Our Potty training guide and Diary Day 1

The summer is nearly over, although the last week has been a little cooler the weather is still quite warm - the perfect time to start potty training and that is exactly what we have been doing so over the next few weeks I am going to be telling you about our potty training journey and any problems we might encounter along the way so I hope it helps you as much as it helps me to understand what I might be doing right or wrong and most of all how Adam takes to it!

first things first, potty toilet, seat pants, pull ups, Where do you start? although its great to start thinking about the equipment you are going to need, I think the first thing I need to think about is Adam ready, here are my tips to find out if your child is ready?

1. Can they communicate there toileting needs even if it is just a few simple words like "wee wee" or "Poo Poo" or you can even use wet and dry, whatever is easiest for your child but the main thing is they can tell you there toileting needs.
2. Are they able to help with there clothing? after all sometimes us parents cant be there for them all the time.
3. Do they know what the toilet/potty is and will they sit on it? 
4. Do you have time to spend with your child over the next few weeks to help them and are you as a parent ready?
5. last of all is it a convenient time, big life events such as a new baby, illness, or a move of house can make your child unsettled make sure when you start there isn't anything else going on that is going to cause distraction.

So how did you find the check list? I have a tick for all of my points above so I am sure Adam is very ready. next up equipment what equipment are we going to use?

There is so much around in this market I think you should go with what your child is most comfortable with and the equipment doesn't have to be state of the art, I know there are all singing and all dancing potty's available but realistically a simple one is fine ours was £4 from Morrison's
I have also got a toilet seat and step from when Liam started toilet training and the dry like me pads and of course some pants in which Adam has picked himself hopefully with some incentive, you could also get the pullups - now like I have said it is each to there own however I found when Liam was potty training he got confused with the baby pull ups and got on much better with the dry like me training pads.

Here is the equipment in short (down to personal and your child's choice)

• Potty
• toilet seat and step
• Dry like me Pads 
• Pants (plenty of pairs)
• Pull ups
• A reward chart 

there we have it my first helpful tips hopefully to get you started and remember once you start try and carry on as children are easily confused in the early days once you start training. The potty has been in the living room for a few weeks so Adam could get used to it my way of thinking was if it has always been there he wouldn't be frightened, also with Adam because he is still very small he cant get on and off the toilet himself - which has brought me to the idea that to start off with, or until he grows a bit we will be using the potty.

Day 1 Potty training diary,

Today I decided we would face potty training head on - but in the home I have been planning this week for a while, this week we wont be leaving the house very much only to go round to the local shop I want to see if we can try and crack it and as today has been very warm I have left Adam without his nappy on, introduced him to the potty and told him if he needs a wee or poo to sit on the potty.

With the potty firmly in place and sight in the garden - we waited....... and much to my amazement he didn't say anything he just went and sat on it! I am a very proud mummy! 

He has now used the potty a few times and when he did myself and Liam clapped he looked very pleased with himself, he has also gained himself several gold stickers. We have had a few accidents which is to be expected - he was genuinely upset by them but I am glad he has been using the potty too - tomorrow I will be introducing him to pants to see how he gets on with another obstacle to over come, for night time he will be wearing his nappy as once potty training is firmly established in the day hopefully the nights will become easy.

How is your little one getting on with potty training? I would love to hear your story's, for more information and to see what other mums are doing you can visit www.drylikeme.com

   

        

Introducing my BritMums Live 2014 sponsor! Dry like Me

As you know just after Christmas I wrote a plea to ask for sponsorship to work with a brand that I could represent during one of the biggest blogging conferences that is seen across the United kingdom.

I wanted to work with a brand that I truly believe, in one that not only I believe in, but also that I was familiar with and that would be something that would be easy to fit into our lives - something I knew I would be writing about throughout the year.

I was over the moon and honered when Dry Like Me said they would love to sponsor me for BritMums live 2014. It is an absolutely fantastic brand, and one that I truly believe in, as I used there products when I was potty training Liam and My aim is that by the end of the summer Adam will be all out of Nappies too. You will be able to follow our potty training journey throughout the end of spring and summer.

Introducing my Sponsor Dry Like Me,

 

 

For anyone that isn't so familiar with Dry Like Me, let me tell you a bit about them. The brand was created by two mums,

"Jude and Diane were working mums and long-time friends who were both going through their own difficulties with toilet training their children. Unable to find a solution that suited their needs they began developing their own ideas, and that was how the whole concept of Dry Like Me was born".

The brand has had all sorts of fabulous reviews from journalists to mummy bloggers, meaning that today the brand is stocked in Asda, Tesco and Wilkinsons just to name a few so as you can see the brand is huge household favourite.

So what exactly is it? It is not a nappy nor is it a pull up, they are simply pads that you insert inside your child's underwear.  I Say Simply but when we Potty trained Liam they were a way of helping him to understand what was happening when he started to go to the toilet, with out actually being on the toilet unlike nappies or pull ups they do not soak in the wee or poo they simply buy you more time to get your child to the toilet, reinforce the feeling that they don't want to be sat in their own mess and save you as a parent getting through copious amounts of washing every day.

The Pads are really, really thin so your child wont feel like they are actually sitting on anything - so as not to confuse them and can be worn at the front of the pants for wee and the back for poo or both.

Their are different products available for different stages in your child s potty training journey - in which I will be telling you about as we start our potty training journey.

I love that Dry like me was created by mums for mums to help there children and it will help yours, it gives you more faith in a product when you know something has been created by someone who understands the trials and tribulations that potty training can bring.

I will be telling you more about both Britmums Live 2014 and Dry like Me as the year goes foward For more information now about Dry like Me - you can visit there website www.drylikeme.com follow them on Facebook and Twitter