Hooray, peeing on the pee potty the first time! Another milestone reached together with your child. A milestone that can be reached when you start potty-training with your child.
When do you start potty training?
In general, you start with potty training between 16 to 18 months old. There are children who are already potty-trained at 20 months, while others are potty-trained or starting to become potty-trained around their third birthday. A number of sample signals that you can pick up on so you can easily start potty-training with your child;
- Your child makes it clear that he or she has to pee or poo
- Your child is dry after the afternoon nap
- Your child feels uncomfortable with a dirty diaper. For example, they start to wiggle their legs or pull on the diaper
- Your child can stay on the potty for a while
- Your child pees less often and makes bigger pees
What do we need for the potty training?
A potty The normal toilet is still too big for your small toddler. Therefore, invest in a solid, high-quality potty such as the KEES luxury pee potty with a high back and an inner potty.
A toilet reducer. You’re not going to be able to control the fact that your child will say to you that he/she would like to go to the toilet. Especially because you yourself or perhaps a bigger brother or sister does so too. It is therefore something fun, something to discover, and above all, an adventure because it is something they can figure out for themselves. A toilet reducer is really a very handy addition. In our experience, the best toilet seat reducer is one with a flap in the middle of the front to keep the seat as tight as possible. You also have reducers with stairs, but that also takes away the magic of that adventure that your child will want to share so badly.
Easy to wear clothing. Especially in the beginning your child will have to be able to act very quickly. In that case, it is nice when your child can take off his or her own clothes very quickly. Help them with loose dresses, skirts and/or pants with an elastic band. Do not make it too difficult with buttons and zippers.
Time. The most important thing you can give is time, patience and to help where possible. Does your child want to go to the potty? Immediately shift to the help mode. Every morning / afternoon that no accidents have occurred, you are ready with a compliment to make them aware of how extremely well the potty-training is going. Do you have the occasional disappointment? Then you have the patience to solve the ‘accident’ with a smile and not make it into a bad experience.
Simple logic. Having your child run around without too many clothes during the summer days makes it much easier to clean up an accident then if you have to do the same thing in winter when they are wearing three or more layers. It also not a good idea to start on a day that you will be outdoors a lot. Try to do it in your familiar environment as much as possible, where your child knows his/her way around very well, can be busy playing but is not completely absorbed in something that makes your child forget he/she has to go to the toilet and don’t emphasize that you will start. When it goes naturally it becomes a lot easier with several good tips as opposed to when it is forced and imposed.
Some tips for a training with a pee potty
- Try to recognize the signals your child uses to show they want to go to the pee potty, whether it’s gestures, facial expressions, movements or words, ask your child if they want to go to the pee potty.
- Encourage your child to go on the pee potty without putting pressure on him or her
- Show your child a pee potty as soon as your child can sit and stand up on its own. Let your child use it as a seat and bring it around the house a lot.
- If your child wants to sit on the potty, let them sit on the potty every 15 to 20 minutes. This encourages them to indicate whether they had to pee. This brings out the game element of pride and achievement which is particularly important in potty training. Your child will learn to sense his need more easily, stop trying and understand the usefulness of the potty.
Did your child pee or poo? Then let your child look into the pee potty and explain and show that you empty the pee/poop into the toilet and flush it down the toilet so that they better understand what effect is of the pee potty. Of course don’t forget to end with a big compliment. The best moment remains when your child looks at his poop for the first time and says WOW.
Accidents happen. Tell your child that this should be done on the potty, but don’t make it anything too serious, no matter how annoying and frustrating it may be for you.