Using a Potty Chair or Not To?

We have both, he's only used the potty seat 5 times and when he says he needs to go potty, he heads to the toilet. (personally I'm glad, 'cause I hate cleaning out the potty seat!)

I'd say use the potty chair. Kids can sit on it longer without losing the circulation to their legs and feet, it's more comfortable for them. Probably your son just wasn't ready to use any potty. My son is just over 3 and he's finally potty trained full time now, but it's taken 6 months. I'm a single, WAHM so I'm with him all the time trying (my point is that it didn't take so long because he was in daycare). From what I've heard 18 months is pretty early anyway. A lot of girls are ready around 2-2.5 :)

In my experience every child is different, and what works for one may not for another. Girls do tend to move along quicker than boys if they are not pushed or intimidated, but then again I had one boy who trained himself at 18 months with no effort on my part at all.
Alot depends on your situation, do you have a 2 story ? One bath or two ? If the toilet is far off, a potty would be best for just incase, but if you have the bathroom close by, it is always best to start on the real thing if possible. And whether to use the attachable potty seat to your toilet also depends on if your child is big enough and capable enough to not fall in.
Another consideration is the individual child's readiness. 18 months is young , but if she is ready and willing she may do fine. If you feel that she is'nt into it now, it is better to stop and wait for a month or so and try again. Always make it fun and interesting, and just be patient with her.
Best wishes !

I had both a potty chair and a seat for the toilet. I let my daughter choose whichever she wanted to use. she usually shose the potty chair because it was her size and she could use it without help. Don't be discouraged if she doesnt take right to potty training. at her age you just need to introduce it, not push it. i really didnt start to push it with my daughter til she was 2 and a half and when i did she was ready! I had her fully potty trained in 2 weeks....even at night time.

Hi S., what we did was get the chair at first and our daughter wanted nothing to do with it, so I bought her the little seat that goes on the big toilet and she went. so I said to her you just wanted to use the big toilet huh and she said yes. so when our second one came we just went with the little seat and she went as well.and it saved on always having to clean 2 toilets haha. but i would try that if there is no interest maybe then go out and buy the little chair. but i know that boys take longer to learn than girls. my sister in law has 3 boys and all 3 did not potty train until they were almost 3yrs old. so every child is different but i would give it some time. good luck.

My daughter just turned 2 in november. We started to potty train her at 18 months with her own potty. I went out and got the fancy one that sings and all she did was play with it. WE got her a potty seat that goes on the big toilet and she started to work with it more. She liked the fact that she was using the same potty as mommy and daddy. Shes still not potty trained but i think her body wasn't ready yet. She now just starting to understand the potty.

p.s just in my experience(7 years as preschool teacher) boys tend to get potty trained later then girls.

We had great luck with our daughter going straight to the potty on one of those flip seats that attaches right to the the toilet. (This is a different kind than was referenced below. I don't see how this one could cause any injury as it's all one piece with no seams and no vinyl.) It was so easy to use the flip seat and no mess to clean up! We are starting our son out now (22 mo) the same way and he gets a kick out of being like everybody else on the potty.

We purchased ours online from Ebay Express
(http://search.express.ebay.com/merchant/sanderstreasures -- super quick delivery!). We chose the brand "Flip N Flush" and we love it!

My daughter was about to turn 2 yrs old when she would mimic me wiping. My hubby and I figured that it was time to potty train. We bought a 3-in-1 potty from first step. Potty, put the seat on the potty and its a stepping stool. She would play on it for about two weeks, sit on it with her diaper on. Then one morning I took her diaper off, put her on her potty and she went. She is now almost 3 and refuses to sit on her little potty. She likes to use the big potty, she likes the sound of the toilet flushing, and watching her pee and poop go bye bye. I think for her, it was a "stepping stone" to get her her own little potty. She doesn't like to go #2 in her diaper anymore, she has to sit on the big potty. I am not rushing her. You will know when yours is ready...don't be discouraged if your child goes one day in the potty, and then a week later refuses. It's something new! Takes some getting used to! If she's afraid that she will fall in, get a potty seat that goes on the toilet, a padded one too! It will take some time, and consistancy, but stick to it. Let her make the choice. I backed off when Madison would tell me no, and now she runs to the bathroom, rips off her diaper, climbs up on her stool, sits on the toilet and goes. My next step is to get her into pull ups during the day. Good luck! And take it one day at a time!

oh, about the potty dangers, come on...would you seriously let your child play with it if he or she is going to use it to go pee or poop in...that's just gross. You don't let your child play in the bathroom, you have to let them know it's not a toy and it stays in the bathroom...come on people lets have common sense...

oh about pull ups, my daughter has huggies pull ups, when she wets in them the flowers disappear. The "cooling" sensation really didn't phase her. But she gets really mad when her flowers aren't there anymore. Hope this helps!

and for all the moms here is a great website for recalls on everthing... www.cpsc.gov

hi S. i started my 3 and half son on the big toilet with a smaller cushion he now goes on regular size toilets so i dont think it will make a difference just try them both. girls are alot faster than boys, good luck

Hi S.,

I don't think the issue is likely to be the potty chair. Generally, boys potty train much slower. If your daughter is showing any interest, I say give it a try. Both of my girls trained faster than my son. Watch your daughter for clues and use "potty time" for some Mommy and me time...read books! I also found that stickers were a great incentive (even with my son). They LOVE to put a sticker on a paper when they have been successful! Keep it somewhere they can see their successes mounting up. Whatever you chose, don't worry! She won't be going to college in diapers and will likely not remember much about the potty training experience anyway! Happy training! P. R.

hi S.. my son has a potty chair and he loves it. we haven't really been training him, he kind of trains himself. he loves his potty! we got it at wal-mart for like 30 bucks, and it sings, says up-down, open-close, it has a fake toilet paper roll that sings when he touches it, and a fake flusher that sings too. it tells him you went potty! and it lights up when he sits down. he loves it. but he also likes to see others on the big potty. he's too afriad of the big one to sit on it. i've always heard that boys are harder to train then girls, so maybe getting a potty chair for your daughter is a good idea. best wishes, T.

Hi there.

This is my first time on the site but reading all the responses to potty training has opened my eyes.

I have a 2 and a half year old daughter and I've been attempting to potty train her for a little over a year. Admittedly, I've been a little pushy about it. My daughter switches between wanting the potty chair and wanting the big potty (minus the toilet topper!). It's hard to get potty training advice since I don't really know many moms in the area and my mother in law has some rather outdated ideas about potty training.

I'll have to give her some more time if I want her to potty train...

I also have a question... do the Pampers Pullups work?

I have found that with potty training that all kids indead are different. My oldest now 15 was fully trianed day and night time by the time he was 2 years old. As he hated being wet for even a second. I had purchased one of those seats that sit right on the toilet with handles on it since we lived in an apartment where the toilets were lower as the apartment was made easily accessable in case a person in a wheel chair lived there. So on his own he would go in pick up the seat set it on the toilet and do his thing. I personally thought it was great as I had been told that boys were harder to potty train than girls were.

Then of course six years later had my youngest son who is now 9. We reached a point that the summer before he was to start preschool was not sure if he would ever willing go to the bathroom on his own. However, when we told him his cousin would start school but he would have to stay home finally got him to start going....

I myself had decided on the seat that sits on the toilet as I have a really bad gag reflex and anything that smells bad makes me gag. So my thought was if he did poop then we could just flush it down the toilet as apposed to having to clean out the potty chair, however this was jut my personal preference.

Wishing you the best and also keep in mind all kids are different and one thing that I did learn with my youngest was that the more I pushed him the more he refused to go. So once I let him let me know when he was ready it went a lot smoother...

L.:)

I doubt that success is determined by whether you use a potty chair or the toilet unless you force the child to use one or the other against their will. I doubt that you did that.

A friend didn't potty train her daughter until she was 3 and she used a potty chair. Her daughter was trained in a couple of weeks. She iked having her very own potty.

My daughter started my granddaughter out on a potty chair but my granddaughter switched herself to the toilet and so my daughter bought one the small seats that fit on the toilet. My grandson started with the toilet. He refused to use the small seat for the toilet. My daughter didn't even get the potty chair out. And for some time now both kids use the adult toilet without the small seat. They're 6 and 3.

I don't think it matters which one you use as long as your daughter is comfortable with it.