These are the potty training essentials every parent needs before starting potty training.
So you’ve decided you’re going to start off with potty training. Woo-hoo. While you’re shuddering at the thought of having floodworks of pee all over your home, you’re also excited to be finally ditching the diapers. So yeah, there are mixed feelings as a parent when you’re about to plunge yourself into the world of potty training.
One of the best things you can do (apart from mentally getting yourself and your toddler ready for the training ahead) is to get the supplies you need to really nail this on the head.
This will save you so much hassle and last minute scrambling around like a headless chicken.
This post is all about potty training essentials every parent needs to know about
It’s important to know which supplies you actually need and which ones are extra. That’s because these days there are tons of things being marketed as ‘potty training must haves’ and not all of them are really necessary.
You need to look at your budget, child’s personality, potty training method and space in the house before deciding what to get.
Also keep in mind that you might not need ALL these things at once. But it’s important to get the basics in order to ensure the training goes smoothly.
Ready to feel organized, calm and a lot less frazzled while headdiving into potty training? Here’s what you’ll need.
Potty Training Essentials You Absolutely Can’t Do Without
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Getting Started
When you’re starting off with potty training, these are the 4 most basic things that you will need.
1. Potty chair or potty seat
So this is basically the star of the show and the most important in your list of potty training essentials.
You need to decide between getting a potty seat and a potty chair.
A potty chair is a toddler sized potty and acts like a miniature version of the adult toilet. The benefit is that because it’s designed for little kids it will feel a lot less overwhelming for kids when training. Their feet can touch the floor and it’s also portable so can be moved to any part of the house meaning less accidents.
Plus it comes in many cute designs which can help motivate kids to use it. The downside is that it will take up space and you will need to empty out the content and clean out the bowl.
A potty seat on the other hand is an insert which fits on top of the regular adult toilet. The benefit is that you don’t need to do any extra cleaning out since everything is going inside the normal toilet.
Plus you don’t need to later transition your child from the toddler sized potty to the adult toilet seat. The downside is that kids might feel a bit overwhelmed using a bigger toilet.
Whichever option you go for, here are the potty chairs and potty seats that parents are loving on Amazon:
Realistic Potty Training Toilet Looks and Feels Like an Adult Toilet
Potty Training Seat for Boys And Girls, Non-Slip with Splash Guard
Summer 2-in-1 Step Up Potty – Potty Seat and Stepstool for Potty Training
2. Step stool
A step stool is a must in any potty training essentials list. It will help your little one in being able to reach the toilet and the sink and wash their hands.
Depending on the hight of the sink in your bathroom, you’ll need a single step stool or even a multiple level step stool. Make sure to get one with a non-slip base.
3. Lots of cotton underwear
You will need tons of underwear because your little one will be having lots accidents while you train. So it’s essential to have a good stash so you don’t run out.
It’s super helpful to get ones with characters your toddler likes. I got my toddler girl ones with kittens on it and told her we have to try to keep the kitty dry.
This trick worked like a charm! She was so disappointed when the kitten got wet when she had an accident. And so pleased with herself when she used the toilet correctly and kept the kitten dry.
4. Easy to remove clothing
It’s essential to have clothes on hand that your little one can easily go to the bathroom in. Rompers, onesies, anything with complicated belts or buttons should be avoided. Hard to remove clothing will waste previous seconds and could cause accidents.
It’s best to stick to dresses, loose pants or shorts. Also, keep in mind that your toddler will be having accidents so stay away from fancy clothing and opt for easy to wash clothes made from cotton.
The best clothes a child can wear during the potty training process are the ones that are easiest to take off quickly. Many parents and experts suggest that little girls wear dresses, and in cooler weather, sweat pants are a favorite choice for potty training children.
Pullups.com
Cleaning
Youll be cleaning quite a lot during potty training. Like A LOT. Apart from mentally preparing yourself for the accidents, it’s best to make sure you have your cleaning supplies ready.
These are the cleaning products youll be needing:
Microfibre cleaning cloths with good absorbancy or Disosable wipes
Disinfectant spray
Plastic gloves
Waterproof plastic sheet for covering carpeted flooring
I found that the best way for me to handle accidents and also manage to stay calm was chanting positive affirmations in my head.
“There will be accidents. I will not flip out, I will be calm”
I remember chanting this again and again especially during the first 3 days while training my toddler. The thing with affirmations is that it really helps to be able to visually see it in front of you.
Check out these beautifully designed affirmations you can print and hang up to help you keep your cool while training your little one.
Preparing and motivating your toddler
One of the most critical things a parent can do before starting potty training is to get their toddler prepared. This will help ensure that a) your toddler understands what is going on and b) participates eagerly and excitedly which is EXACTLY what you want.
Here are some things that can really help with getting your toddler excited about potty training.
Potty training books
Reading stories about potty training can really help your toddler understand what potty training is all about.
If you think about it, since the time your child was born they’ve peed and pooped in their diaper. So they’re basically completely clueless about what it means to start using the toilet.
Reading books about this transition can help them understand what they’ll be expected to do and make that transition fun instead of scary.
There are some wonderful potty training books that you can find on Amazon. The one my toddler liked the best was called No More Diapers For Ducky.
Potty Training Activities
While potty training books are great, they aren’t interactive. Potty training activities teach toddlers about potty training in a way that is fun, engaging and super hands on.
Toddlers trace, color, match, sort, giggle and laugh as they learn about potty training the FUN way.
No nagging and no pressure.
This has tremendous benefits in increasing your child’s motivation to train and actually get excited about it. Check out the potty training activity book to see what all the hype is about!
Potty training doll/daniel tiger
For kids that need that extra dose of motivation, a potty training doll can be a great tool.
This one by Melissa and Dough is a doll that has been especially designed to help introduce potty training to toddlers. Your little one can feed the doll her bottle and then help her sit on the potty. It’s a great way to explain and also motivate a child to use the potty correctly.
Psst: if your little girl or guy isn’t much into dolls then there’s also a Daniel Tiger potty training doll that parents and kids alike are loving!
Reward chart
A reward chart is a suuuuperb way to motivate a child to do literally about anything. Potty training is no exception.
Different parents use reward charts differently with their kids. Some whip out stickers and let their toddler put a sticker on the chart for each successful trip to the potty (where the sticker is a reward in itself).
Others let their little one collect stickers for each successful potty trip and then get a bigger prize once they’ve collected a certain number of stickers.
What I personally did was to use a reward chart along with treats and the combination worked fanatically for us. So each time my toddler used the potty correctly, I’d reward her with 1 sticker on the reward chart and 1 small sweet treat.
Small treats
Many parents (myself included) use treats as a way to reward their child for successfully going to the potty.
Don’t worry, it’s not like you’ll be giving them treats for going to the bathroom for the rest of their life. You can easily phase it out once they’re trained.
Most parents give treats for the first 5-7 days of potty training. I only gave treats for the first 3 days of training because my toddler was fully trained by day 4 (and had also completely forgotten to ask about the treats by then!)
Here are some small sweet treat ideas:
Chocolate raisins
Jelly beans
Soft candy
Bite sized cookies
Make sure that whatever you give is something your toddler can easily chew on and isn’t a choking hazard in any way (anything small and round in shape can be a potential hazard).
Travelling/getting out of the house
Venturing out of the house with a toddler who has just started potty training can be VERY nerve wrecking. Trust me I’ve been there.
Every second you’re dreading the onflow of pee and the horror of seeing the car seat drenched. But it doesn’t need to be so stressful. If you’re prepared then things go so much more smoothly.
Here are the things that will help make travelling with a potty training toddler a not-so-horrific experience:
Travel potty
As the name suggests, this is basically a potty seat that is small enough for you to take along with you wherever you go.
So when your toddler needs to answer the call of nature and there are no public bathrooms in sight, you can just whip this one out and use it.
This is super helpful because a) it saves you the hassle of trying to find a public bathroom and b) it saves your toddler from a potential accident because the potty is close by and they can get to it in time. So a travel potty is definitely in the potty training essentials list.
These are the travel potties parents are loving:
Portable Potty Training Seat for Toddler Kids
Extra clothes
Potty training toddlers can have accidents anywhere, any time. If you’re out of the house it’s an absolute MUST to carry extra clothes.
Once my toddler had an accident at the mall and her tights were absolutely drenched in pee. I didn’t have any extra clothes with me and I couldn’t have her go about in only a shirt.
So I ended up washing the tights at the public bathroom, wringing out as much water as I could and then putting those wet tights back on her as we rushed back home. It was a total nightmare.
Pull ups
You shouldnt be using pull ups while you potty train your child. And that’s because pull ups have a very similar texture to a diaper. It doesn’t allow a child to feel wet and know that they’ve had an accident. So using pull ups while you train can really hinder their progress.
However once they are fully trained, I think it’s fine (read: essential for sanity) to use pull ups while you’re out of the house. Especially on trips when you’ll be out of the house for longer periods of time.
Just remember to remind your toddler to use the pull ups as regular underwear ie to use the travel potty when they need to go rather than just doing it in the pull up.
Car seat cover
There will be leaks and accidents here and there with a potty training toddler in tow. So it’s best to keep your car seats safe especially in the beginning few weeks of potty training.
A car seat cover can be the ideal way to protect your car’s upholstery from accidents.
Night time training
Some parents tackle day time training first and then move on to night time training while others do both simultaneously.
Regardless of which approach you take, these are the most important things you’ll need handy while tackling night time training.
Mattress protector
There will be tons of accidents with night time training. Believe it or not, my child (who was day time trained in 3 days) wet the bed at night for nearly 2 YEARS.
Mattress protector is what got me through those years. It’s important to get a really good quality mattress protector. I tried some cheap ones but they really weren’t able to prevent the urine from leaking into the mattress.
Extra Bedsheets
Even with a mattress protector, its best to err on the side of caution. Keep a stash of extra bedsheets for handling night time accidents.
Extras
I’m calling these extras because they’re in no way “essential” to potty training. However they are definitely products that can help make potty training easier for both you and your toddler and so deserve a place in this potty training essentials post.
Cloth training pants
These are a lot like underwear but they have an extra layer stitched in them. This helps absorb some of the urine when there are accidents and there’s less of a mess to clean up. They’re made of cotton so your child still knows they’ve wet themselves when they have an accident.
Timer
If youre using the 3 day potty training method then its really important to use a timer. This will help you keep track of when to remind your toddler that it’s time to go sit on the potty.
Many modern stoves come with in built timers but you can also use the timer in your phone or a potty training timer watch.
Faucet extender
Most sinks are made in such a way that even if a toddler is standing on a step stool their hands can’t reach the water flowing from the tap.
A faucet extender is a brilliant creation which totally helps solve this problem.
Scrubbing hands with soap and washing them clean is a huge part of potty training a toddler. So this is a tool that can help facilitate that.
Fave sippy cup to encourage liquid intake
If youre going for the 3 day potty training method then you’ll need to encourage your toddler to drink lots of water for those 3 days.
Getting a Sippy cup/straw bottle with a cute character on it can help encourage your child to drink more and get more chances to use the potty.
Ready to take the stress out of potty training? Interested in getting your toddler excited to train? Check out this potty training value pack that will transform your potty training journey from stressful to fun!
This post was all about potty training essentials every parent needs to know about
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