Potty Training

For many, potty training is a huge and unpleasant step, both for parents and children. Here is how we plan to avoid the stress and make it part of everyday life.

As soon as our little guy could sit up well we began his potty training. Yep, he was 5 months old and that may seem crazy but trust me it works. So we began by sitting him on the pot when we changed his nappy. Every time we changed him he would sit on there for 30 seconds or so, so that he could begin to associate the nappy with the potty. After a week or so we could see a pattern emerging with his toileting so we changed the times we routinely changed him to be after milk or food. You can imagine the surprise when just 7 days after we began our little man had his first achievement! From there on out we have had more and more success to the point that one month and a week after first putting him on his potty he now succeeds at least 3 times per day. The idea now is to continue as we are until he is walking comfortably around 14 months then take off the nappy and hope for success. I’ll keep you posted...

Let me know what you think or what your experience of potty training was like.

Sleep

Our ideas about sleep: 

It’s really important. 

I need my sleep to be a good person and my son needs his sleep to be able to learn everything that comes his way. From the start we have had the rule that once in bed he stays in the room until the morning. We didn’t bring him downstairs even as a newborn but dealt with him quietly and in dim light throughout the night. We have a relaxed bedtime routine and we don’t go out with him after 5pm (if we can help it) as we know this is when he needs his routine to begin and he can stay calm and relaxed. We are not fussed about the sleeping through the night issue and know we will get there after he is a year old. We have a relaxed approach to tending to him at night and follow his changing needs.

We have decided to follow the Montessori idea of a mattress on the floor instead of a cot. We had a moses basket until he was 5 months and rolling over then we moved him to his mattress. I began his day sleeps on his mattress from 10 weeks so that he could gradually get used to it. The mattress is in his room which is covered with soft foam flooring. It is a cot mattress and fully baby safe. We moved him to his own bedroom at night when he was 5 months old as we could see that we were disturbing his sleep when we went to bed or moved or snored! The benefits of the mattress on the floor are to do with gross motor skills and spatial awareness. He will independently learn to move off the mattress without falling and will eventually be able to get back onto it when he decides to go off to sleep. We have a stair gate on his door and limited furniture to avoid any mishaps. We are prepared to take out any furniture and leave the room bare if this becomes an issue in the future. 

Introduction

Introduction

I will begin by saying that I have cared for hundreds possibly thousands of small children throughout my career but there is nothing like having your own child to get a reality check and see how very challenging it is to be a parent. One of the first things you realise is that everybody has an opinion and view about raising your child. This is not very easy to take especially when you know that a said method is likely to backfire! The second thing I have realised is that you have to do what is right for your family. It’s all fine and good taking advice here and there but if you are doing something that you don’t feel is right or that is making you or your child unhappy then just don’t do it. Easier said than done but you are the one who will be dealing with the aftermath of some mad advice gone wrong and usually at around 2am! So that said, we love to hear people’s opinions but are safe in the knowledge that we always discuss any new parenting ideas together and make sure we can pull them off as a family before implementing anything new for our son. The third thing is that every time I think I’ve got something figured out, something else goes up the shoot! I guess that’s being a parent for you!