Hello and welcome to Toilet training basics: When to get more help.

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

Toilet training can be very hard for some children.

You and your child may find yourself in a situation where you need extra support with toilet training and some help finding the right support.

Things that may make learning to use the toilet harder for your child include medical diagnoses, developmental challenges, being scared of the bathroom, life events, and constipation.

Extra support for toilet training and managing constipation can be found at MyHealth.Alberta and on the Pediatric Rehabilitation health topic.

These webinar series are free for Alberta residents.

Medical diagnoses.

If your child has been diagnosed with a developmental delay, this can make toilet training harder.

Some of these diagnoses include: Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Down Syndrome, Global Developmental Delay.

Some genetic conditions may also make toilet training harder.

If your child has any of these kind of diagnoses, they may still do well with this basic series.

But if you need more help, please sign up for the toilet training webinar series.

This series teaches an approach to toilet training that is specifically for parents and caregivers of children with disabilities.

Developmental challenges

Toilet training may come at a time when your child is working hard on other developmental skills.

They might be focusing on communication or speech skills.

Maybe they are working on motor skills or learning to handle big emotions.

Or maybe they have a medical issue that's affecting development, like ear infections or asthma, that are making toilet training harder.

When your child is working on other developmental skills and learning to use the toilet at the same time, it can be harder.

Like adults, it's hard for children to focus on more than one thing at a time.

This doesn't mean your child shouldn't start toilet training right now, but you both may need more support.

Once again, the toilet training webinar series can help here.

The bathroom can be a very scary place for some children.

It can be loud and smelly.

It's where they have to do things that they might not enjoy, like brush their teeth, wash their hair, or cut their nails.

Before your child can focus on toilet training, they should be comfortable being in the bathroom.

Understanding your child's sensory needs and how to help them manage their emotions can make the bathroom a less scary place.

Moving diaper changes into the bathroom can help your child learn to tolerate being in the bathroom.

Once your child is OK with the bathroom, the toilet training basics video series may be enough support.

If you still need support, there are resources on emotional regulation, sensory processing and toilet training.

These can be found at MyHealth.Alberta on the Pediatric Rehabilitation health topic.

Life events.

Big changes in your family's life can disrupt your child's routine.

These life events can be many things, like a new sibling, moving to a big kid bed, moving to a new home, going on vacation.

Toilet training is also a life event.

Starting toilet training at the same time as another life event might be too much for your child.

It's hard dealing with a lot of changes at the same time.

If there's more than one life event happening for your child, wait.

Wait just a while before you start toilet training.

Separating the events by a couple of weeks can make a big difference for your child.

Constipation.

Constipation can happen to anyone, at any time.

If it does happen to your child, they'll need your support to get through it.

Your child might be constipated if they're having less than 3 poops in a week.

Poops are hard.

Poops are overly large or look like rabbit droppings.

They're having pain or discomfort when trying to poop.

If you think your child is struggling with constipation, please see your family doctor and join the webinar series Dealing with constipation in children.

If your child is having any of these toilet training challenges or you're simply struggling with toilet training, there is help available.

The Pediatric Rehabilitation health topic has many resources, including videos and webinars.

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