Baby Potty Training vs. Potty Training Toddlers

Hi, Maria here,

this is my personal story on how I potty trained my kids as well as a review of baby potty training also known as infant potty training.

Why am I writing this? Well, browsing through the net, I realized, that there are not a lot of real reviews around, that show you the pros and cons of baby potty training vs. toddler potty training.

So I thought, I’d write write one real quick, to help any of you, who are in the same position I was.

Toddler Potty Training

I started potty training with all of my kids around the age of 2. It worked really well with both of my boys, but my youngest, a girl, gave me some major trouble.

After our pre potty training phase followed by the actual potty training, she still  refused to use the potty at all. So I waited another 6 weeks or so and tried it again. She still did not want to use the toilet. I had bought a cute musical potty chair and a bunch of other potty training products. Nothing seemed to work. She remained stubborn, and I was at my wits end.

I started researching online and stumbled across a website, that claimed, they could help to potty train even difficult children.

So I thought I’d give it a try.

They offered an audio potty training guide, accompanied by an e-book and potty training wall charts.

After listening to the audios and reading the book, I decided to give the potty training issue another try.

I followed the guide to the word and low and behold, I had my little angel cooperating, finally.

The one thing, that impressed and helped me the most was their way of helping me to deal with my daughter’s resistance.

Check out their website by clicking right HERE.

I had thought I know everything about baby potty training, boy was I wrong.

I learned so much from Katherine and Wayne, the owners of the site, and I am eternally grateful.

Click HERE, to sign up for their FREE potty training newsletter, with a lot of helpful articles on getting started potty training your little rascal.

Baby Potty Training

Also known as infant potty training, is quite a different story.

Here you are introducing your baby to the potty at a very early age usually before they are 6 months old.

You do this by figuring out the typical signs or gestures your baby shows before eliminating.  Once your baby shows those signs,  hold him gently over a toilet or a potty.

Since I don’t have any real experience in that field, I gathered some information from people I know, that tried it as well as around the net.

I stumbled across a website here, that promotes a baby potty training kit, the so called baby signs program. You can check it out by clicking HERE.

The pros:

• You bond better with your baby. As you are constantly watching it for signs it brings you closer to your baby.
• It is more comfortable for your baby, no diaper rush
• It reduces diaper waste and also the costs of buying diapers.
• It’s more natural

The cons:

• It takes a lot of time and dedication, so if you are working even just part time, or you have more than 1 child, it can be very challenging
• Expect set backs. Forums are full of notes from parents who find the process difficult and exasperating. A lot of babies use the potty for a while and then keep going back to having accidents; or they just eliminate with no signal at all. Some of them even stop having bowel movements.
• Be prepared for messes. Even though advocates say, that this method is less messy than diapers, you’ll need to be ready with cleaning materials, because sometimes your baby’s signals don’t work well or not at all.

Feel free to check out the baby signs website by clicking HERE.

My personal opinion after having read a couple of  forum posts and even talked to 2 other moms, who both gave up after a few weeks, it’s not worth the trouble.

Potty training a toddler as opposed to a baby potty training seems to me like a snap, especially if you follow the guide from Katherine and Wayne.

Toddler Potty Training Tips:

http://www.babypottytraininginfo.com/tips

Baby Potty Training:

http://www.babypottytraininginfo.com/babysigns

In the end, the decision has to be yours.

Baby Boy Potty Training

Does potty training boys take longer?

Let me put it this way:  According to statistics the answer is a clear yes. But when it comes to answer the question as to why baby potty training  for boys takes longer than for girls, the answer is not quite so easy.

One of the reasons might be, that is has to do something with the fact, that boys are usually potty trained by their mom’s, so they don’t have the imitation effect here. Since imitation is the key to your baby potty training success, this explanation makes perfectly sense.

It might also have something to do with boys maturing slower than girls.

Another reason would be , that it is a little bit harder to learn how to go potty standing up. They most likely begin by sitting, but eventually they’ll have to learn how to properly use the toilet standing up.

How Can I get my baby boy to pee standing up?

When you start with your baby boy potty training, it is a good idea to teach them to sit down at first. Why you ask?

First, because they will probably have a bowel movement at the same time they have to pee.   Also, they can focus better on the task at hand, which is to pee, it might confuse them having to pee and at the same time having to aim.

However, some boys do want to begin their potty training standing up. So let them stand up, if they want to.

In this case, if you are a mom, who will be potty training your son, try to make sure he has a male role model to show him how it works before you start teaching him how to pee standing up. This is simply the best way for your son, to watch first hand what he has to do. After that, you can ask him to try it out for himself in the potty.

Note to parents: If you are interested in an easy baby potty training method, that is going to work for both boys and girls – a potty training guide that will help you potty train your little boy or girl in only 3 days, then learn more about the Potty Training Method in 1-3 days by clicking HERE.

Potty Training Chairs and Potty Products

Baby potty training is hard enough for some parents, but having to choose from a wide range of potty chairs, toilet training seat and other potty products does not make it any easier.

Below you’ll find some helpful tips on choosing the right baby potty training equipment.

Basic Potty Chairs

I had my kids pick out a potty chair, weird thing is, except for my daughter, none of the boys ever used it. But I always felt, we should have one, just in case. It is also the cheapest solution to keep your budget in mind.

The Deluxe Potty Chairs

These are the fancy ones, my daughter picked one that played a little song everytime she went potty. Some of them nowadays make flushing sounds and they come in all kinds of shapes. It is not a bad idea to get one of those potty chairs, since you want your kids to have fun, while they get used to the baby potty training procedure.

Toilet Training Seat Covers

My boys did not like those, but my daughter had a pink one with princesses on it and she loved it and used it for the longest time. Those toilet training seat covers go over the toilet seat making the hole smaller. This is especially useful, if you have a child, that is afraid of falling in and being flushed away. They also come in fun patterns, so getting one is not a bad idea, just in case.

Training Urinals

They are really cool. These training urinals are great to help potty train little boys as they work the same as the urinals they will find in public restrooms. They have some that even flush.

Travel Potty Chairs

If you are on the road a lot or your child has a hard time using public restrooms,  it might be a good idea, to get one of those. Travel potty chairs are perfect to take along with you when you are traveling. These potty chairs are on the smaller side, usually light & portable and include disposable bags & liners for ease of use when on the go.

Think about what makes the most sense to you and check out all kinds of potty chairs and other potty training products by clicking right here.

They have a great selection and every once in a while a sale of up to 70% OFF.

Potty Training 101 – Have Fun

Trust me when I say, that it is a lot easier to make baby potty training fun on both, you and your child. Become creative in your potty training technique.

Ready, Set, Go

Let’s start by letting them pick out their potty chairs by themselves. They will feel like this is their own potty chair, since they were allowed to pick it. Also let them choose, where to put it, if you have a floor model.

Potty Training special spot

Let your child choose a space in the bathroom for his things – toys to play with, books to read. Make it his special spot. This is to reinforce, that going to the bathroom should be in a specific place and not in his pants.

Good Child!

Rewards for going to the toilet, wiping, washing hands and so on still go a long way.  I have found that stickers in a book or on a potty training chart on the wall work especially well. This works best for children around the age of two or older. Younger ones prefer playtime, tickle party or a story from their favorite book. Candy rewards might not be the best of ideas.

Dolly need to go potty, too.

A potty training doll is another great idea to encourage your child to go potty. After giving the dolly the bottle, it has to go potty. Your child realizes, that there is a connection between drinking and going potty.

Make It Fun

Since there is no way around the baby potty training part in your life, make it easy and make it fun. Even though there are some challenges along the way, but persistence and creativity will always pay off.

More info? For a FREE Newsletter click right HERE.

Watch below for a fun way of baby potty training:

Potty Training Tips

So you are thinking of potty training your baby.

But you have heard some horrific stories about toilet training gone wrong and you are asking yourself, if there is something you could do, to avoid a similar experience and to make the baby potty training procedure less stressful for both, you and your child.

Honestly, potty training a baby can be a lot easier, by following some simple steps before you start,  I call pre potty training tips:

• Try to avoid using pull-up diapers. According to commercials on TV, they are designed to make baby potty training easier, but in fact, they confuse your child, by having them think, they are a big boy or girl, just because they can pull them up and down by themselves.
• The truth is, they will keep having potty accidents in them – and you are going to have it a lot harder to monitor than if they would wear underwear.
• Try to wean your child off drinking appr. 2 hours before bedtime. This is going to make it a lot easier once you start the baby potty training.
• Do not make jokes about your baby’s poopy diaper, consider instead to stop any reaction altogether. If your child realizes, that having a poopy diaper is funny, they may want to start pleasing you and keep having potty accidents in their diaper just to amuse you.
• If you have to go to the bathroom, take your child with you. Don’t be shy, but let your child see how it is to be a grown up and how grown ups use the toilet. Answer their questions during the process and let them flush the toilet, if they want to. If at all possible, let them see how a member of the same sex uses the toilet. That way boys and girls can see the specific way in which they are supposed to be going potty.
• Do not force your child to sit on the potty. You may think telling them to sit on the potty might be a great way to get them to it, but  it is more likely that this will create some confusion for your child. But having to sit on the potty, without the need to go, they might start seeing the potty as a form of punishment. And this will in the end not help getting them used to the baby potty training idea later on.

Check out the Baby Potty Training Program with Babysigns

by clicking right HERE.

Or subscribe to the FREE Potty Training Newsletter HERE.

Baby Potty Training – When is your child ready?

Before answering, as to when you should start with baby potty training, I need to ask you a few questions:

• How do you know when your child is ready to start reading?
• How do you know when your child is ready to start school?
• How do you know when your child is ready to start riding a bike?

The answer is you don’t.  Just as you don’t know with babies potty training.

But at one point you are going to begin teaching them.

Just think about it for a minute.

When you decide to start teaching your child how to read, what will be your deciding factor? Do you think your child will bring you a book and say “I want to start reading!”

Do you think maybe one day you will find your three year old in his/her room trying to read a book?

Chances are this is not what’s going to happen.

Most children don’t want to start reading.

Want to know why?  It’s hard work.

It’s easier not to know how to read, than it is to spend months learning the alphabet.

Don’t worry, most adults are the same way.

The majority of people don’t like learning new things.

Isn’t it true most people don’t volunteer to learn a new skill at work even though they are ready to do the work?

Why is that?

It’s uncomfortable. It’s hard work. Getting people out of their comfort zone is not easy.

From a human behavior standpoint, we are no different today than when we were kids.

So how do you know when your child is ready for baby potty training?

You don’t. The question is how do you know when you are ready toto start potty training your baby.  Only you have the answer to that question.

Keep reading and I will tell you when I decided to start potty training my baby or better babies.

It will be up to you if you want to do the same.

But first let me tell you, why the power should be in your hands.

Most psychologist will tell you to look for signs your child is ready for potty training.

Here are some of those baby potty training signs:

• The child asks you to go to the bathroom.
• The child wakes up dry.
• The child does the pee pee dance (holding it and wiggling).
• The child takes off their diaper.
• The child goes to the bathroom themselves.
• The child hides before bowel movements.

According to these signs, doesn’t it appear to you the child is already exhibiting signs of being potty trained?

I mean, if the child is waking up dry already, what more do you need?

So you can either wait for your child to show you signs, or you can be proactive.

Depending on your child, if you wait for them, they might not show you a ready sign until they are 3 years of age.

By that time you’ve lost a year of peace and tranquility that comes with a fully potty trained child.

For me the start date is really easy. The day each one of my kids turned 2 was the day they started potty training.

For me 2 years of age is the right time. Remember a 2 year old can do a lot of things.

I figure if you are smart enough to tell me no and jump off the couch, then you are smart enough to use the potty.

Sign up for a FREE Newsletter about baby potty training by

clicking right HERE.