & forget.

    [email protected]

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  37. My tip is the old fashioned tip. Being naked. I had my son potty trained in 4 days…and at 20 months old. We also did the reward system as well.

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  38. My best advice is to not stress. Your child will train at their own pace, and anyone who looks at you poorly for not having your child trained by a certain age isn’t worth being friends with…

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  39. My best potty training tip is to keep trying and they might not be ready when you start but they will get there. Give them tons of praise, love, and have patience!

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  40. When potty training little boys…toss a handful of froot loops into the toilet….little boys love improving their “aim” lol

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  41. Small rewards go a long way when it comes to potty training!! Keep up the encouragement and don’t get mad when accidents happen.

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  42. Constantly ask “do you need to go potty”, I make my son go every 20 minutes. We’re doing much better finally! We use rewards, a potty seat, his own flush-able wipes, and he is just now to the point where he wears underwear all day and a pull up at night. It can be such a frustrating process, just remember to take it day by day!

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  43. I used to make a chart and add stickers when I potty trained. I kept it in the bathroom so they could see it and feel motivated.

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  44. Using a reward system. But I also think setting regular time intervals to take the child to the potty to check to see if they have to “go” also helps to reinforce the behavior. No stress though…it will come.

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  45. Be encouraging!
    My daughter always follows me in the bathroom so I let her sit there with me.
    I explain to her what I’m doing.

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  46. I give lots of encouragement. My daughter loves the idea of wearing big girl panties with her favorite character. Plenty of praise and be persistent.

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  47. We used a sticker chart and reward system for earning a certain number of stickers, plus lots of encouragement and praise.

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  48. I just finished potty training my granddaughter, the key is to be persistent and consistent. Take them every 15-20 minutes, don’t ask them if they have to go just tell them they are going. After they are used to going then you can ask.

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  49. my sister in law swears by using /reading the potty topic books to her son at night or whenever- really got him excited about this next step

    KC

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  50. Trying to potty train too soon is frustrating for the child and the parent. You will know when your child is ready.

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  51. Sit with your child while they “wait” for results and have a collection of small washable toys to play with and discuss during the intervals. A large plastic mixing bowl of assorted Fisher Price Little People and animals works well for us.

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  52. My son has autism and it’s alittle more challenging. We have a reward system set up to help him with the potty training.

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  53. We used a Potty time watched that played a song every 30 minutes to remind my daughter about the potty.

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  54. I keep reminding them every 15 mins to go potty. I think its really important to be consistent and have a lot of patience

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  55. A rewards system works great. I recommend making a little rewards chart and the child gets a sticker when they go potty. When they have a set number of stickers (i.e. 10 or 15), they get a small, inexpensive “prize.”

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  56. My best tip for potty training is to wait until the child has shown considerable interest. It can be very frustrating to attempt potty training before everyone is ready!

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  57. I would put my daughter on the potty every morning so that it would be part of her routine to go in the morning

    tbarrettno1 at gmail dot com

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  58. On of the only tips I have is what a few women told me. If you have a boy, throw some cherrios in the toilet and tell him to sink them.

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  59. Don’t push your child before they are ready. We tried when my daughter was 2-3 and she had none of it. Then a month before she was turning 4 within a week she was good to go with no more diapers!

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  60. When potty training boys, place cherrios in the toilet for them to aim at. My boys loved the excitement of sinking one.

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  61. The rewards are pretty good tips for the toddler who is a little older. My son was hard to train and we finally started this and it seemed to work.

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  62. I used M&M for #1 and small wooden animals for #2. It worked really good to. Thank you for the chance :)
    sue-hull64 at comcast dot net

    Reply

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