potty training tips

5 More Potty Training Tips and an Update from the Trenches

May 16, 2014 by Sandra Leave a Comment

This is a compensated campaign in collaboration with Pull-Ups® Training Pants and Latina Bloggers Connect.

Potty training my baby girl is going to take longer than I thought.

I mentioned in my last potty training tips post that I pretty much have all the time in the world when it comes to teaching her to use the potty, and she can take all the time she needs.

You know, because she’s baby number five, and we aren’t planning on having anymore children. I’ll never get to experience the joys of teaching a little one to use the bathroom again, so I’m totally fine with drawing this thing out. 😉

However, at the moment, Elisabeth is clearly demonstrating all the signs that she’s ready to use the big kid potty. She doesn’t want to wear diapers, and she doesn’t like the feeling of “going” in her diaper anymore. She loves her Pull-Ups Training Pants and talks about “going” in the potty.

But then she avoids it like crazy.

That’s okay, though.

Just like with nursing her longer than I did my other kids, I’m in no rush when it comes to potty training her. I actually have a feeling that one day she’s simply going to get the hang of it, and that’ll be it. Elisabeth will be potty trained.

In the meantime…

Here are 5 more potty training tips and things you can do to help your toddler achieve potty training success. 🙂

Tip #1: Set up a reward system to encourage your child to use the potty. I probably don’t have to tell you this, but rewards are incredibly motivating for little ones. Use stickers or a special treat to persuade your child to go to the bathroom on their own.

Tip #2: Even if a child is able to fairly quickly learn how to use the potty during the day, it may take a while for them to be fully trained at night. With boys, it could take a LONG while (just my experience), so it’s a great idea to continue to put Pull-Ups Training Pants on them before bedtime. Otherwise, you may be doing extra laundry in the morning.

Tip #3: Try to help your child overcome their potty fears with books. Stories are powerful. Find one or two books at your local library and see if they can help your toddler overcome any fears they might have.

Tip #4: Parents have been using Pull-Ups Training Pants to help with potty training little ones for a very long time. Visit the Pull-Ups website for encouragement, tools, and resources.

Tip #5: Speak to other moms and find out what worked for them. There are so many different ways to potty train. If your current method isn’t working, it’s always a great idea to talk to another mom. You’ll probably laugh as you swap stories, and it’s possible that what worked for her son or daughter may work for your little one, too.

Do you have any potty training tips to share? I’d love to hear them!

5 Tips for Potty Training Success (and How I’m Potty Training Baby Number 5)

May 9, 2014 by Sandra 4 Comments

This is a compensated campaign in collaboration with Pull-Ups® Training Pants and Latina Bloggers Connect.

Potty training a toddler is no walk in the park.

I believe this is why we moms get to celebrate a holiday known as “Mother’s Day.”

Am I right? 😉

Seriously, though, I should know. I have five kids. And we’re currently working on potty training baby number five, my beautiful and feisty 2-year-old daughter, Elisabeth.

But you know, I think that with the right tips, tools, and mindset, potty training your toddler CAN be a great bonding experience.

It can even be fun to “Say Adios to Diapers!” together.

We’re Using Pull-Ups Training Pants

Because our kids are all different, we have tried varying methods and techniques when it came to potty training each of them. For Elisabeth, we purchased a new potty seat for the commode in addition to Pull-Ups Training Pants.

So far, Elisabeth wants little to do with her new seat, but she adores her Pull-Ups!

She’s decided that she’s done with diapers, but she still needs a little motivation for actually making it to the bathroom to use the potty.

DID YOU KNOW? Pull-Ups Training Pants are proven to deliver more potty training success than diapers. And Pull-Ups have stretchy sides that allow your child to learn the skill of pulling down and up.

5 Tips for Potty Training Success

Even though Elisabeth says she wants to use the potty, and then always says, “Laaaater” whenever I talk to her about actually going, I’m not concerned. I’ve been down this road before with my other kids, and I know that she WILL get the hang of this potty thing.

Since this isn’t a new experience for me, and I’ve learned some things along the way, I thought I’d share my top 5 potty training tips with you.

Here We Go!

Tip #1: Be willing to follow your child’s lead. If your son or daughter seems ready to begin potty training, go for it! Grab the Pull-Ups and get started!

Tip #2: Be careful to involve your child. Take them to the store and pick out a new potty seat or search for one together online. Talk to them about the fun characters and designs that are on the front and back of Pull-Ups Training Pants. Elisabeth loves picking out which design she’s going to wear next.

Tip #3: Be patient…boys generally take longer to potty train than girls. From personal experience and from what’s been shared with me by other moms, I think it’s true that boys take longer to potty train than girls. Your son may also not be ready to start potty training as early as your daughter was.

Tip #4: Be motivating and celebrate your child’s success! Do a happy dance or have a mini-party when there’s potty training success. 🙂

Tip #5: Be prepared to give lots and lots of grace. Just as with anything else, when little ones are learning a new skill, we need to be ready to show grace when mistakes are made. There will be accidents, but how we react to those accidents is what matters most.

Our Final Potty Training Journey has Only Begun

We still have a long way to go before Elisabeth is completely potty trained. But you know what? I’m not in a rush. Maybe it’s because we’ve been down this road before or maybe it’s because she’s our last baby.

However long it takes is fine with me.

Do you have any potty training tips to share? I’d love to hear them! 🙂

Make Potty training less stressful with GoodNites Disposable Bed Mats

November 19, 2012 by Sandra 4 Comments

With five children, we are no strangers to potty training.

But one thing I’ve found to be true for our family, is that nighttime training has been more of a challenge for our boys than it ever was for our daughter. Our daughter was completely potty trained day and night at two years old. Our boys have taken a lot longer than this, and we still deal with bedwetting on a regular basis.

Basically, our washer and dryer get a workout.

But we’ve found a great potty training tool to make our lives just a little bit easier when it comes to nighttime training. It’s a tool that is helping us keep the bed sheets out of the dirty laundry basket on a regular basis, and instead, spending more time on a dry mattress.

Huggies Disposable GoodNite Bed Mats.

They’re making a big difference in our family.

We buy them easily online at Walmart.com. My husband goes to pick them up the next day, and the boys have fun helping me put them on their beds. And when I say they have fun, they really do. 🙂 They like helping to remove the sticky adhesive on the back of the bed mats and get them set up on their mattress.

Here’s what they look like on our toddler beds.

Both of our younger boys are still in toddler beds, although Isaac will be graduating to a twin-size bed in the near future. These bed mats would fit nicely on either size bed or mattress. As you can see, they cover most of the crib-size mattresses we use for our toddler beds, and they would have no problem fitting nicely on a twin mattress.

Our boys have been doing a good job of keeping these bed mats dry, but if they do have an accident, we simply remove the bed mat and replace it with a fresh bed mat. No more having to wash their sheets every single time they have an accident. Why? Because these mats keep their sheets dry. 🙂

I know we’ll be using these bed mats for a longtime to come. Our boys are using them now, and we have one more child after them to potty train, who is currently still in diapers — our sweet Elisabeth.

Let’s hope she follows in the footsteps of her older sister and is completely potty trained by two years old. I can hope, right?

Are you currently potty training your kids? If not, at what age where they completely potty trained where you no longer had to deal with bedwetting?

I am a member of the Collective Bias Social Fabric Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias™ and Huggies. All opinions are my own. #HuggiesWalmart #CBias #SocialFabric