How to help your child with potty training

Potty training is an essential, though rarely particularly fun, part of growing up and it can often be worse for you than it is for your child.

Accidents, tears, wet beds and mountains of washing can make the process difficult for parents, and it can be easy for a child to become disappointed and disillusioned with the whole thing and refuse to accept that the nappy has to go.

To help you navigate this tricky time, try our essential tips for happy toilet training.

1. Make sure your child is ready

This is the most important of all. There’s no point taking away your child’s safety net (i.e. the nappy) if they aren’t at a stage of development where they can move onto the potty.

Toddlers usually potty train somewhere between 18 months and three years old but it really is very individual so pay attention to your child’s cues, rather than what his or her peers are doing.

Ways to tell when children are ready to start potty training include recognising when they need to go, having periods of a couple of hours where they stay dry and waking up from naps dry.

Also look for signs of discomfort when the nappy is soiled and a desire for independence.

And start slowly. Don’t head out of the house with no nappy on the first day. Start off in the home, where your child is comfortable and only venture out without the backup of a nappy when you feel your child has mastered recognising when she or he needs to go.

2. Be prepared

Have all the equipment you’ll need easily accessible and make sure your child is introduced to everything she or he might need. This includes a potty in each bathroom in the house (and perhaps a portable potty for when you’re out and about) and big girl/boy pants (or pull-ups if you decide to try those).

You might also want to try incentives, rewards and perhaps a reward chart on the wall for encouragement. Or, many parents find books that explain potty training and help act it out through character to be helpful.

When you’re on the move make sure you have spare pairs of pants, a nappy in case of emergency and plastic bags to store soiled underwear. A towel and wet wipes are also handy.

3. Be positive

As hard as is can sometimes be not to scold the child who has just weed for the umpteenth time on something important, avoid being negative about accidents. The last thing you want to do is make your child feel like a failure so downplay accidents and make a big deal out of successes.

Key to this is clever usage of a rewards chart if you decide to use one. Make sure your child doesn’t become downhearted if they’re not making fast progress and be sure to celebrate even the tiniest of victories – and shortest of dry spells.

4. Make it a routine

As with most things where young children are concerned, routine is very important to help them cope with change. Have a routine around taking your child to use the potty and do it at regular intervals during the day – even if your little one insists she or he doesn’t need to go.

This will help it become automatic and help them learn to control their bladder.

5. Accept the result

If it’s not working, you’re having to run the washing machine constantly and your child is getting downhearted, take a break.

It doesn’t come naturally for all children and however ready they might have seemed, it might be too much pressure all at once.

Keeping positive, allow them time to feel more comfortable about the situation. Keep the potty around and let them see you using the toilet so they have a role model to look up to. Then try again in a few weeks and you may find it’s a different story.

However long it takes, your child will be potty trained eventually, so try not to sweat it and definitely don’t bother comparing with other children – when it comes to toilet training, there’s no ‘normal’ amount of time to get the hang of it.