Get answers to all your potty training what-ifs, how-tos and now-whats.
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Re: Reward Ideas for Your Big Kid
Jen Singer
Have you ever rewarded yourself for a job well done? Maybe you bought your coffee instead of making it. Or maybe you enjoyed a half-hour in the bathtub with no interruptions (or rubber ducks floating around next to you). Or maybe you even snagged yourself a night on the town with friends. Whatever your…
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Top 5 Potty Training Tips
Heather Wittenberg
Potty training happens all sorts of ways, depending on your child’s personality. I’m in the process of potty training our fourth child, and I’m reminded how different each child has been at this stage. One was resistant until he was almost four, and one seemed to train herself overnight! So with all…
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5 Potty Training Mythbusters
Jen Singer
Whether you’re just starting potty training or you’re in the full swing of it, one thing is likely: Somebody has spread rumors to you. Call them potty training myths, these assertions of how potty training is supposed to go can make you wonder if your potty training plan has a few glitches. But before…
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Pull-Ups Potty Project Blog - Brandon
Brandon's Mom
Pull-Ups Potty Project Blog - BrandonPhase 1Brandon Is Getting Started on Potty TrainingCheck out this blog from The Potty Project.Meet Brandon and His MomI have tried everything, but nothing seems to work with Brandon. I have to confess that I'm beginning to get frustrated. While his friends have been…
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Pull-Ups Potty Project Blog - Alexa
Alexa's Mom
Pull-Ups Potty Project Blog - AlexaPhase 1Alexa Is Getting Started on Potty TrainingCheck out this blog from The Potty Project.Meet Alexa and Her MomAlexa will happily sit on the potty. She just won't do anything while she's on it. When we put her down for a nap or bedtime, we'll hear her cry out just…
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Pull-Ups Potty Project Blog - Sophie
Sophie's Mom
Pull-Ups Potty Project Blog - SophiePhase 1Sophie Is Getting Started on Potty TrainingCheck out this blog from The Potty Project.Meet Sophie and Her MomSophie's almost too interested in the toilet. We had to install a lock on the bathroom door, so Sophie couldn't flush our jewelry away. Since both me,…
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Pull-Ups Potty Project Blog - Isa
Isa's Mom
Pull-Ups Potty Project Blog - IsaPhase 1Isa Is Getting Started on Potty TrainingCheck out this blog from The Potty Project.Meet Isa and Her MomIsabella shows all signs that she's ready to start potty training. But I think I haven't been consistent enough or have always found an excuse not to do it. But…
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Big Kid® Independence
Jennifer James
It’s often hard to let go and let your child be an independent individual! July is a month that celebrates independence, which makes me think about my children during their big milestones like potty training. These Big Kid® moments have made me so proud and will continue to throughout the years.
During…
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Potty Training – The Year in Review
Jennifer James, Jennifer Shu, Jan Faull and Bernie Dorsey
Readiness has been a common potty training theme throughout 2007. Kids will potty train when they are ready and no one can determine when that time will be except for the child. With the year coming to an end, the Pull-Ups® Potty Training Partners take time to reflect on some of their favorite potty…
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Daycare Provider Inside Secrets : The Scoop from Seasoned Professionals
By Lisa A. Goldstein
The potty training process was not going smoothly at home with Kris Staaf’s 2-1/2-year-old daughter. It had been six inconsistent months – using every method imaginable – with few results. Then the daycare teachers initiated a potty training conversation with Staaf and explained their process. Once the…
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Building Your Child’s Self-Esteem While Potty Training
Moms and Dads want to help their child feel good about themselves, whether it’s praise on a good grade or going for ice cream after a soccer game. However, your child’s self-esteem begins developing during the toddler years, before he or she starts school or joins a team. In fact, the potty training…
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4 Parental Essentials in Potty Training
PatienceFair warning! There’ll be accidents along the way and times when training progress is slow or even goes backward. Try to remember that it’s all good learning. If you get discouraged, your child will pick up on it. So stay calm, cool and enthusiastic–and just back up a step or two.
OptimismStart…
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Essential Tools for Potty Training
Julie Anaya, Colorado
Julie, former PULL-UPS® Potty Training Partner and stay-at-home mom with a four-year-old daughter and a seven-year-old son offers real-life insights.
We talked with Julie about toilet training and the steps she took to ensure her toddler felt like a Big Kid®.
Having a System Makes Potty Training EasierEvery…
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A Potty Here and a Potty There : Potty Training in Multiple Locations
By Sue Marquette Poremba
Very few children will work on potty training at only one location, particularly as they are in the later stages of potty training. Not only do children work on toilet habits at home, but many children spend many hours a day at daycare or at a relative’s house. Some children split time between parents’…
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Potty Training on the Go : Top Tips for Potty Training Outside the Home
By Kelly D. Burgess
Sarah Kuehn of Enid, Okla., is going to approach potty training a little differently with her second child. Overall, things went pretty smoothly when she went through the potty training process with her first daughter, Katrina, until a bad experience with a high-tech toilet.
“It was one of those automatic…
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Potty Training on the Road
by Mary Santana, Illinois
Whether you’re taking a short trip to grandma’s house or an extended vacation, traveling with a potty training toddler can sound overwhelming. Don’t stress – Mary Santana, former PULL-UPS® Potty Training Partner and mother of three, has great advice for potty training on the road.“My husband and I love…
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Potty Training As A Team
The proverb "It takes a village to raise a child" holds true when potty training your toddler. The process can be easier and more fun when you have got everyone from siblings to grandparents to daycare providers involved, in addition to Mom and Dad. This month, the Potty Training Partners are offering…
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Potty Training for the Working Parents
Every family experiences potty training highs and lows, but it can be especially challenging for parents that work outside the home. Whether parents are working full time or part-time – most parents can’t be with their child every time they need to use the bathroom. To help make potty training easier…
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Recognizing the Urge
By Kelly D. Burgess
Parents usually recognize when their child has to go to the bathroom (the wiggle, the crossed legs). The trick is turning those signals into teachable moments so your child recognizes that what’s going on can go in the potty!
Wiggles and GigglesChristine Louise Hohlbaum, an American living in Paunzhausen,…
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How to Dress for Success
By Sue Marquette Poremba
Toddler clothes are adorable. Who can resist the cute little overalls or the colorful onesies or the soft footed pajamas?
For children who are in diapers full time, those outfits are just fine, but when a child begins potty training, it is time to put them in the back of the closet or give them to…
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All about Potty Seats
By Kelly D. Burgess
It’s all about independence. That’s the word on potty seats from family practitioner and parenting expert Dr. Jody McVittie.
“Parents need to take a pretty casual attitude toward using the toilet so the children take it for granted as well,” says Dr. McVittie. “That means providing them with something…
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Double Duty
By Teri Brown
Sometimes potty training can seem like quite an undertaking. As a conscientious parent, you know you need to watch for signs of readiness, create a plan keeping your child’s personality in mind and stay consistent with that plan. But what happens when you’re potty training more than one child at the…
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You Asked…We are Answering
by Maggie Dugan, Wisconsin
In an effort to provide a support system where parents can get the scoop from other parents, PULL-UPS.com provides a Sharing Space where you can "talk potty." While many of you are giving and receiving helpful advice, we've noticed not everyone is getting their questions answered on our message board.…
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The "He Said, She Said" on Potty Training
Boys and girls present unique challenges in every area of parenting - and potty training is no exception. Though girls and boys take roughly the same amount of time to train (eight months on average), there are many differences between boys and girls throughout the process.
"Biological traits can make…
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Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
By Lisa A. Goldstein
You would think that using the bathroom should be a guaranteed way to get a few minutes to yourself. But now that you have a child who’s in the process of mastering potty training, should you give up that privacy to help him learn? Is it OK to let your child watch you or a sibling use the toilet?
“In…
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Potty Training Multiples : Great advice whether you have one or more to train!
Potty Training MultiplesGreat advice whether you have one or more to train!
Congratulations, you made it to the toddler years with your multiples! And just like you had to buy multiple cribs, strollers and high-chairs – when your children reach that stage of readiness – it will be time to buy multiple…
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No Two Kids Train Alike : Finding the Method That Works for Your Child
Sue Marquette Poremba
Alana Morales’ son was ready to begin potty training when the dampness was uncomfortable enough to motivate him to use the toilet regularly within three days. Morales’s daughter, on the other hand, is the opposite.
“My son was so easy to train,” says the Gilbert, Ariz., mother. “My daughter, on the…
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Starting like a Pro : Time-Tested Tips from Parents Who Have Been There
Lisa A. Goldstein
So you’re about to start potty training. If you haven’t the foggiest idea where to begin, start with the experts: parents who have been there, done that.
One mom of four children, ages 4 to 14, has been asked for tips on this subject by three different parents in the last year. Her advice? “Wait until…
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A Potty Training Plan : Your Road Map to Success
Teri Brown
Facing potty training for the first time may feel a little like climbing Mt. Everest: You have no idea what it’s going to be like until you’ve done it. Fortunately, potty training is much easier then scaling Everest, but when you’re done, you may feel the same mountain-sized sense of accomplishment.…
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Getting Started : The Nuts and Bolts of Toilet Training
So you’ve realized your child is ready to begin potty training. What now? Where do you begin? What sort of equipment do you need?
First Things First
The first thing you need to remember is that this is your child’s unique experience. Everyone wants to give advice and that can be confusing and sometimes…
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Tuning in to Your Child's Learning Style
Do you have a watchful observer? Or an interactive do-er? Understanding your child's prevailing learning style not only does wonders in the potty training department-it can go a long way in helping you adapt life lessons as your child discovers and grows.
Set Your Sights on LearningDo you have a child…
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Dishing Advice at the Pull-Ups® Potty Dance Party
Jen Singer
Max, 2½, and I were sitting on the floor in my booth at the Pull-Ups® Potty Dance Party, a special event in New York City where I was doling out one-on-one potty training advice as one of the long-time Pull-Ups® Potty Training Partners. In recent years, I've counseled parents and grandparents on all…
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Dads and Potty Training
Dave Hagler
Dads can be particularly apprehensive about the potty training experience, and can end up taking a secondary role to mom. But, it doesn't need to be that way. On the contrary, there are many reasons why dads should be excited and eager to enter into the potty training process with their child, and take…
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Customizing Potty Training for Your Child
Gwenn Schurgin O’Keeffe, MD, FAAP
Potty training is always an important milestone for young kids to achieve. As with most big developmental tasks in childhood, no two children go through the potty process the same way, even within the same family. The honest truth is we can’t actually train our kids to be successful at using the potty.…
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How to Keep Potty Training Light-Hearted
Dave Hagler
Potty training is a big, important milestone in your child's life. If you wait too long to begin training, or start too early, or go about it the wrong way, your child could go through their entire childhood, adolescence, and maybe even adulthood in diapers. OK, maybe that's a bit of an exaggeration. …
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5 Tips for Surviving Potty Training
Jen Singer
I've been a Pull-Ups® Potty Training Partner for five years now, and during that time, I've confirmed one important hunch: potty training is the most labor intensive of your child's milestones. Don't you think?
It takes work to make potty training successful, but if you stick it out, you will reach…
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