Toilet Training Trials

This week I started toilet/potty training my 2-year-old (child number 5). I have to admit that toilet training is probably my least favourite parenting responsibility! Since she turned 2 in January I have been putting off the inevitable, but with baby number 6 due in around 7 weeks I reluctantly decided that I’d better get on with it.

Toilet Training Books

Back when I was fruitlessly attempting to train my first child, a friend put me onto the method that Gary Ezzo and Robert Bucknam describe in their “Toddlerwise” book (I haven’t actually read the rest of the book to be honest! It might also be worth looking into their other books “Potty Training 1-2-3” and “On Becoming Potty Wise for Toddlers“)

The method described in “Toddlerwise” basically involves rewarding the child for being ‘dry and clean’ rather than for just doing something in the potty, since this is the overall goal of potty training. Throughout the day you ask the question, “Are you dry and clean?” Whenever the answer is “yes” you reward the child with a special drink or salty snack. This is to make them thirsty and keep them drinking lots so they get plenty of practise! Obviously there will be many accidents to begin with, so you have to make sure to ask them the question lots in between these.

Potty training experience

Potty training thus far has been a mixed experience. My first two children trained in around 5-7 days using this method, and my third was not too much worse at about 9-10 days (although it felt MUCH longer at the time). However, number 4 was far slower, more like 3-4 weeks!! Interestingly, she had spent barely any time in cloth nappies and she was and is a picky eater – which apparently tends to go hand in hand with slower potty training! With interruptions on the first weekend following the start of potty training she actually went backwards and I ended up putting her in cloth nappies for a while to reduce the mess.

Take 5

Hopefully, that is not the experience we have this time around. Day one felt like a complete write-off, with mostly accidents and very little success on the potty. Unfortunately, I forgot to keep the older kids away when we started. While it was nice having them excited and enthusiastic about her starting, they overwhelmed her and at first she refused to even sit on the potty! Day two has been a little more hopeful.. but there’s a long way to go yet.

I find the whole process incredibly exhausting and frustrating, but it’s one of those parenting things that just has to be done. Maybe one day I’ll even miss it… not likely!!