1. Start potty training once your baby can sit by herself comfortably. For us it was around 8 months.
2. Do not use diapers while potty training. PullUps or regular diapers defeat the purpose. Your baby/toddler needs to feel what it mean to be wet and needs to see what it looks like and smells like. Panties is the best way to show them. "Mama and Papa do not use diapers, they use potty or a toilet and wear underwear."
3. Use diapers when going for a long walk, traveling or even on short walk during cold weather.
4. Make sure to put her on a potty before you go out. The minute I tell our daughter to get ready because we are going out on a playground, she automatically takes her panties off and goes to potty.
5. When you get back home take the diaper off right away and put her on a potty. She needs to learn that she needs to go before the walk, hold during the walk and "go" when you are back home.
6. She won't understand what you want from her at first, so it is your job to "catch her at the right moment" and show her what am amazing job she has done, just like a "big girl"
7. Notice what time your baby pooped today and tomorrow put her on a potty 10 minutes before yesterday's time and see what happens We are very disciplined parents and we try to do everything on schedule: feed, bathing time and good time routine. It was somewhat easy for us to "guess" when she needed to go because she was on schedule with everything else.
8. Babies usually need to empty their stomachs 20 minutes before and after the meal.
9. Put her on a potty 10 minutes before the meal, 5 minutes after the meal and every hour after that. As she gets older she will be able to hold for longer periods of time.
10. Once you have her on a potty, find a word that would be associated with potting and explain what it is that you want her to do. Make sure you explain that it comes from her stomach and she need to try to do "huhuh" or whatever word you find suitable.
11. At the beginning and throughout the whole process accidents will happen. My suggestion is to remove expansive carpet, watch her closely when she is on a sofa. We left everything as it was and when she had accidents we simply told her that it was not the place to do it, and showed her the right place. Be patient, it does not happen overnight.
12. When visiting friends or in-laws make sure you tell them that you are in the process of potty training and accidents happen. Some people will tell you that it is okey if your child has an accident at their home and some will be silent, which means you need to tell them that you will have her in a diaper, not a big deal.
13. We started potty training around 8 months old, she started to understand what we really want from her after about a months. Almost every day for a months I had a couple of good "guesses" when to use a potty. The sooner your start the better and easier it will be down the road.
14. Our daughter just turned two and she can hold for hours, wakes up clean and dry after the nap, but we have her in a diaper for the night. She is not able to hold for that long. Not yet.
15. Throughout the process you will have ups and down. At some point you will think "aha, now she knows" and 3 months later it looks like she forgot everything or she started "doing it" all over the place on purpose. Patience is the key.
16. It is a great sign if she tells you after she went. Praise her, tell her that she is almost like a big girl, now she needs to tell you before not after. Our daughter kept telling us "after" instead of before for nearly 3 months.
17. Our girl is almost 25 months old now and when she has an accident she comes over to me looking embarrassed or even naughty I would say. The minute I see that cute expression of hers I know she had an accident. CUTE!
18. The minute you start training, make sure you ask her every 20 minutes if they need to go. It is very hard at first to keep asking them, but trust me it is the best way to do it. If you asked and 2 minutes later she had an accident tell her why she did not go when you asked her 2 minutes ago.
19. Please use regular toilet seat. When we started potty training it did not stop us from going out. Mall, restaurant, even playgrounds have public restrooms. Teach her from the start and if you are out it is ok to use adult toilet.
20. I cannot tell you how much easier it is to travel with a 20 months old baby who is potty trained. We were flying from Europe and she did not pooped once in her diaper! She peed a couple of times, but that's fine.
21. When you "know" that she needs to go and she keeps telling you "no", simply take her, put her on a toilet seat or a potty and tell her that she needs to go first and than she can continue to play. Stick it to it. She might get irritated, but soon she will realized that it is easier for her to do rather than deal with you.
Most importantly: everyone who is involved in the process must be on the same page! Papa, mama, grandma, nanny, etc. Everyone must be patient, "do not cheat" and use the same strategy.
Good luck and let me know if you have any questions!
Note: We noticed that if she is overwhelmed or too excited (cool play-date, new environment or new toy that she cannot get tired of) she completely forgets to use a potty. We simply take her to a bathroom and tell her to go. She does not really refuse because she knows that she will be on that seat for a while. Read point #21 for reference. Exception is only when she really tries and the tank if empty. We praise her for trying, ask her to tell us when she needs to go and let her go.
