Imagine how much easier (and cheaper) life will be when you can avoid the nappy aisle in the supermarket when preparing for toilet training! Before that though, you might find it useful to buy a few helpful products.

What products might be useful?

Underwear
Yep, your child will need undies! But before you go out and buy expensive ones to celebrate their new life-stage, remember that you might be throwing a few pairs away if there are accidents. It’s always nice if he’s excited about wearing them so you could take him to the store with you and let him choose them. Buy at least 12 pairs, the last thing you want to worry about is running out of underwear.

Potties
Potties of all varieties are on the market. You can spend a fortune or you can buy a very basic potty. The ‘bottom’ line is that you want a potty your child likes and wants to sit on. So if a potty that plays music or features his favourite cartoon character will motivate him with potty training, go right ahead.

A bathroom step
Many kids do go straight onto the big toilet, in which case a bathroom step or stool will be necessary in toilet training. If you don’t have one, you’ll probably find it a wise buy because he’ll need one to reach the sink and wash his hands, anyway.

Bedding protectors
Even once he’s got the hang of toileting while he’s awake, he’ll probably continue to wet in his sleep for a while.  An absorbent bed liner makes this much easier to deal with – it sits on top of the bottom sheet and is far easier to remove and wash than stripping the whole bed.  Once your child is fairly reliable without it, you’ll probably still want a waterproof mattress protector to guard against occasional accidents – a mattress is never quite the same again after a wee soaking!

Books
Kids love to read about what’s going on in their lives; it makes it all seem normal – even when on the toilet. Look in your local bookshop or ask friends if they can recommend any good children’s toilet-training books. You might be asked to read it about a million times, so be prepared!

Videos
There are all sorts of videos available to help your child make the transition from nappies to the potty or toilet. But beware, most include chirpy and catchy songs about sitting on the toilet, wiping and hand-washing which you could be hearing over and over again.

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