To my amazement, Mak just got all 3 in the period of 5 days at the age of 2.75y.o! I started to toilet train her from Christmas Eve onwards until Sun 28th, she just got the hang of all 3. This funny little girl actually learned how to go poo first in the toilet before wee. So learning how to wee was a breeze. Then when it came to toilet training for night. She got it straight away. I only had to change the bed once because she had asked to go to the toilet from her room and we didn't hear her cos we were to tired to wake up!
So.. finally, Mr M & I are NAPPY FREE after 6.5yrs of nappy changing!
Mind you, I still have a storage full of nappies cos I didn't think Mak would learn so fast.
Here are my tips to toilet training:
1) Go straight to using undies. Forget the pull ups - This means it's better to train them during warmer days where they can wear shorts or skirts so less for you to wash if they ever do an accident. You will need to be prepared to mop the ground at least 3 consecutive days. Each time they leak and make an accident, make sure you take them to the toilet and let them know they need to it here in the dunny.
2) Forget the potty, go straight to the toilet bowl using the toilet trainer step seat - If you use the potty, then it means you've just created an additional step for them to ultimately transition to the toilet. So I say remove this step and go straight to the toilet bowl.
3) The key is to forecast when they will be doing their wees and poos - With wees, they will probably want to go every 3-5 hours depending on how much they've drank. So always ask them every half hour if they want to go to the toilet so it sets as a reminder that they no longer can wee in their 'undies' but rather in the toilet.
4) Let them make mistakes & be patient - they will probably make at least 3-6 accidents. Let them as the wetness will cause somewhat embarrassment for them to learn faster the next round.
5) Give praise when they've done their thing in the toilet - always be super proud and rejoice when they eventually do their thing in the toilet. Continue to praise to reinforce this behaviour.
6) To train them on doing poos in the toilet, take a note of when they usually do their poos when they were in their nappy. For Mak, it was always around 5mins after dinner time. So once she was in her undies, I made sure she went to the toilet 5mins after dinner. Lo and behold, this new routine worked and I think that was why she learned how to do poos in the toilet before wees as it was always at a consistent time.
7) When you are sitting on the toilet - sing a song or read a book so it helps them to relax to do their thing. For all of my 3 kids, I made up a song using the 'Happy Birthday tune'. It goes like this:
Xiao Mei and Mama, we do a kaka (which is Africans for poo),
We sit on the potty and do a wee wee!
Or you can alter the song to say and Mama, we do a poo poo,
We sit on the toilet and do a wee wee! Hippip... and wait for your child to exclaim ' Hooray'! It always works and they always ask for me to sing them the song while they sit on the toilet! And when you do hear the ke-plonk in the toilet bowl, you giggle with excitement over... poo in the toilet!
Ah.. another chapter over in the joys of parenting!
