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Members' tips: potty training part 2

It's one of the most asked questions on our forums. So, for all you parents out there, struggling with the potty or trainer seat, here are some more great toilet-training tips from our members.

Are you sitting comfortably?

My son was 3 and was wearing proper pants all day, but would refuse to poo in the toilet. After months of this, I would just persevere with putting him on the potty or toilet, and reassuring him. Eventually, I got a book and read an imaginary story about a prince that wouldn't poo on the potty, and when he did, the king and queen were soooooo happy, etc. etc! After a while, he relaxed enough to let nature take its course. When he had done it once, there was no stopping him. The downside was that every trip to the toilet meant a half hour session, reading this story until he produced the goods!

Thanks to Raisingkids' Member JanetJones30

Try sitting them on a potty instead of the toilet to do a poo. I've read that sitting on a potty is a much more natural position for a child to do a poo as they can push much better to get it out, as their feet are on the floor rather than on a stool or dangling in the air. It might make the poo come out easier.

Thanks to Raisingkids' Member AlexNo

Peer persuasion

Perhaps if you have younger children who are OK with using the toilet, you could encourage them to (at home anyway) go with your child so that they start to understand that there is nothing scary about sitting on the toilet etc. Find an excuse for them to enter the bathroom whilst one of the other children is in there (if they don’t mind) to fetch a towel....anything. If perhaps they see that another child isn’t scared maybe they’ll lose some of their fear too.

Thanks to Raisingkids' Member Silkylady

Sound effects

The only way to get my daughter to perform was to sit on the floor by her potty and make a game of it saying daft things like "squeeze it out" and making funny straining noises which she copied and thought was great. Also getting her to say what sound it made when it dropped in the potty "wees go tinkle tinkle poos go plop". Sounds bizarre I know, and she was only two at the time, but it worked.

Thanks to Raisingkids' Member Steff

Pants to that!

Some tips. Buy cheap knickers and let her decorate them with fabric pens - might encourage more wear. Hide all pull-ups and pretend to be upset about running out, let her choose an alternative until you can get to the shops. Maybe just stall long enough to get used to knickers. Let her choose and pay for knickers of her choice at the shops to make it an exciting adventure.

Thanks to Raisingkids' Member laine33

The mini throne

One of my friends actually made a spare toilet into a kids toilet especially for her son. She decorated it in the way he wanted, bought the kandoo wipes soap, and all the kids kind of things for the toilet. She made a big thing that it was his toilet and gave him small rewards when he managed to do it, like a packet of stickers. Once her child got to know it was his own toilet he eventually started to feel more comfortable doing number two.

Thanks to Raisingkids' Member Virtualjacs

Time out

We went on a long weekend vacation, just to get our son out of his routine at home. It was nothing fancy. Just something to get out of the house. He had a fabulous time and when we came back after 4 days, he forgot that he had to pee on his spot. So far so good!

Thanks to Raisingkids' Member Ayesha