52 | SEPTEMBER 2019 | L&LRelax!
Your child is physically and mentally
ready, but you need to feel ready too.
“The best time to potty-train is when
you can take time to be at home,”
says Judith. “You want this to be a
positive experience, so wait until you’re
ready to give her lots of attention and
stay calm when accidents occur.”
Talk to your child and tell her that
now she’s a clever big girl, she’s going
to learn how to use the potty. Then
swap her day-time nappies for pants.
“Use a reward chart,” says Diane. “It
should have one space for a sticker
when she successfully has a poo or
a wee in her potty and another for a
sticker when she manages the rest
of the bathroom routine properly.”Accidents will happen
“There are two physical milestones
that children go through when potty
training,” says Diane. “First, they need
to learn how it feels to open and close
their bladder. Second, they learn to
use it as a muscle to hold in wee.
“When a child practises holding
in, she’ll often have a big accident,
because she’s holding on to a lot of
wee. Parents might think the potty
training is going wrong, because the
accidents are getting bigger, but it’s not
− the bigger the accident, the better.”talk her through the process of using
more toilet roll until it’s clean.See the funny side
If you can keep your sense of humour
when you find a poo behind the
couch, you’ll be OK. “It never helps
to get cross with your child,” says
Judith. “She won’t feel confident if
she’s worried about upsetting you.”
Transfer your annoyance onto the
poo or wee. “Get your child to help
you tell the poo off,” says Judith. “Say,
‘Naughty poo, You shouldn’t be on
the floor! You should be down the
toilet with your friends in Poo Land’.
Having a conversation with a poo
will likely make you laugh. It gives
your child the message that the right
place for a poo is in the toilet.”Easier at home
If your child goes to preschool, you
might find she will use a potty at
home, but has accidents there. ‘‘What
a child feels confident to do in the
safety of home may be different when
at the preschool,” says Judith. “Stick
to your routine. Give your child lots
of praise when she comes home dry
and ignore it when she doesn’t.”
Ask your child’s teacher to remind
her to use the toilet using the same
words for wee and poo as you do and
to take her to the toilet for extra support.
“Children can find bathrooms away
from home frightening,” says Judith.
“Some children hate the noise of the
hand dryers. If the nursery is willing to
put a familiar poster up in the toilet,
that can really encourage
your child to go.”I
f you’ve completed the pre-potting-
training countdown, your child has
done most of the hard work. So,
this part is likely to be easier than
if you go nappy-free cold turkey. Your
toddler is likely to be excited about his
potty. Here’s what you need to do...Encourage your child to help you clear
the mess up. “This helps her to see it’s
not easier to have an accident than
to go to the loo,” says Diane. “It also
means you can give praise for helping.”Give timely reminders
“You don’t want to ask your child if
she needs the loo all the time, as it’s
annoying,” says Judith. “Liquid will
go through her in about 20 minutes,
food in about 30 minutes. Give her a
reminder when you think something
may be about to happen.”Be patient
It’s important to teach a girl to wipe
herself from front to back after a
wee. But don’t expect your little one
to be able to wipe her bottom – she
won’t have the dexterity to do that for
herself until she’s four. Do, however,Take the
NAPPIES OFF!