Must Know Tips for Potty Training Girls
on Nov 26, 2012, Updated Jun 09, 2018
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I have potty trained four kids – three girls and one boy – and it’s not as easy as you might thing. Here are my tips for potty training girls to help with your potty training efforts.
Must Know Tips for Potty Training Girls
Something exciting is happening at my house!! After EIGHT and a HALF YEARS of nonstop diapers, my last baby is finally interested in potty training. {WHEW – big sigh of relief} I dream of the day when I can stop using diapers forever!
A few weeks ago, Sara saw a picture of Huggies Pull-Ups training pants and said, “I want do dat!” I’ve had the potty chair out for a while and we’ve been reading books about the potty for a long time, but she has never really expressed any interest in trying the potty herself. I know children aren’t ready to potty train until they are able to walk and run and they should be able to dress and undress themselves, too. Sara is a little over 2 1/2 years old, and by this age, I had potty trained my other three kids {or had at least started in full force}. However, Sara was set back by hip dysplasia.
If you’re not familiar with our story, my youngest daughter, Sara, was diagnosed with a completely dislocated left hip at 15 months. We were concerned because she walked with a waddle and fell down consistently after taking only 4-5 steps. Because of a family history of developmental dysplasia of the hips, we finally saw a specialist and Sara had corrective surgery to put her hip back in its socket when she was only 17 months old. After 3 1/2 months of a full time half-body cast, from her waist to her ankles this time last year {the longest 3 1/2 months of my life}, Sara had to learn to walk all over again. She’s just now starting to run, though she mastered the art of undressing herself a long time ago… I’m not sure she’s quite ready, but if she’d like to give potty training a try, I’m all for it!
We gathered my Must Have Supplies for Potty Training a Girl –
- Huggies Pull-Ups Training Pants
- Potty chair
- Potty books
- Water {to drink and to trickle out of the faucet – encourage that peepee…}
- Toilet paper
- Reward chocolate from UNREAL, because I prefer the ingredient list to other chocolates
- Stool {for me to sit on}
And got to work. Hmmm…sitting on the potty with the Pull-Ups on the booty!? That kind of defeats the purpose, don’t you think?
That’s better! When I finally get a kid ON the potty, the trick is to keep her distracted for a while and hope she pees without realizing it. I keep a big basket of books nearby and sit on a stool and we read. If she’s ready to get up after a few books, I let her get up. I don’t force potty training at all – been there, tried that, dealt with the aftermath for a long time…BUT – once she finally does get that initial pee in the potty, we have a PAR-TAY! We call Grandma and Daddy, dance around, eat some chocolate, drink some water, and then sit back down on the potty. I’m still waiting for that with Sara…
Once upon a Potty by Alona Frankel is one of our favorite potty books. But any book that keeps her occupied for a while, like books that are full of flaps, are great for potty training. Why it’s easier to potty train naked, I’m not so sure. But all of my kids preferred to sit on the potty chair buck-naked.
Our favorite potty books have made it through three children now {Yes, even Ben read the girl books… and boy books as well} and are well loved, as you can see here! And Sara really enjoys them, too.
Books help me a lot during potty training, but another really helpful tool for me is the Pull-Ups itself. Normally I use cloth diapers, and have with all four of my children {except we used Huggies disposables the entire time Sara was in her spica cast. If you’ve ever seen one of those horrible casts, you can understand why cloth just wouldn’t work. I was not risking more blow-out than I got. Diapering was the THE biggest challenge the entire time she was casted.}. But there comes a time when the convenience of pull-ups is justified for me. They are easy to get on and off, they do a nice job wicking moisture away, and I don’t normally worry about blow-outs or leaks. I have used Huggies Pull-Ups with all four of my children. I also resort to a few bribes, like healthier chocolate and candies, but because my kids are so used to cloth diapers, the disposable Pull-Ups are a treat and reward in and of themselves!
I ordered these Huggies Pull-Ups online at Walmart.com and then picked them up in the store. I had to brave Walmart on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and being able to walk in, grab them, and, go, was really nice. I was able to pay with PayPal and the whole process was super easy. The roll-back price of $8.97 a bag is a pretty good deal – especially if you can find any coupons to pair with your purchase – and is available both online and in the store!
But the best part of this whole story? Being able to kiss all of these potty supplies GOOD-BYE forever! I’m really looking forward to that day.
How do you approach potty training in your house? What’s on your list of must-have supplies for potty training?
For some reason we had the full nudity while on the potty as well. Frankly, as long as he was using the potty, I would have agreed to a clown costume. Whatever works.
My son prefers to be dressed LOL, but if he wanted to be naked I would be more than ok with that considering he manages to pee on his shirt everytime we try the potty! The books are amazing and work like a charm! We have a basket of open the flap books and it really does keep them occupied easily.