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10 Successful Potty Training Tips for Girls
5 min read
One of the best things to look forward to as your child grows up is not having to deal with soiled diapers and dirty bums!!! Many of us want our kids to be potty trained sooner than later and hence tend to sweet-talk or pressurize our way into it – however, it requires lot of time, patience, and more importantly readiness from your child.
10 Successful Potty Training Tips for Girls
If you have a girl, congratulations – studies clearly show that girls potty train faster. Kids with older siblings do too! But again, it is important not to force your way into potty training. Many of the tips for potty training are gender-neutral, but we have tried to customize the below list especially for your daughter.
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- Pick the right time: We have said this before, we are saying it again. Timing is everything when it comes to potty training. If your child is not physically capable of voluntarily holding in the pee or if she is not emotionally capable of understanding she has to pee in toilet, then forcing her to do it before time will only delay the process. If you are facing peer pressure, remember this, no matter how hard you try, no matter when you start, your child will be potty trained only when she is ready for it, both physically and emotionally. Also do not start training if she is unwell, or when your family is going through a change, like moving houses or employing a new nanny
- Let imitation lead the way: Which girl does not want to imitate her mamma? Announce it to her before you go to pee and show her how you sit down to pee. If your daughter has watched her dad or brothers pee while standing, she might be a bit confused. She might try to pee standing up, and you should let her. She will soon understand that girls need to pee sitting down. Getting in power struggles pressurizing your daughter to pee sitting down will only delay the process further
- Get the right toddler potty: Your daughter is too small to sit on the full sized adult toilet seat. If she is not comfortable, or if she fears falling, then chances are she will associate toilet to bad experience. Infact, the sound of the flush, the water gushing, the big pot could all make her feel scared. Buy her a child-sized potty. Better still, let her choose it and let her know that it is exclusively hers and no one else can use it. Let her get comfortable sitting on her own potty seat so that she can associate sitting and peeing or potty
- Get your daughter comfortable sitting on the potty: As important as getting her a potty seat of her own is getting her used to the new seat. In the initial days, do not force her to pee or poop in the potty because we do not want her to view the potty negatively. Let her sit on it for some time every day, play a bit and get off. Once she starts to get used to sitting on the potty is when you should slowly start training her to pee in it. You can also try to look for cues like swaying side to side or bending and joining her legs together. Take her to the toilet at this time and she will be happy to relieve herself
- Set up a routine for potty training: This is the most important step. Start with day time potty training. You can remove diapers during the day and put a panty (let her chose a fancy one for herself!) instead. Take her often to the toilet to let her get used to peeing in there. At times, when she pees on her panties, she will feel wet immediately, causing her discomfort. This discomfort is what would eventually teach her to voluntarily go to toilet when she wants to pee
- Use multimedia: There are countless books and cartoon videos that you can read to or show your baby to get them used to the idea of potty training. Use them plenty! They tend to be more responsive to ideas coming from funny and friendly cartoon characters than from the parents. Many toys have a doll alongwith a potty seat and some stories on the subject can be enacted on the doll
- Show her how to clean herself: As a mother, it is your duty to teach your girl how to sit down and clean her private parts after peeing. Of course, you should enforce it only after she is toilet trained. Teach her how to wash with a jet shower and wipe herself using toilet paper (from front to back, never the other way). Teach her she needs to keep the area dry after clean up. This is a very important step as little girls can end up having infections in the urinary area, most often during potty training times
- Reward when she does it right: Positive reinforcement goes a long way in establishing good habits. She says she wants to pee and asks you to take her to the toilet? Celebrate! Give her a treat and announce it to close family when she is in earshot! Tell everyone your doll is a big girl now and that you are super-proud of her. Click here to read about the best tips to deal with potty training setbacks</li
- Get ready for accidents: The initial leg of the journey will be quite bumpy. Prepare yourself for accidents. Do not scold or reprimand her when this happens. Patiently reinforce the idea of using a potty. She will get used to it with time and practice
- Slowly move to night-time training: Once she is totally potty trained during the day, then you can think about having diaper-free nights. You can start by limiting her water intake few hours before her sleep time. You can also start using a plastic or water absorbent sheet under her bed sheet to keep her mattress dry. However, remember that this will take longer than day-time training
If you want to avoid wet panties and pyjamas, you can use potty training diapers (like mamy poko pants) which are diapers in the form of a pull down pant. So you can still take your child to the washroom regularly, pull down the diapers and let her pee in the potty – but if she does accidentally pee outside of toilet, there are no wet clothes for you to worry about. However, experts believe that if she does not feel wet and uncomfortable, she will take more time to potty train. One thing that is important to note – whatever means you take – you need to be consistent with it and not switch her back to diapers just because you are having a busy day. Also, if your little doll goes to a day care, ensure the care takers know and follow the same routine as you.
Good luck!
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