Potty Training Your Baby-Keeping It Clean
Potty training is one of those important mile stones for your child. You have many questions in your mind. Is he ready? Which potty to use? What type of training pants to use? should you use pull-ups? Is using positive incentives a way to go or negative reinforcement? With all these questions floating around in your brain, you also have the issue of “keeping it clean” while you are conducting potty training with your child.
Keeping it clean
Keeping your home environment clean is important for your child as well as others in your household. Giving up diapers is healthy for your child as well as helping with keeping your home more tidy and holding germs at bay with taking away one of the germs’ growing environment—the dirty diaper.
Given that your child is ready for potty training, one has to strategically plan the potty training area in the bathroom. Place the potty training seat, training pants, wipes and tissues in the bathroom, too. If there is more than one bathroom, place the necessary materials and another potty training seat in all bathrooms. Here are some steps to help with “keeping it clean.”
Steps to Take
1. Purchase a potty chair that is made of solid hard surface
These are is easy to wipe off and keep clean. Potty seats that adapt or fit into the adult toilet seat are easy to take up and wipe down with a non-toxic cleanser that also kills germs. check in your grocery store for baby cleansing products that are nontoxic.
You can also use vinegar to wipe off your potty seat. You don’t have to empty urine or feces and clean out the potty container if you let your child go right into the toilet when you use the adapter type potty seat that fits into the adult toilet. If you opt to use the potty seat with the receptacle to catch the urine and feces, you will have to cleanse it well right after each use, especially after a bowel movement. If you use a potty chair, remember to clean the whole potty chair along with the receptacle itself.
You can also use liners
Some parents opt to use potty chair liners. These are usually plastic and are thrown away after a couple of uses with the absorbent pads for urine. If your child has a bowel movement, the potty liner’s contents can be emptied into the toilet and then dispose the plastic liner.
Liners are usually removed and placed in the trash much like when you empty your trash can’s liner by pulling the drawstring and then disposing of the bag and all. Although many will see this as a neater way to handle the cleaning up after the elimination issue, it does not show your child how to clean up after himself or help the environment by adding more soiled plastics to the landfills which you are trying to lessen by getting him potty trained and save on buying diapers disposable and cloth. Buying potty liners is lessening your savings by putting in an expense which is really not necessary.
2. Clean all potty training materials in the bathroom sink or tub
3. Wash your hands thoroughly
Make sure your child does too after each toilet visit.
4. If you use cloth training pants, make sure to wash them right away
Empty the feces into the toilet and rinse the training pants and place in the washer on hot water setting and wash with a hydrogen peroxide type bleach which kills mold and mildew, sanitizes.
If you use a disposable training pant such as “pull-ups,” roll them and place them in a small bag. If there is fecal material, make sure to empty it into the toilet before placing the soiled disposable in the bag and then putting into the trash.
5. While your child learns to stay dry at night, it’s a good idea to keep a plastic sheet on the bed in case of bed-wetting.
training materials in a responsible manner, washing soiled clothes and using good hygiene, he will model you and participate in keeping it clean while potty training and grow up learning good hygiene, too.
Potty Training Essentials
As a mother of a 3 year old, this is my daily struggle right now. I found your page so informative and am definitely going to try some of your suggestions. It is extremely frustrating at times and am glad that I am not alone. Support is always nice and help from others is sometimes the key. I thank you for your great tips!
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for reading my article and I am so glad there are some tips you can use. My whole blog was made to help parents with this developmental period. Also there are different approaches and views on potty training. Just hang in there. There is no wrong or right way. What works best for you and your child is the best way. Remember some days are better than others but consistence is the key. All the best to you and your little 3 year old. 😉
Hi there Delois, I’ve looked around your site and the first page I go to is the ‘about me’ page which has a lovely smiling image of you… at the bottom. Do put yourself at the top of the page where you belong. Your reader will see you as soon as they press the ‘about me’ page and you would be surprised how many readers go straight to that page like I did. Your image will surely give your readers trust in you and they will readily treat your content with respect and come back time and again for more advice.
Apart from that, you have a lovely site with plenty of colour and lightheartedness for a subject that is often fraught with tension for Mums and youngsters alike.
Having a baby doesn’t come with a manual but I think your site could be the next best thing if it grows to include all subjects about bringing up baby. Good luck!
Hello Ches,
Thanks so much for reading my article and your encouraging words. I will take your suggestions under advisement and expand my writing to include other child care subjects. It is so true that babies don’t have manuals and each child even in the same family is unique and what worked with one may not work with the other. We need the support and experience of other parents to help new moms and dads along the journey of parenthood and that’s what I want to do with my website. All the best to you.
Hi Delois. I loved your article. It has great tips! Keeping it clean is indeed very important. The plastic cover for the mattress is definitely a good tip. I wish I would have thought about it and used it when I needed it… My big one was wetting the bed until he was almost 7 years old (but this is another issue…), and I had to dry his mattress so many times… Not to mention the fact that eventually, I had also to buy a new one, because of the urine smell.
Now I’m just about to start the potty training of my little one. Will use your tips, indeed. By the way, do you think it’s better to wait for the summer to start the potty training?
Thank you!
Anna
Hi Anna,
Thanks for commenting on this post. I am glad you found some helpful tips. I hope all is well with your 7 year old now. It would be definitely easier to potty train in the summer because your little one will have lighter clothing and can run around in just his training pants. Let us know how it goes by stopping by and leaving a comment here on our potty training blog. Best wishes for your success. 😉