6 Tips to Share with your Babysitter When Potty Training

So, tomorrow, my little love will be with his amazing babysitter for quite a bit of time. I was super concerned about this at first but when I messaged her to let her know that he was potty training right now, she was ecstatic! I don't know what I had expected, but I was so impressed with her willingness to help us get through this together.

• Side Note: Although I haven't updated you on all of our Potty Training days just yet, we are currently on DAY 8!!! I would not recommend having anyone babysit the little poop star until he has had a few days under his belt ;)

I would recommend providing your sitter with a list of your child's "go signals." What does your child do when she has to poop? What about when she has to pee? I would provide a list of phrases that work. Or as one of my good friends always says "words to induce the deuce" (BAHAHAHAHA)! I would include your child's most common increments between bathroom incidents so that your sitter has some idea of how long they can go for a walk or be outside. I would definitely include a list of "easy catches" (when is your child most likely to have an incident?). I also included notes about clothing for my sitter. Since David is only 17 months old, he still needs help pushing down his pants and getting them up over his butt (this is the cutest thing ever, by the way!). Finally, I would include an example of what the day might look like for your little one with specific timestamps for when he/she has peed or pooped in the past. This is immensely helpful for those weird times when your kid has to pee every ten minutes for who knows what reason (yep... we have had that one too...)

Here is what I am leaving for our babysitter for tomorrow.

David Michael is currently potty training. Below are a few quick notes to help you help him through this tricky time :)

1. Signals:

If you see any of these signals, I would just get him to the potty ASAP:

• Squatting

• Walking on Tippy Toes

• Hiding from you

These mean he might have to poop, so sit him on the potty for a few minutes:

• Suddenly very affectionate

• Climbing on you

2. Phrases that work:

• “You can play with your truck AFTER you make a pee.”

• “You can do it! GRRRRRR!” (for a poop especially!)

• “Truck, you wait here. David has to make a pee. He will be right back!”

3. Time Periods:

• I would ask him to try to pee every 30 minutes

• He pees just about every 10 minutes after breakfast until around 10 am

4. Easy Catches:

• Before and After Sitting in High Chair

• Before and After Walk

• Before and After Nap

5. Clothing (and other notes):

He has a hard time getting his pants down and back up. I recommend the following:

“PUSH your pants down.”

• You will definitely have to help him with this.

“Pull your pants up.”

• He can get his pants up in the front, but needs help in the back.

6. Sample Play-by-Play:

8 am - Milk

• 9 - peed on potty

• 910 - peed on potty

• 920 - peed on potty

• 930 - peed on potty

• 1005 - peed on potty (we keep waiting for a poop!)

• 1058 - peed on potty

• 1135 - peed on potty

• 1213 - peed on potty

• 1228 - peed and POOPED on potty (needy, climbing on me)

• 110 - peed on potty

120 pm - NAP in his own bed!!!

• 230 - peed on potty

• 310 peed on potty

• 339 - peed on travel potty

• 4 - wanted to come to car, peed in travel potty

• 420 - peed at home

• 5 - peed in kitchen while I was cooking …

• 505 - peed IN Potty

I hope you find this helpful! If you think of other categories to include, drop me a note and I will include it in an update with a shoutout! Thanks for dropping by and happy potty training!!!