Potty Training: Part II

Due to the overwhelming response when I posted this pic about how insanely proud I was of my 2.5 year old son for potty training in 48 hours, I decided to share my method to the madness. *disclaimer: I am by no means an expert as Bates is my first child, but I did learn from some of the best women who I trust immensely during my 0-3 Infant/Toddler Montessori education.

**Be sure to see my first potty training post from when Bates was 13 months old, because yes…it all began that long ago when Bates started walking steadily & confidently.

My technique for going diaper free, however, is what I will share now. And YES, we went 100% diaper free, even at night!! 😲 I was taught that teaching a child to potty train during the day only, then putting a pull-up on them at night is like teaching them the alphabet A-M. I know this might be controversial since this is not the norm…all I know is that it worked for us and I firmly believe that it can work for you too! 🙌

First, I made sure to plan a chunk of days (I chose 4, but really only needed 2) when I knew we could be cooped up at home with zero travel plans in the near future. I mean…no time like the present quarantine, right?!? The cabin fever was real & I can’t say behavior was always superb, but he was a champ, nonetheless, as he ran around wearing only a shirt for 4 days. **another disclaimer: he is wearing underwear in the pic, but I then learned better & kept him naked even for sleeping, or if he insisted on wearing something, we did loose fitting PJ pants with no undies. The underwear gives the child a false sense of security since everything is still snug down there, leading them to believe it is safe to eliminate. 

Bates goes peepee standing up (on his tippy toes…yep, it’s pretty cute!), and then he was able to share with us that he was scared of falling in when he would sit for #2 (even though we have a little seat that goes on top…I think it was because his feet don’t touch the floor). So we had a little potty that we would put by his bed each night, and after only two nights of wetting the bed, he would get up to use his potty! +TIP: I layered waterproof mattress pad, crib sheet, waterproof mattress pad, crib sheet so that I could just strip the first layer & not be remaking his bed in the middle of the night! 😴 All that to say, we would keep the little potty available until his morning BM, then make it disappear until bedtime again.

I would obviously communicate clearly with him as well – I learned that I needed to share with him at dinner that this was his last opportunity for milk rather than bedtime milk. I would ask him to please try to peepee before bed & nap. I would occasionally ask him throughout the day if he needed to go, but generally he would just tell me he needed to go or even run in there & do it himself, then tell me afterward! We have now had 3 dry nights, a night of 3-hour childcare, a morning of church nursery, and a day of school ALL dry & clean! To say I was amazed is an understatement, but I do attribute it to the fact that his awareness of elimination began 1.5 years ago. He was SO ready, we just didn’t want too much transition at once since we moved across the country last summer, and put him in a toddler bed at that time – this was an important step in order for us to successfully potty train as well.

You might be wondering about rewards for successful toileting… We offered a reward of a M&M for peepee & a Hershey kiss for #2 (which he lovingly calls a “kissy” 😘), but only under the circumstances that he washed his hands afterward & was using his listening ears (like I said, behavior got rough being all cooped up in a small home!). And of course, I was very proud of him, but as I always say…the BEST part is to see how proud he was of his own success through it all. 😁 His giant grin & side eye every time he successfully eliminated in the potty – his proud shout for us to come look after we gave him privacy on his little potty. It is SO important that they find joy in the process & not fear…they are perceptive little people & will feed off of your emotions if you’re terrified! Make it exciting! Good luck! 🚽