Potty Training & Gut Health Matters

 Originally published May 10, 2021

We are currently on week four of potty training in my household. It's been almost a full month of laundry, rushing to the potty, and trying again and again. I decided to list the ten things that have helped me the most (and Ezra) through this new endeavor. Here are ten tips that I've found/been told:

1. Keep a change of clothes in your purse and your car. Even a shirt because pee pee can get on shirts.
2. Get a portable potty to keep in the car for outings. Amazon has cheap ones from a variety of sellers. You want a foldable one that can be put in a purse or a tote.
3. Stickers. Keep a chart or hand out stickers for each successful try.
4. Sing. Sing about going to the potty, going pee pee or poo poo, or even for wearing big kid underwear.
5. For boys, use pee pee targets. You can get them on Amazon or even use Cheerios. Have them aim at the target.
6. If your kid goes to daycare, make sure they are using the same techniques as you so you can be on the same page.
7. Make them try to go potty before every outing and, when in doubt, put a pull up over your kid's underwear while they are in the car so it doesn't get on the car seat if there is an accident. This allows them to still feel the wetness when they have an accident.
8. Don't scold your kid. Accidents happen. Ezra had a pee pee accident yesterday because he was playing outside and couldn't make it to the potty by the time he approached my mom to go. It's ok. Clean them up and show kindness.
9. Read books. I grew up and also read Ezra "Once Upon a Potty" because it shows the anatomy of a boy and girl, depending on the version you get.
10. Pay attention to your kid's gut health!

Gut health? Yes. This is the tenth and arguably the most important. When your kid is a regular pooper and their poop is healthy, it makes potty training easier. I make sure of this by feeding Ezra as balanced of a diet as a toddler will eat. He still has ice cream and such every now and then but at least offering a vegetable at every meal helps.

Speaking of success, Ezra is almost fully potty trained. I lucked out and he is even waking up to potty in the middle of the night. We are still trying to get him to poop in the potty consistently, but each day we make progress. I still continue to use his prebiotic and fiber supplement, I still offer a variety of foods for a well rounded gut, and I still always have a change of clothes with me. Hopefully my tips help and you find Begin Health as valuable to your family as mine. Motherhood and parenting in general is all about community and sharing, and these inside tips and the supplement recommendation are my way of sharing the wisdom that I know works for me in hopes that it makes on of your lives a bit easier. We're in this together. We're stronger together.

xoxo,

Lala