Potty Training When Kids Are in Daycare

I agree that the first best step is talking to his provider and finding out what they do there. They probably will not take the lead, but should be a partner with you in taking this step. Don't be too disappointed if he is less successful at daycare than at home. I would get reports that my son wouldn't use their potty and only wanted to use the Spider-man potty (which is the seat we used at home). I would send the potty seat with him to daycare for them to use and it helped a little bit. My biggest pet peeve with his old daycare was that they would put him in a pull-up to nap and wouldn't take it off him afterward.

He is now in preschool and he is really great about going, no accidents except on occasion when he's sleeping.

I think every daycare is different. At ours they would take him to the bathroom whenever he asked but didnt' really start to encourage until he was about 2 and 1/2. I know my son (who is 4 now and has been potty trained since before he turned 3) started taking his diaper off and pointing to the potty at 18 months and I bought the potty, video, targets, etc but he lost interest quickly and didn't go back. I would just take his lead. Once he is older peer pressure of other friends at daycare really worked for my son. They love the character undies! Good luck!

The only thing that slowed down my daughter's potty training was her grandmother letting her fall into the toilet (happened around 18 months, so make sure that you get a seat just for him so that he doesn't fall in and get scared of the bathroom). Prior to that, the daycare was a great help with potty-training. They were also great with getting her to not be scared of the bathroom afterwards, but that took a lot longer. Just tell them that he is starting to show signs of wanting to potty-train, and they can certinatly help when he is there. I'm sure they won't mind having one less baby's diaper to change.

As a mother and a provider, I would suggest talking with the daycare and find out what their policy is for toilet training. I am sure they will wait till he is in the new room. I do not start the process. I allow the parent to decide when their child is ready. I will tell you that every childs different when it comes to toilet training. My daughter was not in daycare(cause that is what I do for a living), and she trained at 2 1/2 fully(even at night), but then I have 2 1/2 year olds that refuse to even sit on the potty, but they have no issues with telling me they have to/already did poop and or pee. You and the daycare have to be on the exact same page. No exceptions. I have experienced in my time being a provider that what I do here(training), and what is done at home(nothing) does nothing but defeat the purpose and waste of my time. If you are ready to train, then speak with your daycare and find a solution that works for the all of you. My rule is that I will train and they must be in pull ups till they can go 2 full weeks with no accidents(although a little slip up "uh o" is okay.)

Hi, K.:

Ask them.

Good luck. D.

Your daycare probably won't be surprised. My LO was the same at that age, and although the toddler room didn't have a potty, the 2 yr room was right next door, and it did. Once I brought it up, they would ask him a few times a day if he wanted to go and try out the potty and they made a big deal when he did. Sometimes he did go over to try, sometimes he didn't. But it was obvious that it wasn't anything out of the ordinary for them. And daycare definitely didn't slow down the process for us.

Our son was in a Kindercare. They really facilitated his potty training. I actually wouldn't have thought to start training as soon as we did, but one day at pick up, they asked me to start sending him to school in underwear. He had a few accidents and there were extra clothes at school just in case, but it wasn't a big deal. He was fully trained by 2 1/2.
You should call your daycare director and get the details of what they do to train the kids.

Not to be redundant but i do think talking to the daycare is a good idea.
I worked in a 2 year old room a few years ago as an aide, so i didn't get filled in on who initiated potty training, but most daycares sort of have a schedule for toileting/diapering, you could request that they sit him on the potty for a few minutes each time before they change him.

I feel soooo strongly about this---kids are generally NOT going to tell you they need to go, or suddendly decide to stop playing if You ASK them if they need to. I think the very very best potty training advice is to JUST TAKE THEM TO THE POTTY. Figure out a schedule and take them, at home with my kids we went when we woke up, before morning snack, before lunch, before nap, when we got up from nap, before dinner, and at bed time, It worked out to be roughly every two hours, they might not always go but at least it was just part of their day and not a stuggle or power issue to go when they were engaged in an activity. sorry for the rant.

one other idea for day care, if you see that he is really doing well, or if they are really cooperative, you could put real undies on under his pullups, so he feels they are wet, or buy the plastic undies that are waterproof but plastic on the outside, OR you could always do that at home for a while Then introduce it at school. Just go easy on the teachers, they have a lot of kids to take care of and changing pee pee undies every 2 hours probably won't be a whole lot of fun for them. so make sure he is doing well first.

Those teachers want your child trained, and will most likely be very helpful because in the long run it makes their life much easier. be sure to share with them if you notice that he has a regularity to his wetting or bms, like if you give him juice at breakfast does he usually have a dry diaper at 8 am but a wet one at 9 am? that sort of thing, The teachers might also be able to help track that as well, since I know we had to note the times of diaper changes and if the child was wet or dry.

sorry this was so long, hope things go well for you. Just remember that your son will be out of diapers in no time, even if it doesn't seem like it.

I would suggest discussing this with his primary care provider at daycare. Normally, they are more than willing to work with the parents on any and all requests. I'm sure they would be happy to help.

Hi K.,
Congrats on the early training :) 18 months isn't young to train--just with the way society is now that demands both parents work in order for the household to even float these days is what is prolonging most children to wait until 3, sometimes even 4, years to be trained. As far as training at daycare--it honestly depends on the facility. If it were me, I would speak to your son's caregivers and tell them he's ready. Tell them you would appreciate if they listened to him when he said he had to go potty and would like them to atleast try him on it for you. Then perhaps when he isn't in the facility from Fri-Sun, he will be able to pretty much get the hang of it for them. Another thing you could do is only send him an extra outfit or 2 and only pack a couple diapers. That way they would be forced into making sure he's trying or they would have to keep changing his clothes instead. Best of luck!

When my son was in daycare, they asked me when he was in the toddler room about our plan for potty training. In your case, you will have to initiate with the daycare. Ask them to take him to the potty when he tells them he has too poop and to use whatever reward system you set up. They should be cooperative. Our daycare required that they be in pull ups until pretty much fully trained.

Definitely tell the daycare where he is at. They should be able to reinforce training when he tells them he has to poop!. Then I would just keep doing what you're doing at home in the evenings and on the other days. Sounds like O. smart little guy!