stand alone potty vs potty seat on toilet

SallyAnneS · February 2013

Can someone please explain the pros and cons for each. I see a lot of people on here using a stand alone potty vs a potty seat for the big regular toilet and im just wondering why? I am not even close to potty training my ds yet, but the type of potty we will use when we get to that stage is starting to creep into my mind. Thanks.

Emilia0101 · February 2013

I would start with a stand alone potty. When you first start to train it is tricky. Getting to the potty, getting over the fear of sitting on the potty, sitting on the potty long enough, pull pants up and down, etc. The stand alone potty was nice. DD could read her books, not have the fear of falling in, and after she was trained could run in the potty on her own and make it in that little window before peeing her pants. After about 6 months of successful PT we ditched the stand alone and went to just the big potty when she could get on and off without my help. I cleaned rinsed it with water and dumped in the big toilet and used clorox wipes pretty easy.

rjeller32 · February 2013

I use a seat on the potty and here is why:

My child is terrified of the potty chairs. Too much musical noise and actions for her little brain. It was like we sat her on a giant spider. I also find the seat to be much more sanitary, I don't have to handle her bowel movements, we just flush them down. Third reason is because I don't want to have to train her on her own little one, then have to retrain her onto a big kid potty. She likes to do what we do, very imitative, so I think the stand alone potty wouldn't have worked for us anyways, unless I were to sit on that tiny thing every time too, and I am not about to do that. Those are my opinions though

AmericanInOz · February 2013

dd was scared of big toilets at first (we tried the potty seat on there - but she couldn't bend her knees so would FREAK OUT and want to get off) so we started with the potty seat. She liked that she could sit on it by herself and her feet touched the floor

after a few weeks she tried going on a big seat when we were out & the little version at daycare, then she was happy to move the little seat from her small potty up onto the seat for the big potty

I honestly wish I would have just done the potty seat on the toilet from the start though - it's SOOOOOOOOOOOOO gross to clean out a little potty - I honestly felt like it was worse than changing diapers!!

sucredee · February 2013

DD had no interest in the potty at all until the day she PT. We were on vacation with her little travel potty. She had absolutely no interest in the regular toilet for a few weeks and then only at home. She finally got comfortable enough to use the regular toilets other places.

A couple of months ago she finally seemed to be done with the little potty but then all of a sudden decided that she mostly want to use the little potty again when at home. I got her a foot stool that makes it so she can use the regular toilet herself with a ring and she liked that for about a day. So we are back to using the little potty.

Thing is she goes on the big toilet without any problem everywhere else but would rather sit on the little potty at home and I don't know why. I actually don't really care that much but it would be nice if she used the regular toilet mostly.

I never felt that I had to "retrain" her for the regular toilet. It just sort of happened without having to do anything special when she was ready for it.

I have the Baby Bjorn little potty and it is really simple and easy to clean. So no bells and whistles here. Plus they are easy to move around.

It all comes down to preference. If I had waited until DD was ready to use the big toilet from the start she would probably still be in diapers.....not worth it to me.

Emilia0101 · February 2013

I found a 3 in one potty. Stand alone seat, moves to seat over big toilet, then a step stool. I agree with others. Keep it simple. No need for all the bells and songs just a basic seat.

olechka · February 2013

We started with the stand alone potty to get her interest, we also started very early. We got the potty seat at the same time and she didn't really like it. We'd never make it to the bathroom in the beginning of PT when we did the 3 day method.

Now we are fully potty trained she still prefers her little potty, although at daycare she only has the potty seat. It is very gross to clean it up and i wish she never got used to it but she jumps off the potty seat and on her little potty she'll sit there forever by herself especially for #2 and watch her cartoons.

12bailey18 · March 2013

We never used anything. We have always used the normal toilet and he's always been able to hold himself up on it. I never considered getting a separate potty because the thought of having to clean it made me want to gag. I never wanted to do the attached potty seat because we lived on multiple levels and I didn't want him to have to use just ONE potty. I wanted him to use whatever toilet he was closest to, as well as use the regular one when we were out in public places. I also didn't want to mess with it when any of us had to go. Just seemed like it was all more trouble. So, we never used any potty accessories, just the old fashioned toilet.

memali26 · March 2013

We use a potty ring on the big toilet, mostly because I am super grossed out by the idea of cleaning out a little potty seat every single time. Also because when we were potty training DD1, DD2 was already a proficient crawler on the verge of walking and I figured the potty seat where she could reach it was just asking for trouble. So we got a potty ring, and it has worked fantastically for us. DD1 can get on/off the potty with a step stool and can put the potty ring on/off by herself, too. She uses the regular toilet seat when we are out of the house or if we are staying with family/friends, but she's a skinny thing and if she's not careful she falls right in, so we'll keep using the potty seat at home until she's more stable on the regular seat.

superned · March 2013

We have one like this:

Best invention ever. No need to store it and so easy to clean. And the top lid had the slow-dropping hinges, so a bonus is no worrying about little fingers getting slammed in the toilet seat.

mrslucid · March 2013

We have a baby bjorn stand alone my DH bought months ago. DD has used it a couple of times but wasn't really interested it in, seemed more interested in sitting on the toilit, so I bought a seat to go on top of the regular toilit seat. It is working great, she is much more interested in going to the potty now.

Sonadora · March 2013

I had no interest in cleaning out a stand alone toilet every time my kid let out a sprinkle of pee. No way, no how.

So we used a ring for the regular toilet. Works fine for us. Plus, as an added bonus, she has no issues using any toilet we encounter since all she knows is the big toilet.

sucredee · March 2013

ItsAllGravy7:
DS1 absolutely refuses to use a little potty seat...he wants to sit on the real potty and it's the only time he actually goes. Unfortunately daycare won't use a seat ontop of the real potty they insist on each child having their own individual potty chair so we are going to hold of PTing until Summer when I can work with him at home for a week or so off of work and hope for the best.

GL!!

That's weird. DD's daycare wont allow individual potties. They just have a mjniature version of a regular toilet. Last summer when DD went on a field trip with her toddler room i tried sending her with her travel potty since she was newly PT (and the only one in her class at that point) and was told that weren't allowed to take it (they were going to the park so no other bathrooms)

CarolinaDaisy · March 2013

Another vote for using the regular toilet. We used a Baby Bjorn potty ring on the toilet for maybe 6 months. Then he was able to just hold himself up on the regular toilet seat with no problems.

I'd ask yourself if you want the option to just flush everything away or if cleaning a little potty won't bother you. Every kid is different, but I have heard several horror stories of 4 year olds that still insist on using the little potty at home and are scared of the big toilet. Not my idea of fun!

nyki06 · March 2013

We bought a little potty chair for our daughter and I didn't like that she had so much freedom to get off of it so I got the one for the toilet as well. I'm so glad we stuck with the toilet one because she's easily distracted so being able to keep her in one place long enough to accomplish the task has been great for us.

mbgreenwalt · March 2013

Personally, I never even considered a stand alone potty. They gross me out. I bought a toilet seat with a child's seat built in and we've used that since day one of potty training. No regrets.

babymcnutt · March 2013

We started potty training our daughter at 2 years and she's a small girl. We have a stand alone potty that she's completely capable of using on her own. This is great when I'm doing something and can't chance her to the bathroom immediately. Gives her a great sense of independence. We also have the kind that pop into place on the regular toilet. She uses it once and awhile. She does like having the choice on her particularly independent days. Also, we've never had a problem with going places and using big potties either. I just have to help hold her up. I do like the idea of the double toilet seat though! That sounds amazing.

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