How to Toilet Train Your Child in one day

Your child may be ready for toilet training if:

• Your child stays dry for at least 2 hours during the day.
• Your child is uncomfortable in dirty diapers.
• Your child starts asking for diaper changes.
• Your child becomes interested in the potty chair or wearing underwear.
• Your child can walk to the bathroom.
• Your child can pull his or her pants up and down.
• Your child can follow directions.

Most children are ready for toilet training sometime between the age of 18 months and 3 years. Do not start toilet training if there are big changes going on in your life. It may be best to wait until things settle down before you start.

What supplies will I need?

You will need the following supplies:

• A potty chair.
• An over-the-toilet seat.
• A small stepstool for the toilet.
• Toys or books that your child can use while on the potty chair or toilet.
• Training pants.
• A children’s book about toilet training.

How do I toilet train my child?

Start toilet training by helping your child get comfortable with the toilet and with the potty chair. Take these actions to help with this:

• Let your child see urine and stool in the toilet.
• Remove stool from your child’s diaper and let your child flush it down the toilet.
• Have your child sit on the potty chair in his or her clothes.
• Let your child read a book or play with a toy while sitting on the potty chair.
• Tell your child that the potty chair is his or hers.
• Encourage your child to sit on the chair. Do not force your child to do this.

When your child is comfortable with the chair, have your child start using it every day at the following times:

• First thing in the morning.
• After meals.
• Before naps.
• When you recognize that your child is having a bowel movement.
• Every few hours throughout the day.

Once your child starts using the potty successfully, let him or her climb the small stepstool and use the over-the-toilet seat instead of the potty chair. Do not force your child to use this seat.

Toilet training tips

• Keep a routine. For example, always end the potty trip with wiping and hand washing.
• Leave the potty chair in the same spot.
• If your child attends daycare, share your toilet training plan with your child’s daycare provider. Ask if the provider can reinforce the training.
• Consider leaving a potty chair in the car for emergencies.
• Dress your child in clothes that are easy to put on and take off.
• It is easier for boys to learn to urinate into the potty chair when they are in a seated position at first. If your child starts by urinating while sitting, encourage him to urinate standing up as he improves.
• Change your child’s diaper or underwear as soon as possible after an accident.
• Introduce underpants after your child begins to use the potty chair.
• Try to make the toilet training a good experience. To do this:
  • Stay with your child during throughout the process.
  • Read or play with your child.
  • Put cereal pieces in the potty chair or toilet and have your child use them as target practice, if your child is learning to urinate while standing up.
  • Do not punish your child for accidents.
  • Do not criticize your child if he or she does not want to potty train.
  • Do not say negative things about the child’s bowel movements. For example, do not call your child’s bowel movements “stinky” or “dirty.” This can make your child feel embarrassed.

Problems related to toilet training

• Urinary tract infection. This can happen when a child holds in his or her urine. It can cause pain when he or she urinates.
• Bedwetting. This is common even after a child is toilet trained, and it is not considered to be a medical problem.
• Toilet training regression. This means that a child who is toilet trained returns to pre-toilet training behavior. It can happen when a child wants to get attention. It commonly happens after a new infant is brought into the family.
• Constipation. This can happen when a child fights the urge to have a bowel movement.

Where to find more information

American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP): https://familydoctor.org/toilet-training-your-child  

American Academy of Pediatrics: https://healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/toddler/toilet-training/Pages/default.aspx  

University of Michigan Health System: www.med.umich.edu/yourchild/topics/toilet.htm  

Contact a health care provider if:

• Your child has pain when he or she urinates or has a bowel movement.
• Your child’s urine flow is abnormal.
• Your child does not have a normal, soft bowel movement every day.
• You toilet trained your child for 6 months but have had no success.
• Your child is not toilet trained by age 4.