Potty Training Success & Huggies Pull-Ups Video Blog Tour

We decided to take the plunge into potty training with CJ, our first son, at about 2 1/2 years old.  I can clearly remember receiving so many different opinions on potty training.  Some of it was great advice but others seemed to be warnings of “BEWARE you’re in for a huge battle!”  Why?  The warnings were mainly based upon the fact that he was a boy.  The general consensus was that boys…

• were more difficult to train
• will train later (age wise) than a typical girl would
• the potty training process will take longer compared to a girl 

Regardless of all the information I received I decided to discuss the topic of potty training over with our pediatrician.  He gave me fantastic information and advice/tips to use as we began the process.

Are you wondering if your child is ready to begin the potty training process?  Take a look at

Is Your Child Ready To Begin Potty Training? 10 Questions to Ask Yourself Prior to Potty Training

Potty training success really depends on each individual child.  You can’t make a child start potty training.  In fact, if your child isn’t ready and you push them to much it can backfire.  You can end up with a HUGE battle on your hands.  I can promise you it will NOT be you who wins.

I have found great tips and tools at Huggies Pull-Ups Potty Break online. They have a Potty Break Timer you can download to your computer.  It allows you to set the timer every 5 to 60 minutes to remind you and your child to take a break and use the potty.  I found this a very helpful tool. Our biggest challenge with potty training was that even when the boys knew they had to go to the bathroom they would have an accident because they didn’t want to stop their activity to go.

Huggies Pull-Ups Potty Break also has a fun way to support and encourage your child to continue their journey towards successful potty training.  You can have your child receive a special call from Mater or Cinderella.  Your child will LOVE every second of it!  Take a look at our experience.  Not only did my 3 yr old LOVE the call but his older brothers were equally excited!

As a mom to four boys, my potty training success has been related to a few key tips and tricks.

Our Potty Training Tips & Tricks:

• Make sure your child is ready. If they aren’t you won’t be successful, which leads me to the next tip.

• Don’t pressure your child into potty training or be negative about it.  Potty training is not something you can make your child do.  If you do put to much pressure on them, you’ll most likely turn it into a power struggle you won’t win.

• I personally would NOT use training pants throughout the day as a training tool.  Use them only for nap time, for long car rides in the beginning stages, and bedtime only.  Training pants still feel very similar to diapers and seem to confuse many children.    When needed my favorite training pants are Huggies Pull-ups.  I found they had the best overall fit and were the most absorbent.  They also had the boys favorite design characters.

• Go cold turkey – once you decide it’s time and they are ready, stick to it.  Doing it little by little or half way only results in increasing the chances it will be unsuccessful.

• Start naked – Once they master potty training naked or bottomless at least, progress to underwear, and then pants.  This method seems to work the best, the fastest, and with very few accidents and/or set backs.

• Be consistent…setting a timer at 30 minutes to start, progressing to 60 and then finally to 90 minutes is helpful.  You can stop using the timer once they start regularly telling you they have to go without frequent accidents.

• Use a lot of positive reinforcement to encourage them to go to the bathroom.  Getting really excited and praising them when they are successful is very important.  Giving them a special treat like gummies, M&M’s, or stickers every time they go, can be a great reward that makes them want to go to the bathroom more.  Sticker charts are also a great visual way to show them how well they are doing.
• Obviously we all sit to poop on the toilet.  But boys typically stand to pee.  Some people chose to try to teach boys to pee standing up from the start.  That’s where the whole target practice, trying to pee on a cheerio, comes from.  I started training my boys to both pee and poop sitting on the toilet.  It was less confusing to start with one position.  Plus, the majority of toilets aren’t toddler height friendly.  By the time they were tall enough to stand and have their penis above the toilet bowl, they just naturally switch to standing to pee.

• Be prepared your child may have a little more trouble going poop on the potty.  Two of the boys had a major constipation issue in the beginning.  Parker did awesome with peeing but had trouble pooping.  When he finally was willing to try he was terribly constipated. I had to encourage him while he was on the potty.  He was scared because it hurt and didn’t he know what to do.   It was awful.  I can remember saying “You can do it.  Just poop and we will bring you for ice cream!!!” He seriously loved ice cream.  He did end up going but it was painful for the poor little guy.  I think for two minths after that he would still says, “I poop, I get ice cream!”  For a while after that we had to give him a small daily dose of miralax to prevent him from getting constipation. Just talk to your pediatrician and see what they suggest to help make it easier.

Potty training simply takes time and a lot of positive reinforcement.  Realize your child will have set backs. If you child is having a lot of trouble or completely refusing to potty train, stop the process and try again in a few weeks or months.  Potty training is a process and patience is key. Before you know your child will be doing the potty dance and singing

“I’m A BIG Kid Now!”

If you are about to take the plunge into potty training or are already knee deep in the process I encourage you to stop by Huggies Pull-Ups “The Potty Break” online!  It has great information and tools to help make your experience easier and fun!