I’m a mum-of-two and there’s five tips I swear by to help potty train a stubborn toddler – they work every time
ANY parent knows what a nightmare potty training your little ones can be.
For the most part there’s a lot of trail and error involved and you can pretty much guarantee that things will get messy.
This mum-of-two recently shared her top potty training tricks and tips on YouTube and they’re so good you’d be a fool not to give them a whirl – after all, what’ve you got to lose?
Alexa, who has a four-year-old daughter and a four-month-old son, explained that despite it being the first time she’s had to potty train a tot, she’s learnt a lot along the way.
Use underwear instead of nappies
Although this sounds like a recipe for disaster, Alexa swears by the tip, saying, “Pull-ups and diapers are very absorbent, which sounds like it should be a good thing.
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“But it actually makes it comfortable for toddlers to sit in their poop and pee because they can barely feel anything.”
She explained that wearing underwear will make it more uncomfortable for them, which might sound harsh, but will stop them having accidents sooner.
Make them change their own underwear
If your little one knows that they have to clean up their own mess, they’re probably less likely to make a mess in the first place.
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Although it might take longer to do, it’ll make your life so much easier in the long run.
Alexa said: “For the longest time I was changing my daughter’s underwear every time she had an accident.
“The second I started making her do all the work it became much more inconvenient for her to have multiple accidents in a day.”
Provide options
There are loads of helpful tools out there that are designed to help potty trains kids.
But sometimes they just don’t like them, meaning they can have the opposite effect.
Providing options will help them find what works for them.
Alexa said: “Listen to your child, if they have requests, or want to pick out their own potty, little things like that you can give them the option.”
Use the big toilet
“It makes more sense to train them to use the big toilet”, Alexa explained.
There’s just no point training them to use a small, portable potty, only to eventually change everything and train them to use a normal toilet.
“If they’re going to end up on the toilet I don’t see why you don’t just start them there in the first place.”
Let them feel like they’re older
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Kids love to hear that they’re grown-up, even if they’re still being potty trained.
Alexa explained that reminding her daughter that she’s a big sister and role model made the transition from nappies to toilets easier, since she wanted to live up to her role.