Potty Learning 101

The week of April 24^th to April 29^th, we dedicated some of our social media platforms to potty learning!

We had a wonderful response and great conversations in store with many of our customers on the subject! We were even able to chat about things from elimination communication, to different ways to set up the potty area and to compare the differences between potty learning and potty training.

We even went through briefly the four stages of potty learning – honestly, there were things even I learned while going through all of the information we collected. I hope that you were able to snag some good pointers, too.

So what does one need, exactly? It really is best to have all of the needed items before you begin – that way there is no scramble to pick up extra goods, and it even helps get the child used to the items they will be using!

The first thing we all think of is the potty itself. We carry the Ubbi 3-in-1 potty – why 3-in-1? Well we just love convenience and especially only needing to buy something once. With the Ubbi potty, you get the potty itself, plus a stool as well as a detachable toddler toilet seat!
The Ubbi Potty > The removable potty-pot & toilet seat trainer  > The stool!

The stool comes in handy once they are ready to move onto the toilet itself, and to help give them a boost to wash their hands after! And really, when are stools not a good idea to have around? The detachable toilet seat is also a really great touch for when they move towards the toilet, because it provides a slightly cushioned seat that is also smaller, so that there is no worry of them falling in!

All of these things are easily transported, so having that toilet seat may come in handy for road trips. It is also very easy to clean, and comes in three colours.

Getting the little one involved can be hard sometimes, but try to come up with fun ways to keep them interested like buying a foaming hand soap. Kids love bubbles, and a foaming hand soap like our Angel Baby Foaming Soap will keep them happy while learning proper hygiene. A foaming soap is also easier to apply than a bar soap, and when it comes to potty learning, easy is best.

Another great way to get the little ones involved is to have them help pick out their new reusable learning pants and underwear! Get them excited about picking out fun colours and prints and try and keep their new learning pants at eye level, so that they can also pick out what ones they wish to wear each day.

Here are some Zoocchini underwear & learning pants, and Applecheeks & Bummis learning pants!
     

Most learning pants will hold a small volume of urine, but they aren’t absorbent enough to hold multiple. Some come with an extra lining, but again, this will only hold so much but will allow the child to feel the dampness, whereas disposable training diapers will soak it up like disposable diapers.

Also be sure to choose learning pants that are doing to be easy for your child to pull up and down – time is of the essence in the early phases!

Speaking of easy-on-easy-off be sure to take that approach to their pants, as well! Just think: if we hold it, and hold it until we feel like we are going to burst, trying to fiddle with belts, zippers and buttons feels awful! And when children are learning, we want to make it as positive as possible. Once they are successful at acknowledging their bodily cues and can make it to the bathroom and pull on and off their pants without issue, maybe then you can think about “upgrading” the pants!

This is all well and good, but what’s needed for soiled learning pants or underwear? If you can’t get them into a wash that day, store them in a wet bag and be sure to give them a wash within two days. The wet bag will help contain the soiled learning pants/underwear/pants while also keeping the scent at bay. Wet bags are so useful for many, many things, so having one handy is never a bad thing! These can also be washed along with any dirty laundry.

Check out some of our AMP, Applecheeks, Bummis, and Colibri wetbags we have in stock!

If you’re ready for the overnight learning curve, having a waterproof mattress protector is never a bad idea, and having two is even better. Why two? Double make the bed – one mattress protector covered by a fitted sheet and add another mattress protector covered by another fitted sheet. This will help make a soiled bed change that much faster, because the second layer will be ready to go! It’s easy to toss a soiled bed sheet into the wash, but much harder to wash a mattress! Night time potty learning has less to do with the child’s efforts or parenting, but rather the anatomy – it’s a developmental and physical stage.

Now, I’m sure we all have taken something into the bathroom at one point or another to read. Whether it be our phones or a magazine... sometimes that may be our one chance to catch up on things like that. And honestly, having a great stash of books to sit next to the potty will help give it that extra bit of “fun”! Bonus points if you are able to have a good selection of potty-related books, and even more so if they are the dedicated potty-area books!

Here are a few of the fun books we carry in store and online! 

Lastly, being mindful that this isn’t an easy thing, but children LOVE to learn new skills and they enjoy the sense of accomplishment when they’ve mastered something like being able to use the potty and toilet independently. Keeping a positive outlook and attitude will not only help you, but the child as well.