Potty Training: 4 Safety Tips for an Accident-free Toilet Visit | Green Eggs & Moms

So you’ve had many nights of interrupted sleep care of  midnight potty trips with your child. Potty training is nearly complete. The last thing on the syllabus is for her to have those visits without you.

However, before you encourage her solo trips, make sure you follow the safety guidelines below.

Potty training safety tips:

1. Check the bathroom floor. Prior to sleeping, inspect your child’s bathroom and put away anything that may cause her to trip. If your bathroom floor is slippery, consider placing bathroom mats to prevent any accidents. Just make sure the mats have rubber underneath them so they don’t slide around when stepped on.

You can also use are rubber mats that are placed in shower areas to prevent your child from sliding.

2. Light the way. Use wall lamps so your child can find her way safely to the bathroom. Yes, I’m talking about those dim tiny lamps that are plugged directly into wall sockets. They are cheap and can be bought in any hardware store.

Another option is to leave the bathroom lights on throughout the night, but this isn’t exactly eco-friendly. Go get those wall lamps!

3. Secure your child’s potty seat cover on top of the toilet. Some potty trainers have detachable seat covers which can be placed over regular toilets. Why do this? Because the last thing you want is for your child to fall into that gleaming white porcelain bowl.

Warning 1: Placing the potty seat cover adds height to the toilet. If your child needs a stool to access the seat, hold off on her solo bathroom visits to avoid accidents. I suggest you wait for her to grow a few more inches until she can reach the toilet seat, without the trusty stool. Safety always comes first.

4. Groggy kids are a danger to themselves. If you notice your child’s gait to resemble someone who’s had too many tequila shots, please accompany her to the bathroom. Why? Here’s what happened to me.

My son was about 3 1/2 when we started our midnight bathroom visits together. Once, I placed him on the toilet seat only to notice that he was slowly tilting forward. He had actually fallen asleep! Luckily, I was there to catch his fall. To this day, I can’t help but think of what would have happened had I not been there. The answer? He would have hit his head on the bathroom’s marble floor. Ouch.

You want your child to be independent, but if you see that it’s unsafe for her to be going to the potty alone at night, don’t let her do it. However, if she seems capable enough, go ahead with the potty training!

Are there other tips that worked for you? Please share them by leaving a comment below.

Photo: Creative Commons by Manish Bansal

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