Potty Training: Steps to Success
For adults, potty training is often an annoying phase to get through quickly so the child, and everyone else, can get on with life.
For children, though, "Toilet training is a monumental step, the first of many training processes they'll go through in life," says Bradley Jackson, MD, a Mason pediatrician.
To help children through this important stage, parents need to understand when their child is ready to succeed. It also helps if they appreciate the complexity of the process.
"Every child differs in psychological, physical and physiological development," Dr. Jackson says. "Most have enough bladder and anal control to begin training by 18 to 24 months of age." The American Academy of Pediatrics cautions that some children may not be ready until age 30 months or later.
Early signs of a child's readiness include a dry diaper for over two hours, more regular bowel movements, or exploratory comments just after urinating in a diaper, such as, "Mommy, I peed."
Although adults take toilet use for granted, it's really a complex process. Consider the many steps.
"The child has to recognize that the bladder or rectum is full, make a choice to hold it or let it go, and consider a plan (Should I tell Daddy?). Then the child has to move to the bathroom or the training chair, let go as much as possible, clean up appropriately, and move on with daily routines.
Remove the Fear Factor
Once the child is ready, an appropriate setting will allow for success without causing too much fear and without depriving the child of privacy.
"Sitting on a big toilet, children sometimes fear they'll fall in and be flushed down. If they use a small toilet, they can get to it without climbing up. Make it accessible, either in the bathroom or their bedroom," Dr. Jackson says.
Another part of successful toilet training is consistency among all supervising adults, not only in keeping trips to the toilet frequent (about every two hours) but also in using the same terminology. It's best to use proper terms for body parts, bowel movements and urination, rather than disguising them under cute terms that might confuse children or embarrass them as they grow up.
Positive reinforcement is essential, according to Dr. Jackson. Some parents use a calendar with stickers, giving a small prize after a number of stickers.
"Keep the training positive," he says. "Children don't really fail. Accidents aren't failures, just inappropriate behavior. If they're going in the wrong places, they don't have the system down yet."
Expect Setbacks
Sometimes children will regress during stressful times, such as illness of a relative, a move to a new home, or the arrival of a sibling when the older child "wants to be a baby again."
Dr. Jackson doesn't recommend training pants. "They soak up just like diapers," he says, so they really won't speed up the process. If parents think these pants will help their child understand the process of pulling down underwear, then use them, he advises.
Toilet training is not an easy task, but it's an important one, a social behavior to help children fit into society. It's a task that, above all, requires patience.
"There's no timeline for it," Dr. Jackson says. "When it's successful, you'll know along the way. If you continue to give positive feedback, eventually they'll do it right."
More Online:
- Find out more about what physicians at Cincinnati Children's say about toilet training
