What PT products do you rec.? Seats, underwear, covers, etc...

[sethsmom]

What potty seat(s) do you recommend, the kind that fits on the adult toilet or the stand-alone kind?

I've seen recommendations for the Gerber and Hanes underwear, but how much will those hold in case of accidents? Should I plan on using a cover? Is there a cover I can buy at BRU or Wal-Mart or is that more of a specialty item I need to order online?

Are there any other products that you found especially helpful when PT-ing your DC?

[JacksMommy]

What you need all depends on the style of PTing that you plan to do, and your child.

We did a pretty mellow when-you're-ready approach, allowing DS to choose each day whether to wear dipes or underwear and not pushing either way. If he chose undies and had lots of accidents, we switched to dipes.

Training underwear definitely will not hold a full-on accident. They are more for the little leaks that occur when DC doesn't quite make it to the potty, etc.

For me, using a cover didn't make that much sense with DS as I wanted underwear to be a very different experience than diapers. With DD, she is super into pulling her pants up and down on her own (and takes dipes off) so I bought her some pull-up cloth diapers and they seem to be a hit.

As for the little potty vs. the potty seat, that's personal preference and your DC's preference. My dd's preschool taught her to sit on a big potty without a stool of any kind (at 17 months), so there's really no need for any kind of seat. My kids use both a little potty and the kind that are part of the seat and can flip down and up.

Laurel
Mama to Jack 6/02 and Maddy 12/04

Babywearing education in Napa, CA

[MommyAllison]

Ok, I truly don't mean to hijack, but I have a question for you, Laurel. When your DD's preschool taught her to sit on the big potty, I'm assuming that they set her up there and took her down - when did she start being able to do it alone? Trying to decide if we should get a step stool for DD and how long it will be used. Thanks!

Allison
Mama to DD 11/05

[JacksMommy]

Yep, they set her up there and took her down, heck she was just learning to walk!

But a step stool is definitely a good investment both for PT and in general for the bathroom. DS (5) and DD (2.5) both use the stool for using the toilet and also for brushing teeth, washing hands, etc.

Laurel
Mama to Jack 6/02 and Maddy 12/04

Babywearing education in Napa, CA

[MommyAllison]

Thanks - that's what I was figuring. Just can't decide what type to get, since the plain one step stools I see won't be enough to get her up to the potty or the sink. Any great step stools for younger toddlers out there?

Allison
Mama to DD 11/05

[Radosti]

I got out step stool from Target. It's made of wood and is a 2-step one. DS loves it. He pushes it up to the sink and washes him hands by himself.

I bought him a potty seat that is soft and goes on the toilet. We used it for the first time last night. He peed then kept saying poop and all done. I tried to wait him out because I knew he had to poop, but finally gave up. He got his diaper and then pooped immediately.

[BeachBum]

We use the bjorn potty and really like it. I tried to get a seat that fit on the potty, but our toilets are oval shaped so it was a little unstable and DS was scared of falling in.

I have a pottette for on the go. I thought it looked like junk--but it works well for us. We also keep a bjorn little potty in our car.

We use training pants and add a vinyl cover only when we are out. It does catch a false start pee and the vinyl covers do a pretty good job of keeping all the pee in (but they are HOT). We have never had pee leak onto clothes with a cover on. We have had a few all out accidents and it has been ok.

Gerber training pants are the only kind available here (except Hanna Anderssen online). I have both. Hanna is certainly better but are $$. We wear training pants everyday and I think we will for the foreseeable future. We call them underwear and treat them as such. I like the added protection for false starts.

HTH

[saschalicks]

I bought the stand alone little potty and he didn't like it. Then I got the potty seat for the big toilet and he was much happier. I also got a foldable step stool b/c my (1) bathroom is really small. We use it for the toilet and the sink. I also just bought a foldable toilet seat b/c he was having problems using toilets outside of our house.

As for training pants we went no pull ups. However, he's in daycare so I could very well have them cleaning up accidents all day. I told him that pull ups were underwear covers. We'd put underwear or Gerber trainers on and then a pull up for day care only. I bought some great trainers that I love, but are on the more expensive side ($7 a pair). I feel they've already paid off b/c they actually contain an accident for about 5 mins while giving him the feeling of wetness. I don't send him in day care w/these b/c of the just in case it doesn't contain his wetness like a PU.

HTH

[tarahsolazy]

We didn't even try PT until my son was just about 3, but it was super easy and required little special equipment.

We used regular Hanes underwear, some with characters, some without.

He didn't want to sit on the potty, so he learned to pee standing right from the start. We had an insert for pooping, which he used for the first few months, now he sits on the big seat. We never used a little potty chair.

A couple of weeks later, no accidents, no diapers, day or night. I wanted him to be old enough to do the whole thing himself, like getting his pants down and back up, etc, before PTing.