Otto Starts Toilet Learning; The Crowd [me] Goes Wild!
A few days ago Otto stood up during his bath and gave me a funny little look. He was standing in a funny little way and I just knew what was going down: he had to go potty. So I said, "do you want to sit on the toilet and go pee?" and he said, "da" (which means yes, though lately he's more likely to say "yeeeeyahhh" like he's from Chicago, which is freaking cute). Anyways, so I picked him up, plopped him on the toilet, held him there, and he peed! I can't even put into words how excited I was about this giant leap for Muth-kind!
The next day we made a special trip to Target to pick out a potty chair. Otto tried sitting on a few, and seemed to enjoy kicking it on the BabyBjorn, so that's what we went with.
That was a few days ago and I'm still riding the wave of potty excitement I felt during the bath incident! So far, though, the Bjorn potty has gone un-christened. We aren't pressuring Otto to use the potty at all. But it sits proudly in our bathroom, and Otto loves to just sit on it and play.
A Bunch of Awesome Moms Tell Us What They Thought About Their Kids' Training Potties:
I asked some moms I know from Twitter to share their reviews of the potty chairs they used for toilet training. Here's what real moms had to say about the popular toities on the market:
I have an almost 5 yr old little girl so I'm not so new at the dreaded potty training adventures. Yet when I started the second go round with my little guy I was determined to find a good potty seat! When training my DD I found that the seats I purchased were awful to empty (not to mention about a handful of more problems). Not as easy as 1,2,3 that's for sure. When I saw the Baby Bjorn potty seat I fell in love. I knew he would love it since it was BIG and BLUE. It just screamed big boy seat to me.
Well and now.....nobody else can mess with his seat. He just loves it! As far as a mommy plus it's very simple to empty. I never have to clean up a mess with his potty.The bowl stays white,it's comfortable to him and granted there are no bells and whistles but let's face it.. It's a toilet and maybe we care more about the features than the kids. I wish I would have gotten my DD one. I feel like she would have loved the PINK one!
* It's simple, adorable (as a potty seat could be) and very well made !
When my daughter started potty training we looked everywhere for a potty chair I even looked up reviews online. Then we came across the Boon Potty Bench. We were not looking for just any potty chair either we needed to put into consideration that this potty chair was going to be used by a child with special needs who had limited mobility. So it couldn't be a potty seat adapter for the toilet. The fact that the Boon Potty Bench could be used as a step stool after kinda sold me, and the fact that it could be easily stored too. So we brought it home to try it out. Audrianna was sooo excited to try out the potty bench she was able to crawl over to it and lift the seat cover itself and turn herself around and sit on the potty, because it's wide she was able to slide herself over to position herself over the hole, which was great no accidents on the floor. She actually peed in it the very first time too and she was so proud of herself. She's 5 now and she's not completly potty trained yet and she has outgrown her potty bench she is just way to big for it. I would recommend it up til about age 3 unless your toddler is really tall. I am soo excited we held onto ours because we can use it for baby number 2 when shes big enough to start potty training. It also has the tray that slides out easily so u can dump the pee and poop in the toilet, there are side compartments one has a toilet paper holder so your little one can feel like he or she really is a big kid. It is easy to clean and doesn't take up a lot of space. I really don't have anything bad to say about the potty bench.
We bought the Safety First Comfy Cushy 3-in-1 potty chair at a local store when Poot started peeing in the big toilet. This seat gives the option of using it as a potty chair, using part of it on the toilet, or using it as a step stool.
We chose this seat so we didn't have to make the decision between a ring for the toilet or an actual seat. I also like that the ring he sits on is padded. You don't want an uncomfortable seat or the child won't sit on it.
However I don't recommend this seat especially for boys because the "guard" doesn't block his penis from spraying unless we mash it down and that can't be comfortable. He also has a difficult time getting onto the potty. If he just sits he isn't far enough back and misses the hole. We typically have to place him on the potty seat.
To make it work as a step stool you close the lid and stand on it. The closed lid doesn't feel very sturdy to me. The plastic gives when you stand on it. I guess I'm not supposed to be standing on it, but I had to test it out for him.
It serves its purpose but I would purchase a different seat. If you're on the fence about the donut for the potty or a seat, try both instead of this chair.
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When our daughter began to potty train we wanted to offer her the option of the big potty…or a floor model – whatever suited her fancy. We purchased a cheap potty from Walmart and paid around $14. The toilet is green on the base and white on top. The removeable seat inside can be used on the big potty if/when wanted. The toilet has been great! I’m sure there are fancier ones available (I’ve even seen toilets now that sing songs) but for us, this one has served it’s Potty Purpose just fine.
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Safety 1st Musical Talking Potty & Stepstool
It is supposed to ‘flush’ and play some music. ‘Supposed to’ because I couldn’t figure out how to attach the handle and music box correctly so we never used it. And when you close the lid it’s a great step stool. There is one big problem with this chair though, there is no cushion, it’s flat across and really uncomfortable to sit on. It is easy to empty though, because the there is nothing you have to take off to get the cup out. A little too easy since my daughter never used it as a potty and instead put snacks in it and dumped the cup out very frequently.
Safety 1st Pretty in Pink Comfy Cushy Potty
This was the special potty chair that my daughter picked out because it was pink! And it worked! She loved this chair and because it has a cushioned seat it was very comfortable to sit on. The downfall of the cushion is that, lets face it, kids don’t ever get it all in the toilet at first and the cushion would soak up any pee that landed on it. I tried everything, soaked it in lysol, bleach, you name it and still couldn’t get the smell out. The lid on this one also closes to make a great step stool. There aren’t any fancy sounds or songs but I think this one is great for comfort and price!
Elmo 3 in 1 potty chair
This is the seat that my son chose for his potty training. He LOVES Elmo. This Potty can be used as a Potty Chair, a Potty Seat on top of the toilet, and as a step stool. But, it takes some reconfiguring to change it up so we just kept it as a potty chair. I found that this seat is great for larger toddlers (my son is very tall/big for his age and his butt didn’t fit comfortably onto many of the other seats), and it’s also great for boys since the splash guard is large and covers the whole area making it less likely for them to pee OUT of the chair and onto the floor. Elmo is pretty cool too, when you press his hand he shouts out encouraging comments!
Of course my son quickly decided that he didn’t want to use a potty chair at all and wanted to use the big toilet like the rest of us which brings me to my last option: the potty ’seat’ that fits onto the top of the toilet.
Dora Potty Seat
I think potty ’seats’ are great for transitioning smaller bottoms onto the big toilet but they also are better in theory than they are in practicality. First, small children usually can’t get themselves up onto the potty so unless you have a stair contraption to help them get up, you will still have to do a lot of work to get them on and off the toilet. Also, it is really hard to position them on there just right and that usually means Pee on the floor! Probably not great for beginners but definitely something to consider for a skilled potty goer who may be slightly afraid of the big potty.
To view Rachael's entire review post, including "Other Tips on Toilet Training" check out her awesome blog here: http://rockonmommies.com/rachael/?p=836
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When our little guy was ready for potty training, I decided that I really just wanted the kind that you plopped on the toilet. I was trying to avoid the whole cleaning out the potty chair issue. I quickly realized that those potty seats that fit over the toilet seat are better for bigger kids. So, we went on a mission to Target. I was all about letting Jack pick out his own potty! He was instantly sold on the Fisher-Price Stepstool Potty because it makes music when you, ahem, fill it.
We got that potty home and it was out of the box and “in use”, literally within minutes-genius I tell you! The rest is history…but here are some important details.
Pros-It is just so exciting to use! Our guy loved waiting for the music and it was a fun positive reinforcement. The boy version has a splash guard that actually guards! The seat has handles on the sides, which helps the little ones find their balance. It can also double as a stepstool when closed, but we haven’t really used it as one since we already had one by the sink.
Cons-The only con I can think of is that the sensor for the music does wear out after extended use. It worked great for Jack and we recently got it out for our 18 month old daughter (mum’s the word on the fact that it’s the ‘boy’ version-I just popped off the splash guard, and she won’t know the difference). The sensor is a little more sensitive and sometimes goes off just upon her sitting down. Again, this is also after it has been thoroughly used by one child, stored, and used for another.
This potty chair worked so well for our son, and it’s about finding what works best for your individual child. Go Otto!!!
I just want to say a HUGE THANK YOU to each of these amazing moms for sharing their experiences with each of these chairs!
-Lindsey
