Potty Recomendations

Hi T.
My daughter is 17 month old and she start goind to the patty when she was 10 month. i got her the basic patty with no other bs. it is just a distraction and takes her mind away from what she has to do. she is not really asking to go yet by herself, but if i put her there and tell her go pee she does that. Good luck with traning.

I'm a vote for the baby bjorn potty chair. We introduced it to my son when he was about 16 months, and it's worked out great. When she's ready, I recommend the baby bjorn toilet seat, too. Although for me, one of the advantages for both is the built-in splash guard, which may not be relevant for your daughter. So advice from parents with girls might be more helpful? Hope this helps.

i bought several models since I have two girls a year apart, so we had two upstairs and two downstairs. My favorite was the Target brand... Circo potty. It was only $10!

Things I like are: the seat is attached to the potty... I had another potty where the seat lifted off to be used on the toilet... so the seat became a toy (gross!), taking it apart and even putting the seat on her head after watching "the potty movie for girls" (awful!!! don't watch that one).
the circo seat flips up and the cup comes out the front, so it's never been entertaining.

it also has a lid, so it doubles as a stepstool, and it doesn't have a soft seat. I had one potty that had a soft seat, and it smelled so bad!!!!!!!

I've found the Circo one to be easy to clean also. Good luck!!!!!

Like you, I looked at all the ones with all the bells and whistles, but ultimately decided that the novelty of those things would be short-lived, and just be more to keep clean! I decided on the very basic BabyBjorn potty. It was like $28, but VERY simple to keep clean. All plastic, no nooks and crannies to have to scrub, just a removable basin in a plastic base. We got 3, one for our house and one for each grandmother's house, and the nice thing is they come in several colors, so everyone got their own color. My son never really knew anything about the bells-n-whistles models, so he was fine with what we had. Personally, I don't think the more elaborate models do anything to enhance the process.

Best of luck to you.

After using one w/ my first, I think that the ones w/ all the bells & whistles are a pretty big waste of $, to be honest.
I just got one for my son a few wks ago @ Wal Mart that's ECO-FRIENDLY! ;-) It was by Safety 1st & I think it was called Nature Next. It's a new collection of stuff that's made out of Bio-Plastic & believe it or not, but it was actually the cheapest one there!!!! They're only about $10!!!!!!! Both Target & Wal Mart carry them. It's got the lift-out "bowl" for easy cleaning & doubles as a step stool.
It's somewhat plain looking, but it would be very easy to decorate w/ stickers if your daughter would like to add some "bling" to it to make it more exciting/friendly-looking.

I actually plan on getting a 2nd one soon so that we can have one for upstairs & one for downstairs. And since they're only about $10, I don't feel like that's a silly thing to do (but I sure would if I spent another $20-30 on one, like I did w/ my daughters potty!!!)

Hope it helps some! Just remember to take things slow & follow her cues. 18 mos is still very young (as I'm sure you realize!). :-)

We got a potty that played a tune but it kept breaking. I sent the part to the manufacturer twice and then gave up. Even while it worked it did seem like the novelty was wearing off. The only thing it was good for was letting ME know when he had peed! One thing I never got that I wish I had (I feel it's too late now as I'm almost done with PLing) was the seat that actually attaches to the toilet. That way they can't pick it up and throw it around, it's just a part of the toilet. I bought a few of those little one piece baby bjorn potties to put in other spots in the house and love them - very easy to clean and no losing parts. For on the go I got a potette and love it. You don't actually need to buy the inserts made for it, you can just use a plastic bag. It double as a potty ring and fits nicely in your bag. Anyhow, good luck - it's great you're starting so young!

my son got a "Throne of their own" for his first birthday, I put batteries in it when he was two and let him sit on it. When i got serious about training as he neared his third birthday the batteries had worn out and i just never replaced them, He didn't seem to care much one way or the other, if anything the noise it made, caused him to jump up to try to look to see where the sound was coming from. so i personally don't think you need to bother much with any extras.

just wanted to add, that i never used the type of seat that went right on the adult toilet and we never had a problem transitioning to using the adult toilet when they were well trained. My kids are both on the petite side so it probably would have involved alot of messing around to get a stepstool have them crawl up on top etc and i didn't want to have anything hamper them from just dropping their drawers and going if the needed too. just my two cents on that.
My mom also bought us one that was a step stool, that was actually the one i prefered because i could put the "lid down" since I kept it in our kitchen, we lived in a house with only one bath that was upstairs, so for convenience sake, I just kept the potty in the kitchen where my son could get to easily and quickly and it just was more descret than the one that didn't have a lid.

Have you heard the tip of lining a potty with a plastic bag and keeping it in your car if you need it while traveling with a potty trainee??

Good Luck, I think 18 mons is the perfect time to start training, They learn quickly and are so eager to please you.

All I can say is I wish you luck. I could of never trained at that age. My daughter was 3 months shy of 3 when she was trained(she did it herself in 1 day, and sleep trained in 4 days).

Hello. My vote is for the baby bjorn ones too. We have two different potties, a princess one (don't remember the brand) and the baby bjorn one and my 2 year old perfers the baby bjorn. The reviews on BRU said that it give the kids a more natural 'squating' position when sitting on it then the other types. As soon as I get a coupon for BRU I am going to get a second one to keep in the car. Good luck.

Hi T.
FYI: Check out parenting expert Johm Rosemond. He is very "old school" in his approach and totally advocates early training. I guess way back when it was the norm to train at 18 monts. According to him kids are totally ready by then and parents of today wait way too long. I kind of agree...I know more and more parents who have untrained kids approaching their 4th birthday! I applaud you for starting early and wish you luck.

I highly recommend the Baby Bjorn toilet seat top. That way you don't have to use a small potty. One thing I also did was a bought a graco potty seat that's very plain and simple it has a lid that comes down over the little removeable squishy seat and you can use it as a step stool . I like this one as I can put it in my van for those emergencies. I wish that I Had it with the first 3! Pack extra clothes!