Potty Training Part 2 ... An alternative guide!

Well for those of you who may have read Potty Training Part 1 ( posted at the beginning of May ) and were wondering how we were getting on ... I am proud to say that 3 weeks later I really think we have cracked it!

Yes there have been a few accidents along the way ( and they'll prob be a few more too ) ... the car seat needs a good clean! But bella has been out and about in knickers only for a good few weeks now and is happily depositing all her 'waste' in the potty! She's still in nappies at night but my philosophy is one thing at a time and I'm not quite ready to tackle nights just yet!

However overall it wasn't the 'complete and utter nightmare' that I was expecting it to be. I didn't follow the books, in fact I probably went against most of the more conventional advice and just made it up as I went along. I used instinct as a guide and it seemed to work! So for what it's worth, here's my alternative guide for potty training your little one in Spain!

Relax and don't stress!

I honestly believe that you need to relax and take your time with potty training. If you stress I think it rubs off on your little one and they get stressed, so it's really all about having patience. It is difficult not to get a little frustrated with your toddler when after 2 days of peeing in the potty they suddenly pee all over the car seat without uttering a word or tell you they don't want the potty and want a nappy, but I really believe the key is to smile serenly and take a deep breath and make it all out to be a fun game. I used the words 'grown up girl' a lot and told my daughter what a big girl she was becoming which she loved. I think it's really important not to get stressed if you have a few bad days and if you want to then go back to nappies for a day ...it's not the end of the world, your child won't take a backward step, and you can try again the next day.
I have a couple of friends who got very stressed by it all and refused to entertain the idea of going back to nappies here and there ... and I think it just makes life more difficult. Take it all at your own pace and it will happen naturally ....

Invest in the 'right' potty!

Sounds odd, but I think the choice of first potty is very important. It also seems that toddlers become quite attached to their first potty so it may even be worth buying 2 exactly the same, one to take out and one for home.

I bought Bella's first potty from Indybel ... it is a high backed one ( almost like a chair ) and I have to say she loves it. She will sit in it for ages and seems to find it really comfy. I also really like the BabyDan high backed potty ( pictured ) that we sell at Indybel because you can take the middle out and it's small and easy to despose of the waste and clean. Bella having watched me do this a hundred times, now loves doing it herself ... she takes the middle out, tips whatever she's done down the toilet, washes the bowl and pops it back in the potty ... all by herself!!! This potty is great for letting children help you as it's small and light enough for them to carry easily.

I bought a second low backed cheaper potty take out and about but she hated it and refused to use it. In the end I found a cheaper high backed potty and now keep this in the car. She chose the cheaper potty herself and also loves it. It might be worth taking your child to the shop and letting them choose their own potty ... this is all part of the excitiment and fun of potty training for them ...

Positioning of the potty!

Postitioning is really important. Your toddler needs to know where the potty is and get to it quickly. It's therefore important to chose a place where you can keep the potty for a while and it becomes the 'potty place'. Some people start with keeping the potty in the bathroom but for us this didn't work as Bella got bored at the beginning sitting on it and waiting for a wee wee ... now we have it in the lounge in front of the TV! Sounds daft but it works .... she either watches TV or reads while on the potty and there is no stress of me standing there waiting as I can be in the kitchen or other end of the lounge knowing that she's occupied and not stressing about doing her wee wee!

Buy lots of knickers!

At the beginning you really need a lot of knickers, although as a friend recently remarked to me, once they are trained you realise just how many you have! If you live on the Costa del Sol then take a trip to Dunnes where they sell packs of 6 knickers for just 3.50€ ... and their pretty cute too! Prenatal also do packs of 3 .....

Don't be afraid to put the nappy back on ...

Potty training while at home is one thing and can be relatively relaxed .... going out is a whole other ballgame!!

Most books etc tell you to just go for it and go out without a nappy or not go out at all, but I found both these options very stressful at the beginning. I didn't trust bella to tell me if she needed a wee, she wasn't great at using toilets and I didn't see how in a shopping center or in the park we'd be able to get to a toilet in time. So for the first couple of weeks I let her go nappy free at home and nursery and when we went out in the afternoons I put a nappy on her. I took it off as soon as we got home. NOTHING TERRIBLE HAPPENED!!!! She didn't regress ... if anything I could tell she was getting the whole idea as she'd say something like 'now I'll do my wee wee in the nappy' .... Again I think it was just important that Bella and I took it at our own pace and in our own way ... I didn't want to stress her out by getting stressed about toilets on our trips out, so we used nappies while out and about for a few weeks until I was confident she'd def tell me when she wanted to use the toilet.

This last week we've started going out without nappies and I'm much more relaxed because I know she's ready ... I'm sure there will still be accidents buy now I know that I have an out and about potty that she likes too, it's easier .... just don't forget to take lots of knickers with you when you go out!!

Ask the nursery for help!

If your child is at nursery then don't forget to ask them to help you. Being at nursery has been great for bella as there she can watch the other's go on the little toilets and copies them ... she has also learn't to pull her knickers up and down at nursery which she wasn't very good at, at home and really only had one or too accidents there before becoming potty perfect!

Don't feel bad if it doesn't work first time ...

There is no right or wrong age for potty training. We tried a few times over the past 6 months but I could see that bella wasn't ready, so we stopped, waited and then tried again. Let your toddler guide you, if they are not ready then don't force them.

Find a reward system that works for you ...

It's not obligatory, but finding a little reward for those first wee's and poo's makes potty training more fun for your toddler.

I used the 'My Potty Book' which we sell at Indybel. Firstly Bella loved the book anyway as it tells the story of a little girl and her teddy leaning to use the potty ... and shows things like big girl knickers etc which she found fun.

The book also comes with star stickers which you can give your toddler when they do their business! Bella loved these and loved collecting them. I was worried she may want a reward at nursery or when we were out and about and I'd forgotten the stickers, but it doesn't seem to bother her at all, she just accepts that she gets a reward at home and that's it. Now 3 weeks on she's not asking for the stars every time either, so I can see that it will be relatively easy to phase the rewards out over time ...

The problem with poo poo's ...

Myself and my friends seem to agree that while wee wee's are one thing, pooing is a whole different ball game. Most toddlers seem to grasp the concept of weeing on a potty fairly easily but waiting for pooing to sink in is a bit more stressful. Bella seemed almost to wait till the nightime nappy went on to do her poo for the first few weeks, while another friends little one stopped pooing altogether and got very stressed, and another one just did poo after poo in his pants! I think it's a matter of patience ... try to encourage your little one to do their poo in the potty and eventually they will ... then it's lots of praise and pressies!! It will sink in but I think you have to relax and almost treat it like stage 2 and let it happen as it happens .... and it will ....

Good Luck ... and when you get stressed, just calculate all the things you can buy with the money you'll save on not buying nappies !

http://www.indybel.com/ sell the Babydan high backed potty in several colours ... toilet trainer seats, steps and the My Potty Book for Girls and My Potty Book for Boys ... for more information about buying these products in Spain please visit the Mums Essentials and Bookshop sections of http://www.indybel.com/