Potty Training Naima

At 2 years and 6 months, I am very happy to say that Naima is *almost* completely potty-trained. Yaya started potty-training her when she was about 7 months old (able to sit-up). First was the poo part. I know it sounds gross - but what really helped was when yaya made her poo in front of the mirror in our sink. Yaya would put her diaper on the sink and encourage her to poo. That Naima has a regular poo schedule also helped a lot. At age 1, Naima stopped pooping in her diaper (unless we were out and she had no choice!) and was already pooping in her potty. At about 1.5 years old she moved on to the toilet (which was quite a relief for yaya!) and has pooped there permanently.

Peeing was more of a challenge. We started when she was one year old as her wee-wee time became more predictable and continued wee-wee training for 1.5 years! Pee training was challenging because Naima enjoyed having pee-puddles around her feet. Usually, she already knows that she wants to pee. She gives us that "look" and stands still. If we're lucky, we get to her fast enough to cart her to the toilet. Otherwise, she'll happily stand in her pee puddle. When Naima was 1 year and 11 months old (she started going to school) she stopped wearing diapers during the day. Before that she was wearing panties at home and diapers at nap-time or whenever we went out.

At about 2 years old, Naima stopped wearing diapers during the day and also during her nap-time. Diapers were reserved only for nighttime. The night training was more difficult since she wasn't weaned yet and continued to nurse 1-2 times every night. Sometime during the summer, we noticed that her cloth diapers stayed dry every morning. Beginning May, we put her in Gerber Training Pants (I know, I should stop buying Nestle products!) during the night. She still has some accidents but generally she stays dry during the night.

Just the other night, she woke me up at around 5am and told me that she wanted to pee. But the next night, she forgot and wet the bed. :( Accidents happen when she sleeps late - she'll sleep like a log and not remember to wake up to pee. Despite those accidents, we still continue to ask to put her in training pants and hopefully, she'll be fully potty trained before she turns 3.

I would say that cloth diapers tremendously helped us in potty training Naima. They do not turn the wee-wee into gel so Naima immediately gets changed. The wetness also helped Naima realize that it was much better to sit on the toilet and pee and poo there, instead of having a wet and dirty bum. Cloth diapers are making a come-back and I'm pretty happy to notice that unlike the lampins used when I was a baby, these diapers are leak-proof and easy to use (no more diaper pins!). Highly recommended and very effective for toilet training!