Hi Mama,
I recently potty trained my daughter at 20 months. From start to finish it took 4 days for her to be completely day-time potty trained with no more accidents. Today I wanted to share my tips and advice for helping you potty train your little one, even before their second birthday!
Potty Training at 20 Months using the 3-day Method!
Our experience
When I first started doing my research about how to potty train, I found 2 things that motivated me. The first was that the sensitive period for potty training starts around 18 months. The second was that it was possible to potty train in as little as 3 days! I had also heard from other moms that the process is a lot smoother if your child shows signs of readiness, so I took that into account when deciding on when we should start our potty training journey.
In the days leading up to when I wanted to start potty training, I introduced a new book to my daughter. The book is called let’s go to the potty. You can buy it here. This is a guide for toddlers to learn the process of using the toilet. We read this book daily the week before she started potty training and I think it really helped to illustrate the concepts that she would need to understand in order to learn how to use the potty by herself.
When deciding which type of party we should use for training, I decided on using this. It’s a toilet seat that’s attached to a ladder that allows toddlers to climb up and sit on the adult potty by themselves. I went with this training seat after a friend of mine pointed out that potty training on a stand-alone mini potty can be annoying when you have to keep cleaning it after every use. We do have this travel potty that we keep in our trunk but I’ve heard other moms at the park recommending this one.
The three day potty training method requires that the child goes naked for day one and then wears underwear for the remaining days of the potty training. There are no pull-ups involved. I decided to go with this method because it seem to be the fastest route and also the least confusing method for my daughter.
Before starting potty training, I checked the weather and chose a 3-day period Where it was going to be raining anyway so we wouldn’t be able to go anywhere. When using the three day potty training method, it’s very intense and you’re basically just staying home and using the potty every half an hour for three days. I chose to start on a Saturday so that way my husband could help as well. If you were working mom definitely start on a Saturday and see if you can take the following Monday and Tuesday off in order to give your child enough support and to get them completely through the potty training transition. Going back-and-forth with only confuse so it’s important to make sure you have ample time to devote to this. It will be worth it in the end!
So on day one my daughter stayed in a long sleeve shirt and socks. Nothing on the bottom! We were taking her to the potty every 15 minutes on day one. Our goal was to have her P in the potty as many times as possible. We wanted her to get comfortable with the feeling of using a toilet rather than her diaper so the first day the focus really was just on getting her on the potty.
We also focused on clear communication. It felt like we just continue to repeat ourselves for three days straight: do you wanna go to the potty? Let’s go to the potty? Where is the potty? But repetition works! Just make sure you decide how you want to word your elimination communication with your child and make sure that everybody’s on the same page. Our situation is a bit unique because our daughter is bilingual. With me she will say potty. With her grandmother who doesn’t speak English she will say the Vietnamese word for poop. This is fine as long as everyone in the house knows what words are being used to communicate that your child needs to use the toilet.
There will be accidents! And lots of them. I highly recommend doing potty training in the space that’s easy to clean. We did our potty training in the play room just outside the bathroom so we were able to get her into the bathroom when we needed to. We did have some accidents though! On day one she only went to the bathroom on the potty twice — the rest were accidents!
After day one I was feeling quite defeated! But the important thing is to remember that it will take a few days for this new skill to click! If you only do one day and then give up because you felt like it wasn’t working, then it won’t work. You’re embarking on a journey of teaching your child a new skill that they’ve never done in their whole life! It will take a few days.
Day two was a bit better! It seemed like she was starting to understand the concept of going to the potty, and we were also better about making sure to put her on the potty every 15 minutes. We kept her naked on the lower half for Day two as well because she seemed to have more accidents when wearing underwear. On day two she used the potty eight times and had four accidents.
Day three was the day we started keeping her in her underwear. It’s important to introduce underwear because when they have an accident, they will feel the wetness in their underwear. This teaches them the consequences of going to the bathroom in their pants rather than on the toilet. With each accident, just be sure not to overreact. Simply state that they’ve had an accident and let them know that they should go on the potty next time. You can wait a minute or two before changing them so they can feel the wetness.
Even though she still had a few accidents on day three, I could definitely tell that she was really grasping the idea! She ended up going Pee on the potty 12 times and poop on the potty once! She had 3 accidents. Keeping track of how many time she went to the bathroom was helpful for me to stay motivated to see it through. I wouldn’t have guessed that by day three she would actually be using the potty that many times.
Something else that we liked to do during the process was let her stamp a piece of paper every time she used potty. You can also use stickers as a reward but since we use stickers for teeth brushing I wanted something a little bit different for potty training. I’ve also heard of people using food as a reward but I don’t think that’s necessary. As long as you’re consistent and communicating well with your child, you should see results.
Even though we decided to go with a three day method, I ended up taking four days. On day four she use the potty every time except for two accidents. The first accident was really only half of an accident because I got her on the potty halfway through. The second accident was a full on accident because I was loading the washer and she went while I was distracted. I did get most of the housecleaning done before the three day potty training so that I could have all my focus on her, but since we went on to day 4, I had a few things to do.
On day 5, I was brave and took her out to the park to play. I made sure to bring a change of clothes and her travel potty in the car. She went to the bathroom right before we left the house and I knew that she would have about an hour until she needed to use the bathroom again. While she was playing at the park, she suddenly said potty. I took her to the car and she used her travel potty for the first time. I was so proud of her!
We are now on day 10 and I can officially say that she is potty trained for daytime! She doesn’t wear a diaper during nap time, and only wears one diaper per day for bedtime. She hasn’t had an accident since day four.
So now that I’ve shared my experience with potty training my 20 month old. I just wanted to leave a bullet point list of my top tips, as well as my recommended resources that we used for our potty training journey.
Tips and advice for potty training!
• Look for signs of readiness in your child before starting potty training. These could be things like feeling discomfort when a diaper is wet, telling you that they’ve gone to the bathroom in their diaper, or being interested in how you use the toilet.
• Let your child watch you when you go to the bathroom. Explain each step to them while you do your business.
• Introduce books, songs, or videos that talk about and show the process of potty training at least a week before starting. The book we used is here.
• Start your potty training journey on a Saturday and be ready to devote at least three days to your child, four days if you can!
• Potty train your child in a part of your house where messes will be easy to clean up.
• Make sure you have a clock or a timer set so you can get your child on the potty every 15 to 20 minutes on days one and two. You can extend this to 30 minutes on day three.
• Have fun rewards ready to give your child when they successfully use the potty. You can use stickers, stamps, or small toys from the dollar tree.
• Teach your child how to say the word potty before starting potty training. Do you want them to be able to communicate when they need to go. If your child is nonverbal, try to teach them the sign for toilet.
• Flushing the toilet is fun for kids! Use it to your advantage. Tell your child that if they successfully go to the bathroom on the potty they can flush the toilet by themselves. This will make them excited to go.
• Don’t forget to help your child wash their hands every time they use the toilet. It’s important to build healthy habits from the get go, even if you’re wiping their bottom.
• Accidents will happen! Try not to make it a big deal. Simply tell your child that they’ve had an accident and that’s why they feel wet. Tell them that next time they should go to the potty. Do not scold or punish them!
• Don’t get discouraged if the process takes longer than three days! Keep track of how many times your child uses the potty versus having an accident each day. Seeing a positive trend can help you feel more in control.
• Daytime potty training is easier the nighttime potty training. There’s no need to rush your child out of a nighttime diaper if they are not ready. Simply watch to see if they wake up with a dry diaper or not. If they wake up with a dry diaper for two weeks then you can take away the night diaper.
Potty Training Essentials:
Those are all my tips and tricks at tackling potty training! Please let me know if you have any additional questions or want to share your experience with other mamas in the comments below! 🙂 Good luck!
Thanks for reading!
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xo
Mother of Fawn
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