When To Start Potty Training Girls?
As a part of growing process, a toddler has to be taught many things. It takes patience and efforts from the side of the parents, so that a child develops into a physically and mentally healthy individual. Potty training is one such task which is very important to learn at a proper age. Actually, there is no precise rule about the age of potty training because the pace of learning in each child is different. It doesn’t mean that a child is weak or incompetent. It is just that your child has not figured out a way to deal with her body, yet. As mentioned in the previous article, there are many features included in potty training. Potty training in boys and girls is a bit different, due to the orientation of their excretory organs. Now, you will be keen to know, when to start potty training girls? Read on to learn some tips that will help you make the training process easier.
Click here to know When To Start Potty Training Boys?
When to start potty training a girl?
The best way to decide whether you should start potty training your girl or not is to look out for some symptoms. For this, you have to observe your child for few days and understand her body language. You can consider starting the potty training if you find the following changes in your child’s body:
- If she can control her bowel and bladder muscles.
- If she seems interested in wearing underwear rather than a diaper.
- If she develops an interest in using the potty chair or toilet seat.
- She explains through expressions or words that she needs to pee or poo.
- If she stays dry for two hours or more during the daytime.
- If she complains about dirty or wet diapers.
- If she can pull up and pull down clothes on her own.
- If she can sit and climb down from a potty chair.
It can take up to 3-5 years to potty train a child, completely and properly. So don’t panic if your girl does not grasp the concept easily. All it requires is efforts and patience.
What equipment’s are necessary for potty training?
Buy a potty chair that is suitable to her size. Also, the potty should fix on the toilet seat firmly, so that your child feels secure and comfortable. Provide a small stool to her in the bathroom, besides the potty chair, in order o let her climb up and down easily. Moreover, it is necessary that you supervise her during the potty session because toilets are a risky place. Even a small accident can create fear in her mind and she will resist from using the potty.
How to make potty training interesting?
Potty training can be a tedious process, at times. So it is necessary to maintain children’s enthusiasm for learning potty skills. You can read books with lots of interesting pictures or play a DVD that teaches about potty in a kid-friendly manner.
You can take your girl for shopping her own potty seat. At home, you can take her help to customize the potty chair by painting, writing her name or sticking some of her favorite cartoon characters. This will make her feel that the potty chair is her very own. She will be more than excited to use the potty instead of her regular diapers when she needs to pee or poo.
Teach words like ‘pee’ for urinating and ‘poo’ for defecating. This makes it simple for her to signal you every time she needs to use the potty.
How to start potty training?
- Give her a lot of time naked or just in a t-shirt, but without a diaper. This way she will figure out that she has to use the potty for nature’s call. You can also suggest her.
- Place the potty in a location that is easily visible to her.
- Let her watch you or any other female member using the toilet seat. This way she can learn faster.
- Sometimes, girls are stubborn to stand and pee like boys. So if your child wants to do that, let her occasionally do. With time, she will learn that girls and boys use the potty differently.
- Do not ever panic, if your girl doesn’t do it right. Negative expressions are biggest setbacks in the growth process of any child.
- Every time your child uses the potty instead of a diaper, praise her with sweet words. Tell her that she is advancing towards becoming a ‘big kid’. There is no bigger catalyst in a child’s growth than being told that she can grow big by doing so and so.
- For encouragement, you can let her paste the sticker of her favorite characters, every time she achieves success by using the potty.
Which cleanliness habits to teach along with potty?
Explain your girl the importance of keeping the pee and poo organs clean. Teach her to wipe her genitals from front to back, using tissue paper. Wiping front to back minimizes the risk of infections. Washing hands with soap after potty is a very important teaching.
Bladder infections are seen more commonly in girls. So consult a doctor if your girl needs to urinate more than normal frequency, has abdominal pain or pain in the urinary organs while urinating or after developing a bladder control starts wetting her pants suddenly.
Well, you should bear in mind that children may be well trained about potty during daytime, within few weeks or few months. But it might take some months to years to be sure that your child will not soil her clothes or the bed at night while sleeping.
Children spend most of their time with their mommies. So at times, they become stubborn and don’t act according to the instructions of mothers. In such situations, dads can really engage themselves in training their children. Research shows that this trick has worked in several cases. Also, if you have an elder child at home, the little one will learn everything faster by observing him/her. No matter how much time it takes for your child to learn, do not force her to do something when she resists. Be calm and help your child to progress physically and mentally in a healthy manner.