The age old question — when and how do I potty train my child? I have a few thoughts on this.
When:
- Unfortunately, there is no exact age when all children are ready for potty training. Most children are ready around age 2 ½. However, some may be ready at 18 months, and others are not ready until after age 3. The main thing to look for is if your child starts feeling embarrassed or hiding when he or she goes in their diaper. Which leads me to…
- I think your child needs to be “diaper shamed” (in a nice way) by someone other than mom, dad, or a sibling. It is one of the first times peer pressure works in your favor. Someone tells your child that only babies wear diapers and big kids wear underwear, and then the light bulb goes off and they get motivated to try to toilet train.
How:
My recommendations are to give 1-2 teaspoons of Miralax in a sippy cup of water every day for 1 week prior to starting. The Miralax is not for constipation, but to prevent a hard, painful stool. I often find that during potty training we are teaching the children to hold their pee and poop. Then, they have one poop that is hard and painful. This can set them back a few months in potty training process.
Then, when you are ready to toilet train, I recommend getting a watch that sounds an alarm every 30 minutes. Do the 3-day “boot camp” process where the child is naked at home. Every time the watch goes off you say the watch is telling them their body is ready to go potty. I wouldn’t ask them if they want to go potty as the answer is almost always “no.” I like you to have a potty seat for them and something for their feet to rest on. It is very difficult to poop if your feet don’t touch the ground.
If this is a disaster, then stop and try again
Finally, I don’t really like pull-ups or putting underwear on top of the diaper. That is sort of cheating to me — it doesn’t encourage the behaviors we’re looking for. However, I am fine with them sleeping in