Here’s another anecdotal account of early potty training, this one involving a mom who had personal interest in early training, both to avoid messy diapers and to help the planet. What are your thoughts?
http://coastalmommies.com/blog/2012/7/potty-training-infants
I found this blog by a mom who, much to her surprise, is potty training her little guy at just 15 months.
http://imsimplymomma.blogspot.com/2012/07/potty-time.html
What do you think? Good timing? Too early? Just right?
From time to time a blogger will take a look at the Potty Time program and write up a review. We love that Potty Time is spreading and recently saw some great independent insight into what we offer.
Amber over at JadeLouise Designs had this to say:
Potty Time is a fantastic combination of sign language, songs, verbal, 
auditory, and visual stimulus to help a little toddler learn about how amazing their body is. In Potty Time you learn new sign language signs. Each sign is showcased with Rachel (the creator and instructor of the videos) showing the new sign and saying the name of the sign. Also showcased is the actual word written out, plus a photo to show what the word means. It’s a very well rounded instruction to ensure any learning style will be well received.
Thanks, Amber! We’re so glad you liked Potty Time! To read lots more about Amber’s take on our programming, and see what else she’s up to, please visit her blog at JadeLouise Designs!
My Big Girl Undies and My Big Boy Undies by Karen Katz
This book comes in two editions, one for boys and one for girls. These books celebrate the fun of underwear, and also acknowledge the occasional accident. The prose is largely the same, just switching out boys and girls. Neither book is really gender specific, at least not beyond the patterns on the underwear and the gender of the children in the illustrations. In other words, your child won’t learn anything about the differences in going potty when you’re a boy or a girl, such standing up or sitting down, wiping front to back, etc. Nonetheless, this is a carefree and fun way to enjoy the potty process, particularly the celebration of wearing underwear.
We have two great resources for training boys and girls here on the blog that do help with gender specifics, and these would be a good addition for Mom and Dad if using these books.
Potty Training Boys and Girls: A mom to 11 kids talks about some of the insights she got from raising her family.
Specific Tips for Girls and Boys: A list of tips specific to training each gender.
Question: My daughter doesn’t tell me she has to go potty. I’ll sit her on the potty sometimes she goes other times she screams but she takes her diaper off all the time… when I put big girls panties on her five min later there wet… what can I do? She’s two.
Here’s a great video chronicling one family’s potty training adventures.
Do you have an adorable video of your kid in the process of potty training? Share it on our Facebook page!
Like the chart they use? Be sure to check our version as a free download on the Resources page!
Here’s a great video with gentle advice for supporting a child’s potty training process, including following the real-life adventures of one little girl.
This book is listed for ages 24 – 36 months on the cover and contains simple illustrated representation of the loveable Sesame Street characters. What I particularly appreciate about this book is that each character is at a different stage of development, one who goes all the time, one who has the occasional accident, and one who is just not interested at all yet. This may be very reassuring to children and parents alike!
The text invites children in by asking occasional questions and explains what each character is doing and why.
One page even mentions how a character calls her time in the bathroom “potty time”, which is a rather convenient link to the Potty Time program too!
To read our other book reviews, click HERE
Too Big for Diapers (a Sesame Street Babies publication)
In five quick page turns, this book follows Baby Ernie (shown as a stuffed doll) through the potty training process. It has very simple words describing what he is doing on each page, stressing the “stop and go!” concept in a similar way to Potty Time.
The photos of the dolls and props are large and bold, likely very engaging, especially to children who are training a little bit on the younger side, or who absolutely love Sesame Street.
A really nice companion to this book might be our Baby Hopkins plush who can be snuggled with as the story is read, and used to act out what Baby Ernie is doing in the book.
To read our other book reviews, click HERE!
We are reviewing some potty training books! Our entire collection of reviews will be housed HERE.
You Can Go to the Potty
By William Sears, M.D., Martha Sears, R.N., and Christie Watts Kelly
This book is from the Sears pediatrician team, particular favorites of those who like the attachment parenting method. It’s also one of the books I (Colleen) used with my own son! It actually starts out with tips for parents, and explains some of the choices in the book, as well as giving a few tips if you are experiencing any difficulty during the potty training process.
The story starts out talking about the baby days. In line with the attachment parenting approach, the illustrations show both nursing and co-sleeping, which some families will greatly appreciate and others may not as much. It then transitions into what big kids can do, and talks about where pee and poo-poo might go, first in a diaper and now into the toilet.
This book takes a specific approach to the timing of potty training, telling children they will switch to underwear when they can keep their diapers dry. Some families will do well with this timing, whereas others may find a different approach is going to work better for their child.
The book moves on to the process of potty training, including a supportive take on accidents and of course lots of great celebrating. A particularly nice aspect of this book is the little insets on some pages called “Answers for the Very Curious”. These boxes contain questions children might ask about going potty and simple answers that they can understand – very helpful!
As this is geared towards little ones but is very factual, it would make a nice companion to a more playful approach, such as our book “Hopkins Uses the Potty”