Small Town Mama: Our Potty Training Arsenal

Ahhh potty training, it comes with so much advice and so many options. My daughter is almost a year and a half so I thought it was time we started introducing the idea. I know a lot of people would probably say it is too early but she can't learn if we don't try, right? The first thing I needed was to buy the necessary supplies to start our potty training adventure. There are a lot of options but here is what I went with.

Everyone I talked to recommended the Baby Bjorn potty but I ended up going with a potty from Summer Infant. I thought they looked awfully similar and the Baby Bjorn was $25 where Summer Infant was only $9.95. I also found the cushioned Dreambaby Potty Seat for $9.99 for I was able to get both for less than the Baby Bjorn. Since I can think of so many other things I would rather spend money on than potty seats I thought this was the better way to go ;). That said there are some things I do not care for with the Summer Infant seat already. First, it has no lid which has not been a problem yet but we do have dogs so hopefully they just leave it alone. My other problem is that the splash guard isn't removable and it is high enough that my little girl has trouble sitting down on it herself. If I get a second seat for the main level I will be looking for something a little smaller so it would be easier for her to use.

My daughter loves books so I thought it would be a great idea to get a few potty books to introduce the idea. These two books are completely different from each other and Amelia strongly prefers Leslie Patricelli's book. This one is simple and to the point with one sentence per page and bright pictures. I could see an older child preferring the Once Upon a Potty book since it has a lot more detail. The books are doing their job and Amelia loves reading the Potty book and even takes it to the potty with her.

Finally I got some Green Sprouts training pants. I think they are so cute and we will use them once she starts getting the hang of using the potty. Since they are cotton she will be able to feel when she is wet (diapers are absorbent and wick the wetness away) and hopefully she wont like the feeling and it will help her keep dry. They also have a little absorbent core themselves to help in the case of an accident. We are not to the stage of actually using these yet but I am hoping we can go from diapers to these and just skip the pull ups.

Now that we are armed with all the necessary potty training supplies I need to come up with a strategy! Right now I am having her sit on the potty before baths and she has peed in the potty several times. We get excited and say "hooray!", which she really likes so I think she is getting the idea. I am going to hold off on buying rewards for using the potty since the praise seems to be enough for her at the moment. I guess I need to decide when we are going to start the real training and then just be consistent. I am a little hesitant just because I know it is going to be a lot of work!

What age did you start potty training your kids? Do you have any advice for parents trying to potty train? Is there a strategy that worked well for your kids? Please leave advice, experiences or tips you may have in the comments, I would love to hear them!