Potty Training in our Happy House

Potty Training in 3 days is possible!

If you missed our Potty Training Tips and Tools click here, it is extremely important that you are sure that your child is ready before starting this. 

Before you get started:

• Pick a week that you don't have much on the calendar so you can devote your time and attention to potty training.  You will need to stay home for at least three days straight before heading out into the outside world with big kid underwear. 
• Plan easy meals and have your house chores (laundry etc.) caught up before you start. 
• Talk to your child about starting to wear big kid underwear the days before so they start to get excited and know that they will be using the potty soon!
• Make sure you have all of your supplies in the bathroom (potty seat, books, wipes, stool, stickers, chart  and m&m's)
• You need to push fluids for the first couple of days so that your child will need to go a lot.
• Make sure you are mentally prepared to handle this week with a positive attitude.  Talk with your family about staying positive and encouraging their younger sibling about using the potty.  The next few days are going to be stressful and tiring but so worth it!

Day One

Make it a habit for them try to go potty after they wake up every morning.  After this initial potty session, set a timer for every 20 minutes.  When the times goes off, its time to sit on the potty.  Read your potty books to them while they try to go, this can be a fun time to sing songs and tell stories. Give your child a small sticker and one m&m every time they try to go, even if they didn't actually go.  
If they do actually go potty make a big deal about it-sing a happy potty song, dance and be silly.  Just don't do what I did with my first daughter and get so excited that you scare her, lol!  Make sure you help your child wash their hands every time they try to use the potty so they also learn a good washing habit.


{This is such a cute idea!}

{Little Sis had at least 6 accidents on the morning of day one, but something clicked after her nap and she started going potty almost every time she tried.  She only had a few accidents the rest of the day}

Day Two
Continue to set the timer and still give the sticker and a m&m for each try.   

{Little Sis went all morning before her nap without an accident.  She thinks its fun to re-start the timer on my iphone so whatever it takes to keep her excited. She had a few accidents in the afternoon but not nearly as many as yesterday}

Day Three
Today we stop setting the timer and this is the last day that we will be giving rewards when they go potty.  At this point they hopefully have started to learn the feeling that they need to use the potty and will tell you,  plus you are going to ask them throughout the day if they need to go.

{Little Sis was accident free on day three!  She had been dry all morning and when she went down for a nap I put a diaper on her but she said that she wanted to wear panties, so we compromised and she wore her panties over her diaper. Surprisingly she woke up dry, which is usually not the case. I thought for sure there might be at least a couple of accidents this afternoon or evening but she did awesome!}

~*I'll still be putting on diapers for nap and bedtime for awhile until it becomes consistent.  I'm more concerned with day time training for now*~

Leaving the house

Now the next big step is leaving the house and staying dry. I do not put my girls in pull-ups when we leave the house.  In the past I have used the Gerber plastic diaper covers over the underwear, but Little Sis was doing so great that we skipped this. 

~*Make sure you have a couple of change of clothes, underwear and a wet bag or something to put wet clothes in case there is an accident.*~

This is not a necessity but a few friends told me about a great travel potty that I bought and am keeping in our car.

{Kalencom 2-in-1 Potette® Plus Travel Potty & Trainer Seat}

The bags have an absorbent padding in the bottom and then you just tie it up and throw it away.  (I don't see me buying more replacement bags, I'll just recycle my grocery store bags and fold up some paper towels in the bottom) 

I have Little Sis try and go potty before we leave the house and then again before we go into the store or whatever errand we are running.  That way this germaphobe Mom can try to avoid using the public restrooms but that isn't always possible.  I also recommend carrying hand sanitizer in case there isn't a clean sink and soap to use. 

An Update on Little Sis

We potty trained almost three weeks ago and she is doing AWESOME!  She has only had a couple of accidents and I take blame for them.  We were busy and I should have paid more attention to how long it had been since she last went.  

There were a couple of times where #2 was scaring her so I went back to giving her a m&m for that and since then she is doing much better.  It's very bittersweet that Little Sis is potty trained.

I'm looking for other bloggers to share their Potty Training Stories, tips and recommendations for a new series, email me at Lindsey@Happyhouseof5.com

I would love to help with any questions or concerns you may have.  You can find me on Facebook, leave a message on this post or Tweet me.  Please share your success stories too :)