Plastic Potties and Peanut Butter M&Ms: How I Potty Trained My Twin Two-Year-Old Boys

*** This entire article is based on my opinion and experience ONLY.  I am not an expert of any kind, so if you have any concerns about my method, you should ask your pediatrician, counselor, or child’s teacher.  You are more than welcome to kindly disagree ***

If I was going to attempt potty training my 2-year-old twin boys (they will be 2 ½ on April 28^th) before my fourth baby arrived (May 24), it was now or never.  So I spent the bulk of last week hunkered down inside our house armed with plastic potties and Peanut Butter M&Ms.

It was not something I was looking forward to, but I told myself I would give it three, absolutely consistent, dedicated days, and if they weren’t making significant progress, we would put those potties away for the next six months at least. 

Last Tuesday morning, the diapers came off and the potties came out, along with the towels and sanitary spray.  To be honest, there was a part of me that hoped they would NOT get it.  Potty training and its maintenance is quite a commitment, and I wasn’t sure I was ready.  But they absolutely surprised me and rocked it.

By day three (Thursday) there was no denying that they were getting it.  They only had one accident each and in both instances, they were headed to the potty.  On day six, we went to church diaper-less and accident-free. 

As a mom, there is no greater miracle than potty-training your child.  Nothing will make you feel more like superwoman than successfully teaching your child how to use the toilet.  I am so terribly proud of my sweet boys and their willingness to learn and I have to admit I am a little proud of me too : )

As I look back over the last week, I realize that everything I did with the boys is almost exactly what I did with Sienna when she was potty trained at only 21 months old.  I am assuming I did a few things right, so I wanted to write down my experience in hopes that it will help others. 

In the next few paragraphs I am going to explain exactly what I did, and why I did it.  I will also list key take-a-ways and give you a current update on where we stand, including the things that still aren’t perfect!

My Method and Best Tips

The first three days are nearly identical.  I feed them a nutritious breakfast of oatmeal and then I let them eat all the salty snacks they want, so they will drink a lot, and therefore pee a lot.  I also give them apple juice (which they never get).  The goal is to give them multiple opportunities to “practice” going potty.  I want them to pee more than they normally would, so they can’t just hold it for hours. 

I close the doors to the bedrooms and try to confine them to our living room and play area.  I keep the plastic potties where we are, so they are visible and easily accessible. 

I do not ask them to sit on the potty at regular intervals.  I prefer to catch them in the act, grab them, place them on the potty, and let them finish (hopefully) in the potty.   If I can tell that they have to go potty, I will beg or bribe them to sit and then I might read to them, let them see my phone, and entertain them however I can until they go. 

I will encourage them to sit on their potties while they are watching TV or I am reading them a book.  Often this will lead to them eventually going in the potty. 

I celebrate every drop in the potty.  Even if they start on the floor and only get a few drops in the toilet, I celebrate big and give them a treat.  Oh, and my boys LOVED carrying the plastic potty insert to the real toilet, dumping it in, and flushing it.  This was a huge deal to them!

When they have accidents, I do not criticize or make them feel bad in any way.  I usually say something like, “Uh-oh!  Pee-pee goes in the potty silly boy!”  Any correction is very light-hearted, smiley, and friendly!

I diaper them for their afternoon nap and bedtime, but no other time. 

I prefer to keep them naked, but sometimes the boys wore undies if they wanted to.  I think there are advantages and disadvantages to children both being naked and wearing underwear.

When they are naked, you can more easily catch them in the act.  Also, I believe that sometimes undies can give children the impression that something is there to “catch” their pee or poop.  When they are naked, there is nowhere else for it to go. 

One advantage to undies is when a child has an “accident”, they can FEEL it, and may find it uncomfortable which is a good thing.  Some children enjoy picking out their own undies and don’t want to “mess” them up.  Having twins, I wasn’t always able to catch them in the act, so undies allowed me to see who made the mess. 

I remember with Sienna, at the end of day two I wanted to quit.  I felt she had regressed, it wasn’t working and I was ready to throw in the towel.  I felt very similarly with the boys, except now I knew, this was normal, and I needed to stick with it for day three.  Don’t give up after day two!

Unless they are REALLY not getting it, by day three, I do not purposely feed them salty snacks and drinks.  I go back to our normal eating/drinking routine. 

On day four, I move the plastic potties in to the bathroom, so the boys have to be conscious about giving themselves enough time to walk to the bathroom.

On day five, I put undies on them consistently and put the plastic potties away, encouraging them to use the real toilet either with or without the insert. 

I have heard that placing them on the toilet backwards is great because it minimizes the mess.  We did that a few times, but I also have taught them to sit far back on the toilet and lean forward, which also is very effective!

On day six, I took away the insert and we headed out of the house, in public, to church, for the first time.  I walked them in to their class and showed them the potty and reminded them to tell their teacher if they needed to go.  They did not use the potty, but they also did not have an accident.  After leaving their class, I took them to the potty, where I bribed them with a mint, and they both sat and went. 

Update

Today is day eleven and they are doing so well.  We’ve been to restaurants and the zoo with no accidents!  But when they are out in public, it has been more difficult to get them to try going.  I usually have to bribe them with a mint or candy or treat just to sit on the potty.  But it works and usually they do have to go.

What About #2?

Maddox is pooping in the potty consistently.  Price is not.  Price either goes in his diaper at nap or nighttime, or very unfortunately (and luckily rarely) goes in his undies.  That is NOT a fun clean-up : )  I haven’t done anything different with Maddox than Price, so I am just going to let this run its course and hope Price catches on!

Other Issues

On the other hand, Maddox will not go at school with his teachers.  I am wondering if it has less to do with school, and more to do with the fact that I am not there.  So I am going to be more intentional about having other people take him to the potty instead of me, so he will become more comfortable.

What About Naps and Nighttime? 

I don’t know when I will take away the diapers for naps and nighttime.  With Sienna, that was a slow process and I didn’t even consider it until she had consistently awakened dry.  To me, this is minor, did not cause confusion and never affected her daytime progress. 

How Do You Know If Your Child Is Ready?

Honestly, I don’t know how to tell if a child is ready or not.  I know there are readiness factors you should certainly take in to consideration (read more about that here), but when I trained my daughter at 21 months, she wasn’t “ready” at all according to the charts.

I also attempted potty training my sons six months ago, and it didn’t work.  So I tried again six months later, and they picked it up in three days.  In my opinion, if they aren’t significantly making progress after three days, they probably aren’t ready, and you should wait a few months and then try again. 

That being said, I don’t think it hurts to try early.  I feel like waiting too long gives children the opportunity to become headstrong and even develop unrealistic fears about it.  I like to at least try when they are still sweet, enjoy pleasing mom and dad, and don’t know any better!

Summary

-       **Keep the small plastic potties accessible and visible.

-       **Reward and celebrate every “hit”.

-       **Don’t leave the house for at least three days.

-       **Feed them salty snacks and lots of drinks, to give them many opportunities to practice.

-       **Naked or undies: it’s up to you!  You may need to experiment and see how your child responds best.

-       **Don’t give up after day two!

-       **After three days, you can start making small progressions like putting undies on, moving the plastic potties in to the bathroom, taking away the plastic potties, and even venturing out of the house.

-       **Always keep small mints or candies (that won’t melt) around so you can bribe and reward your child when appropriate.

      

      Thoughts?

I would love to hear from you and what has worked for you!  What did you do similarly to me?  What did you do differently? 

Any tips for me regarding Maddox's unwillingness to go at school and Price's unwillingness to go #2?

And like I said, I am no expert, but if you have any questions, I will absolutely do my best to answer them.  Feel free to comment below!