Everything You Need To Know About Potty Training

What is potty training?

Potty training is training your toddler to use potty, so he/she  can get rid of wearing diapers.

What the best age to start potty training?

Healthy children aren’t physically and emotionally ready to start using a potty until they are between 18 months and three years old. Boys tend to be ready a few months later than girls. Most parents start the training when their children are between two years and three years old.

The physical maturity and readiness skills needed for successful toilet  learning appear at the same time in girls and boys-between 18 and 30 months of age. The average age for girls to be toilet trained is 29 months, and for boys it’s 31 months.

Please note these are just the average months and not exact.

Age shouldn’t be the deciding factor in beginning potty training.

This varies individually among each child and is something that needn’t be compared to.

The key is making sure your child is physically and developmentally ready.

How do you know that your child is ready to be potty trained?

• Pulling a wet or dirty diaper.
• Hiding to pee or poop.
• Interest in others’ use of the potty
• Copying adult potty behavior.
• Having a dry diaper for a longer-than-usual time.
• Awakening dry from a nap.
• Telling out that they’re about to go, are going or have just gone in their diaper.

Bowel or Bladder control? What comes first?

Most children achieve bowel and bladder control between 24 and 48 months of age. Bowel control occurs before bladder control.

Sequence of control:

– Bowel control at night

– Bowel control during the day

– Bladder control during the day

– Bladder control at night

It is normal to wet the bed until age six for a girl and age seven for a boy.



Steps to train your toddler

Let them watch and learn – Show them how it is done ie. How to undress and sit.

Buy the right equipment – Getting the right type of potty seat plays a vital role in your training. Try going for choices which would make the kid want to come back and not whine, when taken.

Help your child get comfortable with the potty – make sure the child feels comfortable sitting on it.

Motivate with cool underwear–  Make them wear underwear with their favorite cartoon characters or motifs. Make them wear it without fuss.

Set up a training schedule– Prepare a schedule, and stick on to it. It will slowly become a routine.

Teach to sit and wipe– Help them sit on the potty or if you are using a toilet seat cover, make sure its sturdy when they sit.

Set aside some naked time – Give them some diaper/ underwear free time. So that they will feel the urge when they need to pee/poop.

Celebrate triumphs – Once they start doing it the right way, keep encouraging them with small treats.

Role of book and videos in potty training:

Everyone Poops, by Taro Gomi, is a lasting favorite. Where’s the Poop? and Once Upon a Potty, comes in a version with a doll and miniature potty. Potty by Leslie patricelli is another good book.

Several board books are now available to encourage children and make them learn in a fun way.

Gender specific titles are also available.

You could also show them an animated video, showing them how their favorite character also is being potty trained.

Many parents deal with potty training as something over which they have total control. Parents are a big contributor to their child’s development, but they don’t really control it. Parents are there to facilitate, to guide, to reinforce and to praise, but parents shouldn’t put pressure on themselves that if they do a series of steps, the children will achieve a certain outcome.”

If you feel like you’ve been changing diapers forever, you’re not alone.

Do not compare your child, this varies individually and is not something to boast about if your child has mastered it very early. Children take their own time to get comfortable and used to it. After all, it’s nature’s call and cannot be missed but would be taken at the right time and right place.

Also Read: How to Toilet Train your little one!

Explore the entire collection of articles: Toddler behaviour

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