Children are now being potty trained later than they used to, which is causing problems when they start school. To help tackle the crisis, we need to educate early years practitioners about potty training so they can better support families.
Potty training has become a growing issue in recent years. In the UK, the average age that a child is potty trained has risen. There are many factors contributing to this.
A recent survey by early years charity Kindred² showed that one in four children are now starting school not potty trained, and that teachers divert 2.5 hours a day away from learning and towards supporting school readiness.
But this societal trend does impact on families and on those working with children, including early years practitioners.
Sadly, families often don’t know where to turn for potty training advice, partly due to the decreasing numbers of health visitors and cuts to community bowel and bladder services.
Economic and social factors – such as both parents working more than in previous generations – also contribute to the recent trend of later potty training and a lack of confidence among parents when it comes to getting children potty trained.
Research shows, however, that the best age for a child to stop wearing nappies is between 18 and 30 months. Later toilet training can cause longer-term health and wellbeing problems, too. For example, it can hide continence issues, such as constipation, which can have a big impact on children and their families - from missing out on days out and socialising, to difficulties attending school.
Evidence-based training
Often early years practitioners haven’t received professional training on children’s continence.
That’s why ERIC, The Children’s Bowel and Bladder Charity has launched an online potty-training course for early years practitioners.
Let’s Go Potty – an accessible, thorough, affordable eLearning course led by an ERIC nurse – was developed in response to a need identified by early years practitioners. Practitioners from a range of early years settings co-designed and piloted the resource, which follows the 3-step approach to potty training, adopted by ERIC.
This course helps them to approach the issue more effectively, to help support families who might be struggling.
The ‘Let’s Go Potty’ approach is an evidence-based system that helps a child to learn to use the potty independently and stop wearing nappies in three stages – making the process easier for everyone involved.
Learning this approach on the course, through advice from a specialist nurse, will help early years practitioners to communicate with families on the importance of timely, evidence-based potty training, to help families through this milestone stage in their child’s development.
The course is delivered via informative and educational videos from our specialist continence nurse, bite-sized, easy-to-digest information and quizzes, and participants receive a certificate on completing the course.
Preventing health issues
There are 1.5 million children in the UK who live with a bowel or bladder condition. ERIC empowers children, young people and their carers with accessible support, information and resources.
We are also on a mission to deliver the best education and learning for all those who support children and young people, including health, social care, early years and education professionals.
The Let’s Go Potty online course is our latest step towards that, as part of the ultimate aim of achieving our vision: for children and young people everywhere to enjoy good bladder and bowel health.
ERIC is the UK’s leading charity supporting children and young people to attain good bladder and bowel health. This starts from the very beginning of children’s lives, and that’s why knowing the best way to potty train is so vital for families, and for professionals working with children.
- Information about the Let’s Go Potty eLearning course can be found here
