Getting a child to consistently use the potty will be a seemingly impossible task in the beginning, but we promise you, it will happen!
When you feel yourself getting frustrated about the potty training progress (or lack thereof), you want to remind yourself that your child has never had to deal with using the potty for the past years of their life.
The smallest things from realizing they have to pee/poo to actually sitting down and using it are all very new to them, and they’re slowly getting used to it.
But with some little pushes and nudges, you can encourage your child to use the potty successfully. Here are some tips to do so:
- Let them roam around naked. In the beginning, there should be as little clothing between the butt and potty as possible, so the toddler can use the potty easily. Later on, you can put on some pants, so they learn how to pull them down and use the toilet.
- Let there be accidents. Toddlers are usually hesitant to poop in the potty, and this is because it is a scary feeling for them to experience their poop falling down somewhere. Remember how they have always just pooped in a diaper? This is why you shouldn’t have a tight cloth against their butt (like pull-ups or underwear) before they use the potty to poop because it will resemble the feeling of a diaper. It is okay if they have a couple of accidents to experience the feeling. Make a safe space for them, where they can roam around diaper-free, and it is easy for you to clean.
- Offer rewards. Some toddlers refuse to use the potty altogether, and you can encourage them by offering rewards, in the form of some snacks they like, or stickers. Parents have seen a lot of success with incentivizing their children because they genuinely get excited to use the potty to collect some stickers or have a piece of chocolate.
- Read books about potty. There are a lot of books out there you can read to your child to encourage them to use the potty. Books like P is for Potty!, Let’s go to the Potty, etc have proven to be quite effective when it comes to encouraging toddlers to use the potty.
