Top tips to Potty train and STOP bed-wetting

As your daughters begin to age, there will become a point where it will be bye-bye to the diapers, and hello to the start of them learning how to become a bit more independent about using the restroom. Potty training isn’t overly difficult, but it does take time, patience and a bit of understanding that every child learns at their own pace. For many, potty training is one of the more difficult tasks of being a parent. The good news? It doesn’t have to be! If you are looking for a few top tips for potty training your daughters ( and sons), here are some great suggestions to help get you started.

Top Tips for Potty Training your Daughters

• Let them go at their own pace. While you think it may be time for them to be potty trained, they may not be there yet. Show support and let them get excited about the thought of potty training. If you push them to start too soon, the process can take a lot longer than necessary.
• Keep the potty in view and at close distance for easy access and as a constant reminder.
• Lead by example. When is the last time that you were actually able to go to the bathroom by yourself ever since you had children? More than likely, you always have some sort of audience with you! Use this as a learning experience. If you expect your child to want to start being interested in potty training, talk to them about it and answer any questions that they may have as well!
• Take your daughters to the store and let them pick out their “big girl” underwear and the potty of their choice. It may seem like such a small detail, but it’s amazing just how interested they may become in potty training once they get to wear some pretty cool underwear. Just make certain that they aren’t so proud that they go around trying to show everyone their new underwear! Trust me, it happens! I got a 10 pack of colorful panties for my 2-year-old because she requested it, she was fully potty trained with no slips in 3 days. No more buying loads of diaper boxes. My daughter also loved the ladybug potty and that’s what we got and what helped us to get it right in 3 days. She still sits on the potty sometimes when she feels like it even though she sits pretty on the toilet now.
• Be persistent, consistent and patient. Once you and your daughters have decided that it’s time to start potty training, you have to stick with it as well! If you stop the routine or trying to help, your daughters will lose motivation and interest too. Sticking with the daily routine of waking up, going to the potty, playing a bit, going to the potty, etc is important! Your daughters will learn how to be potty trained by constant and consistent help, especially on the first day. Take them to the potty every 10 minutes. Mostly, by the second day they would have figured out, that for them not to do it on themselves, they need to keep going to the potty.
• Offer incentives and rewards. This is different from trying to “bribe” your child to potty train, so please keep that in mind! But if your daughters begin to potty, why not have a “potty treat” for them to show that they’ve done well? It’s an easy way to tell them good job and to help hype their interest to do it again. We reward my 2-year-old by clapping and saying encouraging words to her, she always looks forward to the fanfare every time even though it’s over a month now we had our success.

Potty training is something that every child has to go through. If you feel as though you and your child are ready, awesome! All children start to show signs of being ready at different ages. Remember, if your child is doing well in potty training there is still a great chance of accidents happening. Bed wetting is one that seems to always get overlooked when potty training. Even older girls that would never do it on themselves during the daytime tends to bed wet while sleeping at night. If you have experienced this with your daughters, then try these;

Tips to stop bed wetting

• Depending on your daughter’s bedtime, give dinner at least 3 hours before bedtime. At ours, the girls eat dinner at 6 pm and bedtime is at 9 pm during the summer holidays. Also, avoid serving heavy meals for dinner.
• Their last bedtime routine should be going to pee before tucking them into bed. That bathroom break is very important before bedtime.
• Avoid giving hot chocolate or drinks just before bedtime. If they must have it let them take it earlier in the day or with dinner.
• Lastly, wake them up at least once during the night to pee and take them back to bed.

All of the tips here are what worked and is still working for my girls. Every single time we compromised on these due to any circumstance, we have at least an accidental discharge. Try using these tips and keep us up to date with progress in the comment section below.

Remember all children are not same and can never be so If your child does well during the day but struggles a bit at night( tends to wet the bed) and you have tried all the above tips, then, it may be time to talk to them about pull-ups and other nighttime options. Approach the topic when the time is right because you don’t want to make them feel discouraged just when they are getting started (for the younger ones) and ashamed (for the older ones).

Last but not least, have fun when potty training your daughters! This is such a huge milestone in their life that it’s important for you and them to have fun doing so. Laugh, play, bring them a toy or two or even storybooks of their choice when they are sitting on the potty…it’s all about learning together and doing so in a way that is positive and beneficial to them!