The Potty Training Bible: The only impartial guide to all your potty training options - for boys and girls [Paperback]

Practical potty training solutions

Find the right potty training method for your toddler. Let’s be honest, potty training is something every parent must go through, but it’s not the best thing about parenting. There can be tears, tantrums, not to mention frequent accidents at the worst possible time, and in the worst possible places. But what’s the best approach? What if you start one method and it doesn’t work? And are boys different to girls? We show you the 5 main different methods to potty train your child so you can make up your own mind about what works for you and your child. We give you practical advice that weighs up the pros and cons of each method, helping you find the best solution tailored to your baby. Do you want to fit your potty training into one short, sharp but effective burst? Are you following a routine, and need to know how potty training can fit in? Can’t stand the prospect of fights and tears, and want a calm, stress-free method? Laid out in an easy-to-compare format that helps you decide what suits you and your child, this book will take the strain out of potty training.

Painless potty training for every child

It’s far from our favourite job as parents, but we all need to potty train our children. It’s a messy job but someone’s got to do it. So it’s important to take children through it as quickly and painlessly as possible. But not all children cope with potty training the same way; boys and girls often differ greatly.

This is the only book to explain all the main approaches to potty training so you can choose which will work best for your child. Find out how to:

• Tell when your child is ready
• Choose the right approach for your child
• Deal with accidents without fuss
• Make potty training fun for your toddler

Inside, you’ll discover a realistic and stress-free solution that’s right for you and your child.

Jo Wiltshire is a parenting author and journalist, and mother of two young children. A parenting expert on BBC Radio, she offers advice and support on a wide range of family issues. Jo is the author of The Baby Sleep Bible and Sneaky Parenting.

WHICH POTTY TRAINING APPROACH WILL SUIT YOU? Haven’t we all had it up to here with being told what to do? There are an awful lot of people out there who have very definite opinions about childcare and parenting issues. Authors, government officials, healthcare professionals, journalists, celebrities ... And yes, you might point out that I am one of those. But what I want to do is help you make your own mind up. Now, many parenting guides are very informative and a huge lifeline for parents. The fact that parents these days have a sea of information about every aspect of childrearing at their fingertips, instead of being limited to what their own parents did, has to be a good thing. At least we can make informed choices. But that’s the thing. Where has the freedom to choose in peace gone? What about parents being credited with the intelligence to choose what’s right for their family – and then being left to get on with it without constant superior heckling from the outside world? When the time comes for you to potty train your child, you’ve probably already waded through a whole lot of expert advice, timetables and heartache regarding other issues in your child’s life, such as sleeping and eating. You are all ‘baby-booked’ out. You look around, and find that indeed, those same gurus that helped you through the early stages are still around to tell you all about the correct approach to potty training. You might find this a relief. You might want an alternative. But the thought of going it alone and just doing the whole thing by instinct is a scary one. What if you get it wrong?

I am just about to start potty training with my second child, Charlie. He is two years and nearly two months old. There. After just one sentence of this book, most readers will already have made a judgement. Nearly two-and-a-quarter? ‘About right’, some will think. ‘Why hurry? Let him do it when he’s ready’, others might wonder. ‘Good grief, that child is practically in senior school – why didn’t she have him on the pot a good year ago?’ others might say. And that is the issue with potty training. There is no manual that comes attached to your baby’s left foot with a plastic tag, informing you exactly when this manufacturer’s model is programmed to pee to order and when you should commence Operation Nappy Off. Instead, parents face what seems to have become the standard mode of dispensing advice for the modern parent: a host of rather strident ‘expert’ voices promoting one method as a kind of mystical ‘Potty Training Grail’. Add to this a barrage of accusing news stories, suggesting that whichever way you choose is intrinsically selfish and will damage your baby in ways untold. Oh, plus a good few all-too-readily aired personal opinions from your nearest and dearest. The Potty Training Bible will be your breath of fresh air, in this rather pungent potty training environment. It will not preach. It will not tell you the way you are considering is wrong. It will not tell you there is only one way. And it will not assume that you and your baby have a textbook life into which any approach can be shoehorned rigidly and with no deviations. This book is a practical, useful guide to a range of approaches to potty and toilet training, which doesn’t promote one particular method with bias. It acknowledges different family requirements and different baby personalities, and will help you find the best solution tailored to your baby. Want to fit your potty training into one short, sharp but effective burst? -Got an urgent deadline for dryness, or need to do the whole thing in one school holiday? -Got another sibling on the way, and want to try potty training at an early age? -Following a routine with your baby, and need to know how potty training can fit in with that? -Can’t stand the prospect of fights and tears, and believe there must be a calm, stress-free method to follow? This book has all the answers – with expert opinion and top tips from parents who’ve tried each method. Potty training often plunges families into trauma. Unlike those other ‘big issues’ of sleeping and eating, this is not something that has been a ‘constant’ from day one; part of everyday life. Instead, it’s something which raises its head just when parents feel like the chaos of those early baby days is waning, and they are finally getting their lives back on track – until suddenly family life is dominated by a small plastic bowl and whether or not there is anything in it. In this book you don’t get a list of dos and don’ts. You get the information and advice you need to help you decide what you want. How you want to do it. And then we tell you how. If you want to ditch the nappies your way, read The Potty Training Bible. Dryness awaits! Admittedly after a few, or even a lot, of puddles, but it’s there. Hang on to that thought, and let’s get started. And remember, when it’s done, it’s done forever!