7 Easy Potty Training Tips And Tricks For Your Toddler

Before starting potty training, make sure your child is ready. If you start too soon it can be frustrating for and can make the whole process longer.

Toddler potty training schedule can be a very difficult chore, but it doesn't need to be an impossible one. All it requires is lots of planning  and an equal amount of patience. 

This blog, written by our proparent Lakshmi Kapoor Verma, tells you ways to potty train, and how to start off on this very crucial developmental journey with your child. In this blog, read about:

1.) What is Potty Training?

2.) When to Potty Train ?  

3.) How to Start Potty Training ?

What Exactly is Potty Training ?

Potty training basically refer to a stage when the child is able to effectively communicate or is independently able to relieve him/her, depending on their age, of course. 
Though it may sound farfetched for toddler who can seldom communicate themselves, leave alone poop and pee, it must not be forgotten that there are plenty of countries in the world where any form of diapers do not exist and study proves that toddler there are toilet trained from day one!

I started doing extensive search on this topic after my daughter turned 4 months. This was primarily under the fear that perhaps I am too late, however I learnt quite a few things and tips which I will be sharing below.

Toddler Potty Training Tips/Ideas 

1.The age factor – one of the common concerns with parents is when to really start training their children. Before you jump to discovering the right age, there are a few facts that one should look into such as: medical studies prove that a child cannot hold poop until he/she is almost a year old and definitely cannot hold pee until the age of 18 months until 2 years. In fact, a kid only masters bladder control effectively around the age of 3 years.

Having said that they can definitely learn recognizing the signs of a natures’ call and how to communicate the urge to poop and pee and that’s what this training is all about.
Personally my child’s comfort was the most important factor for me.I decided that I will start training my daughter once she can start sitting upright on the potty comfortably and without and physical stress and discomfort. You can similarly choose a milestone for your baby beyond which the training can commence. Do not fall for stories of super babies, who apparently were using the washroom from the day they were born, or even for your mom or mom-in-laws tales of how they never put you in a diaper and managed to potty train you or your husband by 6 months of age.

Remember: understand your toddler. If you think, he is not resisting potty training schedule, then only persists. But if you notice any signs of unhappiness, stop and start again after a few months.

2. Potty Traning Method or Order – Funny it may sound but in most cases there is a particular chronological order on which a child can be toilet trained. It is always good to understand this order as it helps parents to prepare themselves for what’s the next step and which milestone have they reached. This order is effective once the toddler has a stabilized pattern of day time poop frequency.

The order is something like: Poop communication -> Poop holding -> Pee communication (day time) -> Pee holding (day time) -> Pee holding (night time)
But then again, each child is different. And you have to make an effort to understand your baby.

3. How to Start Potty Training
How to get started on the training was another question that bugged me day and night and then I stumbled upon this wonderful article with some basic tips :-

• Be vigilant and look for cues – behind every toilet trained child, there is a very vigilant parent. Look for big and small cues which indicate that your child is about to relieve him/herself. This can be pressure sounds/flaring of nose/being still etc.
• Act on the signs – once you have understood the cues, start acting on them. This can be holding your child on a sink/pot or making them sit on the potty seat depending upon your comfort and your child’s age 
• Associate pooping and peeing with an action or sound. This will help your child recognize what he/she is supposed to do and repeat the action when he/she is about to poop or pee.
• Know your child’s schedule: for eg: if after waking up, she tends to pee, during potty training, take her to the potty seat once she wakes up from a nap. Or if she pees, every one hour or after a meal…this will give you an idea of the right time to take her to the washroom.
• Repeat the above steps until you succeed 

4. Encourage: For a slightly older child, if she pees or poops in the potty seat give her lots of adulations and encouraging words such as what a big baby you have become. Positive reinforcement works wonderfully with children.

5.Seek help from family members/househelp: One of the simplest ways to potty train your child is to not put her in the diaper (this can send mixed signals to the child that sometimes I am made to use the potty seat and why sometimes am I allowed to pee in the diaper). Just put the baby in the cotton nappy.

This will have 2 benefits:

• 1) you will get to know your toddler’s pee and poop cycle and you can time yourself accordingly.
• 2) if the baby pees in the nappy, you can tell her that this is not the best thing to do and show her the mess. 

But for all this you need to have help to clean up the mess, change soiled clothes frequently. Do not wade through this all alone, but seek and ask help to avoid taking out your irritation on the baby.

6. Use Innovation: Sometimes, children are just not willing to sit on the potty seat and keep running away or crying. For this, use innovative strategies to make the child stay put. Tell stories, sing rhymes together, or play something. There are lots of potty-training activity books available online that help the child be engaged while doing the job. They have stickers and puzzles etc and each time the child, pees or poops in the seat, he is awarded with a sticker. Look for these.

7. Stay Calm
Potty training requires a lot of patience and trust me there will be many hit and misses and messy hiccups on the way. Do not under any circumstances scold the baby, ridicule the baby,  in case of an accident. This can scare the child into not telling you if he wants to pee and throw all your efforts out of the gear. A firm no or this is not good, is enough, in case of an accident.

As for me I am still struggling between the first two steps! Let’s see how far I am able to train my mini dragon! All the best!