Recommendations for child's potty?

consultant31

DGS is almost ready to start potty-training. I remember the common-or-garden variety of potties seemed quite unstable when my own children were at this stage (we had more than a few tip-ups).

There are so many different ones on the market now, can anyone give a recommendation for a sturdy potty please?

M_A_R_I_E

I found just the plain ones from Mothercare were fine. I used to put a towel underneath when first training just in case of any accidents.
I wouldn't reccommend any of the expensive, gimmicky potties you can get - no need and your child will think its a toy rather than a toilet!!!
HTH. Good luck!!

tiamai_d

I personally dislike potties, instead I have this

http://www.bloomingmarvellous.co.uk/product.aspx?CategoryID=n-potty&ProductID=90134&language=en-GB

DS2 has CP so the other seats that sit inside the seat were too unstable for him, whereas this works great... when he uses the toilet, he's still in nappies mostly.

But I agree, the cheaper the better, just make sure its sturdy and not going to tip, plus that it has a handle for you to pick it up, nothing worse than having to use two hands and it still slips out and then you have a lovely stain to clean up...

teacherandmum

another vote for cheap ones
the ikea one is good - sits up quiet high off the floor
boots one is also good


remember to egt one for the car - and keep one upstairs and down when you first start

we also bought a folding one that comes in a bag - not sure if it was worth the money but was useful when you go out on trips out to parks, zoos etc where toilets are busy or few and far between

Savvy_Sue

We had something like that too for DS3, it was a sort of stepladder with a toilet seat at the top, so the seat folded the other way to tiamai's. However, I found it no substitute for having a potty quickly to hand in the early days, and as time went by it had the HUGE DISadvantage that DS3 felt he could only use 'his' toilet. The hours I spent crouched in toilet cubicles trying to support him while he failed to 'perform' ...

In the end I refused to take it on holiday with us, so he had a week without it, and after that I hid it and passed it on to a friend. He still recognised it a year or so later and wanted it back again!

As for potty design, you can get some idea by looking at them, but different potties suit different botties, so it may be a case of trial and error. My mum found my brothers' old potty, which had a narrower base than top, and that wasn't great ...

M_A_R_I_E

Yes one for the car is also a must!!

We bought two different ones (1 for house and 1 for car - both cheapies) to stop DS becoming used to only using a certain one which I thought might cause problems if we went out. He quickly got used to using toilets when we were out anyway.

Janepig

We had this one from Mothercare. Not terribly expensive, but DD and DS found it far more comfortable than your traditional potty. Although we did have afew of those for emergencies.

Jxx

consultant31

Thanks ladies. See, I hadn't even thought about him only performing for the one special loo, as I had my 3 very close together and there wasn't much chance of us going out very far.

Good suggestions, thanks again

DaisyFlower

Janepig wrote: »

We had this one from Mothercare. Not terribly expensive, but DD and DS found it far more comfortable than your traditional potty. Although we did have afew of those for emergencies.

Jxx

We had that style too as well as the basic one, the chair one was far easier to clean and more comfortable so the basic one was a spare for travelling.

daska

Janepig wrote: »

We had this one from Mothercare. Not terribly expensive, but DD and DS found it far more comfortable than your traditional potty. Although we did have afew of those for emergencies.

Jxx

My sister passed on one of these to me telling me how wonderful it was...

well, maybe it was for her two little girls but my lad pees straight over the top of the baffle :eek:

NBirdy

Janepig wrote: »

We had this one from Mothercare. Not terribly expensive, but DD and DS found it far more comfortable than your traditional potty. Although we did have afew of those for emergencies.

Jxx

We had one like that too, and it was fab. Much better than crouching on the floor on the traditional potty, and very easy to clean too. We had the padded insert seat for the toilet as well, but the chair was always the most popular choice. Two of my DD's friends potty-trained at our house as they loved the chair too, and would willingly use it whilst refusing the potty at their home. I think virtually every parent that came to our house and saw it, asked where it came from. So I definitely recommend it!

Will be getting it back into use again soon for DD2, though she happily sits on it already (just as a chair, with her nappy still on mostly, she's only 18m).

ETA just saw the comment re: boys lol. Must confess my experience is limited to girls, although a little boy did use it whilst visiting, and there were no 'fountain' problems. I can see how that could be an issue however :rotfl: