Potty or toilet seat attachment?

[nemosmum]

Ok I would like to know whats better a potty or a smaller seat attached to the big toilet? I have no idea what type to get when we start training DS at chrissy time........ can any one help :confused: any product recommendations eg a great potty or toilet seat that worked well for them and any idea of how much they are?
oh and one more Q. I read some one let their little boy go without knickers while training, whats best Pull ups, undies or starkers????

Any and all advice welcome :)

[Moorish]

Hi there! Sorry this may be long as I've just gone through this with DD1 this year & am about to go through it again with DD2!

I think it depends on the child as to whether or not you have a potty or go straight for the toilet. I actually found the best potty was just the $7 plastic ones from Kmart or similar. DD1 liked the potty but DD2 (about to potty train) prefers to do it the "big girl" way like her sister (on the toilet). The best potty's are the ones with a high back for support & a high front (between the legs) to direct the pee INTO the potty (esp with little boys! :D ) I think basic potty's are cheap enough to warrant buying one but I've found I've still needed a toilet seat insert for confidence in using the toilet. DD1 has never fallen in but it's a jolly big hole for a little bottom to cover! :D Also a sturdy foot stool is good for kids as an extra step up to the toilet. Make sure it's got rubber or something on the bottom to stop it from slipping on the floor (Big w have great ones for under $10)

I bought an insert called the "cooshie tooshie" which is a solid piece of plastic that fits the toilet seat & doesn't move. It's got a soft, pvc covered pillow like top that makes it soft and ...well...cooshie! for the childs bottom. I think they're around $20 or so from Target/kmart/big W etc. But something else I have just discovered & bought is a version of this cooshie tooshie but it's portable. I've only seen it in kmart & it looks like the cooshie tooshie but it folds up & stores in it's own pvc bag so you can take it with you to shopping centres, friends places etc. About the same price but no need to double up on one for home & one for travel.

As for what to wear. I'd start with the terry toweling pants for around the house as they absorb "accidents" a little better. Avoid pull ups as they soon get the idea that they stay dry even thru accidents(so it's just like a nappy anyway). I've never used them & my dd1 has been dry by night for 2 weeks now cold turkey! We told her that we needed her nappies for the new baby & she was completely happy to give them up! (She's been day trained for over 6 mths tho). Once they have the general idea of going to the toilet, (ie they've done a wee on the potty etc) take them on a shopping spree to buy big boy/girl pants and make a big deal! Pick a couple out that are his size and let him choose between bob the builder or thomas (or both!)

The last thing I'll mention is that once toddie is progressing with the toilet training I've found it invaluable to carry a spare plastic potty in the boot of the car (plus a change of undies, trousers & socks!) for longer trips or for when they just simply can't "hold it". The other day my toddie decided she'd yell out "MUMMY! Nicola go toilet!", even though I knew full well she had a nappy on I still pulled over off the highway during peak hour & put my 2 yo on the potty in the back of the car! Only for her to do nothing but she was really proud of herself!

Hope this isn't too much & it's only what's worked for me so take all advice on board as you won't know what works for you until you try it!
Msn me if you have any questions or anything!

[aardvark]

Pullups feel too much like a nappy, we had no success with them at all. Go the towelling training pants, or even the very cheap undies from Big W - they are cheaper per pair than pull-ups, so you can chuck them out if they are just too gross to salvage.

As for the potty vs the toilet, my suggestion is both, especially if you are in a one loo household. The number of times they want to go at precisely the same moment as someone else in the house when you have one loo only.............

My eldest daughter liked her potty, and would use it in preference to the toilet. Her little sister would not have anything to do with the same potty, we had to get her one which had a back rest and was more like a toilet before she would use it.

[shellbell]

my daughter absolutely refused to use the toilet, once she was potty trained. which is fine, if we stayed at home all day everyday, but if we went out, it was such a drama.

i don't know if its different for a boy, but i say ditch the potty and just use the toilet for training.

of course now, she's fine using the toilet and especially loves the little toddler toilets in the parents' rooms. what a great invention ! :)

[nemosmum]

Thanks Anna thats such great advice and thanks for the product recommendation I'll have to check out the cooshie toosh thing sounds good :D

Aardvark- I've heard the same thing about pull ups, so I might try the terry cloth ones to begin with. Did you use pull ups for going out when they were just starting out or should I just stay home in the begining?

Shellbell- my DH's a plumber and he wants to install one of those itty bitty toilets in our laundry LOL for DS....sweet but a bit extravagant :p

Thanks for the advice its a bit scary thinking about it, my bubbas growing so
fast :(

I wont be starting till at least december but dont worry if I'm having trouble I'll know who to ask :)

[our little treasures]

I think do both and start toilet awareness young we started taking dd to potty from 10-11 mnths and then periodically we would put her on. I now have started to train her and she is great at 20mnths and 2 dys training she was going every time a few accidents now 5th day she wakes up and tells us gets out of bed runs grabs the potty and comes to me for #1 n #2
Its great for toilet when ur shopping at friends house they are not scared and for potty you can have 1 in everyroom and you cant put a potty in the car on the floor.
This is great as she constantly needs toilet after in car and newborn and her in seat belt she then asks so I can rip her out and put her on potty in car while i put pram in!!!!

[sundaymum]

I bought some flash little potty from Target that converts to a seat/ footstool, and my eldest liked it, but wasa bit scared to go to the Big toilet. As he got more used to this toilet training thing, he used to like to empty his own potty in the toilet, which was a real mess, to say the least. So we were really keen to get him on to the big toilet. I bought a cheap little plastic toilet training seat that sits under your regular toilet seat, from Target again , about $7, I think. It just fits their little bodies better. We flipped the old potty over, into the non slip footstool, and he steps up to the toilet and sits on it.
Most of my friends recommend going straight to the toilet, rather than this first step, but as somebody else said, it depends on your child.
Also, with the littel portable potty, when we were first toilet training our oldest child, we would let him run around, wearing nothing in the day, and leave the potty somewhere really obvious; like if we were playing in the lounge room, it would be just there in the corner, never too far away to get to in time, and always there to remind him. THis worked really well, after a friends recommendation, and accelerated the slowish pace of our previous attempts.
By night, he would wear a Motherease toilet training pair of pants, as we use cloth nappies, but even if you don't, they are like a cross between a nappy and a little pair of pants, with an inbuilt waer proof cover. I thin they cost about $30, but a lot cheaper and more friendly than ''toilet training" Pull Ups.