potty suggestions | Imamother

Mama Bear ↓

Sat, May 17 2008, 8:52 pm

I find these 3 thigns most important in a potty:

1. comfortable seat
2. removable seat
3. high splashguard if youre training a boy.

In the beginning when youre still teaching the ropes your toddler might end up sitting for 15 minutes or more on the potty at a time, and the little tushies can get very uncomfortable on a hard seat (like the bjorn). also, after a while you might want to put the potty seat top onto the big toilet, so a removable seat is a great thing. a high splashguard is important for a boy.

My son really likes THIS POTTY. POTTY 1

It's soft, comfortable, the seat is portable and fits on the big toilet. THe only drawback is that the splashguard is a tad too short for my bit sprayer of a boy Very Happy

, although he's gotten better at it lately.

I also bought this potty.
POTTY 2
It has a higher splashguard and a lot softer seat, but the drawback is that the splashguard keeps falling off - SM keeps pulling it off - and putting it back on is a pain, as I have to stand him up off the potty to replace it. also, since we've been using it for 3 whols months, it's getting kind of worn out and not so comfortable anymore. he prefers the primo potty by now. Hopefully you wont be training for mroe than 2-3 weeks so it wotn get to that stage.

GAMZu ↓

Sat, May 17 2008, 9:05 pm

LOL- I'd like to say totally the opposite of what MB said. Wink

Firstly, I'm going to have nightmares tonight about CLEANING those things you posted!!! shock

Well, my advice- Kids really don't sit on a potty for so long.
You remind them to go when it's about time, and if they don't go in 5 minutes, that's it. They don't have patience.

Get something that is one - or at most 2 pieces.
I had one similar to the Baby Bjorn potty CHAIR. (plastic chair + insert.) When it broke, I got the Baby Bjorn LITTLE POTTY, which is just one piece of molded plastic.
But it's very low to the ground and small. Too uncomfortable for my son who just turned 2.

Splashguard... if it's high, it can seriously injure the child as he's sitting down. I teach my boys to "tuck it in" and it worked for us. Smile

As for a detachable seat... We just got a separate insert for the toilet. I like to keep the potty "whole" when the bathroom is busy and the kids need to go. The insert I keep in the bathroom.

abismommy ↓

Sat, May 17 2008, 10:57 pm

I never had a potty. too dirty and gets smelly if you can't get to it right away and just yuck. I put a stepstool by the toilet and a "seat" on top and it worked for all the kids. splashguards NEVER worked for any of my boys - two of them are very, um... small down there embarrassed

, and always made a mess until I put them on backwards and they held on to the toilet tank (or when they got a little more experienced and learned to "tuck it in" between their closed legs and go cleanly in the toilet), and the other one made a huge mess because it came out with such force that he sprayed all over the room anyway even with the splashguard.

my advice? get a seat and a stepstool for each bathroom in your house
and let him sit on it. as long as his feet are on something and he doesn't feel like he's hanging fron the toilet, he'll be fine. it makes them feeel big too to do what their parents do. (you'll need the stepstools anyway for washing his hands.)

I like this one:http://www.target.com/Potty-Pa.....38252 because it attaches to the toilet and can't get misplaced. mine snapped off to clean, but you can clean it with it attached too.

this one http://www.target.com/Blues-Cl.....age=7 is good too because it's soft.

and this one http://www.target.com/Ginsey-S.....age=2 is nice to keep in the diaper bag for trips. one of my dds was scared to use outside toilets for a long time so we used it a lot.

happy toilet training!

MiracleMama

Sat, May 17 2008, 11:07 pm

Thank you for all the good info. I am just starting to think about potty training for my son too and have no clue what to buy or where to start - so this has been helpful.

P.S...Abismommy, outside toilets (by that I assume you mean public restrooms?) still scare me.

↑ abismommy

Sat, May 17 2008, 11:23 pm

yes, I didn't mean literally OUTSIDE LOL

that is funny! but I meant like at the mall, someone's house, etc. don't let that scare you too much; in the beginning you'll be home ALL the time. when you get cabin fever from being "married" to the toilet for 2 weeks, you'll appreciate the seat that is almost like yours at home (put it on your toilet sometimes so that he getsused to it - you do't want an accident in the mall because he refuses to use it!) because you can actually go out!!
good luck!

↑ Mama Bear ↓

Sun, May 18 2008, 7:09 am

well I can take along the top of the potty when I go out, that's why I like the detachable top.

Everyone knows their child - my son does tend to sit a while on the potty til he 'goes',a nd being 30 1/2w pg I really need access to the big toilet all the time. Very often we sit in the toilet together, me on the big on and he on the little one! I dont like running with him all the way to the bathroom every time I 'think' he needs to go and thens itting with him in the bathroom - at times I'm in the middle of eating or something else, so I like to have the potty portable so he can sit anywhere I happen to be (like in the kitchen) during this training process. Once I know he can hold it in for a while we can focus on using only the big toilet.

Tamiri ↓

Sun, May 18 2008, 8:04 am

OP I would suggest not making a big deal of potty training. You don't need preparation, sichos, drashas or anything. When the child is ready, he's ready.
A boy usually stands up to pee. When you see he has to go, take him to the toilet, lift the seat, point... and pray he shoots. Sometimes I just stood one of my boys on my feet (I stood behind) and helped him, and other times they stood on a stool. Other options: sitting on an insert on the toilet seat and pushing "it" down or sitting backwards on the regular seat, as mentioned, and pushing "it" down as well.
Kids should not sit too long for anything. When they have to go and are ready for the toilet - it just happens. Don't make yourself meshugga.

↑ Mama Bear ↓

Sun, May 18 2008, 8:36 am

Tamiri wrote:

OP I would suggest not making a big deal of potty training. You don't need preparation, sichos, drashas or anything. When the child is ready, he's ready.
A boy usually stands up to pee. When you see he has to go, take him to the toilet, lift the seat, point... and pray he shoots. Sometimes I just stood one of my boys on my feet (I stood behind) and helped him, and other times they stood on a stool. Other options sitting on an insert on the toilet seat and pushing "it" down or sitting backwards on the regular seat, as mentioned, and pushing "it" down as well.
Kids should not sit too long for anything. When they have to go and are ready for the toilet - it just happens. Don't make yourself meshugga.

tamiri, I hope the OP's son trains himself as easly as you suggest... sometimes you cant sit around and wait til the id is readyl, some kids arent raedy before theyre, like four years old! Some preschools require kids to be trained when they start. And some kids (like mine) refuse to go standing. Everyone knows their own kid and what he needs.

↑ yedidya's mom ↓

Sun, May 18 2008, 10:09 am

thanks for all the suggetsions. Tamiri, my son has down syndrome and is almost 3. his therapists think he isnt ready to be toilet trained yet but ready to start talking abt it. Unfortunately for us this is not going to be a 2-3 week adventure more like a few months probably. I just want to have a starting point
I like the idea of the inserts for the toilet but we dont have a guest bathroom. do they come on and off easily?

↑ Tamiri ↓

Sun, May 18 2008, 10:14 am

Oh, the Downs makes it different I guess.
The insert, aka "toilet seat" snaps onto the toilet and comes off with a snap as well. What it does is make the regular toilet seat smaller, for little tushes. I would imagine it costs less than $5 and is easy to clean. In Israel, they went one step further and made it with little stairs leading up to the insert, which goes over the regular toilet seat (it's one piece: insert with stairs). I borrowed one for my last toilet trainee and was thrilled with it.
Hatzlacha, I hope it goes easy for you.

chavamom ↓

Sun, May 18 2008, 12:24 pm

Tamiri wrote:

I totally agree. And yes, some people do wait until their kids are 4 - or more that their kids wait until they are four. It can't be said enough... this is one area where you cannot MAKE a kid do what they don't want to do. I have been blessed that my kids were all trained by age 3 by introducing the topic, the potty and a story book about growing up/getting rid of diapers and then waiting for their cues/interest. Pressure can backfire so badly. I've seen it too many times and had a bad experience with my first.

↑ Mama Bear ↓

Sun, May 18 2008, 1:48 pm

chavamom, teachers in preschool change four year old's dirty diapers? that doesnt happen where I live, by the time your 4 years old youre already learning alef bais and sometimes even more than that, like kriah and such. the melamed aint gonna change a 4 year old's diaper...

↑ GAMZu ↓

Sun, May 18 2008, 3:27 pm

chavamom, it's not about forcing a child who isn't ready.
It's about helping a child REALIZE he's ready. There was absolutely no forcing involved when I trained my son at 2y 3m. I got him used to the idea 6 months before, and one day I just told him, that's it- he's going to use the potty from now on. And it was perfect.

↑ Mama Bear

Sun, May 18 2008, 3:42 pm

chavamom wrote:

Mamabear - some people keep their kids home or put them in a play group. And yes, some schools will change diapers, at least in nursery. The ones here will.

aha, I see. in my community kids grow up much faster. Playgroup is for up to 2 1/2 years old, nursery is for up to 4 years old. At 4 youre a really big boy...

↑ chavamom

Sun, May 18 2008, 4:07 pm

GAMZu wrote:

I don't think we disagree. But if a child is resistant, that's a problem. That is where mamabear and I disagree. It should not be a battle of wills.

I think you misunderstand about the nursery/playgroup comment. The schools take kids at age 3 in nursery and are allowed to still be in diapers. However, most use the toilet at that point. The few who are in diapers generally get with the program fairly quickly once they see the others using the toilet and not in diapers. I know my sister's kids trained early in day care when they saw others using the toilet and often kids with an older sibling close in age will train very young too. It's all about INTERNAL motivation. You cannot, repeat, CANNOT make a kid have that if they are resistant for some reason. And they all get it at some point. No one goes to the chuppah in diapers.

Interesting side point - one school used to not take kids in nursery in diapers and the other did. Once the other school saw they were losing kids to the other nursery class, they changed their tune pretty quickly.