What to do with potty

I am thinking of starting to potty train my own 19 month old daughter but this will be my first time starting potty training in a daycare atmosphere. My question:

I want to have a potty available for her to use, on top of taking her at certain times during the day. But how do I have a potty available without worrying that my daughter or the other 17 month old dcg in care won't start playing with it (especially if it gets used and I don't realize it right away).

My daughter is quite small and won't be able to get up on our toilet by herself (her bum is so small that she fell into the potty at my mom's house - lol!). She is very verbal and lets me know if she has pooped, so I think I will have success if I start training. Her older sister was potty trained by the time she was two and they are very much the same.

So should I just stay away from an actual potty and just put her up on the toilet when she asks/at set times or is there a way to make a potty chair work so that I don't have sanitary issues?

I need to have the bathroom door open and available at all times because I have 3 toilet trained preschoolers right now.

Really hoping for some help and advice, trying to make a plan to make this go as smooth as possible.

I just started training my 22 mos old daughter last week and it's going really well. I have a potty for her as I find a toilet a little scary for them when they are first learning. I placed the toilet in the kitchen behind the baby gate (I have a bathroom off the playroom as well with a toilet and another potty). This last week it has been out in the hall and it has been left alone by all the kids. I would know if she has gone though as she still doesn't initiate the potty herself (has learned to hold it now for an hour- an hour and a half, tells me when she has an accident and goes on the potty when I put her on it, just doesn't initiate it yet).

For daycare I only use the toilet to potty train. I have a seat on my toilet that has the potty seat built into the lid. During daycare hours the small potty seat is down for the kids. I like to "start as I want to end". My bathroom is at the back door up the stairs for me. I would suggest looking for one of these lids with the built in potty seat.

One of the reasons I just stick to the toilet is because I have seen situations where a child will not go to the bathroom on a big toilet when a child is out. Just this past Friday on an outing with daycare we were at McD's playing and there was a little girl there who was about 3.5-4 and she had to poop. Mom kept taking her to the bathroom but she refused to go. She was literally in pain trying to hold it. Needless to say the family ended up leaving shortly after because she absolutely refused to go in something other than her potty. This isn't the first time I have seen this happen.

When I first start potty training a child, I leave the potty in the hallway across from the bathroom so it's in sight at all times. It reminds me as well as the child!! I have never had an issue with any of the other children touching it or playing with it and we pass it multiple times a day. I do this for a week or two and then move it back into the bathroom.

I have a potty insert for the big toilet but very few of the kids like it so I don't use it often.

Pinterest has some good articles for potty training. Are you off at Christmas time at all? Maybe that week would be a good time to start if you are off or have lower dc numbers

Personally I am not a big fan of a "potty" for a few reasons.
One being, its gross! Really who wants to be watching a child use the potty and do their business in the kitchen, hallway etc.
Two, you would have to bring it everywhere that you go as child will only be used to going on that actual potty then you are in BIG trouble!
Three, who wants to clean out the potty after every use! Yuck! Much easier to use actual toilet with a seat on top with handles and a little stool.
I am the soon to be Mom of 5 and am just about to start training my own 20 month old. We have already bought the Elmo toilet seat with handles and stool. Just waiting for him to start showing signs. I tried the "potty" with my oldest and she gave the most trouble my other ones I used the toilet seat and they were easy peasy.
Good luck to you Mama!

I only use the insert on the toilet too - I prefer to use the one for a boy when training both sexes as it helps to hold them in place - no trying to slide off, and it forces them to open their legs a bit so they can't hold it as easily. Once they are able to go on their own I have both seats with and without the cup and let them use what they want.

I too find it so contradicts daycare cleanliness rules to have to dump and sanitize the potty between uses and then of course that means wash out the sink too. Same reason I don't dump and rinse cloth diapers.

If a child is fearful of sitting on the toilet then maybe they are not emotionally ready for the process. Have only had an issue with a couple kids and they took the longest to train meaning the process was started at parent request before child was truly ready.

I chose a potty because my children are quite tiny. Even using the stool and insert for the toilet I have to help her up and I don't always have the time to do that when she needs to go.

As for dumping down the sink...gross!! lol. I dump it in my toilet and then use a clorex wipe to disinfect. It's no different than disinfecting the stool, insert and toilet handle between each use. I only have one child who uses the toilet so I do admit I don't disinfect every time she uses it, just at the end of the day.

I know this is for your own child so you can't do this but I always ask the parents what they use at home. Every child I have helped train so far has used the potty in the beginning as they all started early and are/were tiny. If a child only preferred one over the other than I would solely use that.

Thanks everyone for the advice. I will try just putting her on the actual toilet, I have the inserts already. I started her in training pants yesterday to get things started and she really dislikes the feeling, which is good!

I don't find a potty unhygienic in the least and I like that she is in view of me. I also find having the kid see the other kids playing makes them get about their business right away rather then just "hanging out" on the toilet. I also found the transition to the toilet for all the kids here and my daughter no issue. They saw the toilet as the next step to being a big kid and liked the privilege of being allowed to go by themselves.

Somehow thinking it is ok to just wipe a potty bowl with a lysol wipe but feel they have to dump toys that were barely touched in a bleach solution seems to make no sense to me. If you have a potty for each child in training then maybe but I don't have the space for that as we use the small two piece on the main floor as the daycare bathroom.

Question - sorry if this gets off topic but do you guys wipe the toilet seat after each child?

I don't but have been told this is a rule when it comes to a licenced dayhome (not sure if it is true or not). All my kids go to the bathroom on their own so I wouldn't even know if there needs to be a mess cleaned up unless someone says something.

I don't wipe the seat down after each use, just at the end of the day or if there is a mess.

My bathroom is also dedicated to the daycare so it gets little use aside from the 3 yo's.

Maybe some people would think it is gross but I am not a super sterilizing germ freak. I really just rinse the potty (only one child is currently using it) and I rarely use bleach (toys included). We also have a very low incident rate for illnesses in my daycare. It seems to be just one child who get sick outside of daycare and brings it here but it never spreads (knock on wood) and it's never major. So far this yr she has had a million colds, pink eye, was sent home with a fever yesterday.

Mickyc I'm almost licensed in MB, about a month from being done. As far as I understand, the bathroom has to be cleaned every day, but there is no rule about cleaning the toilet every time it gets used.

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Originally Posted by playfelt

Somehow thinking it is ok to just wipe a potty bowl with a lysol wipe but feel they have to dump toys that were barely touched in a bleach solution seems to make no sense to me. If you have a potty for each child in training then maybe but I don't have the space for that as we use the small two piece on the main floor as the daycare bathroom.

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Sorry but I'm not sure I understand your point? I dump the potty in the toilet and then use a clorox/lysol wipe to disinfect it. I don't wash toys unless needed or if I am doing a toy rotation and putting them away. (I think it makes sense to wash toys when putting them away so that they are clean when you pull them out next time) To me, a bleach solution and the wipes are doing the same job and are the same thing. Plus even though the toys may not have been played with much, they were out and exposed to the germs and the coughing and sneezing etc.

I am far from a germaphobe and a clean freak so maybe I am just misunderstanding you lol

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Originally Posted by superfun

Mickyc I'm almost licensed in MB, about a month from being done. As far as I understand, the bathroom has to be cleaned every day, but there is no rule about cleaning the toilet every time it gets used.

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Ok thanks, I guess I was told wrong or misunderstood.

I don't do a lot of sanitizing. I think we need to be exposed to germs in order to build our immune systems. I check the washroom and the end of the day to make sure it is clean. I then clean it really well once a week. As for my toys I never really clean them (OMG that would take me a week I have so many). All kids need to wash hands before/after eating and going to the bathroom. When we have an illness go through I usually spray things down with Lysol spray and wash bedding. I put bleach in my dish water once a week and wipe down railings/baby gates with Lysol twice a month.