Toilet training

Use a toilet step for girls and boys

A toilet step is a fantastic tool for both girls and boys. For boys specifically, standing up to urinate is a big milestone, and a step helps them reach a comfortable height. You can purchase toilet steps for boys online to help them aim in the toilet, not on the floor. This also makes the process more fun.

Use a toilet training seat

A toilet training seat will help your child to feel comfortable, safe and secure when using an adult-sized toilet.

Whilst potties are common, they can be confusing for a child, as the only place they will encounter one is in their homes. A toilet training seat and a toilet step are a much easier and quicker way to a successful outcome.

Using nappies

A ‘pull-up’ to a child is just another name for a nappy. ‘Accidents’ are a part of the learning process, and a child will become familiar and confident with how to stop and hold a pee/poo.

Don’t be afraid to go out without a nappy, as it will help your child to understand toilet procedures.

Make sure to give the child lots of opportunities to use the toilet both at home and outside

Let your child accompany you to the toilet; they learn best by example.

When you dress your child, assess the clothing they are wearing. Can they pull down their underwear easily to avoid that ‘rush’ to the toilet and be successful?

Finally, always make going to the toilet fun by singing songs, making up silly rhyming words, washing hands, using a sticker reward chart, and most of all using lots of praise.

Using the toilet is a fundamental part of your child’s learning and development, focusing on these key areas:

  • Physiological development: Managing bladder and bowel control
  • Motor skills: The physical ability to move and undress
  • Cognitive skills and social awareness: Understanding instructions and emotional readiness

Understanding physiological development (Bladder and bowel control):

For a child to use the toilet voluntarily, their sphincter muscles must be mature enough to delay excretion. Research from the American Academy of Pediatrics suggests these muscles reach maturity between 12 and 24 months, with the average age being 18 months.

How do I know my child's elimination muscles are mature?

Your child’s behaviour and actions will guide you.

Around their first birthday, your child will begin to recognise the sensation of a full rectum or bladder, signalling the need to use the toilet. You observe this awareness through their behaviour of squatting and grunting when having a bowel movement and tugging at the nappy when needing to urinate.

At this age, they may not be able to delay elimination, but they need to make the connection between the feeling of fullness and the act of excretion or urination.

On average, at about 18 months, your child’s sphincter muscles have matured and will have the ability to delay excretion for a brief period of time. Night-time bowel control is usually achieved first, followed by daytime bowel and bladder control and finally night-time bladder control.

Please feel free to talk to a member of staff about supporting this process.