Potty Training

Potty Training

Most parents can’t wait to reach the potty training stage.  For twin parents especially not only does this mean the end of all those bum changes it means a big saving of cash.

Most people begin training when their child is about two but some children are not ready until much later.  You need to watch for the signs that your twins are ready.  They may not be ready at exactly the same time but most likely once one twin has started the other will copy.

Signs that your twins may be ready:

• Has regular, soft, formed bowel movements
• Recognises when she is about to go and tells you so.
• Squats when she is about to go.
• Can pull her pants up and down
• Likes to watch you or your older children use the bathroom.
• Dislikes having a dirty nappy

What kind of Equipment to Buy

Once you have established that your twins may be ready for potty training you will need to make sure you have the right equipment.  If you haven’t already, switch from regular nappies to Pull-up Pants.

You will then need to decide on what kind of potties or toilet seat you are going to purchase.  There are many different varieties to choose from.  There are small pots, potty chairs, chairs that play music, child toilet seats, child toilet seats with step up stools built in.

My personal view is keep it simple and comfortable and ensure that your child can stabilise himself with his feet so he can push when he’s having a bowel movement.

Once your twins are comfortable with using the potty you will want to introduce them to the toilet.  You will need to buy a training seat which fits neatly on top of your regular toilet seat.  You can go straight to the toilet missing out the potty stage if you wish but it may be a better time to introduce your child to the toilet when they are a little bigger and more able to reach the toilet in time.

There are lots of story books available about learning to use a potty. Reading them with your toddler might help explain potty training in a fun and exciting way.

• I Want My Potty (Anderson Press) by Tony Ross.
• The Potty Book – for Boys (Barron’s Educational Series) by Alyssa Satin Capucilli and Dorothy Stott.
• The Potty Book – for Girls (Barron’s Educational Series) by Alyssa Satin Capucilli and Dorothy Stott.
• Uh Oh! Gotta Go! (Barron’s Educational Series) by Bob McGrath and Shelley Dieterichs.
• The Pop-Up Potty Book (Orion Children’s) by Marianne Borgardt and Maxie Chambliss.

Tips for Potty Training Twins

• Purchase at least 2 Pots or Potty Chairs
• Offer plenty of encouragement.  Clap and cheer at first as they will be just as delighted with their progress as you are.
• Have everything to hand such as toilet wipes
• Do not apply any pressure and do not make a fuss when accidents happen

“We are going through the potty training stage with our second set of twins and I have to say it is going remarkably well.  I don’t recall any issue with the first set but something tells me this time around is going even better.

From experience, we purchased 4 potties – yes 4!  We have chosen the potty chairs because they look far more comfortable than the little potties you can purchase.  I also think it’s a better transition from a potty chair to the toilet.  Don’t think you can manage with just one because you can’t.  When they need to go, they need to go and they can’t share this piece of equipment.  The reason we have 4 is so we don’t have to carry them up and down the stairs with us.  It avoids being upstairs with no potty only for one or both twins to ask for it and then someone needing to make a mad dash downstairs only to get back to the twins a little too late…..We also leave a potty chair in the car.

We began potty training the girls at around 18 months purely because one of them kept removing her pull up nappy and leaving us a present on the floor! We bought two potty chairs and left them in the living room purely because we didn’t know what else we could do.  The girls thought they were great and often sat on them.  They climbed in and out of them, removed the inner pots and used them as hats.  We got our older children to pee in them to show the girls what they were for – this caused some laughter in our house and stopped the girls using them as toys!

Our next definite sign was when the girls started taking our older daughters knickers from her drawer and chose to wear them rather than their nappies.  At this stage, we would systematically place the girls on their pots throughout the day and particularly before bath time to encourage them to use them.   It was pot luck at first (excuse the pun), sometimes we got a result, and other times we didn’t.  There was no pressure, the pots where there and if the girls wanted to sit on them they could.

By the time they reached 22 months everything just fell into place.  The girls kept removing their clothing and were often naked so they could freely sit on their potties and use them whenever they pleased.  We stopped putting nappies on them during the day and let them wear knickers instead.  This swiftly turned into them asking for the potty and then pulling their knickers down and back up again (after a quick freshen up with a wipe) when finished.

One of our girls is already dry through the day and the night and has been out of nappies and into knickers since before her 2nd birthday.  Our other twin is using the potty and the toilet but will still have accidents.  She is still wearing a nappy at night time.  I am delighted with their progress and our nappy bill is just about non existent.