If you’re thinking about potty training your toddler, or you’re in the thick of it, you are probably finding all kinds of theoretical potty training tips and tricks that don’t give you any tangible tools to keep your child on the potty, or your furniture protected, or suggest what books to buy or what shows might help illustrate to your toddler.
I read many articles circling around the “Oh Crap! Potty Training” and “Three Day Potty Training” methods. I listened to the “Oh Crap! Potty Training” audiobook and there was a lot of useful information in there. BUT I was too caught up in following the book, instead of my daughter’s lead, and I also didn’t take MY emotions or parenting strengths and weaknesses into account. These methods DID NOT work for us, at least not following them strictly. I’ll write more about that in another article.
Back to why you’re here. ACTUAL potty training tips you can use to take a little bit of the stress off your shoulders.
Whether you’re looking for Montessori potty training methods, gentle parenting potty training methods, traditional potty training, or are just desperate for any kind of potty training help – I’m sure you’ll find at least a few helpful tips below.
Tips to Keep Your Toddler on the Potty
Thankfully I didn’t have much trouble getting my daughter to stay on the potty, and I think it’s because of the tips I’m going to share with you. I honestly made the mistake of letting her stay on the potty too long, which I didn’t think was a potty problem you could have!
Here are my best tips for helping you keep your toddler on the potty chair.
1. Praise for sitting on the potty
This one might seem obvious, but it goes a long way and is easy to forget!
Praise your child for sitting on the potty. Not just for sitting on the potty for a long period of time either. If their bottom touches that potty seat, give praise.
If you’re scolding or getting frustrated with your child for not sitting long enough you may be giving your toddler a bad association with the potty.
At the highest stress point in our potty training journey, I forgot about this piece. Her resistance to actually use the potty had me desperate to have her sit on it for longer periods. My frustration and urgency to get her to sit and use the potty had her pushing back and not wanting to stay on the potty very much at all. Once I returned to praising each time her tush touched the potty it didn’t take long for her to warm right back up to the idea.
2. Get on their level
Sit on the floor with them.
Standing and hovering over them could understandably feel intimidating and uncomfortable for your child.
My daughter always loves it when I get on the floor to play with her, so it only made sense that the best way to keep her where I want her was to give her my full undivided attention and play with some exciting toys while she sat on the potty.
3. Bring a portable potty chair in their space
This might not be possible for you, but I think it’s worthwhile to consider it.
Roll up those rugs and put a potty chair right in the center of where your child normally plays.
This keeps the potty in sight and is convenient when you’re running your peeing child to the potty chair.
We have a potty seat in the bathroom and one in our living room where my daughter plays.
At first, my daughter wanted nothing to do with the potty seat in the bathroom (it’s different than her preferred living room potty), but she’s come to be more interested in it and often uses her potty while I’m on the big potty. It was also common at the beginning for her to pee on the floor while I was using the restroom – she knew I couldn’t do anything about it, smart girl…so it’s definitely convenient to have two.
How to Entertain Your Toddler When Potty Training
This might not be possible for you, but I think it’s worthwhile to consider it.
Roll up those rugs and put a potty chair right in the center of where your child normally plays.
This keeps the potty in sight and convenient when you’re running your peeing child to the potty chair.
We have a potty seat in the bathroom and one in our living room where my daughter plays.
At first my daughter wanted nothing to do with the potty seat in the bathroom (it’s different than her preferred living room potty), but she’s come to be more interested in it and often uses her potty while I’m on the big potty. It was also common in the beginning for her to pee on the floor while I was using the restroom – she knew I couldn’t do anything about it, smart girl…so it’s definitely convenient to have two.
The table brings activities and toys up off the floor so she’s not bending over to reach everything. It looks so much more comfortable for her. If you’re looking for potty training must-haves, this is on that list!
Toilet Training Activities
- Play Dough – I really like this little kit. It comes with a bag, 4 colors of playdough, cutouts, a rolling pin, a plastic knife, and a rotary cutter.
- Reusable Stickers – These Melissa and Doug ones are very loved by my daughter. The easy-to-peel puffy stickers keep her entertained. I would recommend putting them up when not in use though, there are small pieces and if dirt or fabric gets stuck to them they no longer stick well. The three-pack we chose (Safari animals, Ocean animals, and Dinosaurs) was a big hit!
- Coloring – If your child colors a lot and isn’t excited about the idea of coloring with crayons try offering a pen and notebook. My daughter loved this!
- Painting – I like these washable watercolor paints by Crayola. This is normally a high chair activity but I made an exception a few times on her activity tray.
- Building Blocks – My daughter loves to stack and knock down blocks and it’s something I can interact with her as well. An easy activity that we have laying around!
- Tablet – Even if you’re not a big screen time parent, this may be one of those times you might make an exception to the rule! Download an educational game or two and allow your child to play the game while on the potty. I REALLY love the “Baby Games for Preschool Kids” app it’s completely free (you unlock more games the more you play). My daughter has a new love of sorting by colors and I think it has to do with this app!
- Television – Again, I know screens are getting a really bad rap these days but there are times it can be a very useful tool! You can put on your child’s favorite show or search for some potty training kids videos on YouTube! I don’t recommend using this as your only tool but adding it to the arsenal is helpful!
Books and Shows for Introducing Potty Training
I underestimated this one at first. In my opinion, I dropped the ball a bit by not taking the time to read books and watch some shows about potty training before she started her potty training journey.
I didn’t think they would have that big of an impact but just letting her (ha! like I have a choice) in the bathroom with me while I used the restroom and me explaining what I’m doing was not enough.
Which really isn’t surprising looking back. After all, we all learn differently, and when learning something this significant could use all the resources at your disposal. Think about it, your child is now having to learn and understand a natural bodily function that they may have never even noticed.
What is the Best Potty Training Book
If you’re potty training a girl I would hands down recommend “Big Girls Use The Potty!” by Andrea Pinnington. I personally purchased this book and I honestly believe it made a consequential impact in helping my daughter understand that it’s normal to use the potty and other girls use it too (only child over here!). Not long after using this book and the sticker chart using the potty seemed to click for her.
The book has pictures of actual little girls sitting on the potty. It also came with a sticker chart and stickers and this was another area I underestimated. My daughter enjoyed and was excited about the sticker chart and noticed that the girl in the book had the same sticker as her. There is even double the number of stickers so that your daughter can put one on the chart and wear one as well! In my opinion, this is the best book for potty training girls.
Andrea Pinnington also has a potty training book for boys “Big Boys Use the Potty!” and if I have a boy next I will not hesitate to buy it! Although I haven’t read this one specifically I was so impressed with the girl version that I feel confident saying this is one of the best potty training books for boys.
Other Potty Training Books I Purchased
I purchased 3 other potty training books. I’ll be honest, I was not overly impressed by them. This could be in part because I was exceedingly impressed with the “Big Girls Use the Potty” book.
It can only be beneficial to have multiple books about using the potty. The more they see, hear, and talk about the potty the easier time they will have making the association of THEM using the potty too.
- Cocomelon J.J.’s Potty Time – My daughter loves Cocomelon so I thought the book would be a hit, and it was. It has buttons and sings the song from the series so she liked the book. That’s about the end of my praise though, there wasn’t anything new or descriptive that isn’t in the song. I’m also not a fan of the fact that the potty is in the shape of a shark – I think that can make it harder for them to connect. If your child has a favorite show I think it is a good idea to try and search Amazon for a book from that show – even if it’s not the most descriptive book it can still bring attention and excitement to the potty. I’ve seen a Daniel Tiger potty training book, a few Paw Patrol potty training books, a few Thomas the Train potty training books (this one has real images of little boys sitting on the potty!), and a few Sesame Street potty training books.
- Sesame Street – Elmo’s Potty Book Look, Find, and Listen – this is a large book with a lot of sound buttons and it’s a search and find book. I think if my daughter was a bit older this would have been nice to keep her entertained on the potty while she searched for items in the book. It did not have a lot of potty instructional information though.
- Dino Potty – If your child is really into dinosaurs then this may be a winner for you. My daughter does love dinosaurs but I still am not overly impressed with this book and neither was she…it didn’t seem to spark her interest, and while I’m not upset that I bought it I wouldn’t suggest it to a friend.
Videos for Potty Training
Little Baby Bum and Cocomelon are two of my daughter’s favorite shows. Both of them have a song about potty training. If your child has a favorite show that explains using the potty put it on repeat! Get excited, and sing along.
My best suggestion to you is to search “Potty Training Songs” on YouTube. A majority of the videos you will see will have one or two potty training songs and then random other songs from the show, so you can skip around if you specifically only want the potty songs.
Protecting Your Furniture While Potty Training
This was not something that I thought of when deciding to potty train my toddler. Even after my extensive toilet training research, I did not see one tip to help keep pee off my couch.
Well, I’ve got some easy and cheap tips for you!
1. How to Protect Your Couch When Potty Training
Keeping your toddler off the couch becomes a game...
My darling daughter loves the couch. She brings her toys on the couch to play and she also likes to run and jump on the couch (working on this behavior, I do not encourage it!).
Well, during potty training her interest in the couch only increased. It was a quick way to get mom’s attention. I spent days trying to drag her bare bottom off the couch (we did a lot of no pants potty training) and keep her off. Which turned into a game for her – and a mess for me.
I was determined to find a way to protect my couch from potty accidents.
How I did it
Now I’ll warn you – it’s not pretty, but it works!
I went to the Dollar Tree and picked up a few shower curtains. I covered my couch in the shower curtains first (it took 3) and then I covered those with blankets I had around the house.
My couch has two chaises, one is a fully detachable cushion and the other one does not detach from the base. The one that does not detach from the base is longer. I had to cut open a garbage bag to cover a small portion of the couch that the shower curtain did not quite cover. I also had to add a towel to that section because my blankets were not long enough. Even though my longer chaise does not detach I was still able to tuck the blanket in so it’s not just hanging and a little more secure.
If you don’t have a throw blanket obsession like me (I knew they would come in handy *wink*) then you could use some spare sheets, or even towels if you have to. I would choose the sheets over the towels if possible though since they are longer they will tuck better and are likely to stay in place better.
You will want to cover the shower curtains though. Otherwise, you will be sticking to the shower curtains and your toddler will probably tear them.
Having my couch covered has eased so much stress from the mess of potty training, and it only cost me $3.00!
2. How and Why to Protect Your Throw Pillows
Why you should cover your throw pillows when potty training
You might be wondering why you wouldn’t just put your throw pillows away for a while. Or if pee will even get on them (one of the first places my daughter peed!). I’ll tell you why!
I spent A LOT of time on the floor with my toddler while she was potty training. The first week or so I spent a majority of my time on the floor to encourage her to sit on her potty, entertain her while she was on the potty, playing and interacting with her so I could pick up on her queues, and also so that I was not distracted.
I needed a cushion and the throw pillows are convenient! Problem was, my toddler wanted to sit on one too when she wasn’t on the potty…so I found a quick, cheap, and easy solution!
How I did it
I took a large kitchen trash bag and covered my throw pillow, then I covered my throw pillow with a spare pillow case.
Now if she had an accident I could wash the pillow case and I could regularly wash it since she was often bare-bottomed.
This easy potty training hack didn’t cost me a thing! I already had the trash bags and the pillowcases!
A Few More Potty Training Tips
Keep These Items in the Bathroom
Baby Wipes
You’re going to need them. I tried using toilet paper once and I won’t try again until she’s using the big potty. Baby wipes make cleaning up easier and quicker.
Disinfectant Wipes
To disinfect the potty seat after your child poops. I usually dump what I can, then use toilet paper if I dare since I can flush that. Then I use a baby wipe to get what the toilet paper did not get (because they’re cheaper than the disinfectant wipes). Finally, I wipe down the wiped clean surface of the potty seat with the disinfectant wipe.
Changing Mat or Towel
It’s so much easier to wipe and see if your child is clean if you lay them down on the bathroom floor (at least in my opinion).
The hard floor was hurting my daughter’s back so we keep a small changing mat in the bathroom. These are some that I really like, I’ve had them since my daughter was a newborn and they aren’t stained (even though I got white!) and have held up so well. It’s no wonder they score 4.8 out of 5 stars on Amazon!
Prep for dinner
A benefit to potty training before 2 is that my daughter still takes a nap. I used this time to prep dinner whenever possible. I chopped my veggies and meats so they were ready to be thrown into the pan. If your child doesn’t nap, try prepping what you can the night before.
I would also recommend busting out the crockpot. Not only will you not be distracted by cooking it might take a little stress off your shoulders to have an easy meal made by dinner time – when you’re probably going to be at the height of frustration after a long day of cleaning up accidents. I have this programmable crockpot and I LOVE it
My daughter had most of her accidents when I was making dinner. She would hold it for hours because I was watching her like a hawk – at dinnertime I couldn’t always do that.
Paper Towels
You’re going to want these handy and well-stocked. We keep some in the living room as well as the kitchen. The two main places my daughter would have an accident.
Eliminate Hiding Spots
My daughter had a few spots where she was regularly running to hide and pee. I moved her play house to another room and blocked off other nooks and crannies. Decreasing her hiding spots increased the likelihood of her using the potty to pee.
Lower your expectations
Better yet, don’t have any expectations – except maybe that you will be cleaning up every single pee or poo your child has…possibly for a couple of weeks.
I thought I had low expectations. After all, the internet keeps telling me my child can be potty trained in just 3 days! My expectations were still too high, even when I thought they were low and this added unnecessary stress. Don’t expect that your child will get ANY pee or poop in the potty for a few days. Maybe you’ll get lucky and they will catch on right away, but no one that I know personally has potty trained their child within a week. If you’re a lucky one, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.
I think that potty training comes down to three main factors 1.) Repetition 2.) Paying close attention 3.) Luck. If you’re really lucky you’ll happen to get pee in the potty sooner, if you’re not so lucky it could take a couple of weeks – this also depends somewhat on how persistent you are but you can do everything right and it can still take time.
If you have any questions I haven’t covered here, look for some other articles coming soon. Otherwise drop a question in the comment section below! If you need some solidarity from someone who’s been where you are now tell me your frustrations. If you’ve had some victories I would love to hear about those too!
