Posted by Do you want to learn how you can use the Oh Crap Potty Training method to train your child without the use of pull-ups, treats, bribes or rewards?
Let me tell you, it’s an awesome method!
When my son was showing signs of potty training readiness before the age of 2, I knew two things for sure:
- I wanted to train him ”early”
- I didn’t want to use rewards (candy, treats, star charts of any kind)
Let me just start by saying that there is no one correct way to potty train your kids.
But some of my potty training experiences as a nanny before having my own children made me want to seek out a no reward method with my own kids.
There were instances that I witnessed with my nanny kids when the treats seemed to get out of control.
Or…
Flat out didn’t work!
One girl learned that if she just let out a little pee at a time in the potty, she’d get a treat after each time.
So of course she was frequenting the potty and reaping the rewards!
Scoop of ice cream if you go poo on the potty? Sure!
Too much sugar = cranky kid at the end of the day.
Then becomes the problem: How do you end the treats?
And what happens when candy isn’t enough?
I’ve seen desperate parents purchase a new toy for every poo on the potty trying to get their 4 year old school ready.
So tough. But I’m not judging because potty training is a doozy.
But I also knew that I didn’t want to go this route and end up in a treat/reward battle with my littles.
That’s when I found Oh Crap Potty Training developed by Jamie Glowacki.
Jamie Glowacki has potty trained thousands of children with her Oh Crap potty training method.
In this post I’m going to answer questions you might have such as:
- What is the Oh Crap potty training method?
- How old should my child be to start Oh Crap potty training?
- What are the signs of potty training readiness?
- How long does the Oh Crap method take?
- What items do I need to be successful with the Oh Crap potty training method?
- What are the steps in Oh Crap potty training?
While I’m going to go over a lot of information in this blog post, I still recommend you read the book. It has a lot of great trouble shooting advice for all types of different scenarios you might encounter while potty training:
Things you should say, things you shouldn’t say. What to do if your child is resisting. Advice on daycare.
And did I mention, an entire chapter on poop?
Ok, let’s dive in!
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. For more information, read my full disclosure here.
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What is the Oh Crap potty training method?
The Oh Crap Potty Training method involves six Blocks or steps of potty training without bribing or rewards of any kind OR the use of pull-up diapers.
What age can I start Oh Crap potty training?
Jamie Glowacki recommends potty training your little one between the age of 20 to 30 months old.
To me this makes perfect sense-
I knew from my nanny experience that children older than this develop fears around the potty.
They also tend to have more opinions in general on what they will and will not do!
If your child is older than the recommended age, you can still use the Oh Crap potty training method, however, you may find it more challenging.
There is an entire chapter in the book dedicated to this as well.
My son was 23 1/2 months old when we did Oh Crap potty training.
What are the signs of potty training readiness?
We knew our son was ready before his second birthday because he had…
…a “pooping spot”!
Yup, he had been going behind the couch for privacy since 20 months old. A huge indication that he was aware of his bodily functions.
But he couldn’t say ”potty” at 20 months old so we waited a few more months until he was communicating more.
This turned out to be a great age to potty train, and I’m so glad that we did it “early”.
Your little one may also be ready to potty train sooner than you think if you know what to look for.
Aside from seeking privacy or having a “pooping spot”, Jamie Glowacki discusses other potty training signs of readiness in her book which include:
- Being able to recite the ABCs
- Being able to communicate wants and needs (or throw a tantrum LOL)
How long does the Oh Crap method take?
For Oh Crap potty training to work, Jamie Glowacki recommends clearing a week from your schedule.
But, the time it takes to train really depends on your child and on YOU!
If you’re not 100% committed to ditching the diapers then your kid won’t be either.
It took about 5 days of potty training with the Oh Crap method for our son to “get it”.
What items do I need to be successful with the Oh Crap potty training method?
Other than having the book on hand to reference, the only other thing you really need to do Oh Crap potty training is a little potty.
You might be wondering:
What about a potty seat for the toilet?
Yes, you will need this later on, but the reason a little potty is best for the Oh Crap potty training method is because you’re going to want the potty nearby at all times.
This isn’t a method where you sit your kid down on the big toilet every 30 min and hope they pee.
At first, your kid will be completely naked and you will be watching them intensely for cues that they are going to pee and rushing to sit them on the potty.
You don’t want to have a trail of pee down the hall to the bathroom! Although there’ll be plenty of pee on the floor.
Having the little potty nearby also makes it easier for your kid to get to on their own and in time.
They’ll be more successful in those first few weeks and it’ll also give them a sense of independence.
We all know this is the age of “do it by myself” anyway.
Make sure to get a little potty like this one that has an easy lift out bowl. Our son loved seeing the “yellow” pee and then helping dump it into the big potty. And of course, watching it go “bye bye”.
Plus:
We let him decorate the potty with his favorite stickers to help make a big deal out of things.
A little potty is also great to have when you go on those first outings.
Because remember:
There is no pull-up wearing with the Oh Crap potty training method!
Your child will be going from diapers to commando to underwear.
So pick up some fun styles your kid will love wearing once they are fully trained.
What about potty books?
You don’t need potty books to complete the training. Just talking to your little one about the potty can be sufficient. Personally though, I’m a big fan of teaching through literature, so we grabbed a few potty books for added fun (this one is my favorite).
This also isn’t an essential for Oh Crap potty training, but you might want to consider how you’ll keep your floors clean.
Plan on there being LOTS of accidents as your little one learns. And they won’t just happen in the few days it takes to potty train.
Anyone who says otherwise is full of it.
There will be times of regression.
And the accidents won’t just happen in the bathroom either.
We spend most of our time playing in the living room so we actually rolled up our living room rug (we have hardwood floors) and put it in our storage room for a bit.
We still wanted to have a soft play space so we purchased this large play mat that we could wipe clean if any accidents happened.
And you know they did.
We even had “picnics” on the play mat during training instead of having our son eat in his high chair. Because who wants to clean pee out of all the nooks and crannies of a high chair?!
Plus, he loved it!
Anyways moving on…
What are the steps in Oh Crap potty training?
There are six steps in the Oh Crap method known as Blocks. Each block is as follows:
- Block 1: Peeing and pooping while naked (with prompting or without)
- Block 2: Peeing and pooping with clothes on, commando (with prompting or without)
- Block 3: Peeing and pooping in different situations (with prompting or without)
- Block 4: Peeing and pooping with underwear (with prompting or without)
- Block 5: Consistent self-initiation
- Block 6: Night and nap
It’s important to finish each block before moving onto the next.
Oh Crap Potty Training Method Summary
Below is just a small summary of the basics of each block of Oh Crap Potty Training and my personal experience with it. I really want to stress that it in no way can replace the valuable information you’ll find in Jamie Glowacki’s book.
Block 1
Typical duration 1-3 days
Day 1: The ONLY thing you do on this day is watch your naked child. You’re looking for a physical signal that they’re about to pee. When you see it, you have seconds to put them on the little potty as quickly as possible. It may take awhile to figure out your child’s unique signal.
For me, I noticed that my son would do some mini steps and look down right before he would pee.
There was a lot of cleanup before I figured this out.
But, it’s important never to shame your child during potty training.
Jamie recommends giving a firm statement instead such as “You peed on the floor. Pee goes in the potty. Put your pee pee in the potty.”
And of course, when your child does get pee in the potty make sure to give LOTS of praise.
This Block is intense and exhausting and you cannot have any distractions. So put your phone away and get ready to stare at your child all day for the signal.
Before moving on from this block, you should feel confident that your child gets it and can sit on the potty to pee and poop while naked.
Note: They will continue to wear a diaper only for nap and night time, which comes off immediately after waking.
Block 2
Block 2 usually begins 2-6 days after initial start date.
This is the block where you get your child’s clothes back on with the exception of underwear.
That’s right, they are commando.
Jamie explains that the reason for this is because underwear can feel too much like a diaper and not only make children feel like they can conceal their poop or pee but it can actually trigger the muscle memory that tells your child to “let it out”.
The recommended timeframe for going commando is about a month give or take a week.
During this block we continued prompting our son to go potty when we saw his signal, and we figured out his pee pattern. Turns out he is a camel and can hold it. He would only go four times a day!
Still, plenty of accidents along the way.
Block 3
Block 3 typically begins 4-10 days after initial start date.
This block combines with Block 2 and is all about going on small outings so your child can practice their new skill.
I would put the little potty and a pack of Clorox wipes in my car and take my son to a nearby park, grocery store or to my sister’s house.
We walked around many places with the little potty in the basket of our stroller ready to enter a public bathroom. No shame!
Make sure to also bring a change of clothes and a towel or diaper cloth to line the car seat when you go on your small outings.
Block 4
Our son was really excited about finally getting to wear his new underwear.
However, once he started wearing underwear, a lot of accidents happened.
So we had to return to Block 3 and go commando a while longer before successfully trying the underwear again.
Block 5
Because my son was barely 2 years old when we potty trained him, we probably reminded/prompted him to use the potty for about a year before he consistently self-initiated.
By the time he was 3 years old, he was very capable of going all by himself and only had two accidents at this age.
Pretty good if you ask me!
Block 6
We never actually had to worry about training our son for night and nap time. He continued to wear a diaper while sleeping for a bit, but after his initial potty training he never woke up wet, not even once. (Remember, he’s a camel and also not a big liquid drinker anyway). So eventually we just stopped putting him in a diaper.
This might look different for you though.
Jamie recommends potty training for night time at the same time as day training.
This means monitoring for minimal fluid intake 2-3 hours before bed. And also waking your child up twice to pee at first (10pm and 2am) until you can figure out when it actually is that your child needs to pee at night.
From there, you can adjust it to one waking. Eventually they won’t need to pee at that waking and can make it through the night.
And now you have a fully potty trained toddler!
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