As the parent of a young toddler, you’ve been able to celebrate a lot of milestones. First smiles. First steps. First words. However, separating fact from fiction isn’t always easy where potty training is confirmed. Unfortunately, there are myths (and bad methods) out there that will sabotage your child’s chances of successful potty training. Expert Amanda Jenner has listed 5 Myths about Potty Training that you still probably believe.
MYTH 1: YOU SHOULD ONLY POTTY TRAIN IN THE SPRING OR SUMMER
There is a myth that it’s best to potty train in the spring and summer so your toddler can run around with no cloths on, but this is simply not the case. When your toddler is showing all the signs they are ready, come rain or sow you have to begin. It is not sensible to expect little ones to wait until the summer arrives before starting to potty train! This myth really drives me mad as all this is going to do is delay your toddler and make your life more difficult.
MYTH 2: IT IS BETTER TO LEAVE TODDLERS PANTS-FREE WHEN POTTY TRAINING
This is a myth that many of the parents I work with have been told. Though going pants-free is great when toddlers are simply playing outside in the usmmer, in my experience it is so important that little ones get used to wearing pants from the outset of potty training so that they are able to recognise the difference between wearing a nappy/pullup and nog boy/girl pants. If you potty train your toddler wearing no pants, once you try to introduce nig boy/girl pants further down the line they will associate this with the same sense of security they had when wearing a nappy/pull-up, which can lead to regular accidents, and you will often have to start the training again from scratch.
MYTH 3: BOYS ARE HARDER TO TRAIN THAN GIRLS
I have trained equal amounts of boys and girls, hundreds in fact. I have never experienced any different results between boys and girls and have always found there is little or no difference at all. The only time I have found a difference is when a parent will insist on their little boy learning to potty trasin standing up. This can cause delay simply because there is more for the boy to think about and initially, children have very little warning that they need to wee which can lead to more accidents.
MYTH 4: IF YOUR TODDLER IS DRY IN THE DAY THEY WILL BE DRY AT NIGHT
Potty training in the day is completely seperate to nigh-time training. Just because your toddler is dry in the day doesn’t mean they will automatically be dry at night. I alway teach my parents to get their toddler completely dry for a few months in the day before even attempting night-time training. Night-time training can take weeks, sometimes months, but this is totally normal.
MYTH 5: ONCE YOU START POTTY TRAINING THERE IS NO GOING BACK
This is a myth that I hear so many times! If you have started potty training and given it a good couple of weeks and your toddler is showingno interst and having lots of accidents then they are simply not ready. Have a break for one or two months and revisit the training with a fresh start.
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