Time for Potty Training?
Congratulations! You are considering potty training your little one, this is a big step which takes teamwork. Here’s how we can help and guidelines we must follow.
Some things we do to get kids ready to train:
We start reading potty books and talking about going potty in the big girl or big boy potty during changing.
We have them sit on the potty during natural transition times (before and after meals, before and after naps, and diaper changes)
We practice with them getting their pants up and down on their own and hand washing.
We will supervise them and watch for signs that they have to go or are going and get them off to the potty.
We keep close communication with the parents about any indicators suggesting the child is ready.
Some things we aren’t able to do:
We do not put kids on a potty schedule where they go every half hour or hour. It’s very time consuming with little to no benefit. From experience we have seen this cause many problems with children not being able to hold much urine and having to constantly go to the potty further along down the line. They aren’t able to settle down at nap because once they relax and have a little bit of pee they have to get up and go. They have a hard time leaving the classroom because they can’t make it very long without having to come back to potty. The day pretty much centers around the potty which just isn’t realistic in this setting.
We don’t limit food or drinks to only be given at certain times. We maintain the same food and snack schedule during training.
We don’t clean out soiled underwear. We will bag pee soaked underwear and return it to the parent at the end of the day; with soiled underwear we must dispose of the contents immediately into the toilet, then they are bagged and returned to the parents at the end of the day. We are not able to rinse or do laundry of any soaked or soiled clothes.
We don’t put children into underwear until they have been COMPLETELY accident free HERE for two full weeks. This is an absolute non-negotiable policy. The reason we have this policy is because over the years we are training many kids. We have to set up policies that maintain utmost sanitary standards for the center and protect the carpet, furniture, and inventory.
Often when kids have accidents it isn’t discovered immediately (they like to hide behind shelves) and they end up wetting down their leg and soaking their socks and even shoes. Once the child sits down or walks around a bit you quickly have an entire room with urine soaked footsteps and big soaked spots from the child sitting. It only takes a few minutes of free playing to cover the room completely. The little ones play and lay directly on our carpets so we like them to remain clean. In addition, we have to interrupt your work day to bring a change of socks and shoes.
When children soil their underwear it is a very big mess to clean up. Often the poop will soak thru their clothes and cause the same problems the pee accidents cause. It can require professional cleaning and takes more staff time to deal with then the cost of diapers for a week. Think about the smell after just a few kids do this as it’s difficult to clean down to the carpet pad.
What to wear during training:
Children should wear easy on and off pants during training. We prefer elastic bottoms until they are physically capable of doing snaps and buttons. Please don’t send them in anything that requires us to remove the top to get to the bottom.
Diapers and pull-ups are okay for training. No cloth diapers while potty training. We do not use underwear until the child is at the one week mark without accidents. If you are having great success at home we can use underwear but they must be covered with plastic pants or a pull up. If the child has regular accidents in the underwear we will switch them back to pull ups and try again at another time.
Nap time training:
Sometimes kids nap train right away when they are awake-time trained. Most children are not able to do this and it is many months and sometimes years before they are nap trained. We use pull ups at nap time thru those first 2 weeks. We use “puppy pads” under their sheet until the child has slept through nap for one full month without a pee accident. We will be happy to provide these.
Finally, I have found that a number of kids are easily potty trained during long vacations and holiday breaks. The parents have the time to do the intense work and supervision. Parents can allow the child to be in underwear for many consecutive days. If they are successful at home they still must remain in covered pants and be accident free for two weeks HERE. They can come in underwear with pull-ups or plastic pants over them when they return. That way they will have a protective layer over the underwear to protect the carpet should they revert back to accidents. As always, We will keep track on Brightwheel of their progress. Keep in mind that when they are 3 and potty trained (thoroughly) you will not get those potty updates unless it is medically necessary.
Still in?
Let us know if you have any questions or want to discuss it further. If it’s done at a time when your child is truly ready it should go very easily and quickly. HAPPY TRAINING!