How We Potty Trained Our Nearly 3 Year Old

When Parker turned 2 I started thinking about potty training. I had visions in my head of it being easy. People potty trained infants after all! Boy was I wrong! We tried to potty train not once but 3 times prior to this. She wasn’t ready and our heads weren’t all the way in it. I was pregnant and not feeling well and then suffering through some things postpartum. We’d get her on the potty once and then forget about it for the rest of the day. Earlier this month I decided I was tired of changing two kid’s poopy diapers though! Something finally clicked and we did it! It wasn’t easy and I thought about giving up several times but we prevailed. I took tips from friends, family and the internet and here’s what worked for us…

Set an alarm – The first 3 days we set an alarm to remind us to take her potty. We used our Amazon Alexa and every time it went off we made it a game to get to the potty fast. At first it was every 20 minutes and by the third day it was every hour or so. Do what works for your kid.

No diapers or pull-ups! – I started with pull-ups but it felt too much like a diaper to her and she had a lot of accidents. Once I took it off she barely had any accidents. Basically the first week she was naked and we stayed home the whole time.

Cute underwear – Parker loves picking out her underwear every morning. She has Disney princess and Minnie Mouse panties and this set from Old Navy with her favorite – kitties. She loves being involved in getting dressed.

Rewards – Some might call it bribes but it works! For every pee she got a couple M&Ms or chocolate chips. By the 4th day she hadn’t pooped so I told her we would go to the bouncy place at the mall when she did. Two days later we were at the mall!

Get a fun potty chair – Parker’s is the Minnie Mouse 3-in-1 potty chair from The First Years. I leave it in the bathroom because I want her to know that is where we potty. The big potty scares her so I have to take this EVERYWHERE we go. Luckily it’s really portable and cleans up easily. Our next step is moving to the big potty but for now this works great. By the second week she was going in and going by herself. When we are on-the-go I have the potty chair in the back of our SUV. She gets in the back, I shut the liftgate and she does her business! I know this is just a phase so I have a good laugh when I see her standing back there with her pants around her ankles in the Target parking lot.

Keep wet wipes and disinfecting wipes on hand – Wiping a kid’s butt while they are standing up is hard! Toilet paper just doesn’t do the trick. I keep wet wipes by the toilet. I use a disinfecting wipe on the potty several times per day.

We are now in week 4 and haven’t had any accidents this week. She’s woken up dry every morning and complains less when I ask her to go in and go potty. I’m so glad she will be completely potty trained by her 3rd birthday. I thought the day would never come! Plus we are saving $80 a month on diapers! Hallelujah.

Taking time to focus on potty training and making sure she was ready are really what made it stick this time around. What worked for you when potty training your kids?