How I used the book, Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right to potty train my daughter.
One thing I wish I was prepped more on is the topic of potty training. Right before my daughter turned 2, I felt like I had the time and energy to take the leap and start the process. But I had NO idea where to begin. Thanks to social media, several people reached out and recommended this book “Oh Crap!” and it was shipped to my door the next day (praise Amazon prime).
Now before I get into that, I want to note a couple of things. When my daughter was about 1 ½, I purchased a toddler potty (this one) and had it positioned in the bathroom. My hope was that she would start getting used to it, maybe even sit down on it (which she did) when her Dad or I were in the bathroom.
Closer to the age of 2, I noticed several signs that I thought would make her ready to potty train:
- She started to become very intrigued about her potty and the “big” (adult) potty.
- She would grab her diaper after she went #2 and say “poopie.”
- She wanted to grab toilet paper and wipe her bottom when I would clean her diaper.
These signs were enough for me to think she was ready to start.
So, I started diving into the book. Now the book mentions that you shouldn’t actually introduce the toddler potty until you are ready to potty train. I’ll note again that I noticed she was “playing” on it (ie: standing on the potty, playing with the toy flusher) so I hid it for 2 weeks prior to introducing it again as her real potty now with a real purpose.
Now we were ready, a plethora of Diet Cokes had been stocked in the fridge for my mom sanity and we were house-bound for the weekend.
We undressed my daughter from head to toe. No clothes for a good 3-4 days. The first day was all about catching her mid pee and rushing her to the potty. I was “on” 24/7. But after a day or two of that, she started noticing herself pee and would say “oh pee pee.” So that was a success! Getting her to acknowledge what she was doing was one step closer to her going on the potty herself.
When she did go on the potty, I tried to reward her with an M&M, but it didn’t seem to work. Funny enough, I caught myself excitedly saying “awesome!” every time she peed and she clung to that. She loved it and that’s what carried her through the potty training process. As a mom, I’ll take it!
By the next week, (still pantsless) she was going potty without being prompted and would congratulate herself by saying “awesome!”
The book talks about “blocks” of potty training. This made it really easy to know what to do next.
We literally did not go anywhere for 2 weeks besides a quick walk with the dog to test her potty training skills, so she was pantsless that long. I think it was crucial she was though, because the second we added shorts, she had an accident. So that took a little while (a week or two) for her to understand that her shorts were not her diaper and she couldn’t pee in them. Once she was staying dry through the shorts, I added the underwear. We went to Target and she picked out her own, which I think helped.
Just like the shorts, the underwear prompted a few accidents here or there. The book touches on muscle memory and how the act of wearing undies resembles the feeling of having a diaper on. If she had an accident, I would firmly tell her that it was not ok to go pee in her undies, shorts, etc. and left it at that.
Now we are 3 ½ months out and I can say we can successfully go to the store, a car ride, etc and be accident free. I will note that I still use diapers at nap and bedtime and on travel days (plane rides). The last flight we took, she did use the potty at the airport and stayed dry in her diaper the entire day. I’m hoping as she gets older, she’ll be able to hold it longer so we can go diaper free all day and night.
I hope this helps, and I would definitely urge you to purchase this book. It was my saving grace! If you’re in this fun stage, give yourself a lot of grace. Give your child a lot of grace. Get take-out, caffeinate yourself and be patient with the process. You got this!
You can find the link to purchase the book here.
Links to the potty:
Nuby Real Potty Training Toilet (great to have at the house)
Portable Potty (recently used this on a vacation and worked great. Packed up small and fit in my suitcase)
