Potty Training!

Oh the dreaded potty training! As you guys know we did potty training with Molly a couple weeks ago and soooo many of you ask if I would share my experience, so that is exactly what I’m doing today! To be completely honest with you guys I was really nervous to start. I knew Molly was capable of potty training but I was NOT super confident in my ability to teach her how to do it! I think part of me just resisted it because I thought (and still kind of think) that keeping her in diapers would’ve been so much easier. For those of you with kids still in diapers, you’re probably thinking – “Easier? How could it possibly be easier to keep them in diapers?” Well, when they go in their diaper, all you have to do is clean them up and throw it away. It’s pretty quick. When your kiddo starts using the potty you have to worry about accidents and clan up accidents (they WILL happen). And you have to sit them on the potty a dozen or more times a day – every time you leave the house, before nap, after nap, before bed, in the morning and after they drink a lot of water. I’m sure Molly will use the potty less once she gets the hang of it. But right now it’s exhausting and time consuming!

1. MOLLY’S OUTFIT | 2. MY $9 TOP | 2. MY JEANS | 4. THE POTTY

Honestly since we started potty training I think I spent a total of three hours a day in the bathroom with her alone. It’s much more of a commitment! I know it will get easier but right now it just makes things a lot more difficult. Currently, if we need to leave the house I know I need to start the process of getting out the door about 45 minutes before we actually have to leave. That’s because I not only have to get Riley ready and out the door, but we need to sit on the potty, make sure we have a change of clothes, bring the potty in the car with us, and a bunch of other things. But even though it’s a time commitment it’s something I wanted to do well before she turned 3. And that’s because many of the parents I spoke to have told me that after 3 it can be quite a challenge. Your kiddo is set in their ways and not as easily persuaded to change. And I’m happy to report right off the bat that she’s doing great a little over two weeks in! She picked it up rather quickly and has had minimal accidents. I’m so proud of her and I’m excited to share with you guys what works for us.

There are a ton of different books on potty training. And I did TRY (try being the key word here) read a couple and of course I read a ton of stuff online. To be quite honest, I found the online stuff the most helpful because it was concise and a quick read. One of the potty training books I tried to read was over 100 pages long and 90% of it was stuff that was totally unnecessary. I thought to myself, “How the heck is any parent supposed to have time to read a book on potty training that’s over 100 pages long?” It just seems ridiculous to me! So don’t bother getting a book. Save your money and use it to buy all of the gear you’re going to need once you start potty training! Because you’ll need quite a bit of gear! And I’m sharing everything that we bought and used in this blog post.

Keep in mind that what works for us might not work for everyone. Every child is different and to be quite honest I think Molly picked it up rather quickly. Maybe quicker than most. Or maybe not. Honestly I have no idea. All I know is that I was surprised when it all clicked right away. I think she was just really ready.

1. MOLLY’S OUTFIT | 2. MY $9 TOP | 2. MY JEANS | 4. THE POTTY

So when is your child ready? I’m no expert on this and I’ve heard different schools of thought. Some people say kids as young as 22 months can be ready. I personally don’t think Molly was quite ready until 2 1/2. Still, we waited a few months after that to start because of trips we had planned. I definitely do not recommend that you start potty training if you have a trip planned or any big changes or events happening. Such as a move, a new baby, or even a long road trip. My completely uneducated opinion (Ha!) is to start somewhere between 2 and 3 years old.

Whenever you decide to start just make sure you’re mentally ready to do it. Don’t go in with the mindset that you’ll “try”. You either do it or you don’t. And you have to be ready to just go for it! It’s funny because the week leading up to us starting with Molly, I kept trying to psych myself up saying I was ready but I had so many doubts! But even though I wasn’t necessarily ready, I knew she was and I just kept reminding myself of that.

So about a week before we started, we started telling her about the fairies that were coming to the house. That’s right, the fairies were coming to take all of Molly’s diapers to bring them to Diaperland! And the diapers would be given to little babies who need them. Molly is such a sweet girl and loved that she would be helping other little babies. The morning the fairies arrived, I wrote her a colorful note from the fairies thanking her for giving her diapers to babies who need them and she also got a small gift as a thank you from the fairies. That morning she didn’t resist in any way and was excited that they had come to our house! We kept some diapers hidden away for naps and bed (but I’ll get to that later).

What You Need First

Let’s start with some of the things that I absolutely think you need before you start potty training! The first thing is a ton of potties! The amount of potties really depends on how big your houses. But I think you should have at least two travel potties, and if you can afford it three. Meaning you’ll keep one in your stroller that you use for walks, keep one in your car, and one in partner’s car. This is because anytime you leave the house you basically need to have this little travel potty on you. For example, my family likes to go on walks a lot. We go on a family walk pretty much every evening. So we make sure to put a little travel potty in our stroller so that when Molly needs to go potty when we are out on our walks we can quickly pull it out and let her go wherever we are. This is because she still learning. Eventually we want her to learn to hold it until we get to a bathroom. But for now this works for us. I pulled out this little travel potty when I was at the Farmer’s Market this past weekend so she could go! Obviously I brought her to a private area to use it. And maybe some are you frown upon doing it in such a public place but hey she needed to go and I didn’t have a change of clothes for her if she had an accident so I whipped out the potty. When you’re a parent you got to do what you gotta do sometimes!

TRAVEL POTTY

Like I mentioned above, you’ll also want at least two potties for your home. If you’re strapped for money, I would say you could use the travel potties in your home as well, the only problem with that is that you have to remember to take it with you every time you leave the house. I’m super forgetful and knew I would forget all the time so I purchased multiple to keep in different spots. But the reason you want multiple little potties (at least one upstairs and one downstairs) is that during the first few days of potty training, the INSTANT your child starts peeing or tells you they need to pee you need to get them on the potty in under five seconds. That’s how they’re gonna learn where the peepee goes. And I say peepee because poop is much more difficult and I’ll get to that at the end of this post. I have a big first floor in my house and the bathroom is on the complete opposite end of the house from the family room so I needed to have a little potty right in the family room when we were potty training.

I also highly recommend this owl cover or this padded cover for an adult size toilet. And you might decide that you don’t want to use a little potty and only want to use a cover on the adult toilet. That totally works if you have a smaller home or a bathroom that is close to where you spend the most time in your home! And the toilet cover will be a lifesaver when you’re on the go and need to use a public restroom. Because let’s face it, eventually you’re not going to want to carry a little travel potty everywhere you go. You’ll want to just be able to whip this thing out of your diaper bag or purse so your child can use an adult size toilet. I say diaper bag if you have an infant as well. I still carry a diaper bag because well, Riley’s still in diapers! So I just throw it in my diaper bag with his stuff. We also use it at home so she can get used to using a big toilet. We also use it at home because we didn’t want the first time Molly used a big toilet to be outside of our home. It could be intimating to a little kiddo and they might be to scared to try.

1. MOLLY’S OUTFIT | 2. TOILET OWL COVER |3. TRAVEL POTTY

You’ll also want a stepstool in your bathroom. We have one in Molly’s bathroom – yes, she has a bathroom attached to her bedroom. I realize how lucky she is and we are. And there’s a stepstool in the main bathroom on the main floor. We use this not only so she can step up to the potty herself, but also so she can step up to the sink afterwards to wash her hands. Trust me, you’re not gonna want to pick your child up to wash their hands every time they go potty. Because right now Molly is going potty 8-10 times a day. I think that’s because she just goes a little bit at a time right now while she’s learning. But we spent a lot of time in the bathroom and she spends a lot of time washing her hands! You need to stepstool – trust me! Here are some I like. I got the white one:

You’re also going to need outfits that are easy for your child to get off to go potty. Your kiddo will be naked a lot the first few days, but after that you’ll need pants that are really easy to push down. And make sure you use the word “push” and not pull down. Because in actuality what they’re doing is pushing down their pants. And that’s easier for kids understand. I really like the outfit Molly is wearing in these pics for potty training. The pants are loose so they don’t feel like a diaper on her. I explain below why we kept underwear off Molly whenever possible. The pants also have an elastic waist band which is easy to push down. And the shirt is short enough that when she sits on the potty it won’t get caught inside the potty.

Another product I highly recommend is the piddle pad for your car seat. My friend Willa recommended this product to me (she also recommended the owl toilet cover and a travel potty. Thank you so much Willa!). The piddle pad is inexpensive and will help you clean up so much quicker if your child has an accident in the car! If you don’t want to spend the 9 bucks on this (I totally get that there is a lot of other stuff to buy and it adds up!), you could also just put puppy pads under your child in the car seat. But you pretty much end up spending just as much on those and the piddle pad is reusable and better for the environment.

Those are the things/products I really think you need to start potty training. I’ll reference other products and things we bought that were helpful throughout this post but not necessarily a game changer.

Day One

The first day she was completely naked all day. Honestly, she was naked for pretty much the first week. Or at least bottomless. That’s so you can get your little one to the potty as quickly as possible. Instead of putting her on the potty every 30 minutes, one method that worked really well for us was to quickly rush her to the potty when she started peeing. So essentially the first day you watch your kiddo like a hawk! Meaning you never take your eyes off of them. This is really hard for me because I work from home so I’m usually attached to my computer and phone. Plus it’s always so tempting to check Instagram. Ha! This first day you really just want to watch your kiddo. So as soon as Molly would either look like she was starting to pee or actually started peeing, I would pick her up and rush her over to the potty. Incredibly, I only had to do this twice and then she started telling me she had to go pee! I was so proud of her! I don’t think this necessarily will happen so quickly for everyone. So don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t happen for you! Just stay at it the first day. Some people use the method of putting their child on the potty every 30 to 60 minutes to see if they will go and a couple of my friends had a lot of success with that technique. One of my friends even got this watch that your kiddo can wear – it has an alarm that goes off every set amount of time that let’s your child know it’s time to go to the potty. I didn’t think I needed it when Molly first start since she picked it up so quickly, but now that we are 2-3 weeks in I am realizing this watch might be super helpful. SHe’s has a few accidents because we weren’t diligent about telling her it’s time to go potty (which you’ll need to do often after the first few days – peeing on the floor is more common the first few days) or she wouldn’t tell us because she was too busy playing.

So like I mentioned above Molly got it pretty quickly the first day. She honestly only had one accident where she peed on the floor! But one thing that I found kind of surprising the first day, even though I shouldn’t have, was that little bits of pee trickled out pretty constantly throughout the day. Every few minutes I would notice little drips on her legs. So I don’t really consider that an accident since it was just kind of steady. I think it’s because our kids are not used to having to hold it all! So they just let it come out all day. Every time I would see a little bit on her leg, I would put her on the potty. So needless to say, I was picking her up and putting her on the potty multiple times every hour, ALL day long. And don’t get freaked out about pee! Trust me, I was kind of freaked out at first. Until I read something online about how sterile pee is and how it’s nothing to be afraid of. I even read something that said it’s super good for your skin! And can even heal your skin! Whether or not that’s true, I don’t know, but everything I read definitely eased my worry about getting a little bit of pee on things here and there throughout my house. That said, we did cover our couch in sheets and blankets just in case there was an accident on the couch. And a little bit of pee trickled out on the couch once, but not a full emptying of her bladder. You should be watching your child so closely on this first day that that wouldn’t even be possible. Because you would catch it right away.

And you want the day to be normal but also fun. Normal because you want potty training to seem like something that is normal because it is! Something that we do every single day. And because of this we didn’t offer Molly treats for going peepee. We ended up offering them to her for poops but that’s only because she didn’t poop on the potty for the first four days. And again I will get to that in a minute. But peeing on the potty came pretty easily to her so I’m glad we never offered anything otherwise should be getting an M&M every half hour with how much she goes pee everyday. And that’s definitely not a habit I wanted to get into. So I highly suggest trying to keep rewards out of it and only use them for pooping if you really need to like we did.

We did have a lot of fun activities that first day! She had her new toy that the fairies had left her, we watched a movie, we colored together for hours, and really overall we just bonded. Because you’re watching your child so closely, it really is an amazing opportunity for you to connect with them on a deeper level. Look, I’m a stay at home/work at home mom. So I’m with Molly all the time! But I’m never fully present. And as hard as that is to admit, it’s just the truth. I was checking my work email and looking at Instagram or taking care of Riley. So I can never just completely focus on Molly. But on potty training day I had help with Riley so I could focus completely on Molly. And I put away my phone and my computer and fully surrendered myself to being 100% present with her. And we got closer. Ever since we potty trained she gives me three dozen hugs and kisses a day. And every time, she will tell me how much she loves me. She would say I love you multiple times a day before potty training. But now it’s almost as if she can’t say it enough! Something about our time together really helped us come together as mother and daughter. And I’m grateful for it.

Day Two

On day 2, we were able to ease up a little bit on watching her. But the thing is, we bonded so much the day before that I honestly just wanted to watch her all the next day. It was fun for both of us! But I did allow myself to check my email and take my eyes off of her for a few moments here and there. But I did this because she had already picked it up so well that I was comfortable being able to do that. If your child hasn’t quite gotten the hang of it by day 2, I don’t recommend taking your eyes off of them! Stay just as present! And because you’ll need to be so present possibly two, even three, days in a row and maybe more. I recommend starting on a Friday or even Saturday when both parents can be home for the first couple days. If you start on a Friday and both parents work, I highly suggest one of you taking the day off to begin the process. The first day is always the most exciting so that’s why we decided to start on a Friday. I knew I could stay fully present with Molly by myself while Kevin was at work. And then by day 2 the novelty of it all kind of would start to wear off, that’s why we thought it would be important for both parents to be home so we could both keep an eye on her. That’s what worked for us but another method might work for you.

We let her wear a shirt on day 2. But she remained bottomless. But on day 2, she really told us when she needed to use the potty. Another thing that changed on day two is we started to bring her over that to the party instead of waiting for her to pee if she started doing the potty dance. And your child will have some sort of signal letting you know that they need to go potty too. For Molly she crosses her legs and bounces up and down. The typical potty dance. Your child might have a different signal. Keep an eye out for it! So when I would see Molly do the potty dance I would not ask her if she needed to go potty. Every single thing I read about potty training urges parents not to ask and instead, tell them it’s time to go potty. So that’s what we did – we would see Molly do the dance and say it’s time for potty. I think this is where that watch I mentioned before might come in handy. Because I will say there was a few times she resisted even though I told her it was time. I feel like having the watch will make your child more likely to go because it seems fun rather than having to listen to mommy and daddy. If that makes sense.When night time rolled around on day 2, I was pretty concerned that she hadn’t gone poop on the potty yet. I could tell she really needed to go. In fact, the morning we woke up on day one I could tell she needed to go number two. So the fact that she hadn’t gone and it had been 48 hours really concerned me. Especially just because I could tell she was in so much discomfort! I’ve even go so far to say she was in pain! She kept saying that her belly hurt and that her butt hurt. I let her know that she would feel better if she let the poopoo out and she honestly tried. But nothing would come out. I think she thought she was pushing when she was actually holding it in. So the night of day 2, I put a diaper on her and told her she could use it to go poopoo. Sure enough she ran in the other room so I couldn’t see her and immediately pooped in her diaper. I didn’t consider it a failure at all. In fact I consider that a success because I just wanted her to get relief. And I knew she would get it eventually.

Poop 💩

So let’s talk about poop. Like I mentioned above we had some struggles with it. It took her until day 5 to actually go poop on the potty. After night 2 when I let her poop in the diaper, she again went all of day 3 with no poop. She had gotten the peepee thing down perfectly! No accidents and absolutely love going to the potty to go pee. She got so excited to bring her a little potty over the toilet, dump the contents inside, and flush the big toilet! By the way, I haven’t mentioned this yet but make sure you let your child do this. Getting to pour the pee into the toilet and flush is a lot of fun for them and you want to make sure they get that reward after using the potty.

1. MOLLY’S OUTFIT | 2. TOILET OWL COVER

Anyway, so we made it to day 4 and once again still no poop. I was nervous so of course I was googling everything I could possibly find on the Internet! Specifically I was googling what to do if your child will only poop in a diaper. And I read something that said to cut a hole in the back of a child’s diaper so that when they pooped they would get the sensation of the poop falling out rather than getting smashed against their butt. Which is what normally happens when a child wears diapers. So I thought I’d give it a try. So on the evening of day 4 when Molly was in a lot of pain, we put the diaper on her with a hole in it while she stood over a little potty. Sure enough she pushed out a poop pretty immediately. And to her surprise and while I was helping her brace herself sort of leaning back over the potty, the poop fell into the little potty below. She was so surprised! But thrilled! However, your child may not be as thrilled and if that’s the case I’m not really sure what to do. Ha! I can only share my experience. But after this she started going poop on the potty! I think she just needed to know that the sensation of it coming out without the safety of her diaper was OK! Nothing bad was going to happen.

Before I get on to her successful poop on the potty, I want to talk about what she did that I found surprising. Every time I would Google things about kids not pooping on the potty I never found anything that was completely similar to what Molly was going through. What Molly would do is she would say she needed to poop and she would go sit on the potty and try to do it. So she wanted to go poop on the potty! All the things I read is that kids were either afraid of the potty, weren’t too interested in having to sit on the potty long enough, or asked for a diaper when they needed to poop. I’m sure there were some other examples but those are the ones I remember. I couldn’t find anything about a kid wanting to poop on the potty and sitting on it a ton but it just not coming out. On days 3 and 4, Molly would seriously run to the potty every 10 minutes saying she needed to poop but nothing would come out. She would sit there for 30 minutes trying and nothing would come out. I mentioned this earlier in this blog post, and it’s a long post, but I think she thought she was pushing it out when she was actually using muscles to hold it in. So really my only advice if this is your child is to keep a potty nearby and just keep encouraging them to try. I also highly suggest giving them privacy even if they seem like they don’t want it. She would ask me to hold her when she was on the potty and I would do that here and there, but I would also try to walk away or look at something else when she was on the potty. I read that kids often need privacy just like adults do for this very personal experience. Your child will most likely need privacy, especially if they would go somewhere private when they would poop in their diaper. Many kids retreat to a corner or a certain area of the home to poop that’s because they understand that pooping is a private thing.

On day 5 is when we got our first poop in the potty without a diaper! Once again she was very backed up and she was pacing back-and-forth in the kitchen. She kept saying I have to poop and she would go sit on the potty. After sitting with her for hours she went back-and-forth from playing for five minutes straight to the potty for five minutes over and over. I finally turned my back and start answering some emails. It’s when I did that that she finally went! I didn’t see it she just did it on her own! I think I had become so obsessed with helping her go poop that finally with just walking away she was able to do it on her own! Definitely try this! And don’t be discouraged if it doesn’t happen right away. I knew I need to give her space and walked away many times before this. But for some reason this time when I gave her the space she was able to figure it out. And I was so so so proud of her! She got a big ice cream cone right afterwards! And that’s because yes we had told her at this point because we were desperate for her to go that she would get ice cream if she went poopoo on the potty.

We got a few more small rewards like candy or a little toy for other poops in the potty but we are phasing that out now. We want her to think this is a normal thing that she does and not just because she gets a reward.

Naps and Bedtime

I read that some people tackle potty training as a whole and don’t use diapers at all – even for naps or bedtime. I am not one of those people. And I know what you’re thinking. “You just made a big deal about the fairies taking Molly’s diapers and bringing them to Diaperland. How can you put a diaper on her during naps and bedtime?” The answer? She didn’t question it at all! I read that she wouldn’t and I didn’t really believe it but sure enough when I went to put a diaper on her at nap time, she didn’t even question it. I went ahead and told her that we had a few nap time and bedtime diapers that the fairies left behind. But I don’t even think I needed to tell her that. I will eventually phaseout the nap time and bedtime diapers of course. (We also plan on using a travel diaper if we ever go on a long trip or get on an airplane anytime soon). But I am happy to say that multiple mornings Molly has woken up with a completely dry diaper! I honestly think after a few months of this, we will just stop using the nighttime diapers and there will just be a few accidents here and there (hopefully just a few). Which is all part of the learning process!

1. MOLLY’S OUTFIT | 2. MY $9 TOP | 2. MY JEANS | 4. THE POTTY

So here we are 10 days post potty training and she’s doing great! We introduced underwear five days after trying and that’s because she needed to go to school. Of course as we are walking out the door to go to school she had an accident and peed in her pants. I’ve actually found that every time we put underwear on her she’s 10 times more likely to have an accident. One of the things I read suggested not putting underwear on your child for the first month. Let them go commando. So we try to do this at home. She’ll wear pants with no underwear or a dress with no underwear. But we still put underwear on her when she goes to school. Speaking of, you’re going to need a lot of underwear! We got Molly these training underwear and some Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse ones too. I haven’t gotten the stepstool with the smaller potty attached yet. But I’m starting to think long term this will be helpful for her so I’m thinking about getting one. And while I was looking at products for potty training I saw these little urinals for little boys. Is this not the cutest thing ever?! I’m already thinking about getting one in the future for Riley because I just find it so adorable. I found this one too that flushes! Any parents of boys ever use anything like this? I’m curious and would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below!

Anyway, I’m sure I’m forgetting stuff but I wanted to get a blog up about my experience in hopes that it helps other parents out there who are about to tackle potty training! And as always I love it when all of you share your tips not only with me but with all the other parents reading this. I love that this blog has become a community for moms and dads to get together and share their experiences and help each other. So please share words of wisdom or any questions you have in the comments below! I’ll try to answer your questions and I’m sure other parents out there will read them an answer too!

UPDATE: For those asking about my shirt I am wearing a size Medium! And it’s on the shorter side so you’ll want to wear with high waist pants! But that’s all I wear – helps hold in my mom bod 😉

120 Thoughts

120 thoughts on “Potty Training!

    1. I am loving all your child advice. I pass it on to my daughter, who is a single Mommy. This question doesn’t have to do with potty training. What foods do you suggest starting out with for a new solid food eater? We tried the sweet potato and she was not a fan. Any suggestions we would so much appreciate!! Thank you.

      1. Hi Lisa! I would definitely have her talk with her doctor about which solids are best for her little one. Riley LOVES mashed up black beans and sweet potato! I also like to try foods again after a food days, because usually they are just getting used to the new flavors and end up loving them!

  1. Love your blog. My husband and I are expecting our first (it’s a boy!). Could you do a post on registry must haves? Also- do you have a rocker/glider that you love?! All this new mom info is overwhelming.

    Thank you Ali!!
    Emily

    1. Congratulations, Emily!!! I know so many awesome ladies that are pregnant right now. That’s a great idea for a post! Here’s the link to a post where I talk all about Riley’s nursery! We love our glider! I’ve also done some posts on a favorites with an infant, which might help you now as well! Click the motherhood tab at the top, and I believe those are around page 3. xo
      https://aliluvs.com/blog/2018/05/02/baby-boys-nursery/

  2. Ali,
    Thanks so much for sharing! Ironically, I just wrote a list about potty training yesterday – I think we did a lot of similar things! My son is three weeks younger than Molly, so it’s been fun to follow their journey together (separately of course). I hope you check out my post too!

    http://www.3under3andme.com
    @3under3andme

  3. Congratulations on getting Molly potty trained. I appreciate some of the tools you’ve shared with us and hopefully my son will enjoy them. My son hates the big adult potty and he won’t use the bathroom at school. So we are patiently helping him get more comfortable with both. I love hearing that you have so many potties, I really need to buy another one because one of these days I will forget to put one in the car. And I LOVE your pink shirt.

  4. Thank you so much for this post. My daughter turns 2 1/2 this week and I think I’ve been the one dreading it and not ready. I told myself I am going to start it this Fri. I bought “the 100 pg book” like 3 months ago and it’s just sitting on my desk because like you said I don’t have time to sit and read a whole book.
    I plan to use some of your tips.
    I’m also nervous about the school thing. She only goes 2 days a week for 2 hours but she’s soooo shy at school so I’m afraid she won’t tell one of her teachers she needs to use the potty. I’ll let you know how my attempt goes this weekend.

  5. Hi Ali – just wanted to share a few things related to my experience potty training. First, mt daughter would ONLY poop in the potty if I left her alone and she did it herself. She did not like me bing in the bathroom with her, so I’d encourage anyone struggling with the pooping part to try this! Second, character panties worked great for my daughter when we introduced underwear. I’d say things like “Moana doesn’t want to get peeped on.” And that really worked for her! So much of potty training is trial and error and finding what clicks with your child.

    1. We also did character panties/underwear and I always took each of mine shopping to help pick out what they wanted! They were always so excited to chose. We never did the ‘naked’ part, they always had their underwear on, but since they picked out something special, I think they just didn’t want to get those ‘special’ undies wet! We would go on and on about how they had such pretty/fancy/awesome panties/underwear for my son and we wanted to keep them nice. We also tried to train in the summer when there are less bulky clothes to pull down. And yes, privacy is very important to some children, some from the very beginning of potty training. One of my granddaughters had to have the door shut from very early on. She’d say, can I please have my ‘pwivacy’? Haha

  6. My son Wayde is about the same age as Molly and we just started potty training and we’re doing a lot of the same things! No undies when we’re out at least for now because when he has undies on he pees in them. So just letting him get used to that sensation of having to pee. Lots of potties and your advice is awesome ! Thanks for writing this 👍🏻

  7. Such an exciting time for Molly! I have a daughter that was very easy to toilet train and it can be such a fun experience. I have a 1 year old son and I have heard that it will be a totally different sorry to toilet train a boy! I have heard not to use a urinal for a boy because if doesn’t give them the option to every go poop if they are never sitting. So I heard to always sit them down and that gives them the opportunity to do both pee and poo.

    1. Don’t believe the theory that boys are harder. My son was easy to train and I always figured it was because he had a sister just 17 months older and once she stopped diapers, he didn’t want them either. I have several grandsons who were just as easy. My daughter’s second little boy was completely trained by 2 1/2 and yes, her boys were trained to stand up to pee and sit down to poop. I would recommend that. The little guy who trained so young didn’t even want diapers at night or nap and did stay dry. He was determined to do what his big brother did! Hopefully you find it as easy as with your daughter! Unfortunately, training little boys does seem to get a bad rap but it’s not always any harder than girls. Good luck!

  8. Way to go Molly! You’re such an awesome mom Ali, I love how you tackled potty training. The fairy idea is genius! Just wondering how did you know she was ready for potty training or did she start giving any signs? Trying to prepare what signs to look out for to know when they are ready so we don’t start too soon!

  9. My daughter is Molly’s age and we’re going through the same thing. I totally agree that diapers are easier when you’re out and don’t want to have to “deal” with the constant bathroom breaks, but I’m trying to let her learn!

    You mentioned your diaper bag. Could you share what you like? I have a daughter Molly’s she and then a 5 month old so I need room for the baby’s diapers and a change of clothes for my older. I want a new cute bag! Thanks!

  10. So happy you had such a wonderful and successful experience!! We waited until our kids were ready, we let them lead the way. We had potty’s everywhere and they knew the general concept. So, when they wanted to start, they let us know and it was super easy. My son (who was the biggest over night pee’er) was day and night trained in 2 weeks. My daughters daycare tried to get her started too early and it backfired. We let her decide when she was ready and it went 100% better. Thanks for sharing all your tips and tricks!!! Such awesome information ❤️

  11. Ahhhh! I am sooo glad you shared Molly’s potty training experience. My daughter is only 18 months right and of course by no means ready to potty train but hoping a year from now she (and me..) will be close to ready for that adventure. Please share when you transition Molly from crib to bed as well. I love your mommy post and your tips have been so helpful. Best wishes alway!

    1. Thanks so much for reading, Jennie! I will definitely share when we transition her to a big-girl bed! 🙂

  12. We are one month into potty training a boy. Loves peeing in on the little potty, we still struggle with poop and using public restrooms. However the pee happened quicker than I expected. He developed a great ability to hold it and we bring the travel potty everywhere. We recently went to universal studios and used it everywhere 😉 it’s amazing to see it click. Our next step is introducing underwear and nighttime and nap training. All products you mentioned we use and love. Great post!!!!!

  13. Congratulations to you and Molly! This was an interesting read for me since I only had to potty train a boy. I hope you have just as much success with Riley. Way to go Molly!

    1. Hi! Great post. How long did it take in total to both pee and poop train? I am trying to set reasonable expectations. Is it a few days? Weeks?

      Thank you

  14. We did the “potty training in one day” years ago-keeping the potty in the kitchen and giving candy treats and lots of positive encouragement. It worked like a charm. I was so worried about night and nap time accidents -we used pull-ups but our girls always woke up dry and we phased those out quickly. The hardest part was literally having to go to every bathroom no matter where we were (while in a drivethru, restaurant, etc)!

  15. Way to go Molly!

    My daughter is 1 month younger than Molly and is potty trained at home (used naked method and commando). She woke up on the day of my due date (now have a 7 week old) and stated “I’m a big girl, I go pee in potty now” (great timing little one.

    The problem is she’s having accidents when out because I’m a coward and have her in pullups when we’re out. She does preschool 2 mornings a week like Molly.

    Did Molly have accidents at school? How many changes of clothes did you pack for her?

    LOVE your parenting posts — especially since our girls are pretty much the exact same age, I’ve been following and taking your advice since my daughter was born!!

    1. Hi Dee! You’ve got this!! Congratulations on the little one! She hasn’t had many accidents at school, once when we were heading out the door to school though! We have few sets of extra clothing for her at school, just in case of accidents, or if she gets dirty as well. Maybe try sending her to school in panties and see how it goes! Sounds like she is on the right track!!! 🙂

  16. This is so helpful. My daughter turned two earlier this year and I am dreading potty training. Same as you, I am nervous and more worried than she is! I also fear stain and pee on the floor and furniture lol. But I know we have to push through it. Hoping to get this potty training started this summer and praying for success. I have to keep these tips in mind so I can also help potty train my second (6 month old daughter) in the same amount of time.

  17. Good just molly! I just wanted to know when or if you took molly out of the house the first few days. What did you do then? Did u still do no underwear and go to potty all the time or did you try pullups? We are starting on friday and i need all the tips !

  18. This is a great, informative blog post but you should really credit your sources. A lot of what you’re talking about is from the “Oh Crap” potty training book, which I found to be a very helpful resource and absolutely worth the time to read it.

  19. Hi Ali. Please please guide us. My 26 months old daughter can tell us when she has to go potty … but begs for the diaper. She would simply not sit on the potty. Not even with diaper on. She still wants to stand/bend/squat in her diaper. What do we do!!?? Do you think this is a phase ??

  20. SEE STICKY NOTE TIP BELOW!

    My Lily and your Molly were born on the same day and it’s been fun following along with you as we are in the same boat on everything! Ha! We are doing the potty training this weekend! I’m definitely purchasing some of the items you mentioned that I haven’t even thought of!
    ** One friend mentioned keeping sticky notes in your purse/diaper bag so when they start sitting on the public potties, the automatic flusher won’t go off and scare them since the sticky note is covering it up! Gold!

  21. Hi! Love following you and your mom journey! Is Molly still in a crib or big kid bed? My daughter is very interested in the potty and is a couple months younger than Molly but she is still in a crib and honestly, I fear the transition out of a crib more than potty training. Just wanted to get your thoughts

  22. Hi Ali!!

    First off, I just want to say how much I love your blog and you and your family!! Our daughters are the same age. We’ve been thinking of tackling potty training soon, but we have a 7 week old baby girl as well, so it seems like a scary and daunting task right now. I was thinking of buying underwear and putting her in them one day and just see how she does. I’m an Early Childhood Educator and have worked in a daycare centre for 10 years and have worked exclusively with 2 year olds. Some kids hate the feeling of peeing/pooping in their pants and it clicks right away for them. Other kids take longer. My daughter is semi interested in potty training. Sometimes she asks to sit on the potty, other times she wants nothing to do with it. She’s very independent and strong minded so it can be a struggle sometimes. But I would really love her to not be in diapers anymore so I can only have one child in diapers and save some money haha. But I also know that if you push it, you can actually regress in any progress you’ve made, so we’re tryinu not to push the subject too much, but encourage when we can. Anyways, I love you guys so much. I love watching your Insta Stories and ready your blog. Molly is so adorable and I love how roly poly Riley is. I’ve commented a few times on your blog but it’s usually way way down at the bottom so you’re usually done replying by then. I would love a reply one day! I think you’re an amazing mom and human being and just thank you for sharing your life with the world!!

    1. Hi Kayla! Thank you sooo much for taking the time to read my blog! Congratulations on your new baby girl! I totally understand how it can seem daunting! Best of luck on the potty training! It certainly is nice to save some of the money spent on diapers! 🙂

  23. So I saw that you said most parents say it’s hard after 3 years old and I don’t think thats an accurate statement. I think each child go by their own pace. I introduced my daughter to potty around 2 but I didn’t actively pursued tbr training until I felt she was truly ready and she got it instantly a few months after she turned 3. She jusy went one day and I didn’t need to potty train her. Both 1 and 2 was successfully done within 24 hours without much effort on my end.

  24. I just ordered your adorable shirt in 2 colors for all 3 of my girls for only $7.50 each. Thanks for always sharing cute and affordable clothes for women. You are the Best Ali and even though my kids are all grown up your blog is still so helpful and enjoyable so thanks for that

  25. Hi Ali! What size shirt did you get? Trying to see how they are sized. Thanks! 😊
    And of course congrats to Molly !

  26. I read a book front to back before potty training my daughter and actually found it super helpful. I would refer back to it during potty training if something came up or I had a question. And I still do, as potty training isn’t necessarily over in the first weeks and months because issues DO come up, such as regressions. I truly believe potty training works when your child is ready! It’s not necessarily about your children picking it quicker than most. If your child is ready, they will succumb to it. If they aren’t ready, they will resist.

  27. Ali. My son will be 3 in April and he wants nothing to do with potty. We expecting baby #2 in June. I think I will wait after baby 2 comes to start full on potty training. Too many changes happening for the little guy.

    Wish me luck ! Thanks for the tips. I will sure use them.

  28. Go Molly!

    My son is a few days younger than Molly. We trained over Labor Day so that we had three days at home and since we live on the east coast and wanted it to be warm enough for him to run around naked on our deck all weekend.

    Anyway, it sounds like you followed mostly the Oh Crap method, which is what we did as well. We had some of the same issues. Poop didn’t start happening for us consistently until we got rid of the nap diaper. And nights came naturally by themselves. We were finally able to ditch the night diapers about a month ago, so about five months after we day trained. Sounds like Molly is on her way to naturally being able to hold it at night even sooner than that!

  29. Hey Ali!
    Thanks for sharing Molly’s journey! My son is Molly’s age and is super excited about the potty. He goes potty & poop with no problems at all. I’ve been monitoring him for the past two weeks while he’s getting the hang of it and Im so scared to take the next step, of going pants-less, because I’m so afraid of accidents and of making the time to do it. My husband and I both work, and I’m pregnant so I’m banking my vacation days. But I also feel like there’s a ticking clock and that I need to jump on this ASAP while he has the momentum.
    Your blog gives me some hope that we can do it pretty quickly! Now it’s time for me to just do it!!!

  30. Did you generally follow the Oh Crap method? From some of your comments, it seems like it. I used it with both of my kids and had a ton of success.

    Re urinal. I have 2 boys (5.5 and 2.5) and found little potties and the regular toilet to be just fine. I personally want as few areas to be allowed to pee in my house as possible bc well boys 😉 My 2.5 year old still sits to pee and the older one usually stands but doesn’t need a urinal. That’s a special treat for when he uses a public restroom with daddy 😀

  31. Omg we are starting potty training with my son THIS WEEKEND. I honestly feel like I’m the one who’s not ready. But I know it’s time. Thank you so much for your blog and your advice. My son is the exact same age as Molly and I’ve followed you since your bachelorette days. I was a server at the time you were the bachelorette and people always said I looked like you. Very flattering:)

  32. My daughter is 2.5 and I have a love/hate relationship with potty training! We tried the 3 day method and it was a disaster. I waited a few months before trying anything again bc it boiled down to maybe she’s not quite ready. Now we’ve been pretty consistently potty training for about a month and a half. Some days are great, others are awful. Sometimes she will just stand right in front of me and pee! A lot of the time she stops and goes on her own or says I gotta pee and runs to the bathroom. I do use rewards, but after reading your blog I’m ready to phase that out. It’s obviously not working. She did use a public potty for the first time this weekend at church! Thanks for sharing Ali!

  33. We did the “three day method” again there’s books, but I just did a lot of googling. I did it while I was on maternity leave so I knew I’d be home all day. If you’re both working I definitely agree take Friday off and have all weekend! You can literally have ZERO plans! All we did was go potty. I actually found half hour was too long. We set our Alexa timer for 15 minutes and that seemed to do the trick. So when she heard the timer we went to the bathroom! We did one candy for trying, 2 for actually going. And that was really only for the first day or two. We did not have the poop issue, she was actually poop trained first…mostly because I knew when she was about to poop and I’d just take her to the toilet! We wore pullups for naps and bed, I do recommend pullups because they feel more like underwear and not so babyish. We did potty training when our girl was just over 2, like 26 months (2 in April, it was June.) We definitely had a few accidents, especially summer time when she didn’t want to stop playing outside. She will be 3 here soon and we haven’t worn pullups to bed or nap in awhile. She had been waking up dry for quite some time, but I did it more for reassurance. But she started saying no pullup, I’ll stay dry. And she did we just recently had like a 3 day stint where she was having accidents, so we put the pullups back on and it stopped! that was kind of all over the place but those were some of our tricks!

  34. Congrats Ali and Molly! 😊 Have you tried public restrooms yet? My 2 yr old decided she wanted to potty train herself at the beginning of February while she had the stomach flu and did awesome for a couple weeks but has regressed now. When I would take her to use the public restroom she did great but if it automatically flushed it totally scared her – even hearing it flush in a different stall. Thank goodness Target has a family restroom with just the one toilet so she doesn’t have to even hear another toilet flushing!!

  35. Hi Ali!

    I am not a mother yet but my husband and I are trying. I just wanted to say I love reading your parenting blogs because I think I will parent much like you! I appreciate you taking things on (like a sleep schedule, potty training) full-force AND letting your little ones be independent. Getting those kiddos to sleep WELL in their own rooms and potty like a big kid will do so much for their confidence and well-being in the long run. You seem like such a loving mother!

  36. We have been doing random potty/diaper time and look forward to committing to a few days at home as you’ve mentioned.
    I think we are going to check out the watch bc I’m already noticing how our son has his routine in the bathroom (open the door, turn on the nightlight, lift up the lid, put the potty seat on, move the stool over, sit.) and if we try to help he freaks out. So thanks for reintroducing that!
    Will be interesting to see how Riley’s experience is different.

  37. Lots of good tips for moms starting this process. I always said that when a child is ready, it goes super fast. And don’t believe the theory that boys are harder because that was not the case for my kids, nor for my daughter’s little boys. In fact, her second little boy was completely trained at 2 1/2. No diapers even at night and no accidents. I figured it was because he wanted to follow his big brother’s habits. They both stand up to pee, though, and he doesn’t aim quite as well. Haha. Two things I wanted to point out though. One, I potty trained my kids around the same time as the big bed transition, because they all got up in the middle of the night sometimes to go potty. Second, one of my granddaughters was terrified of the flushing noise while she was still sitting on the commercial potties, so you had to get her off quickly. Oh, and And don’t be surprised if she wants her privacy very young. Most of my grandkids wanted the door shut around age 3. Interesting note: I took my 6 year old grandson into the ladies room at the movies as they have no family restrooms and got a nasty comment from a lady with a daughter. Seriously, people?

    1. Agree! That boys are harder bit is a myth. It all depends on the readiness and the personality. Our son is very independent and stubborn and has to do everything on his own. His not even 2.5 yet and he is potty trained.

  38. Thank you!! My girl will be 2.5 next week and this post helped me mentally prepare for what’s to come when we begin potty training next week!

  39. I am a planner, so when our son was showing signs that he was ready to ditch the diapers I was not ready! He was ready about 3 months before his 2nd birthday! So I took about a month to plan and then took 3 days off of work so I could have 5 straight days to potty train him. He was naked for the first couple of days and then just half naked for the last few days. I tried to keep him in one location and we played non-stop for the 5 days. It was rough in the beginning, but by day 5 he wasn’t having any accidents. I couldn’t believe we got him potty trained before his 2nd birthday! He is now 2.5 and he still does have the occasional accident. He still wears a pull up diaper while napping and during bedtime, but we’ll focus on getting rid of them eventually. I’m not sure how, but we’ll get there. LOL

    So, hang in there. In time Molly will be telling you that she is going to the bathroom and she wants to do it alone… 😀

    1. Oh and Ali, do you let Molly drink water before bed? That’s where we have a hard time with our guy and his wet diapers in the morning. We haven’t taken the diaper away for naps and bedtime yet and he still pees in them. But, he always wants a glass of water before bed and we aren’t able to get away from that yet. Any suggestions?

  40. We’re on day 4, using a similar method (Oh Crap book), with my 26 month old son. Today is his first day back at school and I am so nervous about him going and having accidents! I’m 7.5 months pregnant and told him the diapers are for the new baby and after a day or so, he was ok with it. Our struggle is now he’s not eating and drinking much because he’s so dang smart he knows it’ll make him go more!

    We are active people, so not leaving the house much has been hard, but he’s definitely not ready to sit through a meal at a restaurant or anything. I did just order the portable seat cover you recommended! But, as hard as the hours on the bathroom floor are, the uninterrupted time together has been nice. For 4 days we had no work, minimal phone use, etc. He’ll be 2.5 when the baby comes, and I am so thankful we decided to do this now and not with a newborn, he’s definitely needed this one-on-one time… and I have to!

  41. My twins are just over two so I was super curious about Molly’s potty training adventures! Thanks for all the tips!! I have all the stuff saved in my Amazon cart now!

    I was looking at the frog urinal with the spinner in it and a good friend said that it would splash pee all over the back or the wall and/or toilet when they peed, especially if they peed with pressure. Cute but NO THANKS! Potty training sounds messy enough.

    Now I just need you to write about when Molly transitions to a big girl bed when she’s ready and I’ll be all set :)! Thanks again!

  42. Hi Ali
    I’m just about to commence potty training
    My daughter Ava is 2.5 at the end of the month
    I cannot wait to read this
    Love u ❤️

  43. My mom started me the day after my second birthday. She also had me go with no panties as she was training me! The only thing different is.. she NEVER used a potty. She had us on the regular toilet because she has seen kids get used to the potty and then scared of the toilet. Once we were like 80% potty trained, she put panties on us and a few times we did have an accident.. and what she did is.. she would stall just a tiny bit before changing us. She would tell us to wait a few mins while she finishes the dishes or make the bed. The reason was… I already did NOT like the feeling of being wet. so when she stalled even 3 minutes, it made me realize it felt icky if I peed in my pants. I was day time potty trained fully in 2 weeks and in the middle of the night potty trained pee and poop in a little over a month! Congrats to you and Molly for potty training!

  44. I needed this post! I have been having a hard time figuring out how to go about the potty, and the naked method has been scaring me, but it seems to be very successful for many people!

  45. Love reading your blog! My son turns 3 in May and we started potty training over Christmas. He’s still not in underwear yet. If we put it on he pees in it! I’ve read underwear can feel similar to a diaper. So we are just holding off on underwear and living the commando life! I plan to try underwear again next week and see what happens. Hopefully he’s ready for it now.

  46. Hi Ali, My son is turning 3 this May and I’m due with a new baby girl a month later. In your blog you mentioned not being good timing during big life events. Like a new baby. I was going to try the naked method when i start maternity leave before baby girl comes but does it seem like a bad idea time wise? He will sit on the big potty for so long, happy, with us reading books and singing etc. but has yet to go potty once! Not even a drop. He also never tells us when he goes in his diaper. Maybe he’s not ready?..

  47. Hey Ali
    Love this blog. Got some great tips, my little guy is a few week younger than Molly and we have slow started getting him to go potty. He been doing good and poop the first day But still wears pull-up for school but doesn’t want to go there. Hope he will just keep going with it he so excited when he goes. Finger crossed he just keep getting interested in going. The first time he peed he kick me out of the bathroom it was cute 🙂

  48. Yay Molly! That is such a huge accomplishment.
    What brand is that wagon? I love that it has the sun shades on it!

  49. This couldn’t have come at a more ideal time! I was just reading the book Oh Crap! Potting Training preparing to potty train my son. It sounds very similar to what you did, however yours was MUCH easier and faster to read. 🙂 I agree who makes a book longer than 100 pages…what Mom with 2 under 2 has time for that?!? haha Thanks for all the products and tips I was adding them all to my Amazon cart as I read your blog. Glad to hear it went so well for you and I am hoping for he same with my son.

  50. Hi Ali!
    My daughter just turned two and I want to start potty training her around the summer time, however I am taking her on a plane at the end of the summer.. do you think I should start earlier to train her or two months is enough time to have this all figured out?

  51. My daughter Madelynn will be 3 on July 15th and my son just turned 10 months yesterday. We decided to potty train last September with the help of daycare. She picked it right up! I tired quickly of changing two butts!

    Now I just feel stuck in a rut because she wears a diaper at night and wakes with it wet every morning. She’s very good about nap time if she pees right before. I just don’t know how to broach the overnight. She’s already not drinking liquids an hour before bed. I sit her on the potty before bed and it doesn’t make a difference whether she pees or not. I don’t want to wake her during the night or have her wake me. Gah!! What should we do???

    Ps Madelynn is obsessed with Molly and Riley and even calls Molly on her toy phone lol.

  52. I have a 15 month old and I’m pretty nervous of having to get to the potty training phase so this put me more at ease for when the time comes. Molly is so smart! I’m so glad it worked out so well for you. My friend has a little girl said she was so easy to potty train and has a little boy that’s in the process and is having such a difficult time. Hopefully some of this info can help her

  53. Thanks for sharing all of this! We are going through the exact same thing over here.
    I read the whole post out loud to my husband 🙂
    I especially like your tip about saying it’s time to go rather than asking if he has to.
    You’re doing a great job and so is Molly!

  54. It is funny, 30 years ago with my daughter it wasn’t such a production. No potty faries .. special pads. We had thick trainning underwear. We didctake a travel potty in the car, but not on walks. Remember everyone does get potty trainned, it will happen. Daughter one we started right before she was 2, a new baby was coming. It took awhile but not a hassle at all. Daughter 2 would have dry diapers so we took her to the potty and she got it quick, right at age 2. Last one, boy, was 3. He just didn’t care, no pressure, we didn’t try earlier, to much else to concentrate on. Don’t stress parents, they all figure it out.

  55. I have been waiting for this post…. Thank you so much. My daughter turns 3 on Saturday and we can’t start potty training fully till next month when she sees a gi specialist (their request) but we have been lazy trying it and it’s been good, but I needed more information. This really helped me so thank you. So glad Molly is doing great with it. And congratulations mama, you did good 😊

  56. Thank you so much for taking the time to write this post. My twin sister and I both have daughter’s who are 6 weeks apart in age, and we are both getting ready to potty train our daughters this summer. I literally took notes as I read this. I love your note from the fairies, how you approached the first few days, your honesty about being apprehensive about starting potty training etc. I really appreciate hearing about your experience with Molly, and I am going to tell my sister it is a must read! ❤️

  57. This was great to read! We were potty training my almost 3 year old at the same time you were. We didn’t go naked and straight to panties (which she LOVES to pick out each morning) and have had no accidents…knock on wood. We are getting better at pooping on the potty but still working on it. She complained that her tummy and butt hurt too! And we will soon be doing nap and nighttime because there are more and more dry diapers. It is funny how they don’t question it. Thanks for all the helpful tips. I love watching your adorable family!

  58. Loved this post. I have a little girl that will be 2.5 next month and I’m due with baby #3 in July. I’m ready to settle down at home and start training her. Thanks for sharing all your tips.l

  59. Thanks Ali! This is the first thing I’ve actually read about potty training and I’m hoping to start with my 25 month old next week! She is really interested in sitting on the potty because she sees her friends at daycare use the potty and we have twins coming in June so I’m excited to take this next step with her!

  60. Great post! I’ll be tackling potty training with my second daughter in about a year. One thing that happened with my first: She would always wake up with a dry diaper, but when we put underwear on her, she would have an accident in the middle of the night. I guess because the sensation was different. After a few months of trying a couple more times, it finally clicked.

  61. Found this post super helpful! Thanks so much! One question – do the caretakers at her school help continue potty training/using a potty while she’s there?

  62. I didn’t read all of the comments but if no one else suggested it for helping with pooping, Miralax works like a charm!

    My only other advice for people that are overwhelmed by all the gear is that you may not NEED all the gear. We bought 2 little potties for home but our daughter preferred the actual toilets so we followed her lead – so maybe buy 1 little potty before investing in multiple. We never used a travel potty either. We didn’t potty train until she was 3 and daycare really did a lot of the legwork for us so I think she was just able to hold it. We did the put her on the potty every hour no matter where we were method (cell phones are dirtier than public toilet seats so I just wipe it clean and plop her down).

  63. Hy Ali! I have a 3 year old son and I potty train him a year ago. It went really well. If Molly have dry diaper after the night, thats the sing she doesn’t need them at all. Love your stories!! Kisses from Croatia!! 😘

  64. Hi Ali,

    Congrats on potty training Molly, sounds like you did everything right, and she’s super smart too!! Question, how have you managed the potty training while she’s in school? Do they know in school to take her every so often, or does she tell her teachers? Because at home you have potties everywhere, but what about school? How does she tell them, or do they ask, etc? Thanks so much!! Brenda.

  65. We just potty trained my 2.5 year old son and had similar success! Was curious to read your post. Thanks for sharing! We used a 2$ shower curtain under the potty if anyone is looking for a cheaper option than a puppy or piddle pad.

  66. Great post and perfect timing! I took off a few days to start potty training. My daughter is 3 so I am hoping she doesn’t challenge me too much. Definitely using some if your tips – love the diaper fairy! Wish me luck!

  67. Thank you for this post! I read the “Oh Crap” book and I honestly felt some of the content was too rigid. This is the first method I came across that actually gave me the courage to start trying with my toddler:)

  68. Hi Ali! All great tips. Don’t stress the naps and overnights. We’ve had many doctors, including pediatrician and specialists, tell us kids get sleep time when they get it. You can’t train them to stay dry at night or naps. Our 4.5 year old has been trained almost two years and still isn’t dry most mornings.

    1. Some pediatricians also advise waking them at night, too, till they get the idea. Some kids just sleep really sound and need a little ‘nudge’ to teach them to wake up. I didn’t have to do this but some doctors now are saying to try that. I was fortunate with potty training and all three of my kiddos were nighttime trained around age 3. I did have one child who frequently got up in the middle of the night to go potty. We moved from crib to bed at the same time as potty training to help if they had to get up! Also limited water in the evenings per doctor advice. Some of my grandkids took a little longer to train at night, too. Good luck to you!

  69. Hi Ali! Thanks for all the advice! 🙂
    Quick question, what did you do when she was thirsty before nap or bedtime? Since she had a dry diaper I was wondering. My LO’s diapers are always full after nap so I want to make sure I start this right 🙂

    Thank you!

  70. Thanks to you and the push, we started potty training yesterday. My daughter is only a few weeks older then Molly so i figured it was time. We did the whole “your diapers went bye bye” like y’all did, however she shares diapers with my 10 month old so that was a little tricky because the house is still full of diapers for my son. HOWEVER, we did buy mini mouse pull-ups for naps and bedtime so she won’t be confused when I told her we can’t wear diapers again.

    Do u wipe Molly after pee pee? Or does she do this herself?

    Thanks for the tips and tricks!!

  71. My daughter turns 3 in May, and we’ve been potty training for almost a year. She does great for awhile and then gets lazy. Trying out the naked weekend this Friday to hopefully push her along. Thanks for all the tips and tricks! Fingers crossed. 🤞🏻

  72. A little off subject – but do you have a post about your Veer cruiser?? We are about to have our second kid enter the world and this “wagon” looks amazing!!! I would love to know what accessories you got with it and how you like it.

  73. My First In Potty Training

    I was in cloth training pants! That was due to that I was terrified peeing naked and inside pants which I’d see my pee! While I got a crush being inside my cloth training pants, which I got a crush of the feel of cotton on my pee and covering my pee, and that I see my pee inside my cloth training pants! I even walked into daycare inside my peed cloth training pants!

  74. Thanks for the potty suggestions, mama! I bought the piddle pad and the owl toilet seat cover! We started potty training Thursday afternoon, she got excited about her new undies so we started early. Lol She’s been doing so good! No accidents and lots of pee pee on the potty. But….no poopy! 🤦🏻‍♀️ I know that pooping on the potty is more of a struggle. I’m nervous that her tummy will start to hurt if she doesn’t go soon. She’s very consistent, one poopy diaper a day, so I’m getting nervous. How long did it take Molly to poopy in the potty and did you put a pull up on her to let her go if it wasn’t for a few days?
    Thanks mama! P.S. You’re beautiful, both inside and out and you’re a true role model. ❤️

  75. Hi Ali!
    Any advice on using pull ups instead of diapers for naps or trips to the store? I am starting to train my little one who is about the same age as Molly. This was all super helpful, thank you!!!

  76. Thank you so much for this post! I am going to try some of your tips. I am having the hardest time potty training my daughter. She’s a very strong willed child! Ha!

  77. We are Starting potty training tomorroW for my 2 1/2 year old daughter ansni loved Your tips!!! Thank you so so much! I need that ENCOURAGEMENT and love how much grace you gave molly! DEFINITELY gOing to try and do these things you suggested!! Love following you!

  78. This was so helpful. I’m in the middle of potty training my 2.5 year old and everything you said and products recommend have been extremely helpful. Just curious if she still uses a diaper for naps and bedtime? We decided to tackle that later but not sure how when the time comes.

  79. This is super helpful, thank you! You are a few months in, can you give an update as far as accidents still, night time and nap time,, etc.

  80. Thanks for the helpful post! My daughter will be 3 in May. We have tried potty training a few times, but it has not gone well. She is a very strong-willed child. When we try to suggest that she go without a diaper, she panics. The few times that we have managed to go without a diaper, she cries for one when she realizes that she needs to pee. When we sat her on her potty, and she held it and cried for 15 minutes instead of peeing. Any suggestions??

  81. thank you for this blog post! I just now am deciding its time to start, but this gave me a very realistic idea of how present I need to be and how committed I need to be to it! Thank you!

  82. My kids were 2 year old when they themselves were ready to give up diapers).
    With my both kids, I put underwear on immediately once I took off diapers. They loved being in underwear and felt like a grown-up, and they even didn’t want to wear diapers. It took them maybe 3 days to toilet train and after 3 days I never put diapers on, not even at night or during their naps. If they wet themselves, which was very rare, they would tell me that they are wet. Don’t fight with him, just keep telling him every time he poops or pees not on the potty or not on a potty that he did a good job and he is a big kids now, and tell him it’s ok but you need to do it on the toilet. You can do potty by a schedule, like I did, I took my kids every 1.5-2 hours to the toilet and sat them on it for the first 3 days and kept asking them if they wanted to pee or poop. That’s how they did it easier without any fights! Good luck!

  83. This blog helped so much! I’m about to potty train my son and thank you! I will definitely be trying all that you suggested!

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