Undoubtedly, parents delight watching their children grow at all stages of their development, nonetheless, some of these stages are more complicated than others, this includes when a child transitions from diapers to using potty. This is often a long and difficult process that requires your patience as a parent. Many toddlers start to show signs of being ready for potty training between the ages of 18-24 months, although this is not applicable to every other toddler, hence is no need to rush or worry.
Is it time?
How do you then potty-train your toddler?
- Place the potty at strategic places in your house such as in the playroom, bedroom, or in the bathroom, the idea is to make them familiar with the potty. Continue to encourage them to sit on the potty without under gametes to start out.
- Choose your Words.
Avoid negative words such as dirty or stinky for your child’s body fluid. Do not make a fuss when they have an accident so that they will not feel anxious and worried and more likely to be successful the next time.
- Schedule for potty breaks.
Have your kid sit on the potty chair without a diaper for a few minutes. Try this first thing in the morning and immediately after naps, this helps them maintain a certain routine. Having a book to look at or toys to play with can help your child sit still on the potty.
- Timing is Everything!
Signs such as squirming, squatting, or holding the genital areas are signs that your child might need to use the washroom. Help your child become familiar with these signals and respond quickly. If your child regularly does a poo at the same time each day, keep them in loose, easy-to-remove clothing so that it becomes easy to use the potty once they feel the urge to.
- Focus on rewards.
Giving little gifts as motivation is one most common methods for potty training. Your child will be delighted when they succeed, and a little praise from you will encourage them to use the potty next time.
You can promise that each time your kid goes potty they will get stickers as a reward for their efforts, this can highly motivate them eventually. However, experts do not advise this approach because as you keep bribing them it might get bigger and better and may stop working altogether. Hence, you should wean your child off bribes once they start using potty with ease/comfort.
- Ditch the diapers.
Your child might be ready to trade diapers for training pants or underwear, just after a couple of weeks of a successful potty break. Mark the Transition and let your child return to diapers if he or she is unable to remain dry.
Potty training is a big step for kids and their parents; however, it takes a while for them to get a hang of it, and when you don’t get results as per your expectations don’t worry you can still wait a little to try again, keep in mind that potty training is a technique that requires patience, a lot of time and support.
