Potty Train Boys in Three Days
It’s likely you have been contemplating potty training for some time now. You may be wondering when is the right time to start potty training? Is it too early?
I will share how we were able to potty train our twin boys in a short period of time. If it worked on twins, it will work for a singleton.
In this post you will find the following information:
- Potty Training in 3 Days Book Review
- Preparing for Potty Training
- Potty Training Age
- Our Potty Training Rewards
Potty Training in 3 Days Book Review
I must give credit where credit is due! I couldn’t imagine potty training without reading this book first.
Brandi Brucks provided a very elaborate system on how to potty train quickly. This was during a weekend for our family.
The system is not complex but it’s not easy either. It takes a lot of dedicated time and some patience.
We took all of her recommendations pretty seriously. Her book gave me the information I needed to prepare my husband, our house and our children for what was to come.
- Brucks, Brandi (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
Last update on 2023-03-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Easy to Follow Potty Training Tips
As a mom of 3 kids under 3 I loved that the book was a super quick read. It was short and to the point, exactly what I needed. I also loved how she set up the book with yellow boxes containing very important information or tips. Her lists of things you will need, things to say and not to say, things to do and not to do. All of it helped me prepare for what was to come. The night before we started potty training, I quickly skimmed through everything I had underlined in the book and the yellow boxes to make sure I didn’t forget anything in preparation.
I also found the index in the back of the book very helpful when I had forgotten what she had said about a certain topic.
Easy to Follow Rules and Tips
I’m a very big rule follower and I like to do things the right way. I appreciated all of her examples of specific phrases to use while potty training. I picked a couple of examples of phrases I could see myself using and I put a big sticky note on our bathroom mirror and in our kitchen of the phrases. That allowed me to feel more confident on day 1 of potty training so I could remember exactly how to remind our kids to use the bathroom or what to say if they had an accident. It also helped my husband who did not read the book and only knew of what to do based on things I had shared with him while reading the book.
Are you and Toddler Ready for Potty Time?
I was very torn on whether our twins were both actually ready. Technically they were according to the list she makes in the book of 5 ways to know when they are ready. Our twins qualified with doing at least 3 on the list. One boy had actually shown interest maybe a month before and then had lost interest, so I was a little concerned on whether he was actually ready.
We picked a date, prepared and committed. I felt like they both did far better than I ever expected. I also feel like it never would have gone, and it did if it weren’t for following her way of doing things. I’ve seen people use a timer to potty train which is what I was planning on doing before the book, set a timer every 20-30 min and have them sit on the potty. If I would have tried that instead of this 3-day method I think I literally would have lost my mind with my twins and given up. I would have been constantly fighting with them all day to sit on the potty when they weren’t ready to potty yet.
Potty Training Age
During my research to identify the appropriate age for potty training, it seemed the consensus was between the ages of 2 and 3 years of age.
Some kids can start the process as early as 18 months and some can delay it.
Brandi Brucks covers this information well in her book. She goes over how to know if your child is ready, typical age range, and issues that come up if you potty train later.
Our twin boys were 2.5 years old. We did minor attempts prior to reading Potty Training in 3 Days with a couple of successful uses of the potty. They were far and few between.
At the end of the process, 2.5 years of age seemed to be the perfect age for our little guys to get trained. The communication skills seemed just right to help with the process.
Our Potty Training Seats
We bought two of the blue BABYBJORN Smart Potty turquoise seats. When we first got them they would just play on them and randomly sit on them.
- Comfortable for your child; ergonomic design with soft lines
- Practical for you; takes up minimal space and is easy to take with you
Last update on 2023-03-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Once I read Potty Training in 3 Days, I realized this was a mistake, I thought.
The author mentions that it’s important to get a seat to go on the toilet itself. If you train them on the potty seats that sit on the floor, you will then have to retrain them to go on the regular potty.
I was disappointed when I read this because of two reasons:
- I bought the two BABYBJORN potty seats,
- and I didn’t want to retrain.
Luckily, we had a BABYBJORN Toilet Trainer show up on our doorstep. Thanks, Grandma! Like I said before I’m a big rule follower, so I wanted to have the exact equipment recommended. So far, we have only tried it on our toilets at home. The first time I put it on I got it to tighten on our toilet seat well. Now I’ve noticed that if I want to actually tighten it I have to get it sitting just right onto our toilet seat and mess around with it a little more. I rarely have time to do that so I usually just set it onto the toilet seat and don’t worry about tightening it. It works fine without tightening it down. The only thing I wish it had was handles on the sides so the kids could hold onto those instead of a toilet seat.
- Comfortable and secure seating; ergonomic design helps your child sit correctly
- Easy for the child to put on and remove on their own
Last update on 2023-03-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Potty Training Rewards
Our potty training incentives were three fold.
- We bought UNREAL Milk Chocolate Gems. Our boys love chocolate. Some of the other chocolate candy with colors on the market have been making headlines for causing health issues due to ingredients or dyes. We liked that UNREAL had less sugar, natural coloring, and are made with fair trade certified ingredients.
- The next potty training reward was Horiechaly Transportation Stickers. Our boys love stickers and they love all things motor vehicles. This sticker set included boats, planes, trains, motorcycles, trucks and construction vehicles. All of their favorites and plenty to choose from.
- Plastic Easter eggs. That’s right, Easter eggs. We potty trained at the end of May beginning of June. Easter was still fresh in the boys’ minds and they loved nothing more than opening up the Easter eggs. One UNREAL Milk Chocolate Gem per egg. One son was motivated to potty train just for the chocolate candy alone. The other twin we were concerned it might not be the right treat for him. My mother-in-law knowing his personality and that he loves surprises and presents had a treat inside the Easter egg. So the night before we started potty training we washed up some Easter eggs and placed a single candy in each one. We then kept those eggs in a big plastic container so the boys could see through it. They love cracking open an egg even if it always contains the same chocolate treat inside.
Preparing for Potty Training
A lot of preparation was done for kicking off the potty training.
I made sure there was a timeframe where we had no scheduled events on the calendar. I made sure I would have someone to help me the first three days of the training. This was essential with twins and a 10-month-old. There was NO possible way I could have taken care of a child on the potty and kept my eye on the other child to catch them having an accident while also watching my 10-month-old.
We picked a Friday to start. I had always thought summer would be the easiest time to potty train based on what I had heard from other moms. Once I read Brandi Brucks book I realized that I did not want to potty train in the summer. Spring, Fall, or Winter seemed like a much better time. That first day of potty training for me with twins I felt like I lived in the bathroom. To commit to not going outside is hard with young kids inside all winter and are so excited to get outside now.
Poster Boards and Potty Training
I put together a poster board for each twin with their name on it. On each board, I put 10 days, Friday through Sunday. I did this because I knew it was in the book to at least try potty training for 10 days before giving up. Each day had enough space to put stickers for successful potties.
The book talks about making sure they drink a lot of fluids to help the boys have to go to the bathroom often. We bought them some Smart Water bottles with the sport cap. Our boys love drinking out of straws and basically any new drinking container. This was the best thing we used for increasing fluids. They loved having their own big water bottle. We just washed off the bottles and refilled them for the 3 days we potty trained.
We also bought them juice boxes which we had little luck with. They kept spilling them everywhere by squeezing the boxes. Besides spilling they tucked the straw inside the box losing their ability to drink them. We also picked up some lemonade to dilute but our boys were not interested in that.
Buy Underwear They Like
I bought their big boy underwear and washed them all in advance. We bought the boys monster truck underwear. They love monster trucks so they were very excited to see these show up in the mail.
I went over the big boy underwear with them the week leading to the start of potty training. Telling them these are big boy underwear and when we wear them we want to keep them clean. I kept telling them we didn’t want to get the monster trucks dirty or yucky. I told them that all the diapers would go with the postman so they can go to little babies. As the book recommended, I explained that the diapers were going away and not coming back.
The day we started potty training I planned to have the boys collect all the diapers to pretend to give them to the postman, but it was so chaotic once we started on day 1 we never got around to it and the boys never have asked for their diapers back so we just didn’t worry about it.
Potty Training and Bedtime
For when they were sleeping, we bought the twins pull-ups. I know the book recommended nighttime pull-ups but from talking to some friends it sounded like regular pull-ups would work fine. Besides this we used some Gerber training pants for over the top of the pull-ups. That was just for our peace of mind that , if they leaked through there, would be something with a little extra to absorb anything. We are used to double diapering our kids at night. It’s cheaper than buying nighttime diapers. We weren’t sure that pull-ups would do the job all night, but we have had no issues with leaking.
- Pack of 4
- Pretty cars design
Last update on 2023-03-20 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
Besides the supplies and gear we needed for the start of potty training, we had to adjust to the schedule.
The book mentions limiting fluids before bed. Built into our routine was giving the twins a 6 oz sippy cup of milk right before bed. Besides this, we would give them a sippy cup of water to take to bed with them.
Adjusting to Changes During Potty Training
Often, if there wasn’t enough water in the cups the twins would cry asking for more water. This was something that we wanted to start to gradually taper off to prepare for potty training.
We reduced the boys’ milk intake around bedtime by a couple of ounces eventually moving from 6 ounces to 1 ounce. This allowed us to eliminate milk all together right before bedtime when potty training started. There was protest from our boys asking for more milk. We would just explain that they needed to drink more milk earlier in the day and that we weren’t drinking a lot before bed anymore.
Instead, we give them more milk during the day to make up for the milk they miss at night now. We try to discourage drinking as much as we can in those two hours before bed but right now being warm out, we are usually doing something outdoors right before bed. When they come inside from that we will give them a little bit of water since they haven’t been leaking through their nighttime undies.
Another thing we did in preparing was I let them watch me go to the bathroom and explaining things in the bathroom. I wasn’t very excited about this part, but I think it helped them prepare for potty training more and they had a better idea of what to do when potty training started.
Potty Training Results
So far in our 9 days of potty training, we have had 4 days of no accidents. Day 1 of potty training we had 10+ accidents. The other 4 days have had only 1 accident each and it was only because there was a delay in the parents getting them to the potty. After day 1 they have always told us or warned us when they have to go potty.
Our 10-month-old boy is crawling everywhere. He loves to venture into the bathroom when the boys are taking care of business. Tending to the needs of potty training and the little one seemed impossible. We put up our Summer Infant Pop N’ Play Portable Playard in our living room so that if needed we would have a safe place to stick him to keep him out of the way during chaotic times.
This was also a huge necessity for me on day 4 of potty training when my husband went back to work. The twins were doing well with potty training, but there was still sometimes where I get tied up in the bathroom for a little too long with both twins and needed that safe place to stick him for so I didn’t have to worry.
Do What Works Best for You
We used all 3 of the potty seats for training. I know it’s not what was recommended in the book, however, I was very concerned about having 2 boys needing to potty simultaneously and only 1 potty seat for them to use.
There was no way for us to be running them upstairs or to different bathrooms in the house, where we would be carrying them over carpeted areas when they were having an accident. We wanted to keep them in our main bathroom with all wood floors around it for easy cleanup.
So far, I’m very thankful to have 3 potty seat options. The BABYBJORN smart potty will be great to take in the van on long trips if we can’t find a bathroom to get to fast or easy enough. I can see this happening frequently with our twins. We have also now moved one of the BABYBJORN smart potty upstairs to the kid’s bathroom right next to their bedrooms.
We have found when we put them to bed typically one or both have to use the potty again before they fall asleep. So, in our main bathroom, we have the BABYBJORN smart potty and the BABYBJORN toilet trainer. Two potty seats available in that bathroom seems to be a necessity for us since that is the busiest area of the house. The boys have used both different types with no problem.
Do What Works Best for Them
They prefer the BABYBJORN smart potty because they enjoy pouring their waste into the big potty and flushing it. As a parent, we don’t prefer that one since it’s messier and requires more clean up and work. Our favorite would be the toilet trainer. For right now we are just going with it since it’s all so new yet and we want to nail the process down well before messing with it too much.
On our first day, it actually felt like it was a beautiful summer day so that was difficult to be stuck inside. I knew it was a sacrifice we had to make. The 2nd day we went outside when we had our only accident of the day. My son had told me he had to go potty, but I had to bring the other twin safely inside before I could assist the one that had to go potty and it delayed me in getting my son to the potty in time. I felt the accident was my fault, not his.
So far, every accident we have had after the first day of 10+ accidents had been the child saying they had to go potty and us just not getting them there in time. The only other accident we’ve had was when I thought my son was ok to get started by himself while I was taking care of something, but he forgot to pull his pants down and just sat on the potty and went.
Potty Training Can be Easier Than You Think!
Before we started potty training, I pictured tons of accidents of them playing and forgetting to go to the bathroom sort of thing. That only happened for us on the first day when they were just learning everything. We have not had a single incident of that yet. I thought they would get so distracted with TV or playing cars, but they always stop and tell us they have to go. It’s amazing and I believe it’s because of the preparation this book gave us. I honestly can’t believe how quickly you can go from diapers being a huge part of your life to not being needed.
I would consider our first-time potty training a huge success! We are very satisfied with the results and quickly it all came together.
