What are your recommendations for potty training stools that go on the toilet? Anything we should consider when buying one?
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We “splurged” for the built-in child’s seats. I think we used NextStep2 but it was whatever was on the shelf at our Home Depot.
I highly recommend them! Pipsqueak still uses them at 4 and they take up 0 extra space. It was an easy DIY to change the seats.
We supplemented with stand alone step stools by the potty. For our larger bathroom I got one with side handles for stability and for our tiny downstairs 1/2 bath I got whatever they had at Target since she could stabilize using the wall.
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I got something like this: Nuby Potty Seat With Ladder : Target
I usually just left it in place for Larva and moved it only for the adult to potty and put back. She was turning 3 when she started using it and tall, so progressed pretty quickly to just a smaller step stool and balancing on the big seat (which was a helpful skill for being out and about and not carting around an extra ring).
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Yeah I think there are lots of different choices that make sense based on lifestyle and personal preference!
I really didn’t want to deal with moving a ladder around because we didn’t have enough extra space in the bathroom but I didn’t have any problems carrying around a jool travel seat for public bathrooms because I was still using a diaper bag. Pipsqueak is fine with big toilets in public now but still prefers the small seat that’s available on our toilet.
We got these too once we moved past the tiny stand alone potty stage. They were the bees knees, particularly because Latte is on the small side and so she used it for a really long time. Baby sister is staying similarly shrimpy, so it’ll be nice to have.
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we never even used the tiny floor potty. I had sensory issues with the pee process and really needed to go straight to in the toilet without extra pieces (or ya know, on the floor hahaha)
We ended up with a few different things. Early on it was nice to have 2 of the standalone potties because our bathrooms were all a half-flight of stairs away, and that let us set up in a corner of the living room.
In the bathroom we also had a little ladder + seat. That apartment had tons of square footage so bulkiness was less of an issue.
Now we just have the built-in lids (Summer makes them) and it’s so minimal and nice! Spore actually just uses the standard size seat now, as of around age 4.
We’re a couple months away from starting all over again with TR. I might try to get one standalone potty from BN (which we’ll also use on road trips) for the very beginning of potty training, but then mostly use the built-in seats. He’s pretty nimble and not short, so I don’t think the ladder will be as necessary.
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We have something similar. Cuckoo is tall and athletic and kind of hoists herself - she can even do it with just the squatty potty!
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We have had 3 different set-ups. The stand alone little potty at first, and then the nuby one that sits on top of the toilet, and then the built-in.
The nuby one did not work for us because both of our bathrooms are tiny and there is no room to put it when not in use. Also, with my son, his pee would drip off the seat and create a ring on the toilet seat (very gross). We ended up installing the built-in (don’t remember the brand but we bought it from Home Depot) with a stand alone step stool that doubles as a step stool for the sink, and that has worked pretty well. My 5-year old pees standing up (with questionable results) so the mini toilet seat is only for poops.
Have not started to think about potty training child #2 yet but she regularly says “I go potty too”, runs to the bathroom, points her belly button at the toilet, and flushes 
. Very cute but I dread telling her that she can’t pee standing up.
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We decided to go with the built in seats! Our bathrooms are not very big and that feels like such an awesome solution. Plus the stools can act as a squatty potty for the adults!
The built in seat was the same price as the one with a ladder so it’s not even a splurge.
Thanks for all of your tips everyone!!
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I am moving soon to a place with fewer bathrooms, and would love to get rid of all the bulky seat apparatus we have now. This seems like a great solution, thanks for discussing.*
*I’m a regular poster but got myself a new name for Reasons, and am trying to build up some street cred,
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Love the new name and pic.
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The cuckoo is two and half plus. We don’t like her leaving her room because it’s in the basement, which is hazardous (eg, we have a front loading washing machine in a room whose door must be left open so the heat pump water heater can run), so we still use a baby monitor.
But. She has destroyed 2 baby monitors. She unplugs them, knocks them over, chews on the cord, put the cord up her nose or in her ear, etc. She is a bit of a night owl and often takes a while to settle down at night, during which time she disassembles her room.
What would you do? Discontinue the baby monitor and just train her to come get you? Create elaborate childproofing for a baby monitor that she might be able to defeat anyway? I legit don’t remember when I stopped using a baby monitor for the boys.
ETA: We also sleep in the basement so she wouldn’t have far to go to get to us, and she is a pretty late morning sleeper so it’s not all that likely that she would be able to cause tooooooo much havoc before waking us up.
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Anywhere you could put the baby monitor where it would be out of her reach? Mounted on the wall and then cover the cord with one of those adhesive cord channels? Plugged behind a dresser or something else she can’t move?
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I would put a baby gate or screen door across the door to the utility room.
If she leaves her room, where would she go?
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I could but then I would for sure have to buy another one and rearrange her room!
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That’s a good idea regardless.
History suggests she might take things out of the Boy’s desk, pull out suitcases or toss puzzle pieces around. Or maybe disassemble the feather duster, that kind of thing.
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I’d try tk block off anything except your room and maybe the bathroom. Then teach her to come to you
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We went with the wall mounted route. I used stock on cord protectors and mounted it upside down on a floating shelf that was too high off the ground for her to reach, even if she got smart enough to move something under it.
This isn’t the exact one I got but gives an idea:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Legrand-Wiremold-CordMate-Cord-Cover-9-ft-Kit-Cord-Hider-for-Home-or-Office-Holds-1-Cable-White-C110/100024732?MERCH=REC-_-pipsem-_-202059078-_-0-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a-_-n/a
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Did she still unplug it? I didn’t have good luck with outlet covers in the past.
@ElleP - Unfortunately, I am not sure that’s possible. There is like a six foot entry that would have to be gated off and she ripped the baby gates out of the wall upstairs 6 months ago.
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