Toilet Training for New Parents

Everyone has an opinion on when a child should be toilet trained. First time parents are often bombarded with comments of “isn’t he potty trained yet?” and

“My baby was potty trained at eighteen months”. The conflicting advice can be confusing.

Are You Ready?

Toilet training isn’t something you wake up one morning and decide to do. Before you begin, there are preparations that can make the whole thing easier. First, both parents need to decide the method that they’re most comfortable with. Do you want to use a potty chair? A potty seat? What words are you comfortable teaching your child to communicate the need to use the bathroom. Next, decide if you’re going to use a reward system. What will it be? A sticker chart?

What does the child get for how many stickers? Is this the best time to start? Is there something major coming up in the near future that will throw the potty training program off schedule? If you’re planning a marathon cross-country trip in two weeks, this probably is not the time to try to toilet train your baby unless you’re ready to make potty stops every ten minutes.

Is Your Baby Ready?

Unless your child is ready to begin toilet training, you’re in for a long haul and a lot of resistance. Until a child’s neurological development reaches the point that the signal from the bladder reaches the brain in time to act, potty training will be futile.

You’ll know your child is ready to begin toilet training when he expresses curiosity about the toilet and follows you into the bathroom to see what you are doing. You should encourage this and answer his questions. He’ll also start having longer periods of clean diapers as he develops more control over his bladder and bowels. Ease Into It

Toilet Training is a process, not an event. It can very well take several months for daytime toilet training to be successful and nighttime toilet training can take even longer so prepare yourself and your expectations accordingly.

If you look at this as the final step from babyhood to childhood, the time flies. Just like Potty Training, this is a process which required focused effort.

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Easy Potty Training

Most parents dread potty training, especially because most of the advice they are getting about it is contradictory. The good news is, potty training does not have to be hard if parents follow a few simple steps.

A Team Effort

Before beginning potty training, parents need to agree the time is right. They also need to agree on the words to be used to discuss potty training with the child.

After the parents have made the decisions regarding methods and words to be used, be sure to inform other care givers who will need to help your child use the bathroom.

Show and Tell

Educating your child about her body and its functions is the first step in easy potty training. She needs to learn how her body works and what the feelings coming from her bladder and bowels mean.

This doesn’t need to be highly scientific, keep your conversations with her at her level and use the words you’ve chosen for her training.

The next step is to let your child go to the bathroom with you. She’s probably been doing this anyway, so use the time to explain to her that everyone goes potty.

Children are naturally curious, she’ll ask plenty of questions, answer them plainly and simply. If your child hasn’t been following you into the bathroom already, you may feel a little invaded at first.

It’s important to relax so she gets the message that using the bathroom is a natural process and everyone does it.

Praise Praise Praise

Praise all her efforts and reward her successes. She will be eager to do it again. One of the best rewards are stickers she can put on a potty chart to celebrate times she used the potty or had a dry night.

All in all, your child is just as eager to be potty trained as you are. She’s starting to see the difference between babies and big kids and wants to be one as quickly as possible (because they have all the fun!).

Let her learn at her own pace and your diaper days will soon be over.

http://www.pottytrainingtips.us provides articles and information on How to Start Potty Training for new parents.

The Right Age For Potty Training

One of the most frequently asked questions by first time parents is “what is the right age for potty training?” The short answer to that is There isn’t one.

Regardless of what you may hear from well-meaning friends and relatives, the right age to potty train your child is when your child is ready. Attempting to potty train a child who has not shown any signs of readiness will frustrate both you and the child and very possibly make him resistant to potty training in the future.

Helping Your Child Get Ready

You can help your child get ready for potty training by encouraging his natural curiosity. Let him follow you into the bathroom and explain that you’re going potty. Let him learn how the toilet works. If his natural curiosity leads him to start happily flushing everything in sight, a simple toilet lid lock from the hardware store will save your sanity and your pocketbook.

You can also help him recognize that he goes potty. Ask him if his diaper is wet. When he starts to tell you on his own that he needs to be changed, he’s getting close to being ready for potty training. Switching to cloth diapers at this point will also help since the cloth diapers don’t wick the moisture away from his skin, he will be more able to feel wet.

Be Ready Yourself

Prepare for potty training by having the things you’ll need on hand. If you decide to use a potty seat or potty chair, have it ready. Your child will need training pants or underwear which you can let him choose. He may decide to give it a try if it means he gets to wear his special new Superman underwear.

Get Your Team Ready

Anyone who interacts with your child needs to be prepared to support your potty training efforts and methods. Daycare providers, relatives, friends or anyone who may need to help him needs to know what words he’ll use to tell them he needs to go potty and what do to help him.

He will become frustrated with the process if he tries to tell someone he needs to use the bathroom, and they don’t understand what he means or what routine he’s expecting. If you are using a sticker chart or other reinforcement/reward system, he will be very put out if he uses the potty and doesn’t get a sticker from grandma.

The only one who can tell you when your child is ready for potty training is your child. By being ready yourself, you’ll be able to act quickly and take advantage of the window of opportunity when it presents itself

http://www.pottytrainingtips.us provides articles and information on How to Start Potty Training for new parents.

Potty Training Boys – 3 Reasons You Should Start Potty Training A Boy Sitting Down

Potty training boys can be a lot harder than potty training girls; this is usually because boys have more steps to learn. This article will discuss 3 reasons you should start potty training a boy sitting down.

1. Lessen The Confusion:

It really doesn’t matter whether or not they learn how to urinate standing up or sitting down, but either way they will still have to learn how to go to the bathroom sitting down so they can have a bowel movement. Because of this fact it is often recommended that boys learn how to do both sitting down first, this will lessen the confusion as they do not have to learn two different skills simultaneously.

2. Fewer Messes:

After they have mastered urinating standing up, it is likely you will have more messes to clean up as they perfect their aim. This is a natural part of the process and may make things a little more difficult for you if it is done in combination with simply learning to use the potty. If you potty train a boy sitting down first, there will be fewer messes to deal with which will make things go smoother for both of you.

3. Quicker Results:

When you tackle one step at a time, you will most likely see faster results for the whole process. After having successfully learned to use the potty, mastering the skill of standing to pee should be a piece of cake. Messes for this next process are inevitable, but they won’t be in combination with normal accidents that occur for the normal potty training experience.

In this article we looked at 3 reasons to start potty training a boy sitting down. Boys have more to learn than girls do, because of this sitting down during the process is less confusing for them. The benefits are fewer messes in the beginning and faster results since tackling one step at a time is much easier on both of you.

Potty training toddlers is really hard; weeks of accidents and frustration are usually inevitable. But the end result is worth it; hopefully the above steps will help you get through the diaper to underwear transition.

Potty train your boy sitting down or standing up? That is the question…

Do you want to learn more?

Lily Adams, a mother of two and web entrepreneur has created a helpful meeting place for parents. Her website, ParentMeltingPot.com, has helpful information regarding how to potty train boys as well as many other parent problems.