Potty choices and training pants

We are just entering the toilet-training stage & are wondering which potty & training pants to purchase. Does anyone have suggestions?

We just bought the Graco Soft seat. Our daughter is just 20 months old. So far, she likes putting her dolls on it. No action yet! We just bought her pull-ups with Minnie design. We are just "introducing", not really "training".

>My daughter received her first training seat when she was 1 years old. They first one that we used was a First Years seat. The bottom could be removed and used as a step stool. She would sit sometimes but was not that interested in it.

Later on, we purchased a different model, Especially for Baby. It looks similar to an adults seat, but the bottom does not remove, you simply out the lid down and use it as a step stool. She likes this one much better. The old one is at her grandparents house. Not until recently, she's now 2 1/2, she has been waking me up to take her to the bathroom.

As far as training pants, it is my opinion that they all work the same. I have used almost every brand.

PS. to make the bathroom a more enjoyable place, we painted a picture together and I placed it right next to her potty. Now she has something to look at that she enjoyed making.

Good luck :)

I found training pants to be a complete waste of money. We went "cold turkey" off diapers and toilet training (with a lot of encouragement and work) was complete in 2 weeks. My son was toilet trained during the daytime by age 2 1/2 and at night by 33 months of age. With training pants or "pull-ups" during initial training (except for nighttime)it was too easy for our son to regress and have "accidents".
I would suggest letting your child pick out their own "potty". By giving them a choice between a few potty seats you pick out, it gives them a sense of ownership and control.
Good luck!
-Kelly

Your choice of potty seats will largely depend on your child. Using an insert over the regular toilet seat will make your job a lot easier than a potty chair on the floor b/c the child will learn to use the toilet from the beginning.

I've trained 2 boys so far, and the method we've just used with our second son is a vast improvement over the first: a naked bottom, no underpants, no training pants, no Pull-Ups.

When the child is ready -- able to tell you he needs to be changed -- you pick a weekend to stay home and around the house. In the morning tell him you ran out of diapers and you're not going to buy any more. Put a t-shirt on him and let him run around with no pants or anything on the bottom. Take him to the bathroom religiously every hour for the first couple of days. Make a big fuss whenever he pees/poops in the toilet. Use stickers or candies as a reward. Remind the child to "listen to his body" and tell you if he has to go in the meantime.

What works is the mental factor: children do not like to mess on themselves. After a couple of accidents on the floor --which Junior must help clean -- he'll get the idea to go to the toilet. Having no pants on makes it easily accessible. Once he masters this skill then you can introduce underpants and shorts. BTW, you'll want to put him to bed at night with no pajama bottoms on either. Pee before bed and remind him to get up and go or come get you for help in the night. It's a logical extension of the premise: the child won't understand why he gets to wear a diaper at night but not all day. Plus, you'll have overcome a great hurdle by night-training from the beginning rather than trying to do it later on.

Good luck.

Since we'd been so satisfied with other Baby Bjorn products recommended in the "Baby Bargains" book, we went with the Baby Bjorn potty. They have two models - one that looks just like an armchair, and then an odd-looking, one-piece one that looks kinda like a cowboy hat. Our daughter loved the armchair one (it's just called the Baby Bjorn Potty Chair in catalogs) and other moms actually commented on how much better-made and more comfortable it looked when they saw it. It's so easy to clean, too. We use the smaller potty (called the Splash-proof Potty) mostly for travelling. My daughter was a bit leery of this one in the beginning, but after mastering the more normal-looking one, she likes the other one, too. However I wouldn't recommend it as quickly, because of the odd shape and, since it's all one piece, you have to carry the whole potty to the tub to rinse, intead of a little pot.

If you don't go with the Baby Bjorn Potty Chair, I'd just recommend that you choose one that's not made up of a lot of parts or folding pieces. I have noticed other friends' potties appear to be harder to clean due to all the cracks and grooves.

I find that the Baby Bjorn potty slips all over the floor, as it has no rubber feet to hold it in place. It's okay if you place it on a bath mat.

I use cloth diapers, and many cloth diaper companies make costly and beautiful training pants. Here are some brands I found:

Nikky's $13, Kushies $8, Mother-ease $11, Bummis $11, Dappi $6, Gabby's $13.

I haven't tried them yet, so I would love to know what experiences people have had with some of these.