Crowd sourcing is an effective way to get a bunch of good ideas quickly. I recently took to Facebook to ask for the best potty training tips and what you wish you would have known before starting. This is what you said.
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Wait Until Your Child is Ready
Andrea said: In all honesty what worked for us was waiting until they are ready. I tried when I “thought” she should be ready a few times & it was a frustrating battle. I completely backed off and waited. She let me know she was ready and we never looked back. It was a piece of cake at that point. Follow your child’s time frame & not yours.
- Rachel said: So, so true. I pushed too hard with my first and am taking a more relaxed approach with my second.
- Aubyn said: Same!! Waiting was the best and easiest potty training!!
- Nicole said: The same worked for Isaac! One day he came to me and said he wanted to go on the big potty and that was that
Emily said: I’d say just go back to diapers until you feel you have the energy to clean up accidents…worked for me! My son ended up being 3.5 yo but he and I were both ready at that point 
😊no need to rush it when you have your hands full with a newborn!
Lindsay said: I agree with the “waiting until he/she was ready” comments. With my oldest son, we thought he was ready so we pushed. Yea, no go. It was frustrating for him and us, and was a waste of time. He was ready when he was ready – and all of a sudden, one day he was in diapers, then next he was going standing up and everything – including being dry at naps and night! With the 2nd boy, we were more patient. He was “trying” to go every day at preschool so we said enough is enough and took a weekend to work with him. He spent most of that time commando but it worked! A week and a half later and he’s dry all day, poop and all! He is still in PullUps at night and naps, but we’re getting there. Patience and one step at a time….
Yooli said: My kid was not into being bottomless and pressing him when he showed interest around 2.5 led to him shutting down and having a bad reaction. We just had him sit on the potty before his bath as part of the routine and any other time he asked, but otherwise dropped it. He didn’t seem keen on it again until after 3, but it was pretty much self led after that. We got him undies he was excited about, reminded him that we don’t pee on Paw Patrol, and he just got it. Our son did not like potty seats and preferred the big potty, so I suggest a padded soft potty ring since in the beginning they just sit there forever. We keep his seat on a nail in the bathroom, a small step stool, a fun hand soap, a faucet extender, and a towel at his level and he can do most of the potty process himself.
Julie said: We waited till she was ready. She happened to enjoy Daniel Tiger at the time and the potty episodes/songs got her to do it. “If you have to go potty, STOP and go right away. Flush and wash and be on your way!”
Clair said: Wait until they’re ready! If it isn’t working or if it’s causing emotional turmoil, then stop and try again later. 
👍🏻 I had a “false start” w/ two of mine and once I picked it back up again later, it clicked pretty much immediately!
JULIE SAID: “we tried when he was 2 and he wet his underwear 3 times in 30 minutes so we stopped. then one day he said he didn’t want to wear a diaper so we switched and he never looked back. i would definitely wait until your child is ready. theres nothing to rush and if it doesn’t work out the first time, just wait a little longer”
JACKIE SAID: “Be super positive! And don’t force them. Last week we started seeing a little bit of regression and we decided it was probably because we’ve still been reminding him constantly about potty stuff. He knows what to do at this point so we are pulling back a little. He doesn’t like to be told what to do so when we’re constantly saying “tell me when you need to go potty” “keep your underwear dry” and making him go in public places when we have bathroom breaks – it was wearing on him and he was getting upset, saying “no potty! no potty!”. Last week when we started pulling back a bit, he did SO MUCH better. He has been telling us he needs to go and isn’t resisting or holding it as much.”
ALICIA SAID: “As cliché as it is, wait till they are ready.”
SARAH SAID: “#1 TOILETING EARLY IS NOT A MORAL ISSUE. #2 A LOT OF “POTTY TRAINING IS “PARENT TRAINING”.
We started to potty train with a celebratory shopping trip to buy a potty and prizes and treats–we made a huge deal of the day potty training would begin. She was 15 months old. It was an emotional and long day. Our kiddo is strong willed and is absolutely not motivated by prizes and treats. I vividly remember sitting on the family room floor at the end of the day next to a potty on top of a beach towel and just crying. Everyone said it could be done in less than three days!!
As time went on, we tried every six months or so, but it wasn’t until she was almost 3.5 (and her baby sister was due in a few months) that she started toileting herself. Once she decided it was time, she did it independently with no accidents, no reminders and I only needed to wipe her. Let me tell you, hearing your child put themselves on the toilet is one of the sweetest sounds you will hear as a parent!
In my opinion, it really doesn’t matter how old a child is when they start to wear underwear. My children are well behaved and obedient and smart and loved. Potty training is not a measure of how good a parent you are (I beat myself up about this.)
It’s certainly worth trying early, but if your kiddos are strong-willed like mine I think it’s okay to put the potty away and try again in a few months. Also, if you’re in a season as a mom where you’re physically unable to pack a toddler to the potty every hour or cleaning up accidents will put you at odds with your sweet little person, just let it go until you can.
As moms of young kids we’re steeped in the stats of our children; growth percentiles, milestone ages, hours of sleep, yadda, yadda. “Age of potty training” is not something that will every be of importance beyond toddlerhood peer group comparisons. Just do what works best for your family.”
COLE SAID: “I know a lot of people wait until the child is much older and are successful, but seeing now what a strong willed child my daughter turned out to be, I am SO GLAD I did it before she became obstinate! It seems like it would be impossible right now given her personality at 27mo. So for parents who think they might have a strong willed child on their hands, it might be worth it to potty train earlier, even if it takes a little longer.”
ME SAID: “I personally believe earlier is better. In Europe where I come from, early potty training is common; my mom trained her 7 kids before 18 months. My oldest was 14 months and we are currently working with our second. If you can get them trained before the 2-year-old stage comes along, you will save yourself trouble. It was so much easier than I thought. Here’s what I did, I put her on the potty once a day or so from 6-9 months of age, just a couple minutes to get used to it. Every once in a while she’d be successful. At 14 months we went hardcore. I put her in underwear and I set a timer every 20 minutes. She would get 1 chocolate chip if she was successful. A couple days later we were done and she never looked back. Night training went by itself, she was in underwear at 17 months and she has only wet the bed 2 or 3 times since she was trained… she’s 3 now. Another tip I have is to always use your “potty word” whenever you notice your baby is going potty in her diaper. I did this from birth on up and she started saying the word at 8 months. So helpful when they can tell you when they need to go. There is definitely no right or wrong way to go about potty training, but this is my perspective…”
It Takes a While Until the Child is Fully Trained
Evie said: I wish I would’ve known the many many steps that a child has to master before we consider them “potty trained”. 
I started sitting her on the potty when she was 1. She was out of diapers by 2, but at 3, she still doesn’t tell me when she has to go. I take her every couple hours if I want to avoid an accident. Also, she doesn’t just walk in, pull down her pants, go, and wash her hands. Everything has to be reminded every single time. I wish I would’ve known that this is a LOOOONG process and things click on their own timetable. Potty training is more “patience training for parents” than anything.
- Katie said: Totally agree! Also my MIL says “when they’re dry at night, they’re night trained!” We went with that and it worked for 2 of 3 kids so far. Obviously there may come a point with any child that you intervene further but in general we don’t worry about it until the ped does which in our case would be 7+yo.I opted to just wait until they “grew into” telling me when they needed to go. I guess we kind of did a combination. We take long road trips (we used to live a long way from all family, now we are a long way from some, plus we love to travel) and I need them to be able to “try” when we have stops. Mine were around 3-4yo when they began to tell me consistently if they needed to go. But they didn’t have accidents before that, because I usually just had them try at transitions – like before snack, before lunch, etc. However I think for some parents/kids that approach works better and for others it doesn’t work. Potty training really is more specific to each parent/child combo than some other aspects of parenting. And like sttn, where each person seems to have somehow a different definition of what that means, “being potty trained” means different things to different people. My 4.5yo still wears a pullup at night but I consider her potty trained!
AMANDA SAID: “It’s ok to change methods. We started with a seat insert for the regular potty, but ended up switching to a small potty that sits on the floor. She was interested in the big potty, but terrified to sit on it and release. She is happy to go in her little potty. We’ll transition to the big potty later.
It’s ok to start, but then stop if your child isn’t really ready. We tried at 18 months because we thought she was ready due to showing interest and wanting to sit on the potty. After 2 days of tears and fighting, we stopped. 10 months later she was ready to go on the little potty, and would tell me when she needed to go. Often times, her diaper would be dry when she did this. During those 10 months of waiting I would sometimes ask if she wanted to sit on her potty, but I didn’t push it. When I changed her diaper I sometimes told her that she could go on her potty whenever she was ready; she just needed to tell me when she was ready. And she did; when she was ready.
Don’t start until you are ready to commit. Her sister is 16 months younger and I knew it would be challenging to potty train with her around and into everything. She started showing interest around 28 months, but we waited to officially train until 29 months. During that month I took her potty whenever she wanted, but didn’t ask her is she needed to go. She also wore only diapers during that month. I was ready when I could send the baby sister to my mom’s house for 3 days so I could focus on potty training. I also waited until we had no out of town trips or even daytime obligations for several weeks. We pretty much stayed home for several days to get her used to the process. We are only 1 week in so I am careful about how long I am out. I also carry a potty seat in the van (along with toilet paper, treats, and extra clothes) when I will be out for a long time.
I loved the idea from the Ezzo’s about rewarding for clean and dry panties as well as going in the potty! My daughter responds well to treats because they are usually rare (hence the words treat) She really wants 2 treats every time she uses the potty, so I emphasize that 1 treat is for being clean and dry, and only 1 treat is for going in the potty. This really resonated with her, and I think helped her get the idea to stay clean. It has been 5 days of training and she has had no accidents that last 2 days! Even during nap time!”
It is Hard. Miserably Hard.
Rhiannon said: I just wish I had known how miserably hard it is. 
😭😭 –said the mom with a newborn and a 3 YO who has been working on potty training for 4 months. 
😫
Potty training twins? Read some great tips here.
Go Without Undies
Ali said: We have done pant less/no undies and it worked well for both our kiddos so far. I think the best thing for me to remember is to stay relaxed, and don’t put pressure on myself or my kiddo. If it doesn’t happen now we can always try again in a couple of weeks or even a couple of months.
Kristen said: Yep, nothing on bottom for at least 3 days. Salty snacks and water or juice so there will be plenty of opportunities. This was a big treat at my house as we don’t do juice normally.
Potty Chair or Potty Seat?
MELISSA SAID: “We taught her how to perch on the actual toilet seat pretty early on so that we could ditch potty seats and not have as much clean-up to do. Plus, that way we don’t have to drag a potty seat everywhere we go. Unfortunately, we had to break the floor potty out again as a way to encourage her to feel more comfortable pooping when she had her regression, but she still goes on the big toilet quite a bit which saves us having to rinse out the potty.”
No Pull-Ups
Carissa said: I have potty trained 3 kids. My oldest daughter was the hardest. It took a year to potty train her and once she was DAY trained it took her another year to be night trained as well. She was 3 when she finally was day trained but has to wear pullups to bed til she was 4. My son was 3 when he finally trained and once he trained it was day and night. My youngest daughter potty trained at 2 years 2 months old day and night. I think the difference for us was with my oldest two I used pullups even during the day. They could care less. They would poop and pee and it wouldn’t bother them. With my oldest I finally switched to underwear and at first she would pee in the potty but would poop in the underwear. I finally made her clean her panties and she finally quit pooping in them. My son was kind of the same as my oldest but not quite as bad. My youngest i went straight to panties right after her second birthday and she did awesome! Had a few accidents at first but that is normal!
JANICE SAID: “For naps and night it worked for us to just wait until her diaper stayed dry for a period of a couple weeks and then stop using the diaper. That happened younger than I expected, in our case 32 months. I found that the Oh Crap Potty Training method worked extremely well. I did bare bum for 2-3 days (no forced attempts; just rush them to nearby potty when they start to go until they go by themselves or tell you when they have to go), then pants/dress only on the bottom for a couple weeks and then undies. It wasn’t nearly as hard as I thought it would be!”
ZEPHYR SAID: “Don’t panic, it’ll happen. Don’t use pull-ups, they just confuse them. Bare bum made it so much easier for her to realise when she had an accident. It’s worth committing to three days at home to really consolidate the potty for pee-pee”
Stay Home
Natallie said: Staying home for three days is part of the method I followed! That way you can “allow” accidents to happen. By experiencing accidents it helps make that connection in their brains, like “oh…this isn’t good”. I would also recommend just keeping her in panties throughout the day.
BARNOLD SAID: “Be consistent–once you decide to go for it, just do it and keep at it.”
Reward Dryness
Shea said: Reward for staying dry and give a different reward for success in the potty! Staying dry is just as crucial to training as putting their business in the toilet!
Potty Training Methods Mentioned
Jananya said: I have a busy toddler so I dreaded having to be cooped up in the house for any length of time. My mom and I taught lil miss the basics in afternoon, every 15 mins or so we sat her down. Wiped, happy dance, repeat. Straight to undies. Next day I put the potty in a cloth bag and went about our day. In the park, playing in the sand, in the yard. Wherever lil miss went, so went her monster potty. And she got it in a few days! She had been clothed diapered and she was almost 2.5. We had a few accidents here and there but within a few weeks, she was accident free and she loved the no diaper changing routine. If you are a SHM with a busy bee, give it a go. Toss a roll of toilet paper, a 3oz spray bottle with pinesol and plastic bag for on the go poops and u are good to go.
Natalie said: Lora Jensen’s 3 day method! I didn’t pay the full fee on her website, but just bought the book on Amazon for $7. So worth it. Worked amazingly for my daughter when she was 2.5. I recommend it to everyone I know!
Marnie said: The wee was easy, the poop was hard. Babysteps, scaffolded around her natural rhythms. It took like 3-4 months. First I started asking her to poop in her diaper in her crib before her nap. Then I would change her. Then I asked her to poop in the bathroom, but I let it take a million years and she could read books. I just gave her privacy and time.
We used a star chart with rewards (treats from Whole Foods bulk bins!)
Her grand prize was a skateboard. She’s afraid to use it, but that’s another story.
ELIZABETH SAID: “Try the 3 day method if you can! Child may not be ready yet though, especially for poop.”
JACQUELINE SAID: “Have a game plan. Search for potty training bootcamp posts on Pinterest. I pulled the parts I liked best from a few different ones to devise our plan.”
JENNIFER SAID: “I have learned there is not one right way to potty train. It’s more of what the parent can handle. After trying the 3day potty training method I learned I am not ok having my child pee all over my house. I would much rather take them to the potty every 15 mins. Once we switched to a method we were comfortable with potty training was less stressful and went much smoother. Also, it’s ok to start then stop. We first tried at 2 years and she wasn’t ready. We went back to diapers then tried again in 2 months and she was ready then!”
Read the full steps of another potty training method here.
Poll Results
Here are the results of a poll I took of readers of this blog:
1-How old was your child when you started potty training that ended successfully?
- 14-15 Months: 2
- 22 Months: 1
- 2 Years: 4
- 25-27 Months: 4
- 28-29 Months: 4
- 3: 1
- 3.5 Years: 1
2-Did your child have a hard time learning to pee in the potty?
- Yes: 2
- No: 15
3-Did your child have a hard time learning to poop in the potty?
- Yes: 9
- No: 8
4-Did you ever use pull ups? If so, when?
Yes: 9
- At naps and nighttime: 3
- Naps only
- Night only
- During errands and naps
- During car rides and errands
- Just initially as a precaution
- Naps, night, and plane ride
No: 5
No, but doesn’t stay dry through sleeping: 1
No, but wears diaper for naps and/or night: 2
5-How long did it take your child to stay clean and dry in underwear relatively consistently?
- Immediate: 4
- 3 days: 3
- Less than 1 week: 2
- 1 week: 1
- 2 weeks: 2
- 2-3 weeks: 1
- 3 weeks: 2
- 1 month: 2
6-How did you have your child dressed from the waist down during potty training? (i.e. bare-bum, underwear only, fully dressed, pull-up…)
- Fully Dressed: 3
- Underwear: 8
- Bare-Bum: 6
7-How long after starting potty training could your child take a nap in underwear?
- Immediate: 5
- Immediate but not dry 100% of time: 1
- A few weeks: 1
- 1 Month: 1
- 2 Months: 1
- 3 Months: 1
- 4 Months: 1
- 5 Months: 1
- 7 Months: 1
- N/A: 4
8-How long after starting potty training could your child sleep at night in underwear?
- Immediate: 3
- Did immediate, but rarely wakes dry: 1
- Less than one week: 1
- 3 Months: 1
- 7 Months: 1
- N/A: 10
9-Did you do a “dreampee”? If so, for how long?
- No: 11
- No, but child wakes on own to pee in night: 1
- Yes, still doing it: 1
- Yes, still do sometimes: 1
- Yes, 1 year: 1
- Yes, didn’t work: 2
Related Posts:
- 5 Things To Do Before You Start Potty Training
- Potty/Poop Training Tip: Give Fair Warning
- Potty Training and Accidents
- Potty Training and Your Routine
- Potty Training Is Challenging
- Potty Training: How I Do It
- Potty Training: More Than One Right Method
Potty Training Tips
- Surviving Potty Training