LO is now 2 years old and competent at using the potty when his nappy is off and we’re at home but it’s a completely different story if he’s clothed or if we’re outside. Poor thing, I don’t expect him to know how to use the thing properly until next year or so but I know that many parents from our previous nursery have started getting their little ones to use it.
The thing is, LO has been using the potty on-and-off since he was about 18 months. The nursery staff had advised us to stop as LO was getting the hang of it some days but then other days wasn’t – I guess they thought it was too stressful for him and told me that “many children in toddler room (we were in baby room at the time) weren’t even potty-trained so we shouldn’t have to worry about it”. I took that advice and only encouraged LO to use it when he wanted to which seemed to have worked out well for us. LO is now more dry during his naps and at night which makes me think he may soon be getting used to using the potty properly. However he’s just moved to another nursery nearby so we’re holding off any major changes at the moment to make the transition to a new nursery less stressful but I am telling you, I CANNOT WAIT until he can be nappy-free! 🙂
We currently have a cute little potty that looks more like a chair (see above – from Ebay approx. £7) which seems to have suit LO very well. Recently, when we were over at my sisters he took a real interest in my nephew’s potty, just the standard one, so I’m thinking to “upgrade” him to a new one as this one’s becoming a bit of a snug-fit for him. Although, the other idea I had was to get LO a little step and small toilet-seat fitting to go over the main toilet and get him to use that but it might be a challenge so I will probably see how he goes with a new potty then later get him to use the big-boy’s one.
We are still on our potty journey but here are some things I found along the way that were pretty useful (and still are!) to me:
Children’s Books
There’s a whole range of children’s books available at the local library on using the potty, I found one just the other day! If there is no library near you head down to any shop that sells children’s books such as The Works, WHSmiths or go online. I found this cute book for LO at The Works on potty training for about £3. It even has a little ‘cheer’ button you can press to celebrate potty-success. 🙂
Songs & Rhymes
I (well, LO actually stumbled across them) found this potty-training songs on Youtube which I think are fantastic. They teach the children about using the potty and praising them, but also it teaches them not to be scared if they make mistakes which is a great lesson. There’s quite a few you can watch but this one with the cute panda is my favourite!
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BabyCentre
The BabyCentre website is a great little site for me. They have a page dedicated to potty training and there’s an extensive list on everything about potty training including tips.
What I personally love the most about BabyCentre is the fantastic online community. You’ll need to register before you can post on the forums however there’s literally a forum for every birth month as well as other hot topics such as potty training so you can easily find what you’re looking for advice-wise from other mums using tried-and-tested methods. If you have a burning question, simply post it up and someone will be sure to comment to help you out or refer you to a current post if there’s something similar with loads of advice on.
Manny.Wandering | The Wandering Mother Blog 
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