Toilet Training: When and How Do You Start?

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With my blogs, I want to support parents in parenting and raising their children. Parenting is wonderful—and yes, sometimes quite challenging. But those challenges are part of the journey. Try not to see them as problems, but as a natural part of parenthood.

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What Is Toilet Independence?

Your child is considered toilet trained when they can tell you themselves that they need to pee or poop. This process usually happens in several stages:

1. First, your child notices afterwards that they have peed.
2. Then comes awareness while they are peeing.
3. Next, your child learns to recognize the urge to pee.
4. Finally, your child can tell you in advance that they need to go to the toilet.

This development depends greatly on the child. Every child is unique, and that also applies to when toilet training begins. On average, this process starts around 18 months. Most children become interested in peeing around their second birthday, and a little later in having a bowel movement (usually between 2 and 3 years old).

The most important thing is: don't force it. Give your child the time and space to become toilet trained at their own pace.

What Is Toilet Training?

Toilet training means guiding your child to recognize the urge to pee or poop and encouraging them to use the potty or toilet at set times. By practicing at regular intervals, the bladder becomes accustomed to a routine. This helps your child hold their urine until the right moment.

How to Get Started

1. Get your child used to the potty or toilet
Make it playful and low-pressure. Let your child choose whether they prefer the potty or the toilet with a seat reducer. Some children like to put a doll on the potty first, or try it with a diaper on initially.

2. Introduce regular times
For example: after meals, after naps, before going outside, or whenever your child shows signs of needing to go. Reward efforts with compliments and positive attention, even if it doesn't succeed yet. Punishment or pressure usually backfires.

3. Remove the diaper when possible
If the diaper stays dry for longer periods and your child can regularly use the potty, you can consider going diaper-free during the day.
At night, you can skip the diaper once it stays dry for several nights in a row.

4. Be patient with bowel movements too
Some children look for a quiet spot in the house. That's a good opportunity to offer the potty or toilet. You can start with the diaper still on and gradually phase it out step by step.

Tools for Toilet Training

🪣 The Potty
A potty helps your child feel safe and comfortable while learning.
It sits low to the ground, making it less intimidating than the regular toilet.
An added advantage is that you can place the potty in different locations, like the playroom. This way, your child can get used to it naturally and start seeing the potty as something familiar and trustworthy.

🚽 Toilet Seat Reducer with Step Stool

A toilet seat reducer with a step stool helps your child sit more easily on the toilet.
The smaller seat provides stability and comfort, while the step stool makes climbing up easier.
An added benefit is that your child can use the same toilet as mom or dad, giving them a sense of pride and independence: "I'm already big!"

🩲 Training Pants

 
Training pants are useful during the transition from diapers to being toilet-trained.
They are easy to pull on and off, which helps your child become more independent.This makes the switch to using the potty or toilet smaller and more natural.

👖 Potty Training Underwear
 

Training underwear looks like regular underwear, often with fun prints.
They have a lightly absorbent inner layer, so small accidents are contained, but your child can still feel when they're wet.

This helps with awareness: your child learns the connection between peeing and the wet feeling, encouraging them to use the potty or toilet.
The underwear is washable and reusable, making it practical and sustainable.

🎁 The Potty Training Box
 

The potty training box contains helpful tips, tools, and instructions to guide your child in becoming daytime potty-trained in a fun way.
It's a complete kit that supports parents step by step throughout the training process.

🌟 Reward System
 

A reward system, such as a sticker chart, can be very motivating.
Each time your child uses the potty or toilet, they get to place a sticker on the chart.
This provides positive attention and a sense of achievement, keeping your child excited to continue practicing.

📚 Potty Training Book

A picture book about becoming potty trained can offer a lot of recognition and reassurance.
By reading and talking about the story together, your child gains a better understanding of what being potty trained means.
It makes the training more fun, easier to understand, and less intimidating.

⏰ Bedwetting Alarm

For children who have trouble staying dry at night, a bedwetting alarm can be a valuable tool.
The alarm works with a sensitive moisture sensor attached to the underwear.
As soon as the sensor detects the first drops of urine, an alarm sounds, often with sound, vibration, and light.
This wakes your child immediately and teaches them to respond to the sensation of a full bladder.
Over time, it helps your child recognize the natural waking moment, so they can learn to stay dry independently at night.

My Experience as a Parent

With my own children, the process went very differently for each of them.

My oldest son couldn't feel when he needed to pee for a long time. His sphincter probably wasn't fully developed yet, or he simply wasn't paying attention. During the day, he became toilet-trained after a long period of practice. But nights were still difficult—he slept too deeply.
A bedwetting alarm provided a solution. Within two weeks, he was sleeping without a diaper and staying dry. He was almost four years old at the time.

My middle son found bowel movements especially stressful. He had difficulty letting go. By guiding him step by stepand taking his anxiety seriously, he eventually mastered this process successfully as well.

Frequently Asked Questions from Parents

In my work with parents, I often get questions about toilet training. Many parents feel anxious or worried:
"What if my child isn't toilet-trained in time for school?"

My answer is always: it's a learning process, just like walking or talking. Your child needs time, confidence, and positive encouragement. Becoming toilet-trained is a milestone you work toward together—without pressure, but with patience and trust.

In Conclusion

Thank you for reading!
Take good care of yourself, be yourself, and care for your child with love.
Until next time!

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