Potty Training Tips and Tricks!

This post is sponsored by Pull-Ups but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

Have you begun potty training yet? Waiting for the right timing or signs of readiness in your little one? Since June is National Potty Training Month, I wanted to share a few tips and tricks I learned while potty training my toddler + an update on where we are today.

I began introducing the idea of “being a big girl” when my daughter was just about 2 years old. We bought her a potty, read her potty books, made a sticker chart, and….. it all came crashing to a halt. She loved the idea at first, but being the strong-willed, non-compliant, sensitive creature that she is, decided it was too much, too soon. So, we quit.

In my mind, I was a little disappointed because I had heard of so many people potty training their kids in under 4 days, and at an early age. I took a deep breath and remembered, EVERY CHILD IS DIFFERENT. This is our journey, and when she starts to show interest again, we will try again. I re-phrased in my mind what we were doing, we didn’t “quit” we simply were “pausing”, waiting for the right frame of mind to continue.

We continued to read potty books, left the little potty out so it was visible, and let her play “go potty” at her liberty so she was comfortable with the concept. Fast forward 2 weeks… We officially tried again and she was potty trained in under a week. With minimal accidents!

So here are a few of my top tips and what I will be doing when it comes time to start potty train Ev!

Lower your expectations, or really, just get rid of them all. I, me, the mom, felt pressure from peers, books, and social media to have my first kid potty trained darn near walking out of the womb. When we got to it, I soon realized that every child is different, and that every journey is different. Relax and take it one day at a time. I promise they will get it…. eventually.
Buy a little potty. We bought both the seat ring and the little potty to see which one she would like more. Truthfully, she was terrified of the seat ring when we first started, so that was a definite no-go. The little potty ended up being great, she could manage getting on and off by herself and also run to the potty whenever she felt the urge to go. We got this one.
Buy Pull-Ups Training Pants. Pull-Ups Training Pants look and feel like underwear, but function like a diaper! Pull-Ups give your child the feeling of being a big kid – the ability to pull them on and off by themselves (perfect for independent little ones), but give you the peace of mind that they won’t have an accident on your new couch, or in their beds, because neither of those scenarios is any fun. They come in fun designs, protect against leakage and are super absorbent!
Read books about going potty. Gianna really loved, and still loves reading these books. She recognizes it as something she can relate to. Check out this one, this one and this one.
Make it fun. I wanted this to be an enjoyable experience for us, and fun for her, but not feed her candy all day as a reward. So I made a simple sticker chart – each time she went #1 she could put a sticker on her chart (if she filled in a whole row, she could pick out a toy from a bucket of little toys I had gotten from the Dollar Store). Same with #2, but since that is a little more scary at first, she did get a chocolate chip. (Not much, but she loved it haha!)

Onto the Next Step

Gianna is totally potty trained now, but we still use Pull-Ups Training Pants at night, and just up until recently, for long trips.

She has always been independent, so I love that Pull-Ups are incredibly well-made and stretchy, making it easy for her to get the Pull-Ups on and off all by herself.

Since I am an Amazon Prime kind of mom, I love that we can get these on Amazon – easy AND saves us money! PLUS you can save up to 20% with Amazon’s Subscribe and Save Program.