I’m a mum-of-three and I swear by my three-day clever potty training method – it works every time
A MUM-OF-THREE has revealed that she was able to potty train her three children, all whilst they were under the age of two-years-old.
Hollin Parkinson took to TikTok to share her clever potty training method, leaving many very impressed.
According to Hollin, the secret to successful potty training is to give your children undivided attention and to give them lots of high fibre food and drinks.
The mother said: “How I potty trained my not even two-year-old in less than three days.
“I have used the same three day method with all three of my children.
“My first child is a boy and then my next two are girls.
“Like I said, I’ve used the same three day method with all three of my kids, who have three different personalities and I technically potty trained them at three different ages.
“So, with my first child he was exactly two-years-old, with my second child, she was a month shy of turning two and with my third child she was almost 21 months old when I potty trained her.
“With my first, he potty trained in 3 days, with my second, she potty trained in two and a half days, and with my third, she potty trained that very first day, I would say she even caught on within the first four hours.
“A little disclaimer, I am a very potty motivated type of person. What do I mean by that? I mean my mum was able to potty train me when I was 18-months-old.
“Potty train is not something you really think about when you’re becoming a new mum or when you’re deciding to get pregnant, it’s just something that’s not on the forefront of your brain until your child hits that toddler age.
“You have to be mentally prepared to lock down and potty train your child.”
Hollin expressed that preparation is key, as she added: “The first thing you need to do when you wanna potty train your child is prepare.
“I mean, you are buying all the different types of juices and drinks that you can think of.
“You’re buying all the fun cups and straws. You’re going to buy a lot of foods with heavy fibre in them.
“Now, on the mental side of preparation, you need to make the decision, without a Plan B, that you will not have diapers as a backup plan and that you will be in your house on lockdown for three whole days.
“Now I mean, you’re not even looking at your phone, with all three of my children, my phone was on the counter.
“I was involved with them on the floor, doing puzzles, playing with cars, they were not out of my sight and nothing was in my hand, so I could be accessible to them.
“Because I decided to go on lockdown for 3 days and not have any distraction and fully focus on my child and pumping them full of liquids and high fibre foods, I was able to get all three of my children potty trained in three days or less, under the age of two.”
Hollin posted her video just 14 hours ago, but it has clearly impressed many, as it has quickly gone viral and has amassed a whopping 1.5million views.
It has 111.1k likes, 1,026 comments and 3,694 shares.
Hollin then shared a follow-up clip, as she explained her advice in a bit more detail.
She advised: “Let’s start off with the basics. Prepare, prepare, prepare.
“First off, you’re gonna look for cues as if your child is already telling you they’re ready to be potty trained.
“This is gonna look like something like they’re crying every time they go potty in their diaper.
“This could be them taking off their diaper at nap times or when they’re sleeping at night.
“With each of my children, I openly talked about the bathroom with them. I’m positively encouraging them.
“Let’s start getting comfortable with the toilet. Maybe before bath time, you just sit their little bums on the toilet. Make sure you’re holding them tightly so they don’t get scared.”
Hollin also stressed the importance of buying your child some underwear that they are excited about wearing.
She continued: “The next thing you’re gonna do is you’re gonna take them shopping with you to choose their new undies.
“Kids are more excited to wear or start something new when they get an opinion about it. So let them choose whatever crazy pattern underwear that they want.
“The next thing you’re gonna do is, the night before, you’re going to get rid of all of your diapers and pull ups.
“So those diapers are gone, it’s the night before and you’re mentally preparing at this point that when your child wakes up in the morning, taking off that last diaper, and you’re encouraging them with a lot of excitement that they get to put on their new big kid undies.
“Don’t put [trousers] on them, just keep a T-shirt on them.
“You’re also gonna make sure that you have all the fun cups, straws and liquids that you would like your child to drink all throughout the day.
“And I mean, you’re offering this drink to them every 30 minutes to an hour.
“You actually want them to feel that sensation of having to go to the bathroom as often as you can get.
“The next thing you’re gonna do is make sure you have high fibre foods, because when you’re potty training, your child’s body actually goes into fight or flight mode, and most of the time, it’s the flight mode, so they’ll actually become more constipated over those three days because something’s changing in their normal routine.
“So by offering them high fibre foods and a lot of liquids, it should keep them somewhat regular.
“You’re also going to make sure that you have a lot of high rewards for them. If your child is motivated by the cars, stickers, or bubbles, anything that they’re actually highly motivated by, you want those on hand, because every time they go to the bathroom, you’re gonna over praise them and give them that reward as well.”
Hollin explained that removing your phone from the situation is a must, as she advised: “The next thing, get rid of your phone. Put that phone on silent, put it on the counter and do not touch it for the next three days.
“If your child starts to have an accident and you’re on the phone and you don’t pick them up immediately, you’re gonna miss the opportunity for them to connect.
“Now, when it comes to actually getting them to go to the potty, here’s what I do.
“I say to my child, ‘remember to tell mummy when you need to go potty, okay?’
“And the reason why I use that phrase with a question mark at the end is because I’m putting the responsibility back on them to make that association that they need to go to the bathroom.
“Now, it’s super unrealistic to think that my child’s not gonna have an accident, because they’re going to.
“And they might have accidents the whole three days, and then day four, all of a sudden they’re going to the bathroom and nothing was a problem.
“Now, when you see your child start to have that first accident, you’re gonna scoop them up with a lot of positive energy and say, ‘remember to tell mommy when you need to go potty, okay?’
“You’re gonna rush them to the toilet, and when you put them on the toilet, you’re gonna say it again.
“You absolutely do not want to reinforce any negative emotion, negative energy, or negative behaviour, because then they’re gonna associate shame with it and then they’re gonna close off communication of any sort, whether that is a physical sign or if it’s a verbal communication with you.
“These are my basic tips. I believe in you. I know you can do it.”
Social media users were very thankful for Hollin’s tips and were eager to reflect this in the comments.
One person said: “Thank you for the help!”
Another added: “Such good advice I will hold onto this.”
A third commented: “This is already so helpful.”