How I Potty Trained My Daughter

I am pleased to [finally] be writing about this thing sometimes referred to as "potty training" or "toilet training." Since every child is different and it seems every parent has a different experience with potty training their child, I found it very difficult, if not impossible, to find info on how to potty train my child.

Although my husband and I bought my daughter a toddler potty at 18 months of age, I didn't decide to seriously potty train her until she was nearing 2 years old. At that point I was done hoping for her to potty train herself and done with spending money on diapers. Finally I decided to take charge of the situation and remove diapers from our lives.

At that time I did check out potty training books from the library. All of them were quite extensive and gave me way more info that I wanted. Overall they were no help for a mother who wanted a small list of steps to follow. Right before I started potty training my daughter I came upon a website (listed in the resources section of this article) that broke down different methods of potty training into 5 methods. Each method listed had a tiny bit of info about itself, and right away I realized which method sounded best for us. I really can't say that we followed the method completely, though, because I really don't know much about it. All I know is that the method gave me a good enough idea to potty train my daughter in a reasonable way, as well as a quick way. Here are the steps we followed:

Our First Step in Potty Training - Introducing the Idea
Before my daughter turned 2, I started telling her that soon she would have a birthday and be a big 2-year-old. Then I told her that 2-year-olds pee in the potty and not in their diapers.

Our Second Step in Potty Training - Buying Panties
A few weeks later she and I went together to Wal-Mart to buy 2 packs of panties, and then over to Babies R Us (the only store in town that had them) for plastic panty covers.

Our Third Step in Potty Training - Wearing Panties Consistently
The next day when my daughter woke up, I took off her diaper and put a panty and a plastic cover on her instead of a clean diaper. (I left her pants off, which was fine since it was a warm summer day.) I told her that when she needed to pee she should go into the bathroom and sit on her potty. I also told her that when she peed in her potty, she would get a penny for her piggy bank!

Our Fourth Step in Potty Training - Having Continual Messes
The first time she peed in her panty, she said pee, made a frowny face, and walked haphazardly to the bathroom. Together we discovered the pee her plastic panty cover held. I took both the panty and the cover off, rinsed them in the sink, laid them out to dry, and put on a clean panty and cover.

Again she peed in her panty, and again we took off the panty and cover, washed them, and put on another clean set. We did this routine all day long, and soon she knew when her body was going to pee and would run to the bathroom almost in time to use the potty.

Our Fifth Step in Potty Training - Getting to the Potty on Time
Within 3 days, my daughter was partially potty trained. She could tell when her pee was coming, would run to the bathroom in time and pee in her potty successfully almost every time. Her piggy bank was getting fed lots of pennies, and my wallet was running out of them. As the week went on, I started borrowing pennies from my husband and was about to go to the bank for more when my daughter's routine of peeing in her potty was so natural that she forgot all about the pennies.

Our Sixth Step in Potty Training - Purchasing a Travel Potty Seat
The extent of her potty training was at home only. When we went out shopping, she would not sit on the stores' big toilets, even with my help. Then I bought a folding travel potty seat (which I kept in her diaper bag) for trips to the store. When she needed to potty and we were in a store, I'd simply take her to the restroom, place the folding potty seat over the big toilet, and sit her upon it. She would pee into the big toilet just fine.

Our Seventh Step in Potty Training - Talking about Poop
I was so happy to have stopped changing diapers and to be using disposable pants only for naps and bedtimes, but still my daughter still would only poop in her panty. I offered her nickels in exchange for her pooping in her potty. Although she was interested in nickels, she didn't understand how to get to the potty in time to poop. The offers went on for a few weeks until I changed the offer to a surprise from mommy and daddy whenever she pooped in the potty; a few days later she learned just how to sit on the potty in time to poop, and she did so twice in one day.

Honestly I don't think the rewards could motivate her enough to poop in her potty. I truly believe that it took her a few weeks of working on learning the timing of it in order to do so. However, a victory was celebrated as my husband and I took her out for her surprise - an ice cream cone!

After a few weeks' practice, my daughter was completely potty trained (except for during naps and bedtimes, where she still wets). During naps and at nighttime she will sometimes wake up and call for me to help her to the potty, but most of the time she doesn't. A friend of mine has told me that nighttime potty training is just something a child has to learn herself. Until I figure out a way to teach my daughter otherwise, I will take my friend's advice. And when I do figure this part of potty training out, I will have to write another article....

Now for you who is reading this article and wondering how these steps outlined above would help with your child's potty training, I do recommend that you try to follow them and see if they work. I know, I know: mine is just another idea in your potty training book and article stack. But these steps worked for us, and maybe they will equal success in potty training your toddler, too. I've put them out here to answer some questions that I had before I potty trained my daughter and to help others who have questions, too. Please let me know if this article helped you and your child with potty training.