A part of motherhood I was not really looking forward to was figuring out how to potty train my toddler. To be honest, keeping them in diapers is a lot easier but obviously that’s not realistic so I had to get on board quick. Surprisingly, it was not as hard as I was making it out to be. I thought I would be stuck in my house for over a week before the potty training was complete and that’s not something I can do. I tried finding blog posts on how to potty train my then 18 month old but I did not come across as many as I did on 3 years olds. Lucky for me Hoda was already showing signs of wanting to be potty trained and her pediatrician recommended I give it a try at her 18 month check up. Slowly, she was fully potty trained within a month which was great for an 18-24 month old.

I received a ton of question on how I managed to potty train Hoda by age 2 and what techniques worked for us, so here is everything you need to know on how to train your 18-24 month old.

(1) Look for signs:

First things first, don’t try to push potty training to a child who is not showing any signs of being ready. This will only cause you frustration and steer the child away from being potty trained in the future. Some signs to look for are:

• Taking off diaper– What sparked the idea of starting to potty train was at Hoda’s 18 month check up she took her diaper off at the doctors office and peed on the floor. Soon after that she decided she didn’t want to wear a diaper any more. She would wake up in the morning and first thing she would do is take her diaper off then pee in the crib.
• Telling you she has to go number 2– Hoda started telling me she had to go number 2 before she did it in her diaper and I could tell by her face that something was coming. Once she started telling me she had to go, I knew I could start putting her on the potty. The first time I put her on the potty for number 2, she never did it in her diaper after that day.

(2) Positive reinforcement:

Many people told me that when I start potty training that I needed to scare them into going into the potty and not in their pants. People said I need to instill a little fear in them to make sure they don’t go in their pants. I was not a fan of this advice because that only causes you to yell and doesn’t excite the child to go in the potty. In my opinion it only makes them hate going to the potty.

Some people give their kids a couple of M&Ms when they pee in the potty and a couple more if they go number 2 which is a much better idea. I however, gave Hoda a sticker every time she sat on the toilet and peed. I knew she was obsessed with stickers and stamps at the time so I let her choose a sticker, For number 2, she would get a stamp on her hand. She quickly got used to this idea and it encouraged her to sit on the potty at random times throughout the day. Every time she sat on the potty and peed, I would shout “YAY” and give her a sticker.

(3) Buy her own baby potty or potty seat:

In the beginning I bought Hoda the Summer Infant my size potty. I had her sit on it multiple times to try and go but she would sit for a couple seconds and get right off and then pee on the floor. I wanted her to sit on it for a good 1-2 minutes incase she feels something coming but she would get right off. I then ended up getting the Munchkin sturdy toilet seat that goes on the regular toilet. With this I was able to have her sit on the toilet for a while without getting off and caught her going in it. The toilet seat worked way better even though you have to lift them up onto it every time but it was totally worth it.

After she was fully potty trained she would sit in the mini potty and go all by herself so both items came in handy in the end.

(4) Get her favorite character undies:

Hoda’s favorite character at the moment is Peppa Pig so I found a pack of Peppa Pig undies and told her not to get it wet. She loved them so much, any time she had an accident she would say “uh oh, Peppa wet.” Now she barely has an accident. This just gets them more excited to wear underwear instead of diaper/ Pull Ups. I used Pull Ups at night but if she wore them during the day, she would think it’s ok to pee in them.

Things to remember

Be patient: It doesn’t happen over night and if you’re training your child under the age of 2 it will definitely take a few weeks considering the communication barrier.

Be persistent: Keep reminding them that they need to pee in the potty. I kept repeating to Hoda “peepee in the potty” until she started understanding what it meant. Now she goes to the potty whenever she feels it coming without having to tell me.

Let me know in the comments if you’re trying to potty train your little one or if you already have and how was your experience. I’d love to hear what worked for you!

XOXO,