The prospect of potty training can be daunting. I am the first to admit that potty training scares the bejeebers out of me. That’s why I invited some of my friends and their kids over last weekend for a play date to talk about potty training. We enjoyed some great food and shared a lot of parenting and potty training tips.

This post is sponsored by Pampers who provided me with some Pampers Easy Ups for me and my friends to try out, along with decorations, goodie bags, and some fun photo booth props. Setting up a photo booth is my new favorite thing to do at a party. It’s fun for both kids and adults!

I might be just a wee bit biased, but my friends are really smart. About most things anyways. One of the many things I learned after chatting with my mom friends is that having a diaper that’s easy to get on and off, while potty training, is really important. You want something that acts like a pair of underpants but with the backup plan of a diaper. Pampers Easy Ups are perfect for potty training.

Potty Training Tips from My Friends:

Be consistent. Use a timer to help you and your child remember to go potty. Start with every 20 minutes, and increase the intervals as your child needs to go less often. Eventually your child will be able to tell you he needs to go. In the meantime, the timer is a big help.

The colored water trick works great. Dye the toilet water with red or blue food coloring. The color changes to orange or green when your child goes potty. It’s great incentive and they love knowing that they did it.

Have a rewards system. Fill a basket with a bunch of inexpensive toys and let your child choose one as a reward for using the big kid potty.

Get a potty chair and put it in a place that’s convenient for your child. Let your child know that it’s special just for him or her.

Potty Training with Pampers Easy Ups

Potty training is an exciting and eagerly anticipated milestone for toddlers and their parents. If your child is showing signs of readiness, spring and summer can be the ideal time to kick off potty training especially if your child is heading to preschool in the fall. Even when the timing is right for child and parents, potty training can still be stressful. Parents want potty training to be a positive journey for their toddlers, but leaks, accidents and switching from training pants to diapers overnight can feel like setbacks.

Training pants such as Pampers Easy Ups can help the diaper-to-underwear transition by allowing potty-training toddlers to set aside their diapers and wear something with more of an underwear-like design that still helps keep accidental messes off clothing, bedding and other surfaces no matter whether they happen at home, on-the-go or overnight. Pampers Easy Ups have fewer leaks than the other leading training pant to help simplify and improve the overall potty training experience. Pampers Easy Ups have an absorbent core that holds 25% more than the other leading training pant to help ensure little ones remain dry. Plus, with up to 12 hours of protection, it works during the day AND night, enabling toddlers and moms to confidently and completely transition from diapers towards underwear.

Pampers Easy Ups Features:

• An absorbent core that holds 25% more than the other leading training pant (Huggies® Pull-Ups® Learning Designs®) and ensures little ones remain dry
• Pampers Easy Ups® have fewer leaks than the other leading training pant (Huggies® Pull-Ups® Learning Designs®)
• Fun Thomas & Friends® designs for boys and Dora the Explorer® designs for girls
• A more underwear-like design for growing toddlers
• Graphics that fade when wet to help little ones learn
• Super-stretchy sides to make them easy to pull up and down when using the potty
• Available for Boys and Girls sizes 2T/3T through 4T/5T

Pampers provided me and my friends with some great Pampers Easy Ups Potty Training Tips from L. Jana, MD. They are really great tips, so I am sharing it with you.

Pampers Easy Ups Potty Training Tips from L. Jana, MD

1. Promote potty learning. Instead of referring to your child’s transition from wearing diapers to using the potty as “potty training,” consider calling it “potty learning.” After all, mastering this eagerly anticipated milestone of childhood takes time, teaching, and plenty of practice and patience!

2. Take a teamwork approach. From the outset, I find it helps to keep in mind that potty training is a team sport. If you simply remind yourself that you are (and always will be) on the same team as your child, it can really help you stay calm in the face of potty accidents and be a much more positive and effective potty training coach.

3. Stock your deck. Part of the secret to your child’s potty success will involve being well equipped and removing any obstacles that stand between your child and potty success. Sure, this typically includes a fun trip out to purchase a brand new first set of coveted “big-boy” or “big-girl” underwear. But it also means having on hand other practical supplies that can help foster your child’s interest and independence – from a step stool (to improve access to the toilet) or potty seat to training pants. That’s why I’m happy to partner with Pampers, whose Easy Ups training pants are designed to help the diaper-to-underwear transition by allowing potty-training toddlers to set aside their diapers and wear something with more of an underwear-like look and feel that still helps contain accidental messes no matter whether they happen at home, on-the-go or overnight.

4. Embrace success. As with any learning experience, young children can learn a lot from both their potty successes and their failures. While potty accidents are an inevitable (and admittedly inconvenient) aspect of potty learning, they shouldn’t dominate your day-to-day discussions. Instead, simply help your child learn to cope with (and clean up) any messes and focus your attention on celebrating your child’s successes with plenty of hugs and words of encouragement.

5. Watch for the signs. There are several characteristic signs and developmental abilities you can watch for that suggest children are ready to potty train. These signs of potty training readiness typically include the ability to use their words to express themselves, toddle their own way to the bathroom, pull down their own pants, and to be aware of the sensation of peeing or pooping (characteristically noticeable when young children suddenly stop what they’re doing as they feel themselves start to pee. Or when they start hiding behind the sofa or standing in a corner to poop. It is also helpful (and increases the likelihood of potty training interest) when children start to be bothered by their poopy and/or wet diapers, as that can serve as a good motivation for using the potty instead!

6. Start making connections. There’s a lot that you can do to help your child be well-prepared to use the potty successfully long before he actually starts to. Reading fun and engaging children’s books about potty training, such as You and Me Against the Pee! (which I co-authored) can go a long way towards making the idea of potty training a family and eagerly anticipated one. You can take this familiarity a step further by letting your toddler accompany you in to the bathroom when you need to go so that he both becomes familiar with the routine and comfortable with the idea of using the toilet, rather than being afraid of or intimidated by it!

It was so great having my friends and their children over for an afternoon of food, fun and sharing. Even better, everyone went home with a goody bag featuring Pampers Easy Ups and a copy of It’s You and Me Against the Pee. Thank you Pampers!

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