Hello and welcome to Toilet training basics.

I'm Melany, a pediatric occupational therapist with Alberta Health Services.

There are many steps to toilet training.

This video will help you learn how to take your child's new skill of going pee and poop in the toilet into the community.

Once they've figured out using the toilet at home, using the toilet in other places is usually pretty easy, as long as parents and caregivers plan ahead.

You're gonna be staying home for the first few days of toilet training, but eventually it'll be time to leave your home.

For your first outing with a newly toilet trained child, a little bit of planning can reduce your stress.

Go before you go.

Have your child use the bathroom right before leaving home.

Keep the outing short.

If your child usually uses the toilet every 90 minutes, keep the first outings shorter than that.

Walk around the block, play in the backyard, or have a quick visit with a friend.

After a few of these short outings, make them longer and build in a toilet break.

Bring extra clothes.

Don't use a Pull-Up or a diaper on your child “just in case."

Wherever you go, know where the bathrooms are.

Go into the bathroom, even if it's just to wash hands, so your child sees that it's an OK place to be.

Let's talk about bathroom visits.

These can start even before your child is toilet trained.

You've likely taken your child into bathrooms in the community before, but they probably weren't paying attention to toilets outside their home.

Now that your child is using the toilet, they need to know there are toilets outside their home.

A bathroom visit doesn't need to be using the toilet.

Go in, wash hands, let your child see the toilet.

Knowing where bathrooms are in your community is very useful with a newly toilet trained child.

Sooner or later, you'll go on a longer trip with your child.

This might be a long car ride, a bus ride, or a plane ride.

Don't put your child back into a diaper or a Pull-Up for the trip.

Pack extra clothes and use a training pad to protect the seat.

If it's a car ride, plan for extra time so you can stop more often.

If there's no gas stations or other public toilets, a potty can be useful.

Keep one in the car.

Planes and cross-country buses usually have a toilet available.

They're small and crowded, but they do work.

Bathrooms with toilets that flush on their own, air hand dryers, and lots of toilets can be loud and overwhelming for some children.

Getting surprised by a toilet flushing while you're peeing can be scary.

It can even make some children afraid to use public toilets.

Here are some ways to make these bathrooms feel less scary.

Cover the auto-flush sensor with a sticky note or with your hand.

Warn your child about the loud noises and let them cover their ears.

This means you'll be helping with their clothing and with wiping.

After washing hands, don't use the hand dryers or cover your child's ears while they're using them.

Use a family bathroom if that's an option.

If your child goes to daycare, a day home, or another kind of childcare during the day, they'll need to learn to use the toilet in these places as well.

Let the daycare staff know your child has started toilet training.

It'll help if you share some of the signals your child shows when they need to go to the toilet.

Pack extra clothes and if you use rewards, send some for the daycare to use until your child is comfortable using the toilet there as well.

Toilet training outside the home can be stressful.

Having a plan can help make this step of toilet training much easier.

Continue watching the video series to learn how to help your child stay dry at night.

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Find information, support, and services for you and your child by clicking on the link in the description.​