POTTY TRAINING TIME..
I have found over the past few weeks especially that Lily has started to tell me when she has done something in her nappy, she wasn't shy to tell me & she was feeling uncomfortable. I knew that this was the time to finally start with the potty training.. or atleast give it a go. Fingers crossed for me & Simon!
I don't think there is ever a perfect time to potty train, i think you and your child both need to be ready and to be ready, to make things easier. I have a few things that have helped get Lily started.
I decided to start potty training properly when Lily had just started nursery because there had been a big change in her life anyway so i thought it was the perfect time while her routine wasn't properly in place, to start almost fresh with routine and include my potty training start.
These are the main things i used as a help to start potty training..
Knickers.
I literally went out and bought all sorts of different knickers with characters that i knew lily would like such as..
- Peppa pig
- Frozen
- Finding Nemo
- My little pony
I think the child having a choice of which knickers they put on makes it more fun for them and thats what you want you want them to be comfortable and happy as they can be with the change. This also got her excited to be wearing "big girl pants"
Rewards.
I wanted Lily to feel like it was still fun and a game, so i decided after reading other peoples blogs and seeing there ideas of a reward chart, this would also help me see how much progress Lily was making. So, i decided to make a chart with a separate piece of card for wee's and poo's. I think a reward system that they can see and they be a part of is a big influence to the child, i picked a big selection of stickers so that she could pick the sticker she wanted and this creates some excitement and motivation from the start.
Pull ups!
I only use pull ups now when Lily is going for a nap or going to bed on a night. I think these are a really good idea as it makes them feel very uncomfortable when they do anything in the nappy & they want to be changed. I have a few different characters of pull ups too, Cinderella, Minnie Mouse an now her favourite of course peppa pig.. On the subject of Peppa Pig why is every child completely obsessed I hate that little pig!
I think having a 1 or 2 changes of clothes handy is especially important so that if they do have an accident in or out of the house they can be changed straight away so they don't have to feel upset or uncomfrotable.. this gets me on to my next point..
Accidents
Every child is going to have an accident, especially early on in the potty training days. There will always be good days and bad days, its important to remind your child that it's okay if they have accidents and say it's fine we will just get you changed and it's not a big deal & i would make sure to say "remember you have to make sure to tell mummy if you need to use the potty cause we don't want to wet our big girl pants" the less fuss the better i have found when just starting out.
The last thing i am going to mention is baby wipes! I have definitely found the use of baby wipes much much MUCH cleaner to work with as if there is a mess baby wipes are so handy to use and your child will be used to them so they won't be put off by being cleaned and it will just feel normal to them!
Thats all the tips I have come across so far, if you have any more tips it would be amazing to hear them, as it's only early days for myself and Lily too.
Thank you for reading
Love Rachel x
