Potty training essentials

Pee and poop.

I really didn’t know how intimate I’d become with either before becoming a parent. But sniffing bums and cleaning up puddles really becomes as rote as sniffing your baby’s delicious skin and jumping in puddles.

Potty training generally elicits a universal sigh: parents who’ve been through it empathize; parents with babies still in diapers know it’s inevitable; people who don’t have kids really don’t want to hear about it at all. The good news is that once you’re through the learning stage, you really do forget about how awful it is in the moment. Kind of like labour.

Now that I’ve successfully potty trained one child and am seeing the light at the end of the urinal with another, I wanted to share my potty training must-haves:

• Toilet Training in Less Than One Day, a book that teaches the Azrin-Foxx one-day toilet learning method. Did we have success in less than one day? No. Not even close. We’re well into week two and although we’ve got the pee down, Miss Q is still pooping in her underwear most of the time. However, I found the strategies in this book really helpful. It gave me some language to use and kept me very focused on day one, where I did see some amazing progress. So if you go into this thinking of it as one more tool in your potty training tool kit, and you don’t have the naive expectation that it will absolutely work (like I did), you’ll be good

• Good underwear. Never underestimate the power of kid-friendly underwear! Whether it’s a great fit or your child’s favourite characters, I like to buy a couple of several different brands and styles (letting my kids weigh in on many of the selections) before committing. The K Man, for instance, favours boxer-briefs since that’s what Daddy wears and the ones from H&M are a great fit; Miss Q, on the other hand, really likes her boy short-style undies from Joe Fresh (and not because Joe Fresh is owned by Loblaw, which is one of her Mommy’s company’s clients). Both have a bit of stretch to them, too, which is always a good thing when it comes to comfort

• Training pants. My personal choice is to just go straight into underwear and reserve diapers only for sleeping. However, Miss Q goes to preschool two mornings a week and their preference – understandably – is for Pull-Ups. I won’t do it because it feels too much like a diaper to me, so instead, I opt for training pants. Forget the disposables

  The Omaiki Training Pant has ingenious snaps on both sides, just in case you have an accident involving the number “2.”

  and go for reusable for daytime situations like this. My first choice is the Omaiki Training Pant because it’s padded with 100 per cent cotton and will help your kid feel quite wet without creating a big mess on a daycare or preschool floor; my second choice is a Charlie Banana two-in-one swim diaper/training pant combo that I reviewed last year. It’s got an organic cotton lining but a waterproof outer shell; the only problem you might find with these is that in a busy environment, if the care-taker or teacher is watching for wet pants, she’ll never see that with these. Your child will have to notice that s/he’s wet and ask to be changed. I own one of each and they’re reserved for preschool. I wash them each weekend and repeat

• Kids’ potty training books, charts and lots of stickers. Between my two kids, we’ve used (and liked) Big Girls Use the Potty, The Potty Book for Boys and The Potty Book for Girls. Whether you make your own sticker chart, use one that comes with a book like the first I mention here, or download free printable potty training reward charts like those on my friend Lisa’s site – Fab Frugal Mama – if your kid is into stickers as rewards, then dole them out without hesitation

• A “wetting” doll. Even if you have a boy, there are boy dolls that “pee” and the Azrin-Foxx method starts with your child teaching his or her doll to use the potty. It’s something about when you teach you learn twice. Anyway, you

  The doll that drinks and pees. Comes with a bottle, pacifier and potty.

  don’t need to spend upwards of $70 like I did on the Carolle Emma Drink and Wet Baby Doll; I just really like that it’s not made in China (it’s from France) and it smells like vanilla (not plastic)

• Smarties (or other sweet currency). Bribery is the key to all good child behaviour – said no doctor ever. But I say it, and as a parent, you know it’s true. The potty training method I followed this time around weans kids off of the treats-for-pees rewards rather quickly. And I suppose if I’d followed the plan hard core for more than four hours, I probably would have done this, too; but instead, I find myself two weeks later still handing out a Smartie for a pee

• Reading material. For you and your child. At first, it may take 15 or 20 minutes for your wee one (pun intended) to pee or poo, so entertainment is a must

• Toilet seat cover. Essential for home, the potty seats that simply sit on top of your existing toilet seat are a great option, provided you’re available to help your kid get on. These are much cheaper than buying an actual potty. We have two kinds: one with handles and a “splash guard” (like this one) and one no-frills version that’s basically a white plastic inner tube. Believe it or not, I side with no-frills on this one. Not only did it cost me just $3.99 at Real Canadian Superstore (also part of the Loblaw family), but it fits my kids better. The one with handles, while cushion-y and covered in Sesame Street characters, is smaller and the splash guard takes up even more room. In fact, when we bought that one for my son he couldn’t even use it because his you-know-what wouldn’t fit behind the guard

• Depending on the number of bathrooms you have, you may need several potties if you’d rather not do toilet seat covers. At-home potty options that I’ve now tried include:
  

  The versatile Boon Potty Bench. Photo courtesy of The Baby Depot.

  • Boon Potty Bench: Boon makes some really smart products, and this is no exception. This is a potty/bench combo that holds 300 lbs. It also has two side compartments – one for a full roll of toilet paper and the other for wipes or whatever else you might want to put there, like small toys. This is great for bigger kids
  • Elfe Deluxe Toilet Trainer: remarkably sturdy considering it doesn’t look nearly as solid as the Boon potty, this looks like a real toilet – complete with a lid (that doesn’t really stay on). Its budget-conscious price means there are no bells and whistles but it does the job just fine. I don’t recommend this if you’re training a particularly heavy three year old, though
  • Safety 1st EZ-PeeZ training potty: strangely, this is nowhere to be found online, but I bought it for less than $10 at Walmart and it’s fantastic! Aside from the price, it has a hook if you want to hang it up and it also works as a urinal if you hang it at the right height for your boy. However, this is for small bottoms. Miss Q is nearly too big for it and she’s not even two-and-a-half

• Travel potty. There are two options I can present to you here, too. The first is a fold-up toilet seat cover, which is great to tuck into your diaper bag and use in a grocery store, restaurant or other public washroom. But I recently

  My Carry Potty – keeps messes locked inside until you find a toilet to toss it into. Photo courtesy of Blue Daisy.

  found an amazing option that I keep in my car – My Carry Potty. If you’ve ever been on the highway or the middle of nowhere and hear the words “I HAVE TO GO PEE!”, you know that waiting until the next service station is like playing potty roulette. It’s one thing if you have a boy who will happily hop out and pee on the car tire, but if it’s a No. 2 or you have a girl who likes to sit, then you’re going to love the My Carry Potty as much as I do. Again, this is not going to work for very big children

• Step stool. For bathrooms where you’re using a toilet seat cover or where you don’t have a potty/bench combo like the Boon, you need to have something your child can step up onto to wash his/her hands. The EZ Foldz variety work well and tuck out of the way or into a cabinet when not in use; they’re easy enough for even really little kids to fold and unfold. I always see these at Winners and HomeSense

• Hand soap. I prefer to use all-natural products, but I have yet to find a foaming hand soap that fits the bill. A foaming pump soap is a must for my kids because it means they can manage the handwashing process on their own. The one we buy is the Pampers Kandoo brand, and it’s not perfect, but it’s free of most of the nasty ingredients you don’t want seeping into your child’s skin

• Waterproof car seat protector. I didn’t have one of these when we potty trained The K Man because he was done with pee training in two short days; however, even though she’s doing really well, Miss Q is a bit more unpredictable. So I just bought a Summer Infant Deluxe PiddlePad to protect her beautiful new Diono RadianGTX that we’re testing (the Diono version wasn’t available where we were shopping). If she has an accident, I just need to toss the PiddlePad in the wash without having to Febreze the crap out of the car seat

• Wet bags. You know wet underwear, pants, leggings, tights – and even socks and shoes – are in your future, so be prepared with a wet bag (I showcase a few great ones in this post). I keep one in our diaper bag and one in Miss Q’s
  

  The PlanetWise wet bag is my fave.

  school bag; spare clothes go in until they trade places with wet ones

• Crocs. No, they are not ergonomically perfect, but they’re the most convenient shoes for outdoor play each summer (I’m not the only one who hoses off her children after sandy summer days, right?!). Crocs are also the ONLY shoes I’m letting Miss Q wear right now, even though she has an amazing collection of shoes calling to be worn

• Flushable wipes – for home and travel. We like the Charmin Freshmates wipes and the ones from Huggies. The Pampers Kandoo wipes are on the small side. There’s no contest between these wipes and toilet paper for teaching proper wiping technique