Five Tips for Potty Training Girls

This post is sponsored by Pampers Easy Ups Training Underwear

Years ago, before I had any children, one of my dear friends said she thought potty training was the worst part of parenting.

I dreaded potty training my girls for years, but when the moment finally came for Ella, it turned out to be not that big of a deal.

I worried that Ani, who has a very different personality, would be much more difficult, but training her was also quite straight-forward.

This fall, after school is back in and we’re done with our summer traveling, I’m planning to train Star, so I can return to life with only one baby in diapers.

I’m certainly no expert, and if you’re training boys, I have ZERO insight, but these are five things that have worked for potty training girls the first two rounds.

tips for potty training girls

1. Wait until they are really ready. I’ve heard so many horror stories about people who’ve trained their kids multiple times or had tons of regression. For both of my older girls, they were almost three when we started and they were old enough to really get the concept and went from diapers to pretty much fully-trained in a week.
2. Wait until YOU’RE ready. I think Ella could have trained a little earlier than she did, but Ani was a newborn and I needed a little more time, so I waited until I knew I could be fully committed and not go back to diapers after a few accidents. Once I was mentally prepped to deal with some accidents, tears (both mine and theirs), and staying at home for a few days, then I could really jump in and be committed.
3. Talk about it a lot beforehand. When I can tell we’re close to starting training but not quite ready to make the jump, I start to have it be a big topic of conversation at our house. I talk about how they’ll be using the toilet soon, make note of when other people are going to the bathroom, and during every diaper change discuss how soon they’ll be in underwear.
4. Go cold turkey on diapers. For me, one of the things that made the biggest difference is being completely done with diapers. Once they go to underwear, I’m committed to not doing any more diapers. Of course, sometimes you just really need there not to be an accident, whether you’re running errands, going to church, or traveling, so I love Pampers Easy Ups Training Underwear. They fit like underwear with a 360 degree stretchy waistband, feel like underwear with a cottony outside and look like undies but they have the crazy good protection of Pampers, including the Extra Absorb Channels™ to prevent leaks (they also have Dual Leak-Guard Barriers™ around the legs prevent on-the-move leaks). I love that they don’t feel like they’re going back to diapers and still feel like they’re in underwear, but I don’t have to spend the whole outing panicking about an accident.
5. Train for day and night at the same time. With Ella, we didn’t train for night at the same time we were doing daytime training, but for the first couple of weeks she woke up every day with a dry diaper. But after a few weeks in a diaper at night, she reverted and we had to fully train her for night six months later. With Ani, we did both at the same time and we only had a few night accidents and there was just a single time to focus on training. I will admit, though, that while daytime accidents don’t bother me too much (usually), waking up in the middle of the night to change sheets and jammies is WAY less pleasant (Mama needs her beauty rest) so the Pampers Easy Ups are perfect for that transition period. They won the 2017 Best New Product Award, voted by 10,000 parents who try out new baby products as the Training Pants winner. Probably because 10,000 parents love not having to wake up and put soaking wet sheets in the washer at 2 a.m.

I’m crossing my fingers that this time around will be just as smooth as the first two rounds of potty training girls. And I’d love to hear what worked for your family!

P.S. I mentioned that potty training girls is right up my alley, but I have no advice for potty training boys. However, my friend Caroline, from Chocolate and Carrots, has all boys and she’s sharing some of her best tricks, so if you have little guys, hop on over and check them out!

if you liked this post about potty training girls, you might also like these posts:

• Why I Don’t Push Potty Training
• My 8 Best Mom Hacks for Smoother Daily Life
• A Parenting Choice I (Usually) Keep to Myself (how long we let our girls use pacifiers)