The most important part of baby potty training is that your child understands. Talking to your child about potty training should always be the first step. Talk to your child when you change their diaper, “your diaper is wet and now I am putting on a dry diaper” or “your diaper is poopy, now I am putting on a clean diaper.”
Change your childs diaper everytime it is soiled even if it is only a tiny bit. This is so important during the potty training stages. Your child needs to enjoy being clean and dry. The more they enjoy being clean and dry the smoother and easier the whole process will be. If you are not happy about changing them more often, just keep telling yourself that this is one less diaper you will change later when your child is out of diapers.
Everything you talk about and express needs to be positive and happy. Never make negative comments when changing your childs diaper. Never make fun, laugh or make jokes about poop or pee, especially associated to their diaper. They may see that as form of attention. They may start to soil their diaper to get that attention. They need to feel good about potty training talk.
The next time your child starts to have a bowl movement, ask them gently, WITH OUT embarrassing them, “are you going poop?” Then leave them be. If they usually go to another room and you know they are having a bowel movement, then leave them be. When they have finished, you can then ask them if they just pooped? If they don’t have much to say about it, check their diaper, then explain to them what they did “you pooped in your diaper” or “you peed in your diaper, let’s go put on a clean dry diaper.” This gives them a name and explaination of what they are doing, so they can better understand.
Be sure to always ask in a nice happy tone, you never want them to have any negative feelings associated with pooping or peeing.
Talk about the family pet, “Spot goes potty outside, and then we put that potty in the garbage” or “the kitty goes potty in the litter box and when I clean it out I put it in the garbage, just like we do with your wet or poopy diapers.” Talk to your child about the fact that everyone goes pee pee, and poop. Give them examples like “when I have drank a lot of water, I need to pee on the potty.”
Understanding is the key during the beginning stages of baby potty training. If they don’t understand they will not succeed. Talk to your child about the potty training process. Understanding creates confidence. With confidence comes success!
Learning how to potty train baby