Tag: Potty

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Development Potty Training

At what Age should I start Potty Training?

Like learning to crawl, sit and walk, potty training is a skill that your child must learn. There is no perfect or specified age to start potty training. It all depends on the way you train your child to practice which becomes his habit. Let us go through some signs to make sure our little ones are prepared to be potty trained. Though having a potty trained baby is a very big achievement, it takes time, focus and plenty of patience. 

When to start potty training

Just like crawling, walking, talking and sleeping through the night, every child has got its own time. Potty training success depends on the physical, development and behavioural milestones and not age. Some babies show signs of being ready for potty training by the age of 18 or 24 months, whereas others might not be ready at all till they are three or four years old. Never rush till a child is ready.

Ask yourself the following:

  • Can your baby sit in a potty seat and get up without any help? 
  • Can he understand and follow basic instructions? 
  • Can your baby walk to and sit on the toilet?
  • Can your child communicate with you when he or she needs to go to the toilet? 
  • Can the baby stay dry up to 2 hours? 

If your answer for most of these questions is yes then your child might be ready. But if you answered mostly no, you will need to wait. If Potty training is started before the child is ready it will take even longer than needed. Toddlers can be very stubborn at times, and this will ruin the entire process.

Be patient with your child

Don’t judge your child’s intelligence or stubbornness with the potty training success or difficulty. Don’t compel your child; let your child’s motivation lead the process. Also, understand that punishment has no role in the process. You need to plan and devote time and energy consistently and continuously for a few months until the child understands. 
Ready, set, go! 

Choose your words

Decide on the words that you are going to use for your child’s potty needs. Avoid negative words like bad, dirty or stinky.

Fix a place and equipment

Fix a particular place to use potty preferably in the bathroom and encourage your child to sit on the potty frequently. Use simple and positive things to talk about the toilet like describing how to use the potty, show their purpose and teaching them to flush the toilet.

Schedule potty brakes

Scheduling a specific time would make your job easy. Pick them to the toilet right after naps would be a good start. 

Take them fast!

When you notice signs that your baby needs to use the toilet such as squatting, squirming or holding the genital area- respond quickly. Help your child become familiar with these signals, stop whatever they are doing and take them to the toilet. Appreciate and praise your child for telling you when he or she needs to go and continuously remind them.

 Explain hygiene

Educate girls to spread their legs and wipe carefully from front to back after urination. Emphasis on the importance of washing his/her hands afterwards.

Irrespective of the baby’s age, if your child is resisting using the potty chair or toilet continuously, think over. In case you feel he is not ready, take a break! Try again in a few months. 

Nighttime training

This might take a little longer to achieve. If your child’s diaper is dry or only slightly damp when a child wakes in the morning in a row, they may be ready for night time potty training.

When to seek help

If your baby seems to be ready for potty training but is having difficulties continuously, approach a pediatrician. He or she may guide you and help you with tips to overcome the situation. They will check to see if there is an underlying problem.

Potty training is a continuous process and needs patience. To keep control over their bowels and bladder may take a while for some children. You need to be patient throughout and keep them prepared to follow the schedule for their needs gradually at their pace. Believe it, potty training experience is worth the effort and your toddler will be independent once he/she succeeds.

Categories
Potty Training

Tips on How to Make Potty Training for Your Little One Fun

As your baby grows into a toddler, there are several ways she becomes more and more self-sufficient. You will love seeing all of these thrilling development milestones come and go, but one, in particular, may necessitate a little bit of your attention. That is when your child goes from diapers to being completely potty trained.

Potty training is a complicated process, and it can be tricky to know what the best method is as every child studies differently, boys might learn diversely from girls, and there is no specific way to teach the essential skills.

To assist you in your little one’s potty training venture, here are some tips to assist your toddler get the hang of potty training:

Ensure your child is prepared

Try not to hurry the process and begin potty training too early, before your little one can achieve success. Search for the symptoms of willingness in your child before starting to potty train your little one.

Get your kid involved in choosing the potty chair

If possible, shop for the potty chair or potty seat together with your child. It will make him feel more included and more thrilled about using his brand-new potty chair.

Shop for kid underwear as a sign of encouragement

Buy fun underwear, like ones with a preferred superhero graphic or cartoon character. Clarify to your child that after he learns how to utilise the potty, he can sport this fun kid brief. You can also allow him to wear this brief as a treat while potty training, as well.

Place the potty chair in a convenient spot

The bathroom is the best location but you can also wish to think about putting the potty in the bedroom of your kid for easy reach after rests.

Prepare a potty schedule

After your little one begins potty training, put into practice a simple schedule. For instance, you can encourage going on the potty after nap time or after eating. This allows your child to understand that going potty is a routine thing.

Do not flush immediately

If you are using your toilet to train, do not flush right after your child has utilized the potty. The sound of the flush can be very frightening in the early stages of potty training. Set up the idea of flushing slowly, after your tot has been familiarized with using the potty chair, and make a cool pastime out of it — almost like allowing your little one to press an elevator button.

Do not punish errors

Even though potty training struggles can be annoying at times, resist the urge to get irritated or discipline your toddler. Rather, let her know that it is okay and she can try again later. Additional pressure will not assist her to learn any faster. It might also be that your little one is not prepared yet, so think about placing potty training on hold for a few days or weeks.

Remember that potty training does not typically come easily, so do not underrate the process. It is all about hanging on for symptoms of willingness in your kid, preparing the stage and plunging in. Although the viewpoint of ditching the diapers is thrilling, getting there can be challenging from the point of view of parents’ patience. But do not lose trust. Potty training your kid may seem never-ending, but soon your kid will get the hang of it and stop using diapers.

Categories
Development Potty Training

Potty Training Mistakes to Avoid

Potty training is often considered as one of the trickiest features of the early years of parenting. While toilet training a toddler will never be as easy as 1, 2, 3, you may be making your life harder by committing one of these common potty training errors. While several parents are willing to speed up the development oftentimes and make the change from diaper to toilet as effortless as possible, specific mistakes can delay the process easily.

Here are some of the common potty training mistakes and issues that parents should avoid:

Pushing kids before they are prepared

A child’s wish to graduate out of diapers is a developmental landmark, and just in the same way you would not push kids to walk, you cannot force them to potty train before they are prepared and if you still do it, you will be unsuccessful. The key errors parents make in potty training are associated with not understanding the basic principles that the kid must first be able to manage their potty functions, and then they should have the eagerness to do it.

Solution: You should look for signs that your kid is interested in. For instance, he may follow you into the bathroom to watch you flush and pee. Also, you may find that he hates wearing a dirty diaper and asks via his actions or words to have it changed.

Switching to diapers at bedtime, on road trips, or other moments when it is simply easier 

Most of the parents wish to toilet train till bedtime when they frequently resort back to diapers. However, when we switch back and forth, the kid loses the understanding of being pooped/wet or uncomfortable and is getting mixed messages. The same applies to difficult times such as road trips or family occasions such as weddings. While it is enticing to go back to diapers, constancy matters.

Solution: Get rid of the diapers at bedtime and get a few plastic mattress liners in its place. Avoid setting up potty training around large social occasions or when you take a trip, or if you have to, pack lots of additional outfits to whisk out in case of untoward incidents, and take your kid to the toilet every hour to keep such issues at bay.

Not waiting until you are ready

If you cannot wake up at 2 a.m. to change the sheets, make the rugs clean, and do loads of laundry a day, or have any other issues, you may need to wait to potty train. Potty training is an untidy, time-consuming dedication, so you need to be hands-on.

Solution: Choose a potty-training time when you would not have many other pressing responsibilities, such as over summer vacation, or a long weekend. That way, you can dedicate your undivided attention to the task.

Not keeping an eye out for signals

Kids would not just come up and say that they want to go to the potty. Rather the signs are much more important. One of the most common errors is for the parent to not follow through when the child offers the signal.

Solution: First, find out the signs your child displays when he wants to go. Then watch for them and once you spot them, take your child to the bathroom and set your child on the toilet. After repeated attempts, the child will make the connection between the urge to go and the toilet and will go there naturally.

These are some of the potty training mistakes to avoid.