Today’s post is all about potty training! I meant to post this a while ago but life has been busy! I can officially say my kids are potty trained and have been for a while! Please keep in mind, I am NOT a potty training expert and I am not in the medical field. I read a lot of books and made a system that I thought worked best for our family. I’m just sharing what we had success with!
When is the right time to potty train? The first time we tried they weren’t even 2, a lot of people say this is the ideal time. For us, it wasn’t! I thought for sure my two were ready because they were hitting every milestone that showed they were ready. We tried the 3-day naked method and it absolutely did not work for us (so many people swear by it though). I’m sure they would have eventually gotten it but it felt forced and I didn’t want that.
Many others recommend to beginning closer to age 3 and that’s what we did. We actually did it a lot later than I originally planned because we had 1-3 trips every month. I knew I wanted a good 3-4 weeks at home where we weren’t on the road and staying in hotels. I also was dreading this, I mean dreading it! I’m not one that handles poop, pee, and vomit messes very well so this was something I wasn’t looking forward to. If you were close to me, this was something I talked about 6 months prior because I was dreading this process so much! We even talked about hiring someone and I tried to bribe my mom into coming. Ha!
Basically, do what you think is best for your child and your schedule! No one asks on a college application what age your child was when they potty trained. There is no rush unless your child is getting ready to start preschool and that is a requirement.
Training Twins
So honestly, I read a TON of books before this process and NOT ONE mentioned twins. I got really frustrated because as most twin moms know, having two children of different ages is nothing like having twins. I had to sit and think so many times, what was best for us…training them at the same time or doing it one at a time. At the end of the day, I decided I’d rather have a shorter time of complete and utter chaos than doing it twice even though it would be a lot easier. I can see benefits to doing both, but I decided to do them at the same time. Was it easy? UMM NO! There were times where I was helping one and during that, the other one had an accident. I had initially picked a week to start that I also thought my husband would be home a lot…well it turned out he got called into overtime a TON that week! I didn’t want to push it back so I did the big stuff without him. I don’t recommend this if you have twins, you really need two people if you’re doing them at the same time but I survived!
Our Method
On the first morning, we made everything really exciting!
They each got a present: a book about superheroes going on the potty and big kid underwear.
Next, we put all of the leftover diapers in a bag and “put them in the mail for babies that need them”. I read that having them wear diapers or pull ups during the day confuse toddlers.
They immediately put on their big kid underwear and t-shirts, for the first day this is all they wore. I set a timer for every 30 minutes and I’d make them go/at least try.
I also made them each sticker charts and when they went they got 1 sticker for peeing and 2 for pooping.
The first day, we mainly stayed in their playroom. I put a tarp down and took all the furniture that couldn’t be wiped off out. This made cleanup very easy!
The first day involved a few messes, lots of cheering (when they went), and a lot of potty talk.
After 2 days, we introduced pants and set the timer for every hour. After probably 4-5 days, the timer went away and I had them tell me when they needed to go! I’d say it took a good few days for them to really grasp the concept, a week with no accidents and for them to tell me that they needed to go.
Night Training
I should also mention that I didn’t night train my kids. I talked to my pediatrician and they recommend not night training if your child or children are sleeping well! They don’t want to disrupt this because sleep is so important and that kids will naturally grow out of this. We still do diapers/pullups at night (only for sleeping).
Overall, I was really proud of my kiddos and at how well they did with this!! I made it into a much bigger deal initially compared to what it turned out to be.
If you’re getting ready to start this process, take a deep breath! You’ve got this!
Being a mom of twins is so tiring and exciting at the same time. Wishing you and your family luck, health and prosperity and of course STRENGTH
Hihi….I kkknnnooowwwwww, right? It’s like no one ever writes for the marginalised people like twins, kids living with double-sex organs, the differently-abled and many more. You simply have to “wing it” as you, the adult.
It sounds like your kids are doing so well with their potty training. It can be a difficult path, but if you consult your kids’ doctor and have a plan, it goes a lot easier.
Potty training one child is stressful enough, but I cannot imagine how it would be with twins! I am glad you were successful though. You must be so proud of your achievement.
I remember how hard it was with each of our girls. I can’t imagine doing it with two at once. We did find that the pull ups at night worked at first, but then confused them a lot, so we stopped giving them anything to drink 2 hours before bed and made sure they went to the bathroom right before bedtime. They would naturally wake up and go straight to the potty. We only had a couple of accidents and it was super smooth!
It’s interesting to read about twins growing up. It can be easy to look after twins but they look so lovely on the photos, you must be doing a great job!
I think you should write a eBook about this topic about training twins to potty train. This is some useful information.
I hear training one is tough but I couldn’t imagine how hard two would be, though to be doubly blessed is always a good thing
I would have loved having twins. They seem like such a fun and exciting way to raise kids.
Great job mama! You are a super star!!!!
This is so helpful. Thanks for these tips. I will forward this to my brother. He just got twins.
I love their poster charts! This is so cute! I have irish twins.
I know this has a been a challenge. One child potty training can be a lot so imagine two!
This was such an interesting read. I have always wondered how mothers cope up when they have twins. Now I know the way they go about training them on various aspects.
Congratulations for your potty training success and thanks for sharing your potty training method.
I use to train my niece on how to potty. It’s difficult! It needs a lot of patience and will!