Potty training is a challenging but inevitable development path for any child. It takes a mental and physical toll on both parent and child. Easing potty training’s difficulties require potty training essentials, your little one’s readiness, and preparation.
When we decided to potty train our little girl, the first thing we needed to confirm was readiness. Is she ready for potty training? Does she show all the signs that she’s ready? Are WE ready for this journey with our little one? After answering those questions (for us, it was yes to all), we needed to prepare.
In our experience, preparation was vital. We needed to create the right environment and situation for our little one to learn.
Which meant:
- Designating a potty training zone
- Be knowledgeable about the method of training we were going to use
- Taking days off from work, so our little one has our undivided attention
- Plan for takeout because cooking would be one less thing to worry about
- And of course, the potty training essentials required for all this to work
Potty Training Essentials
When it comes to potty training essentials, in a barebone kind of way, all you need is a potty chair and cleaning supplies.
On the other hand, we took a different approach and bought things that try to cover everything from A-Z.
I’ll be listing an array of recommended potty training essentials that helped us in our potty training journey. Some household items won’t be on the list but are still required like towels, lotion, hand soap, and cleaning supplies.
I’ll also be listing recommended alternative items, which would be recommendations from our family and friends.
More or less, the items listed in this post worked for us (and we’re hoping it works for you). In different circumstances or situations, you may need more or fewer items than what is listed.
If you’re ready to make the leap and prepare potty training with these potty training essentials, visit this post for tips, expectations, and challenges we went through with potty training.
Potty Training Book
This is the potty training book we read when we were thinking about potty training. Among the other resources, guides, and tips we read online about potty training, this book, and its methods gave us confidence.
If you don’t have a method in mind, this book/kindle is a must-have potty training essential.
The way we came upon this book, some of the moms in my wife’s Facebook group recommended it. My wife then went into research mode, read the reviews on Amazon, and concluded that she would give this book a try.
It’s an easy read, though some people have issues with the tone of the book. The writing in the book has some inappropriate language, which we didn’t mind. We figured if the information the author provides is useful, then we’ll trade vulgar language for gold anytime.
In addition to the book, it’s supplemented with other resources.
There’s a Facebook group that my wife joined specifically about this book. She has had to ask for advice in the Facebook group, and for the most part, she gets a lot of useful tips and advice from other parents. It’s a cool little support system for all the parents going through this very same journey.
The author of the book also has a series of YouTube videos that you can checkout to reaffirm the potty training knowledge.
Potty Chair
We love the BabyBjörn potty. Our little girl only wanted to sit on this potty seat in the first week of potty training. She avoided the potty inserts and travel potty like a plague.
The great thing about this potty seat is that it’s small and very light so that it can fit virtually anywhere around the house. It’s easy to clean the seat after your little one does his/her business.
The potty chair is a two-piece contraption with a base and a bucket, so it’s easy for the little one to carry the bucket. She loves to empty the pee or poop into the toilet, so we let her carry the bucket to the toilet, empty it, and then flush.
The potty chair has a sturdy grip on the bottom of the base. That’s important for a couple of reasons.
The first is that you may designate the potty to be on hardwood floors or tiles and with the grip on the bottom, it won’t slide everywhere.
Second, it immensely helps the clumsy and uncoordinated (which most toddlers are). The way my little one goes from standing to sitting is precisely that, and there are times I thought she was going to fall off after sitting down on the toilet, but the grip made it that she sits fine and stable.
If you set the potty chair on the carpet, grip probably doesn’t matter so much.
It’s also quite portable, as I had to take it with us when I visited my parent’s place. The first time our little girl visited my parents’ place, potty trained, she wouldn’t go pee in the travel potty and held her pee till we got home.
Alternative Potty Chair
We had a couple of friends recommend this. It’s also a great seat for the same price as the BabyBjörn potty chair.
I’m a fan of the support handles that comes with the potty chair. It’s an attachable part, so you got options to have it on or off (whatever your toddler’s preference is).
I do have two problems with it.
The first is that the slide-out bucket is supposed to make cleaning simple.
Conceptually this is a great idea, and for practicality, it would be a perfect potty chair.
But the design makes it that pee can get through the gaps (and it will). Or if your child does cleanly pee (which rarely happens) into the potty bucket, sliding the bucket out the base can cause splashes and the pee will sometimes get on the potty base, which means another thing you have to clean.
The second problem is there’s no grip on the base’s bottom, so it’ll slide. I talked about the importance of grip when it came to the BabyBjörn chair.
This is the seat I would recommend if you’re not a fan of the BabyBjörn potty or the Jool Potty Chair. It has everything the BabyBjörn potty has with the addition of the backrest support.
(Disclaimer – People have complained about this potty chair as it may not be suited for boys because of the low splash guard.)
The potty chair is slightly bigger than the BabyBjörn potty chair, but it’s still light enough to be portable for travel (has a handle in the back for easy transportation).
The OXO and BabyBjörn are similarly designed, so if your little one is anything like my daughter, they can carry that potty bucket and empty the pee and poop themselves.
It’s a simple two-piece contraption that’s easy to clean. It also has grip at the bottom of the base.
Potty Seat
After a week of potty training, our little one started alternating between the potty chair and potty seat. We have both the BabyBjörn and Jool potty seat.
The BabyBjörn seat is becoming the go-to when it comes to my little one’s pee and poop business.
Before I had the built-in potty seat installed in my downstairs restroom, I used to shift this potty seat upstairs or downstairs, wherever the little one was causing havoc.
It’s quite simple to take out and install. It’s easy to adjust the potty seat so that it fits snug and it has grip on the bottom of the seat, so it doesn’t move easily even when not fitted snug.
My little one seems very comfortable on the seat as there is support for her bottom. She also stays sitting for an extended time after being done doing her business.
Why this is my favorite is because the little one is most comfortable pooping with this seat. (She’s had trouble pooping and sometimes she would hold it until she couldn’t. But with this potty seat, she comfortable enough to let me know that she needs to poop.)
I bought the Jool potty seat and left it at my parents (so I don’t need to transport any potty when we visit).
The seat comes with a small bag for travel purposes. It folds up small, so it’s easy to transport almost anywhere. It has suction cups at the bottom, so it won’t move when you place it on any toilet (private or public).
It does the job for a portable potty seat and it’s cost-friendly.
Built-in Potty Seat
We were looking for a built-in potty seat, so we decided on this particular one because my wife’s Facebook group (parents that are amid potty training or already done with potty training) recommended it. I also looked up the built-in potty seat on Amazon, and it didn’t hurt that it was a well-reviewed product.
The installation was simple and straightforward. Anybody can do it and it took me about 5 minutes to put it on after taking the old toilet seat out.
It’s a nice looking and durable plastic toilet seat. Adults can absolutely use it. The toilet seat has two seats, one for the little one and one for the adult.
The seat for the little one has a magnet attachment, so when you lift the toilet seat lid, the little one’s seat is attached to the lid until you want to bring it down. When your little one grows out of the toddler seat, there’s no need to replace the toilet seat as the toddler seat will be on the toilet lid and never be in the way.
Our little one likes this quite a lot, as she can put down the seat herself and put it up after she’s done. She likes the fact that she’s doing something independently, which allows her to learn self-reliance.
We use this built-in potty seat for the downstairs restroom (we used to shift the BabyBjörn potty seat between the upstairs or downstairs restroom). It’s perfect to have this built-in potty seat downstairs (in our case) for a couple of reasons.
When our family or friends are over, they’ll most likely be using our downstair’s restroom. The hassle of having guests remove the toddler potty seat and then inserting it back on (after they finish) is eliminated from the equation. They can happily do their business.
Most of our friends have kids about the age of our little one. So when/if (we’re still in a pandemic, so we haven’t had anybody over) they come over, their little ones can go to the potty with ease instead of having their parents bring a travel potty.
Travel Potty
This travel potty has it all. It’s a potty chair, potty seat, and a travel potty all in one.
It’s a potty chair minus the bucket as you would need to buy the potty liners to catch the pee or poop.
You can fold the legs locked to be placed on top of the toilet as a potty seat. But the primary use of this potty is that it’s a travel potty or potty on the go.
We use it as a travel potty and it’s a great item to have. This fits in the diaper bag easily.
In times of COVID, the most traveling we’ve done is about a mile away from our house, so we often use this at the park. My wife has a liner already on the travel potty, so when the little one says “pee-pee” the potty is ready for the little one to do her business.
Kid’s Step Stool
This is a great kid’s step stool that we’ve used for about a year. It’s safe and durable even after a year of usage.
I know that they’re durable because I, a 200lb adult, have stepped on it many times and it hasn’t crumbled under my weight, as of yet (not recommended for adults to step on).
It’s also light-weight, so it’s easy to move around anywhere where a step stool is needed.
It’s a sturdy and stable step stool. I stated above that our little one is a bit clumsy, but it holds stable when she’s on it tiptoed, side leaned, one-leg cross and whatever standing position she wants to partake in.
We have had this step stool since our little one started walking. We use this to encourage our little one’s independence, letting her wash her hands and having her brush her teeth.
And now we also use this to let her climb up to the potty seat.
Potty Training Books for Toddlers to Read
We had these books weeks before her potty training date. Our little one loves books, so it was easy to read these books well before her potty training date.
This was part of our preparation, teaching her to acknowledge what pee and poop are and what she will be doing in the near future.
These books were excellent and helpful because while we were potty training, she would ask for these books to be read to her. It was most helpful for the first two days as she was nervous and holding her pee and poop.
Every time she indicated that she wanted to have the book be read to her, it gave her the confidence to pee or poop, just like the book’s characters.
Girl’s Clothes
When we chose the potty training method, the book listed above, the first phase of potty training states that the little one is supposed to be without any bottoms, and only after the first phase she can start wearing bottoms again.
We chose these shorts because the clothing recommendation is that they were to have loose enough clothing. The feeling of loose clothing indicates to them that they don’t have a diaper.
Even though it was loose-fitting, it still fit our little one’s waist perfectly. They were easy to take off when she indicated to us that she needed to go pee or poop.
We bought her underwear a couple of weeks before her potty training date. We let her see it and let her know what they were.
She loved the designs and would bring them out to play with them. We prepared her by telling her that she would wear them soon, letting her know she’s becoming a big girl.
Misc. Potty Training Supplies
Here are two items we purchased to prepare. Since we were doing the potty training in the living room, we wanted to have the couch and rug covered for the inevitable accidents.
If you look at the photo, the sheets and blanket did pretty well covering up most of the couch and rug. It’s comfortable to lie on, so even after we completed potty training, we left it there for a couple of days because it was comfortable enough where we didn’t mind.
We also tested for water-resistant by pouring a glass of water on both sheets and blanket. We left the liquid on the sheets and blanket for 10 minutes and it never absorbed the water.
And finally, here’s a list of other misc items that may already be in your household:
- Baby/Flushable Wipes – Most likely, you already have them in hand if your little one has been in diapers before potty training
- Hand Soap – There’s going to be a lot of hand washing, make sure to stock up and have a more gentle solution
- Hand Lotion – This is important since you and your little one will be washing hands more frequently
- Disinfect – It could be wipes or a spray cleaning solution you have on hand to clean the potty
- Cloth Towels – This will come in handy, to wipe the potty, the floor, or wherever there’s a mess
- Puppy Pad – Leaving one at the bottom of the potty chair will help collect spillage, especially if it’s on the carpet
- Other Preferential Cleaning Supplies
Final Thoughts on Potty Training Essentials
Potty training is difficult and I think most parents would agree. These potty training essentials helped us with our little one’s potty training experience. Some of these products have helped other parents with their little one’s journey. Being prepared with the right potty training essentials will make the journey much more rewarding when all is said and done.
