Which should come first: potty training or toddler bed?

Jennifer - posted on 07/20/2010

I haven't started potty training yet, but we have a potty seat sitting in the living room that my daughter is getting comfortable with. I plan to leave it there and if we happen to be upstairs, I will take her to the 'real potty' during training.

Josie - posted on 07/19/2010

I got a question my son is almost 22 months old and I was woundering if my bathroom is too small to have a pottie in it should pottie trainig in the living room be a good idea?
Of course it will be when no one is around

Jennifer - posted on 07/17/2010

Thanks for all the suggestions. I feel so much more comfortable moving forward now. Ellen, I really appreciate your comments, as it seems we had/have similar concerns. Good luck w/ #2!

Ellen - posted on 07/17/2010

I had this same dilemma! We went with potty training first (just finished a very successful first week Diaper Free during the day). Our daughter is also 21 months.
I was pretty stressed b/c I felt like for her to be fully trained she would need to be able to get out of bed to go if needed. BUT, here's what drove my thinking that it didn't matter for now.

1) A lot of info I read (usually pertaining to slightly older toddlers I will say) takes a daytime first/nighttime last approach, so I felt like it was OK not to do it all at once.

2) Our girl LOVES her crib. She asks to go in it, is happy playing in it for 20-40 min. in the mornings, and is too petite to get out, so she's comfy. Why disrupt her if it isn't totally necessary?

3) She can't get undies or PJs off by herself yet, so the idea of her going by herself at night or in the early morning doesn't work anyway.

4) We still use a diaper at night, although 90% of the time (and every morning since we started officially training 8 days ago) she wakes up dry, so I feel like when the time comes she won't have an issue.

We do have #2 coming in January, so we may try to transition her in October, before holiday craziness begins, but we're still in no rush to move her out of the crib as we won't need it right away for the second.

My 2 cents, hope it helps, and happy potty training! :)

Bree - posted on 07/16/2010

i agree. i think it depends on the child. by daughter is potty training now and she's in a toddler bed. someone blessed us with one and she like's it better than the crib. she's now telling me she has to pee pee but it's normally after she's done so.

Melissa - posted on 07/15/2010

I've been thinking about the same thing because my daughter just climed out of her crib the other night. Though we already started potty training and it seems to be going ok. I think I'm more worried about her rolling out of the toddler bed than anything. She is VERY rolly at night and I'm just not sure if she's ready for it yet.

Chatty - posted on 07/12/2010

We're in the process of potty training and my daughter still very much enjoys her crib. We plan to continue using her crib until she's potty trained or until she starts to climb.

Vicky - posted on 07/11/2010

my daughter has been in a single bed since she was 1year old shes now 22months and in a bottom bunk bed and loves it, best way to is to get characterised beddin which they like ie peppa pig etc well that is what i did. as for potty training last month i decided was the right time so i put my daughter in knickers for a whole week and gave her lots of praise and encouragment and she got a teddy she wanted after the week now shes out of nappies but i still put one on for bed time just in case. the potty came everywhere with me for the 1st 2weeks but now shyed rather go on the toiet and weve had no accidents! the worst thing you can do is to force the child t sit on the potty if he/she isnt ready to they will just get scared of it and you may knock there confidence but always alot a praise for both even if theres a little accident good luck and stay calm

Jacqui - posted on 07/09/2010

I don't think it will matter if do one or the other or both at the same time, if your daughter is climbing out of her cot then she probably should be moving to a toddler, mine was climbing out hers at 18months so that's when we got her a 'big girl' bed and now at 22 months we've been potty training for a few weeks as she started to rip her nappies off right after she'd pee in them. I think Kim is right, it's all about the attitude you have as well and treat these changes as positive things for her

Natasha - posted on 07/08/2010

My daughter is 21 mo old and shes almost done potty training, i just had a new baby back in may and since i had him shes actually wanted to act like a big girl and do big girl things. maybe you should attempt potty training and see how it goes.my daughter has been in a toddler bed for 3 mo and she does fine, she actually holds it all night. goodluck

Jamie - posted on 07/07/2010

We ended up doing both with DS at the same time. It was kind of a fluke. We started PTing him at 26 months old and 2 days later he climbed out of his crib. We had no issues with either. He was day trained in a few days and never gave us any trouble with the toddler bed. And something to keep in mind is that some kids don't always night train at the same time. My son just turned 3 and still isn't night trained. Yet my 21 month old has been both day and night trained for over a month now.

Kim - posted on 07/07/2010

Depends on your daughter and how you frame the events (i.e., scary new changes and mommy is obviously nervous, or exciting big girl stuff that she's gonna love!). Truly, it's often us parents that are nervous about change and then accidently make that change an obstacle for our kids; if you are matter-of-fact about even a huge change like moving, your kid might follow your lead and still take on new things like potty training at the same time with no issues. Switching to a toddler bed isn't as big an upheaval as the other changes you mentioned, especially if your daughter is pretty easy-going and enjoys new things, without getting really clingy or weirded out. Think of it more like giving her a gift - hey, new bed, new blanket, a real pillow, and it's all hers! Then once she's adjusted and you feel good about things, introduce the potty, and you can play it up as another big girl thing. If she's like most kids, she won't self-initiate going to the potty for quite some time (including middle of the night, and first thing in the morning) so if you decide to dabble in potty training before she switches to the toddler bed, that'd be totally fine too. Once she's got pottying down, though, you'll want to let her have the independence of a bed so she can get to the bathroom easily. Good luck, this is an exciting time!!