Oh Crap Potty Training Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right

This book is THE BEST, most current book on potty training available. I purchased this book before beginning in earnest the potty-training process with our daughter. We introduced the concept of the potty at 16-18 months, and did the potty training over the course of 5 days (1 long 3-day weekend and 2 days off from work) when she was 21 months old. The author of Oh Crap!, Jamie Glowacki, is very glib, so I can see how some people might be put off by her style. If you're interested in getting a sense of her methods and style, I recommend visiting her blog (jamieglowacki dot com) or viewing some of her videos on YouTube (channel "oh crap with jamie"). When it comes down to it, her method WORKS. However, even though she says to follow her methods exactly, she also says in other parts of the book that you can do what you think is best for your child -- but if it doesn't work, then you've been warned! Fair enough. We did the bare bottom for days 1-2. Day 1 wasn't great, but on day 2 something just clicked and she actually started going to the potty on her own! Day 3 she was commando, but was running to the potty so often that she didn't have her pants on very much. Listen to Jamie's advice, don't give your under 2 year old extra fluids. On day 4 we tried commando again, but it just didn't work. When she had an accident, it just made her socks wet and her upper pants stayed dry. There was no real discomfort associated with peeing her pants. So after her mid-day nap, we switched to training pants - with no pants. This worked great! Only 2 accidents. Day 5 she was in training pants most of the day, with pants on to go on trips outside the house. Day 6 fully clothed all day with short trips outside (5-10-15-20-30 minutes) and everything was great. Only issue was number 2, which she still wasn't comfortable with. Day 7 she was back at daycare, no accidents, except a number 2, but later went 2 in the potty! Day 8 perfect, a couple small accidents, but still going 2 in the potty. Day 9 same. Day 10, back at daycare again and ZERO accidents. Based on our interpretation of potty trained, our daughter is fully potty trained: she can now verbalize when she needs to go, will sometimes go when prompted, and will sometimes go without telling us (we've surprisingly found her on several occasions peeing on the potty with her pants down), consistently goes 1 and 2 on the potty, has a complete potty routine, and stay dry for naps. Averaging 0-2 accidents per day, with 0 days more often. In terms of nap and night training, we also deviated a bit from Jamie's method. Our daughter has been staying dry for naps while in diapers, so we didn't put her in a pull-up for that, and just used training pants. She's had zero accidents during naps. Dry every day. So she's completely day-trained. At night we're using a pull-up (technically pampers easy-ups), but even still, she has woken up on at least 4 mornings with a completely dry diaper and has begun to consistently self-initiate the morning pee. So, we're happy with it as is. We have no intention of waking our daughter up in the middle of the night. We're just going to continue having her use the potty before bed and upon waking, and hopefully we will see a progression to more dry mornings. If not, and we're getting close to the 2.5 year mark, we may intervene and use Jamie's method. I get why there are negative reviews for this book. Jamie tells it like it is, and some people don't like that. It's a book, it's not like she's there with you, making you do anything. If you don't want to do it her way, then do what you think is best for your child, but honestly, she knows her stuff and her advice works. Slight modifications here and there are fine, but you can't hodgepodge different methods together or deviate significantly and expect the same promised results. This book is THE model that you should follow. This is the ONLY book you need to buy on potty training. Just BUY IT, READ IT, THEN START the process when you have 3-5 days to devote exclusively to spending time with your child. This book has everything you need. Plenty of chapters of prep, a clear how-to chapter, a chapter on nighttime training, chapters on trouble-shooting related to each stage or block of the potty-training process, a chapter on poop, a chapter on daycare - just look at the Table of Contents in the Amazon Preview. This book even has a Dad's cheat sheet (which could have a more neutral title, but you know, hetero-normative gender roles...), as well as a general parents' cheat sheet. Both of these were extremely useful. My husband would not read this entire book, but did read those two cheat sheets. Lastly, I would also attribute our potty training success to the following products and books used in conjunction with Oh Crap! - Elmo's Potty Time Sesame Street - Elmo's Potty Time Yes, you can rent it via Amazon on-demand, but trust me, you're going to want to have a hard copy that you can watch infinite times. - Fisher Price singing potty (do you really want to be checking between your child's legs every couple minutes to see if they peed? This tells you instantaneously, even if you're in the other room, and my daughter loves the instant gratification and fun songs) Fisher-Price Potty Training, Learn-to-Flush - Baby Bjorn potty chair BABYBJORN Potty Chair, Gray Because you'll need a second potty, and because everyone told us we HAD to get this one. It's fine, perhaps more ergonomic. Definitely more portable than the Fisher-Price chair. - Big Girls Use the Potty! (in paperback) Big Girls Use the Potty! It breaks the process down step-by-step for young girls (it also comes in a boy version) and has a sticker chart and stickers. We didn't use the stickers as rewards (my daughter was too young to grasp that concept - Jamie also advises against rewards), but did use the chart as a visualization of our daughter's potty progress - a concept she COULD understand and she took much pride in counting all her stars. - Potty by Leslie Patricelli Potty (Leslie Patricelli board books) Cute, easy for toddlers to understand, simple text and pictures with room for improvisation by parents - Oxo Tot 2-in-1 Go Potty OXO Tot 2-in-1 Go Potty for Travel - Green Eventually you're going to have to take your child outside for more than 30 minutes, and this is where things get complicated. Public restrooms are gross. Put this on the FLOOR as far away from the toilet as possible in the large accessible bathroom stall. Once they're older/bigger this seat also morphs into a potty seat for use on the toilet. It's extremely useful for all the random times your child tells you they need to go - at the park, immediately after arriving somewhere in the car, in the elevator... Read more

I was absolutely terrified to start potty training. As a first-time mom, I had no idea where to even begin. Ever the book geek, I researched to find the top expert on the topic, and Jamie's name and book popped up again and again. After a quick scan of her book, I knew the research hadn't failed me. She was the one. I sat down and read this wonderful book cover to cover over the course of a few weeks. It did NOT disappoint. The book is highly encouraging, funny, and filled with fantastic tips and tricks to help a nervous new parent like myself. Reading it was like talking to a friend who just happened to be a potty training expert. Jamie's writing is accessible, down-to-earth, and warm. She infuses into the book a powerful confidence that, yes, you can do this. Her confidence and warmth are contagious and pretty soon, I realized, Hey... I CAN do it. I love, too, how she readily admits we all need to customize the training for our kiddo, and I did just that. I took probably 97% of her suggestions and then added my own flair to make it work for my daughter--and work it did! My Little One was going #1 in the potty consistently by day 2, and she was doing #2 in the potty that very week. We only had a few accidents within the 2 weeks, and now (almost 9 months later), we almost never have accidents, maybe one every few months. Night training was the hardest, but Jamie's suggestions of having the potty in the room, along with piddle pads absolutely made it work, and I found her steps (or "blocks" as she calls them) both manageable and inspiring. The metaphor reminded me that as humans, we learn in chunks, and the "blocks" helped me tangible, visual steps to move from diapers to 100% toilet independent. Her concept of "blocks" helps break down this process so I didn't feel overwhelmed and could see clear progress as my daughter moved from one block to the next. Jamie is brilliant, and I honestly can't praise this book or her enough. If you're in the midst of potty training, this is your guide. Thank you, Jamie. You made what could have been a long, stressful nightmare much, much easier, smother, and successful. Read more