Potty Training During Quarantine: The Essentials
Potty training your toddler can easily start to feel like a race. You’ll have people wondering why your 2-year-old is still in diapers or pull-ups. And you’ll also have parents bragging about how their 1-year-old is already potty trained.
IT IS NOT A RACE.
When your kid is ready, he will show interest. I’ve found (from other moms and in my personal experience) that when your toddler starts lining things up (cars in my case), they’re ready.
It’s also important to not rush the actual training process. I’ve read soooo many “how to potty train in 3 days” articles, my head could spin.
So, NOW, during quarantine, is the perfect time to get your toddler up and running. I just started potty training my son in mid-March once I was able to start working from home. Already we’re keeping real underwear dry all day (or only going through 2 pair), making it through naps dry (wearing pull-ups at night), and going potty without being prompted.
Potty Training Struggles
Toddler Perspective: One of the biggest hurdles we had to get over was getting underwear AND pants up and down. We still struggle with getting them up, but he’s become a pro at taking them down. This has helped a lot with eliminating accidents at the potty.
What to Buy: The Essentials
Add some of these items to you Toddler Gift List because they’re functional and giving them as a gift makes them fun!
Potty
So the first thing you’ll need is somewhere for your child to go. There are primarily 4 different types of potties: the standalone seat, the toilet-mimic, the urinal, and the seat adjustment.
My personal preference is for the urinal and standalone potties. Why? The don’t require your child to climb and the urinal is my favorite but my son obviously can’t poop in it! These aren’t technical names, just the best way I could think to describe them. Potty training a boy? Buy one of these adorable potties to help teach them to go standing up.
*** Pro tip: buy one for each bathroom and even one for grandparents if he visits often.***
Timer
You can use a traditional timer, but if you want to make it something fun for your child, consider buying a watch. There are watches for kids that are used as timers. When the timer goes off, a song plays. Watches can be set for anywhere between 30 minutes to 2 hours. Initially, you’ll want to start with every 30 minutes and working up to 2 hours in dry underwear.
Underwear
One of the most essential items in potty training is underwear. The type you choose should be comfortable, easy to pull up and down, and fun. Comfort will keep your child from pulling at their underwear or not wanting to wear them altogether. It’s important that your child be able to pull them up and down on their own so that they can eventually use the potty without you. The band will be important because if it’s too tight it can cause your toddler to scratch themselves. Lastly, they should be fun. Buy characters or favorite colors to make it fun for your child to wear. This makes them more appealing than a pull up or diaper.
Don’t ditch the pull-ups altogether initially. This is a process and you’re going to be doing A LOT of laundry. Buy a couple packs of underwear AND use the training pants at night. Night training is a separate beast and you don’t want to rush the transition.
Entertainment
My son loves his cars! So I let him take them to the potty too. He’ll dive on the arm rests and his legs. When he doesn’t have cars, and typically for his “longer” visits, he’ll have his iPad with him. In the beginning, he had to have entertainment with each visit as he sat on the potty. Now, he primarily pees in the urinal so he’s not using it long enough for entertainment.
Flushable wipes
Flushable wipes are a must-have. When we think of potty training, our first thought is peeing, but toddlers poop too! Flushable wipes make clean-up easy and you don’t want to smell poopy wipes in your trash. Look for the same qualities as you would buying baby wipes, with the added bonus of being flushable.
Rewards
Find what appeals to your child. I bought a huge pack of car/truck stickers and that just did not do it for Damon. He doesn’t like wearing stickers. What does work for us is praise. I like praise because praise is free 😂. Damon loves praise too and we do an “I did it” dance EVERY. SINGLE. TIME!
Potty Training Stages
Stage 1: Introduction
Introduce the potty to your child. Explain how it’s very similar to the potty mommy uses. If your child is anything like mine he lets himself right in while you’re using the bathroom. Damon has started to say “I potty too” and go potty at the same time as me. Making the connection will help your child feel like a big kid by going when they need to.
Stage 2: Get on a schedule
Start using the timer and requiring your child to sit on the potty for at least 10 minutes if they don’t use it immediately. Every 30 minutes have them sit down and try. When they start staying dry longer and not having to go every 30 minutes, gradually start to increase the length of time between tries.
Stage 3: Encourage autonomy
When your child indicates the need to go, encourage them to go ahead and try. Don’t go into the bathroom with them and test whether they’ve mastered it yet! There may be a couple messes initially but if it’s recurring you can go in and give direction a couple times. Also let your child dump it if they want. You may need to wipe the toilet seat before blindly sitting down initially, but it’s a part of the journey.
Stage 4: Night training
This is the stage we are currently in. A mom hack that I’ve found online is to put a pull-up over your child’s underwear. I’ve tried it once so far and he actually stayed dry! I also encourage having a conversation before bedtime about staying dry.
