potty vs toilet seat

[saramac]

I havent started to toilet train yet but im curious to know what is the best peice of "equipment" to use for my little boy.

Is using a potty easier or what about one of those seats that fits on the toilet to make it the right size for their little bottoms.

any advice would be great!

[mooshie]

saramac

well a few people may shoot me down in flames here but i HATE potties, they gross me out, probably stems back from my early teen years when i remember my younger cousins being tt using potties and their slack mum never emptied them, so there would be full potties laying around the house GROSS. i hate seeing other parents pushing trolleys with a potty sitting in them, sorry everyone i just hate them.

we have used one of those seats that go over the toilet and they have a little step up (like a ladder) and it is wonderful, my 3rd child hated sitting on the loo until i got that out, now she can't get enough of it lol. when out and about i do use pull ups but get her to go to the loo first then when we are at the shops if she needs to go i take her and hold her on the toilet.

[Gemma]

We started with a toilet seat as we were not interested in a potty. Amy was going okay but we decided that a potty outside the toilet seat would be better so she could go when she wanted which she does. We keep the door closed for safety reasons. She went on the potty first time she saw it and uses it for wees and poos now all the time. I thought I would be grossed out by the potty but it works for us.

[Charlyfrog]

Mooshie!! LOL!!! I am with you!!!

But alak and alas!! I feel that we might need to do the potty thing for the same reasons as Gemma has and then eventually get a step up to the loo.
We already have a toilet seat but it isn't the one with steps attached but it does have handles on the side of the seat for DD to hold onto. I'm just thinking that the potty might be safer for DD rather than negotiating a loose step and toilet seat if mummy & daddy are in another room (omg! could be a disaster when I hear a splash!! LOL!!)

[cloud_skye]

This might sound strange, but my Grandmother has a fear of toddlers drowing in toilets!

My DD was daunted by the toilet with a seat to begin with, so we used a potty. I found that I liked the potty to start off with as I could move it to where she was and she could use it without me assisting every movement. She had a special mat and her potty on it and it slowly got closer and closer to the bathroom (she was fine with me moving it as long as it had its mat too!)...Once it was in the bathroom it still stayed there for a couple of months, but that is only because I am pregnant and we both tended to need to pee a lot! Then she started emptying the potty herself (my fear all along) and after one DISGUISTING accident- THE END POTTY.

But now she uses the toilet without a seat, in fact we never ended up using the extra seat! She has been nimble and strong enough to go independently without it since she was 25 months.

I did set out to use the toilet seat thing, but it didn't work for us, so now we own both. Maybe the next one will hate the potty and want the big toilet? They are all different and your preference will be different to someone elses. Which option will suit you may not become apparant til after you start!

Good luck

[Lucy]

We were just discussing this amongst some friends the other day......

I think it really varies from child to child.

I wanted to avoid the potty thing, as like Mooshie, I am not a fan. But we bought one just in case, along with a set of steps with the little seat and handles, (I am not sure of the brand, I think it is made by Safety First, and we bought at BigW).

So we tried both, as Olivia was very adamant that she "no like nappies anymore Mummy" LOL!

She wouldn't have a bar of the potty, but used the lid of the potty to climb up the the loo "like Mummy does", so we realised her preference was for the steps and seat to the real loo....

My neice, on the other hand (who is the exact same age as Olivia) would only go on the potty........go figure.

I think you need to experiement as to what works for your child...........sadly this may mean buying both, but neither are expensive........from memory we bought our potty for around $20 and the seat steps thing was $40 ish.........

[Debbie Lee]

We've got a potty for Gabby. It sits out in the hallway or in the lounge. She has sat on it a number of times but does nothing. She won't even sit on it anymore.
I'm thinking about trying her on the toilet seat. My Mum bought some little wooden steps to help her get up onto the seat aswell as one of those inserts that sit on the toilet seat so I might give that a go in a few weeks if we still get no joy. She might be more interested because that's where she sees me go?? I don't think she quite undertands what the potty is for.

[Lucy]

She might be more interested because that's where she sees me go??

Yep, I reckon! Sad, but true. All vestigles of any former privacy out the window!

Olivia followed me to the loo and asked me a 101 questions about "what you doing Mummy? Whats that for? Where you wiping Mummy? Mummy pull her pants down!Mummy do a poo! Just a wee wee Mummy?" Blah blah blah.....you get the drift!

I had a running commentary on my own toilet habits from her for weeks........but she TT'd by herself in days.......so I figure it was worth it!

[Debbie Lee]

LOL Lucy!
Gabby has been following me to the loo since she could crawl.
She HAS to have a square of loo paper so she can pretend to wipe her bum... so cute!
I don't mind... I figure it's all familiarisation anyway. At least she'll have the bum-wiping down pat hahahaaha.

Oh.. and we've always waved "ta-ta" to her poos when I dump them from her nappy so she knows that poo goes in there.

[*Shell*]

Toilet seat!
Im with you Mooshie, potties gross me out as well.
With DD (long ago now) i tried the potty, she would only sit on it in the loungeroom in front of the TV, i hated the idea of her doing it there and she ended up being to distracted to go anyway. (i tried to put it into the bathroom / toilet area but she'd carry it out) I brought the seat and she used it first try, kept telling me she was a big girl like mummy. I also brought one for my parents house as they babysat sometimes. From then on all good - she was toilet trained by two.

[Tyige]

I used both with DS, But once he started getting confident with the potty he decided he could stand up over the potty and try to aim. It got pretty messy as I don't think he got it all in at all. So I took the potty of him and he now uses the toilet.

Oh yeah watch out for mop buckets, cups, frisbies(yes I said frisbies) and other item down low that "resemble" a potty. DS peed in absolutly everything he could find, would even move whatever he wanted to pee in right next to the potty/toilet to pee in them. GROSS.
Good luck with the tt, when you decide it is time.

Ellie

[Lucy]

DS peed in absolutly everything he could find, would even move whatever he wanted to pee in right next to the potty/toilet to pee in them. GROSS.

LOL, I'll bear that in mind when Charlie decides he wants to TT!

(I did hear a tip somewhere about placing a ping pong ball in the loo, so that little boys had something to aim for in an attempt to try and get them to pee in the loo rather than everywhere else........wonder if that actually works?)

[Fi]

Oh god - we are having TT issues at the moment.
Jenna is going through the "I know I have a poo coming and I dont want to use the potty, my nappy, the toilet or my knickers, but hurry up and do something mum cause its COMING!!!!" phase.
We had a child screaming for an hour tonight because we just couldn't sort her out. We have a potty on order (a baby bjorn high backed one) and I am going to get a toilet seat as well cause I may as well.

[AnyDream]

Hi, when we introduced DD to the potty, she thought it was license to toilet her self in any small plastic round container she could find! She much prefered using the toilet tho, that's what the "big kids" at FDC were using and she's a very socially motivated child.

I must admit I did resort to about a week of lolly bribes at home before she got the idea completely!
:-)