Potty Routine

*I wrote this post in February. Not sure why I never posted it...*


We are almost eight months into this elimination communication experience. Nola is fifteen months old and we are oh-so-close to declaring her traditionally potty trained. I thought some might be curious to know what it's like to have a tiny toddler who uses the potty. And I thought some might like some inspiration to start taking your tiny toddler potty.

On a good day, Nola's trips to the bathroom are almost like clockwork. She's become very routine, which works nicely for us since she is still learning how to tell us when she needs to go. Here's a little breakdown of our potty routine.

8:00ish...Sometimes we get her first pee upon waking in the morning. (She has been dry all night long only once. It was after an evening of peeing her pants every twenty minutes. Literally.)

9:00ish...If we didn't get her first pee, she will usually go right after breakfast. Either way, we then have a nice long break from the bathroom. She often goes two hours or more without using the potty in the mornings.

11:00 ish...She will need to go sometime around eleven.

12:30ish...She pees before we sit down for lunch, and then pees and poos right after.

1:00ish...She will pee at least once, maybe twice, again before her nap.

1:30ish...One more pee right before nap.

3:00ish...If I get Nola right away when she wakes up from nap, she will be dry and ready to pee. If I haven't heard her and she's been awake a bit, she has usually wet her pants. We're still doing underwear at nap, unless we're at someone else's house.

4:00ish...She often pees right after eating her snack. Which is sometimes only a half hour or so after her post-nap pee.

5:00ish...In the evenings, we shoot for taking her to the potty about every hour.

6:00ish...We take her before and after eating, as well. She most often poos after a big meal.

7:00ish...potty again.

7:45ish...last potty before bed.

So that's a pretty normal day for us. When you write it down is seems like so much, but it doesn't feel that way during the day. A trip to the potty only takes about two minutes now that she wears underwear. And we don't sit around waiting on her. She goes right away. There are a few times that I KNOW she needs to go, and it will take her a second to calm down and get the job done.

A good suggestion I have followed, and has worked well, is to take her potty at transition times. Before an activity, and then after an activity. Before we leave for Target, right before we start shopping at Target. Again before we leave Target. You get the idea. Even if she doesn't go all those times, somehow I think she knows, "Mommy will take me potty soon. I don't have to pee here in the cart."

So give it a whirl! You may be surprised how receptive your toddler is to giving it a go outside their diaper.