Tips on Potty Training

Ahhh! The treacherous toilet training. We were doing so well!

Ameli used to wake up in the morning, sit on the potty, do her thing, and that would be the end of that. We’d have only wet nappies for the rest of the day. That was at 7 months old. Then June came and we went camping and travelling for eight weeks, on and off and potty training went, well, down the drain.

Now we’re at fourteen months, and the potty serves more as a step ladder to the forbidden treasures on the toiletries shelf than anything else.

I’ve been reading up trying to glean from the wisdom of others, and I find there’s a lot of information around on when baby may or may not be ready. There’s also a lot of ‘hints and tips’ making a proper guessing game out of this thing from a parent’s perspective. But I can’t really find anything that resembles a step by step guide that doesn’t make me want to beat my head against a wall.

The main problem I am experiencing in this secondary embarkation on potty training or toilet learning or whatever you want to call it is this: My child has learned to use the nappy as a toilet. Before she can now be taught to use the toilet as a toilet, she has to unlearn using the nappy as a toilet. Oh, how I wish we’d just done EC from the start.

I eventually found Dr Sears’ six step potty plan, and I am going to try it. The six steps are:

Step 1: Be sure baby is ready

Step 2: Set the stage (oh boy. Does everything have to be a drama!)

Step 3: Teach baby where to go and what to call it

Step 4: Teach baby the connection between feeling and going

Step 5: Graduate baby from diapers to training pants

Step 6: Teach your child to wipe, flush, dress and wash hands.

I have no idea how long these six steps are going to take with a fourteen month old, but watch this space – I’ll let you know.