DRAINAGE - A REVOLUTION AT THE HOME
When to start? Then when the baby is ready.
What does it mean? It just means not to look around at your friends and colleagues, not to listen to the advice of aunts and mother-in-law, and finally not to focus on feeling guilty when listening to the stories that "once children were born and they already knew what a potty is" .
Let's put aside our ideas about perfect and perfect dust removal. The truth is, the process is different in each case. Why? Because, as in the entire upbringing of a child, often a lot of accompanying elements, and coincidence, and not the actual skills, determine that the child jumps to the next level of development.
What are the signs that a child may be beginning to be introduced to this process?
1. The child can sit independently - when the child has fully acquired this skill, it can be put on the potty very soon. A toddler will not understand what a potty is for, but he will certainly have a lot of fun hearing his parent's exclamation of happiness when a pee (accidental at this stage) is in the potty. It is important that the child does not sit on the potty until he does something - it is not healthy, so we only sit it for a while. If nothing happens, that's fine too. At this stage, it is important that you like the potty.
2. The size of the bladder and its capacity change significantly around the age of 18 months, which means there is a chance for longer breaks between one pee and another. Therefore, it is a good time to take the diaper off right after your toddler takes it. Watching your baby closely will help, because you can easily spot the right moment by behaving your baby.
3. Potty ready. This means that if we let the child go around the house without a diaper - preferably with a bare bottom - then we have to react as soon as it starts to pee on the floor. Planting it at this point on potty will make the child remember it as a sequence of cause and effect and facilitate the whole process.
4. Do not be discouraged by failures. It is important not to stress the child with the "potty action". If it is successful, then the reward of a parent's kiss and smile is advisable, but if something goes wrong, the toddler must not be paid attention to. He himself feels uncomfortable enough standing in a puddle in the middle of the room.
5. Observe your toddler whether he is ready to empty it. First of all, pay attention to whether the child becomes aware of defecation, feels and communicates discomfort due to a full diaper, communicates also basic physiological needs, already knows the vocabulary related to emptying. If so, then now is the perfect time to break free from the diaper.
6. When should we put down the diaper at night? In the morning, the child should have a potty next to the crib so that he can sit on it immediately. In most cases, it is only when you wake up that you pee. If the diaper is dry after the night, it means that soon the toddler will not need it anymore. At the beginning, it is good to secure the bed with special mats.
Remember that the whole process can take a long time. Even if you have experience with an older child that will catch you quickly, it can be completely different with the second child, despite the same methods.
Is it worth the rush? It's a good idea to start the process early, but give your child and yourself plenty of slack and time to progress through this stage calmly. If you see stress in your child, let it go and start over after some time. This is supposed to be a beautiful moment for you and your baby, not to make you feel nervous and guilty.
One more piece of advice: the best time to empty is hot summer. Then the child can run with a bare bottom with impunity, and you do not worry about a cold bladder. If the child has panties, his awareness may be even stronger due to the apparent discomfort caused by wet underwear. I do not recommend dressing the child from head to toe during this period and changing clothes 10 times a day, because the very process of washing clothes may cause frustration in the parent, and we would not want that.