How to Potty Train a Young Toddler

Learning how to potty train a young toddler can be intimidating and confusing if you haven’t done it before! Here are my best tips that I wish I had known before we had started potty training.

Why Potty Train a Young Toddler?

Potty training a young toddler has so many benefits!

You save money because you are not purchasing diapers and you buy fewer wipes.

Diaper changing takes much longer than the seconds it takes to wipe up after the potty.

I did not bribe my child to go to the potty. I did not use a chart or stickers or candy. We simply taught him how to use the potty before independence was important to him.

My son gets to be independent and trust his body to tell him when he needs to go. He appreciates this gift of responsibility.

We were able to take advantage of his enthusiasm to learn how his body works. He learned his body parts as he began talking more and he was excited to put words to the feelings of his body functions.

Potty Training Resources for Beginners

There are a lot of online resources for potty training children, but my favorite tutorials or information come from people who do elimination communication.

Elimination Communication is the idea that your child can communicate their need to use the bathroom from birth, if we are educated and prepared to look for the signs.

Elimination Communication is a term that has been popularized by Andrea Olson, who created Go Diaper Free. Andrea Olson’s goal is to help parents be less reliant on diapers or be totally diaper free from birth.

Andrea has many short 15 minute podcasts about every part of the process of potty training children. I bought her book and really enjoyed being able to read through it and I look forward to lending it out to other new mothers to read too.

If you are interested in learning more about Go Diaper Free you can listen to the podcast, watch the YouTube channel, or read the book Andrea Olson has created.

What Tools do I Need to Potty Train a Young Toddler?

The tools you need to potty train your toddler is a toilet reducer seat. Our reducers are the munchkin brand, from Target, but they are no longer sold.

If I were buying new seat reducers, I would look for seats that don’t have legs and have a silicone splash guard. Boys need a splash guard, but they can get hurt if the splash guard isn’t soft and flexible. We would buy this option if we needed to replace one.

We have this Frida foldable travel seat reducer that we keep in the diaper bag. It is wonderful for on the go and when we are visiting family and friends!

Our favorite child sized potty is the Frida Potty All in One Kit. We asked for this kit for Christmas the year he turned one and have been using it ever since we got it! Having a potty that we can move around is wonderful because we can take it with us on trips and have an extra potty in the living room.

How do I Potty Train a Young Toddler?

Step 1 – Roll up the Rugs and Set Up the Tools

You want to potty train your toddler, so let’s set up your space for success!

Roll up any rugs that you can and start closing the doors to rooms with carpets to limit the accidents on hard to clean surfaces.

I recommend having one reducer for every bathroom in your home and one child sized toilet for the room you spend the most time in. Have a place for wipes and books nearby each space too.

Having a potty where you are most of the time makes it easier for you to take your child and it makes it so your child is more willing to go, because it isn’t so far away from their toys.

We have 2 bathrooms and we spend the most time in the living room in our home. So I have 2 reducers (one for each bathroom) and we use the Frida Child Sized Potty in the living room.

Step 2 – Choose Potty Times That Work

You start by picking times throughout the day when it will be easy to add a potty break into your schedule. Start with times where it just makes sense to go, usually you have to go at those times too.

We started with potty breaks:

before bedtime and nap, after wake ups, before leaving the house, when returning home, before diaper changes, and whenever the child signs potty

Step 3 – Teach Your Child the Sign Language for Toilet

As you add potty time into the routine, it is natural to teach your little one the communication tool to use while you are using the toilet. Use the sign as they are going potty. They will connect the sign with the sensation of waste leaving their body.

We used the American Sign Language for toilet. It is the letter T shaken back and forth.

I recommend using sign language so that your child can communicate to you earlier than they could using their voice. My son was able to sign toilet at 14 months and he started saying ‘potty’ at 23 months old. That is a 9 month difference!

Step 4 – Observe your Child’s Patterns

After observing my son in our new routine, we added a potty break before bath time and going into the highchair because we noticed that those were times he was naturally going to the bathroom.

Your child may also always go to the bathroom when doing a certain activity or at a certain time of day. When you spot a pattern try to add a potty break around that time.

Step 5 – Measure the Time Between

One REALLY handy piece of information to have is how long your child takes for their bladder to fill. If you know that you can add that time into your day, to help add more success to your potty learning experience!

The easiest way to do this is to take your child to the bathroom after a nap and then start the stopwatch on your phone or mark the time.

Then put your child in underwear so that you can tell visually when they have peed. You could also let them go bottomless around the house if you plan to be close by where you can hear any water falling.

Go about your day at home, as you would any other day, but listen or check your child every 10-15 minutes to see if they have gone to the bathroom.

Eventually your child will pee, and then you will take the amount of time on the stopwatch and subtract 10 minutes because you want to make it BEFORE they need to go.

WORD OF ADVICE: Drinking of a lot of liquid will change this number a lot! When anyone drinks a lot of liquid their bladder fills faster, young toddlers are the same. Only offer your child the normal drinks they are allowed on an everyday basis. You want an accurate amount of time.

Step 6 – Try it Out for 2 Weeks!

Keep your child in a diaper as your normally would, but add in all the potty opportunities you have decided. You may be surprised how many times your child goes to the bathroom in the toilet and how few diapers you use!

I really recommend trying this first plan for 2 weeks with a diaper on because your child is just learning that the toilet is where the potty goes. During these 2 weeks they should start trusting you to take them to the potty at these times and will count on you to take them.

Take your child to the potty even if they have already gone in the diaper, because it is reinforcing the routine and the idea that the potty is where the waste goes.

Step 7 – Adjust and Keep Going

During the 2 week trail, you have learned a lot of things.

You found out what systems are working and which ones need to be readjusted. You have probably started adding or subtracting potty opportunities.

Take 5-15 minutes to reflect and make a new plan for the next 2 weeks.

Step 8 – Try a Diaper Free Day or More

Once your child is using the toilet about 80-90% of the time, then you can try going diaper free for some time. It could be a morning, day, or a week. Do a length of time that you feel comfortable with.

Choose an amount of accidents you are okay cleaning up. I choose to clean up 3 a day max.

After my son had his third accident in a day he was in a diaper the rest of the day. I could keep my cool for 3 accidents, but after that my reactions are not the person I want to be.

Tomorrow was always a new day to try again, but having an accident limit helped save my sanity.

Some days my son would make it all day in underwear and other days he was in diapers by 10 am.

Step 9 – Be Patient, Because it Isn’t Personal

The mantra of this period of time is, “be patient, because it isn’t personal.” Your child is not out to get you and having accidents just to make you feel sad/angry/frustrated/tired etc.

You are marching on this road of diaper free days, potty opportunities, accidents; and this road is HARD.

I was so impatient to be done. Washing and purchasing diapers was an extra burden that I wanted to be over with. I was tired of controlling my reaction to his accidents.

That way of thinking really hindered any appreciation for any progress my son was making. I potty trained a 20 month old baby. That is amazing and I was so impatient to be over that I almost missed the joy of watching his growth happen.

Please enjoy the moments of success and don’t wish for it to be other too quickly.

When can I Potty Train a Young Toddler?

You can potty train your toddler as young as you think they are ready.

We tried potty training my son at 15 months, 18 months, and 20 months.

At 15 months, I felt like I was loosing my mind. He was having accidents constantly and didn’t seem to understand that he needed to use the potty at all. He had just started signing the word potty and I thought that meant we should start potty training right away.

We tried for 3 days to help him learn and in the end I talked to a friend and she told me to put him back in the diapers again. I was so glad she did.

At 18 months, he used the bathroom more than he had, but often he would sign that he needed to go as he began going. There was no time to get him to the bathroom.

At 20 months, we had success! He had accidents, but understood what to do and would let us know. He still wets his underwear and pants a little, but it is no longer on the furniture and floor.

My Child Keeps having Accidents. How do Help them Stop?

It can be so frustrating to feel like your toddler isn’t learning to use the potty. It is so hard when you have been having success and then they have five (or more) accidents in a day.

You feel like you are back at square one, but you aren’t. You are making progress every time they use the bathroom.

Your child will have accidents. You cannot stop them from having them, but you can prepare yourself for when the accidents happen.

What are you going to say? What are you going to do? How many accidents do you want to take care of?

When my son had accidents my plan was to take a deep breath, say “Oh no, we go potty on the potty.” Then move him to the potty.

I decided that I could handle cleaning up three accidents a day. When he had his third accident, I put him in a diaper for the rest of the day, but continued giving potty opportunities.

Can I Take a Break from Potty Training?

Yes! You can try again after a few days. Take the pressure off yourself for a few days or weeks.

You might even be surprised by how your little one takes on the responsibility themselves.

What is the Best Advice you have to Potty Train a Young Toddler?

Let us know in the comments down below any advice you have for parents who are trying to potty train!

Other Articles You May Enjoy

A Positive Co-Sleeping Experience for New Parents

The Best Parenting Books to Read While Pregnant

45+ Simple Budget Friendly Spring Activities for Your Toddler

Pin For Later