What to look for in a potty for a boy?

I've been in complete denial for a long time about the need to toilet train Sam, and I'm just now starting to get out and about to look for a potty.

But all that I've seen so far have virtually nothing in terms of a guard at the front - and this is something that I'd imagine would be fairly essential for a boy's potty! Or am I just way off base?

Is it worth getting the ones that can be a potty but then later convert to a toilet seat + step stool kind of thing. They look to me that they'd be a bit more comfortable to sit on, but I don't really know for sure.

Advice?

BW

By pass it altogether and put him on the toilet, you really don't need one at all.

If you really want to you can get one that sits over the toilet and has steps up to it, we just got a padded toilet seat and that was that.

I agree with LimeSlice, I hate potties but DD started TT at 11 months and her little butt slips through any toilet seats :lol: Sooo she has a potty, its a musical thing, purple and blue and it actually has an attachment for little boys at the front. Its the only musical one I have seen but if you decide to go that way just let me know and i can dig the info on it out. Good luck with it :)

Honestly, my mobility issues mean I really don't want to be lifting Sam on and off the toilet each day. I know it's preferable to just go straight to the toilet as it's then one less transition, but all things considered, with my physical limitations, the potty is going to be an easier option.

BW

I have no input, just wanted to say - what a spin out that Sam is toilet training now, I remember before you were pregnant with him! Ahh, I feel old :)

YOU feel old? Sheesh! It does go way too fast though.

But my little element of denial says no, no, no! We're not toilet training NOW - just SOON! Yep, I don't really want to admit it!

BW

with our eldest we bought a potty and a seat with steps ect..

in the end he didn't use them and neither did our other 3. I personally don't think you need them but you won't know until he starts TT. I am a big believer in just going straight to the big toilet with one of those kiddy seats that goes under the adult seat.

hope all goes well :)

and ps I didn't bother with training to do stand up wees first. we just concentrated on getting wee and poop into the toilet then around 3 they started wanting to do stand up wees

Good luck. I hope it all just falls into place with very little stress

DS used one of those ones that convert into a seat, or a step. He picked it himself - its a Dora one.

He didn't want to sit on the toilet, afraid his butt would fall through, and we couldn't find a seat to actually sit on our toilet seats because our toilets are really modern, not even our little step ladder thing would fit properly. So potty it was.

We told him to hold down his penis while he did a wee, and we never had any spray issues. He used the potty for probably around 3-4 months and then went to the big toilet himself, with no pressure from us. He stands up to wee now and is fine to get on the toilet himself and do a poo - however he is a heck of a lot older than Sam. DD1 isn't toilet trained yet cos she still can't get on the toilet without screaming blue bloody murder.

You could try a Wee Man for the wees. It's something that attaches to side of the toilet so they can learn to wee standing up. You can also carry it around for public toilets so you don't have to lift up onto the toilet for a basic wee. In fact I have one you can have it you want give it a go.
My DH made a step for our toilet that was stable and didn't frighten the kids so they could up on the toilet themselves and then we put a cushy tushy on it so they didn't have to hold the sides.
Otherwise any basic potty and teach him to point his penis down from the start.

We got one that goes over the normal toilet but has steps built in and when you take it off it folds up flat and you can store it next to the toilet, has handles at the side too which seemed to help the kids get up and down easily when they were little.

No plans to teach him to stand up at all! I'm told that in the beginning they may not recognise the difference between needing to poo and needing to wee, so best to just have them sit for everything and let them figure the rest out as they get older.

So the consensus is that the guard thingy isn't that useful and just teach him to hold his penis down?

BW

:

---

I'm told that in the beginning they may not recognise the difference between needing to poo and needing to wee, so best to just have them sit for everything and let them figure the rest out as they get older.

---

I did not know that! Great piece of info there, thanks :)

:

---

So the consensus is that the guard thingy isn't that useful and just teach him to hold his penis down?

BW

---

Then that is the way to go :)

:

---

No plans to teach him to stand up at all! I'm told that in the beginning they may not recognise the difference between needing to poo and needing to wee, so best to just have them sit for everything and let them figure the rest out as they get older.

So the consensus is that the guard thingy isn't that useful and just teach him to hold his penis down?

BW

---

Thats what we've pretty much done too...and I didn't know or consider that.

And there is no rush as you mentioned...I was starting to worry (especially after hearing about mothers groups babies don't even wear nappies anymore) that I was abit behind, but then I figured its better not to rush them...or more accidents are probably likely. Plus they were mostly girls and from what I've heard its common for boys to take a little longer anyway. We started to introduce sitting on the toilet after sleeps and nappy changes and before bath around 2years old, but didn't introduce undies until closer to 2.5years...now he is going great...but still a little way off from no nappy's altogether (still nappied for going out and sleeps).

I figured in time we'll teach them (cause I'll have at least 2 boys to TT) to stand, but we'll wait til they are tall enough. But I think he is starting to work out the stand thing anyway...a couple of times DS1 (who's 2years 7 months now) has needed to wee when we've been outside or down at our pool and he's kinda got the idea....guess he is paying more attention to DH and his grandpa's a little more afterall.

:

---

We got one that goes over the normal toilet but has steps built in and when you take it off it folds up flat and you can store it next to the toilet, has handles at the side too which seemed to help the kids get up and down easily when they were little.

---

Yeah...we've got one of these too. Got ours at Big W...think it was about $30-40. We actually bought a potty to start with, but found it abit of a hassle to set up (which included alot of touching of the toilet...which I really hate doing...know matter how clean it may be...eww:sick:). This way it just opens up as you position it on the toilet, its 1 unit (the other was 3 pieces...seat, the collector and the step - it could be used as a potty on its own or pulled apart to go on the toilet with a step up...which seemed to move and slip). So I keep that down stairs for emergencies. And it stores easily next to the toilet (which we don't have much room in...especially as we also do cloth nappies as well).

Hi Butterfly_Warrior
I haven't been on bellybelly for a few years. Just got back on and looked for you. I know you had your son a few months after I had mine! Re the potty, in case you do read this post, with my arthritis etc I have a potty and Jasper just does his own thing. He has been dry day and night since he was 2 (he has an abnormally large bladder so he can hold all his urine overnight - kidney and bladder surgery but that is another story). Anyway he either uses the potties (one upstairs and one down) or he goes into the "big toilet" where I have a toilet seat for him that hangs on the wall and he just puts in on the toilet seat and gets up using a step stool. It isn't one of those ladder toilet seat things for toddlers. I didn't see the value in that. Potty is great as well for travelling. Now he is in control freeway driving is a different experience as one trip to Canberra saw us stopping at every rest area and sitting him on the potty as he says "I need to go wee wee Mum", are you sure "Yes". But you only went 10 minutes ago "Yes I need to go wee wee". I am sure that part of the attraction for him was getting out of the car seat, sitting in the fresh air, wind in his hair, trousers and undies around his ankles and admiring the countryside!
The potties I have were cheap and once they know what they are doing on them they aren't on them long!
Ciao
Tucs

Must re read all this in a few weeks when Ethan starts. Hes so not interested at the moment

We have this potty that's a turtle, and you put the lid on then it's a step thing. I got it for DS1. He used it really well then just moved to the toilet. Since he is tall he didn't need to use it as a step to reach the toilet when standing to pee. or help getting on to do a poo.

I'm using it a little with DS2 but he likes to just got on the toilet most of the time.

Good luck with it all.

Hey hun... I did have a turtle potty for Oskar but he only used it a handful of times... I don't think he liked it much. What did work was the toilet seats with the step and handles a couple of others have mentioned. They are really great and they have a little bit of a guard on them but if they sit back far enough the wee goes straight down anyway. Their penises don't go up when they pee, they just hang down really.

We had one of those fisher price singing toilet potty things from a young (before TT was even a thought) to get him aquainted with sitting on a potty. Then - a wee man. We did have hose insert things (that go under the normal toilet seat), but pretty much the wee man was the fave. We don't use it anymore coz he can *fill* it!

I actually hated the wee man.... got one cos a friend raved about it.... we used it hmmm 2 or 3 times? More hassle than it was worth IMO. He can stand if he wants to but usually sits... or waters the garden bahahah.

Just make sure it is high enough for him to sit comfortably. Some of them will be too low considering how tall he is.

I ended up getting a baby bjorn one. It's in two pieces and looked easier to empty/clean because of it, and also seemed a bit higher than most. He was terrified of it at first, but is now happy to sit on it for us. We still haven't yet tried with nappy off as all the times he's chosen to sit on it have been him just wandering over and plunking himself down without saying anything. He's at least getting familiar with it, but I don't think he's really able to tell us when he goes and he certainly doesn't have the verbal ability just yet, but we are working on it.

BW