Choosing the right Potty

There are so many different types of potty chairs on the market today it can be a nightmare trying to decide which potty chair is the right one for your child. There are padded potties, musical potties, replica toilet potties, portable potties, car potties toilet seat reducers, and of course the standard 'chamber pot' model. With so much choice we offer you here a short explanation of some of the major models you may come across.

Which Potty chair?

The Standard Potty Chair

This is what I call the basic 'chamber pot' model. It is the standard potty design, made of one piece in colored plastic. It is small and sits on the floor. The contents are emptied by tipping them down the toilet and the potty can then be rinsed out. Basic and simple and it more than does the job at hand. They are relatively cheap and therefore many people have several scattered around the house in case of emergencies.

Luxury Models

The super models of potties are a little more sophisticated and have all the mod cons. They appeal to those who need a little more persuasion to get their child to use the potty. There are theme potties with your child’s favorite cartoons or super heroes. There are those that are shaped like a throne, there are others that play music when the business is done (this can be very motivating), there are also model that are shaped like a miniature toilet which makes lifelike flushing sounds. Most of these have detachable bowls which can be removed to be emptied and cleaned.

Toilet Seat Hole Reducer

This is a mini toilet seat which sits neatly inside your actual toilet seat so the child can sit on the toilet without having to support their weight with their hands and without fear of falling in. They can be easily and quickly put on and taken off again in cases of emergency. In my mind this is one of the best potty training methods as it gets the child used to using the proper toilet from the start, the child always has to get up and actually go to the bathroom instead of getting the potty out in whichever room they happen to be in. The toilet reducer is also more hygienic and less smelly as there is no emptying involved and the child is already in the bathroom ready to wash their hand afterwards. A footstool is recommended with the seat reducer to help the child onto the toilet and once up there to rest their feet on.

Hybrid models

There are potties that are a fancy chair type model which have their own toilet seat and lid. As the child progresses this can be removed and used on the proper toilet as a seat reducer, the bowl can be removed also and the upturned base used as a special non-slip toilet foot stool.

I bought one a hybrid potty chair for my son, it cost $40 and played music when something was deposited in the bowl. My son used it once, wasn't impressed with the music at all. He promptly removed the seat part and took it to the toilet where he had just seen me trying on the seat reducer. From then on we used the seat reducer on the toilet and the upturned base as a footstool. I later bought a sturdy seat reducer with a high back which sits under the original toilet seat it was much more stable, and it only cost $4.  Buying the ‘super-potty’ for me was in effect like buying a $40 footstool. The fact that my son chose the toilet instead of the potty however was a great relief for me because the smell of the potty in my opinion was far worse than that of nappies plus it meant that I didn’t have to clean and my son was using the ‘grown up’ toilet from the start (children love doing ‘grown up’ things). Potty training with him was no problem whatsoever because he would enjoy telling me he needed to go to the bathroom and going through the same motions as the rest of us (excuse the pun).

When choosing your child's potty chair you may be overwhelmed as to which potty chair to pick. The potty methods that you decide to apply influence your eventual choice of potties

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