Sunday 1 May 2011

Adventures in Potty Training

Potty training has begun! Thank you everyone for your advice and tips.  We aren't doing anything hardcore and certainly don't expect Blondie Boy to be potty trained anytime soon, but we are having some great success!

We've had several poops and lots of pees on the potty! First can I say I never though I'd be blogging about poops and pees, but I know I'm not the only one who sings about pee-pees on the potty either. I know a lot of people struggle with potty training so maybe what we've been doing will be of help.

We have two pottys: The BABYBJÖRN Potty Chair which we keep downstairs and the Pourty which is upstairs in his bathroom. The Pourty has won multiple awards and you pour the contents through the duct out of the back of the Pourty. Because at this stage Blondie Boy is doing a lot of sitting on the potty the BABYBJÖRN, with it's larger, more comfortable seat is a better fit for purpose, but I can see the benefits of the Pourty and I think it will be invaluable for travelling and taking out and about as it is smaller. It would fit in a suitcase no problem so I imagine it will come with us this summer on vacation.

We keep the BABYBJÖRN Potty in our family room and first thing when Blondie Boy wakes up in the morning we take his nappy off and he sits on the potty. He LOVES to read on the potty. Seriously the kid will read 10 books, 3 times each and because the BABYBJÖRN is "roomy" he doesn't get a sore bum. I haven't asked him if it's comfy, but I assume it is!


Sometimes we get a pee and sometimes we don't. If we do he gets a round of applause and praise and if not, well that's okay.  Anytime his nappy comes off to get changed we sit on the potty for a bit to see if anything happens.  If he signs "poo" to us we will take off his nappy and put him on the potty but most times he tells us after or during rather than before.

The chair itself is easy to clean as the white "pot" part lifts out and you can pour away whatever is in it.  I pour whatever is in it out in to the toilet and then spray it with disinfecting spray and pour that out into the toilet.  Then I wash it out again in my utility room sink and it's good to go again.  I thought it would be super gross, if I'm honest, but honestly it's not.

We've fallen off the cloth nappy wagon, but we are going to bring them back again for potty training as I've read that they can help with potty training.  We recently got some AMAZING Bum Genius 4.0 nappies to try and they are the best cloth nappies I have ever used.



I didn't use to put any stock in brand name cloth nappies, but these are amazing. The Bum Genuis 4.0 is a one-size nappy which means it will fit your baby from newborn to toddler and the sueded inner fabric gently wicks moisture away from your baby's skin.



We fell off the cloth wagon because as Blondie Boy got older he moved about more and we tended to get a lot of leaks or a lot of red marks. The Bum Genius 4.0's super stretchy, gentle leg and back elastic with rolled out casings keeps leaks in and help to keep red marks away. We tried both the snap and Velcro closures and loved both.

I've read that cloth diapered babies potty train younger than those in disposables, but who knows. If you've had experience I'd love to hear your thoughts!

So that's where we are.  I'm still not sure what to do if we are out in public and he signs "poo." He's too little to sit on a proper toilet, but I don't want to set him back by not taking him through. What do you do with your little ones in public?

Transatlantic Blonde was provided these products to review but the opinions are all our own.

4 comments:

Janine said...

Good luck! In all honesty, I carried a potty with me for 3 months so that if James needed to go when we were out, he could. I think I sang songs of joy the day he changed to using a toilet.

Dana said...

You're so lucky, my almost 3 year old has no desire! They sell disposable potty covers in the US. You have to hold them while they sit so they don't fall, but at least they're sitting on a clean seat.

Melaina25 said...

Dana he will sit and read happily for AGES on it. He just says "book, book" over and over again. He'd sit there forever with enough books :)

He's got a teeny, tiny tushie so I'd worry about him falling in!

SusanKMann said...

Good luck with potty training it's not easiest and take time & patience. We were really lucky with Lucas, he was trained in 3 days but he was 2yrs 8 mths and said he was ready. We spent 3 days in the house with him wearing pants and he used the toilet or the potty. With chocolate button as a reward, not to mention the silly dance and song we made up :) Not sure how easy Tyler will be, he wants to stay in nappies forever. x