HAPPY POTTY TIME

A day comes in every parents life, when they have to start their toddler's potty training. Like eating and sleeping, pooping is also a daily habit for which toddlers need support from their parents. Toddlers prefer comfort and continuity when it comes to their daily habits and changing them can become tricky. So, here are some tips for happy potty time.

START SLOW

As already mentioned, toddlers do not like to drastically change their daily habits. So, it makes sense to start slow. Initially, try to get your toddler do his Pee-Pee once or twice a day in the potty. Select time when he is usually calm. You may want to avoid early mornings or night time when toddlers can be sleepy or cranky. It is also easier to start with Pee-Pee instead of Poo-Poo. Once your toddler gets comfortable with the doing it in a potty, you can increase the frequency and then make him poop in it. Slowly start reducing the time when he wears diaper. In the final stage, you can stop wearing him diaper even at night. When you do that, make sure he pees just before going to bed.

FAMILIARIZE 

If a toddler is used to wearing diaper all the time, seeing their own poop coming out of buttocks can gross them out or make them so curious that they want to touch it. Both of these are unwanted scenarios. So, it is advisable that parents explain what is happening and what he should or should not do while using potty.

PAINFUL EXPERIENCE

Some children have tendency not to poop for long duration. In some cases it could be upward to three days.  It is not common that a healthy child with balanced diet do not poop for such long duration. Hence, generally when this happens, the reason is that the child is willingly postponing it, as long as possible. This could be because pooping is too painful for him. In such cases, it makes sense to check the child's daily water intake and whether he is eating enough fibrous food. If you don't think that the water and fiber intake are the problem, you should consult a doctor.

TRAINING 

Training for potty can done by telling a story or showing a potty training video/cartoon. You can easily make a story where your toddler's favorite baby animal uses a potty for peeing and pooping. While telling the story, describe the baby animal's potty, similar to your toddler's potty. Children love to mimic, you can use it to your advantage.

THINGS TO REMEMBER

1.  Be patient - Success and effectiveness of any child disciplining activity depends on patience of parents. No matter how fast you want your toddler to get trained, he will take his own time.
2. Be firm - Some children can think of different ways to bend the will of parents. Be smart in spotting your child's false excuses and stay firm in case you spot them.
3. Remind - During initial phase, your toddler may need you to remind him of peeing in a potty. As he was habitual of using a diaper, he may forget that he is not wearing it anymore and wet himself.
4. Entertainment - To  make the potty time happy and less cranky, you can show potty time related books to your child. You can also let him hold his favorite toy while pooping. You can sing his favorite song too. Make the atmosphere positive and your toddler, comfortable.
5. Relapse -  Kids can try the trick of not pooping/peeing until you wear them a dipper. At that time, you have to remember not to give up. If you show softness, toddlers can be quick to exploit it. In such case, distract their attention initially by using something like a toy or a story. Then, reaffirm that all kids must use the potty. You can repeat the potty training story or video already described above.

So parents, these are some tips we found useful while potty training our son. If you would like to add some points, please feel free to write in comments section below.

Have a Happy Potty Time!



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