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What are the best potty training books?
Do they help the process?
You may have heard your mama friends talking about the best potty training books out there.
And now you’re keen to explore for yourself.
We’ll take you through the connection between toilet time and turning pages — and then give you a sneak peek into our favorites.
In this article: 📝
- Do potty training books help?
- What age should a child be potty trained by?
- Which potty training method is best?
- Your guide to choosing potty training books for you and your baby
- The 15 best potty training books: our top picks
Do potty training books help?
Potty training books are made for two audiences:
- Little ones learning to use the potty for the first time
- Their parents and caregivers guiding them through the sometimes messy process.
So that means there are two distinct styles of books.
Some books are picture guides that serve as fun visual aids for your toddler.
Others are about helping you wrap your head and your household around this exciting milestone.
Through books, toddlers and their mamas can learn about potty training slowly and gently.
What does it mean when they have an accident?
How do we say goodbye to diapers?
And how can we make the toilet a friendly safe place?
Because we are conditioned not to talk about pee and poop, finding ways to talk about this journey is not always easy.
Books can help introduce the topic in a way that is informative — and hopefully, shame-free.
The best part?
There’s often a healthy dose of humor which can take a lot of the pressure out of the process.
Plus, books can help toddlers understand why persistence matters and how important it is to keep trying.
No one gets things right the first time.
A great general life lesson!
What age should a child be potty trained by?
Some children start to show an interest in toilet learning as early as 18 months.
But the average age potty training takes place in the US is between two and three years old.
You may have also heard that boys tend to learn slower than girls.
While there have been a few studies that back this up, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, it’s important to note that all individuals are different.
There are a lot of factors that may go into when your little one is ready.
Potty training, like sleeping through the night and learning to walk, is a developmental milestone.
There’s a lot to suggest that it’s best not to rush the process.
While there don’t seem to be adverse effects in trying early, it may just take longer.
Waiting until they are best ready may lead to fewer accidents as they learn and much less stress all around.
It’s also a good idea to hold off if your family is expecting big changes, like the arrival of a sibling or a move.
Gently explaining an idea before it happens often goes a long way to making any kind of transition easier for children — whether that’s moving from a crib into a big kid bed or saying goodbye to a pacifier.
Toilet training is no different.
Books can go a long way to helping those little people manage those big changes.
Which potty training method is best?
The answer to this question depends on your child and your parenting philosophy.
There’s no right and wrong.
Here are some of the most common approaches.
Child-led potty training
A child-led process often happens somewhere between ages two and three.
Parents introduce and suggest their child use the toilet, but with no pressure or expectation that they do.
Children often continue to wear diapers or pull-ups during this time and take the lead themselves as to when they go to the bathroom.
Scheduled potty training
Once your child shows signs of readiness, they are taken to the toilet at particular times of the day.
This could be as they wake up, before or after a meal, or before and after a nap.
3-day method for potty training
Consider this a crash course in toilet learning.
Over three days, you focus on your child and potty training — exclusively.
There will be many accidents, but lots of mamas swear it’s three days and done!
The keywords here are positive reinforcement, consistency, and patience.
Now onto how to choose the best books to help you along the way.
Your guide to choosing potty training books for you and your baby
Pick out a few different potty training books.
Variety being the spice of life and all, a range of options will stop them from getting bored.
When it comes to pictorial aids, they may gravitate to one specific book over another, so it’s great to have options so they can choose what speaks to them more.
Check that your books of choice align with what you intend to do.
Many books mention rewards for successful toilet trips and others just focus on positive reinforcement.
If you’re choosing to forgo the rewards idea, for example, perhaps choose books that reflect this to avoid confusion.
Make sure that accidents are addressed with love and care.
Children hate to disappoint their parents.
Showing them that making “mistakes” are part of the process will help ease their mind when they have them.
Turn bathroom reading into reading about bathrooms
If, like many mamas, you enjoy scrolling while on the throne (we get it — it might be your only time alone), you may want to pass down this pastime to your little one.
Making reading a book part of the toilet time routine can take the pressure off the result.
What better topic to read about while pooping than a book about… poop!
The 15 best potty training books: our top picks
We’ll start with our top picks of the best potty training books for parents and then take a look at our favorites for littler readers.
Best potty training books for parents
1. Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right
Written by social worker and self-styled Pied Piper of Poop, Jamie Glowacki, this book offers a proven six-step plan to potty training success with a healthy dose of humor.
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2. The No-Cry Potty Training Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Child Say Good-Bye to Diapers
If you enjoyed Elizabeth Pantley’s No Cry Sleep Solution, this could be the book for you!
It comes with a bathroom safety checklist and childproofing strategies that will help you work toward bathroom independence for your child.
3. Potty training in 3 Days: The Step-by-Step for a Clean Break from Dirty Diapers
If you’ve got a long weekend available and are intrigued by the 3-day potty training method, this book is a good place to begin.
Offering a step-by-step plan and tips on how to handle every accident, it’s no wonder this is an Amazon Bestseller.
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4. Stress-Free Potty Training: A Commonsense Guide to Finding the Right Approach for Your Child
This straight-talking practical book aims to take all worries out of toilet learning — for both mama and babe.
It includes a quiz to help you decide what method might work best for your child.
5. Toilet Awareness: Using Montessori Philosophy to Create a Potty Learning Routine
This child-centered method is inspired by the Montessori system of learning.
Whether your child hasn’t started walking yet or has already turned three, it serves as a useful guide to getting them to take the lead.
Best potty training books for toddlers
6. Daniel Tiger’s Potty Time!
A familiar favorite in many homes, this classic children’s character can now travel with you to the bathroom and help teach your toddler all about potty time.
This sturdy board book includes interactive noises and even has a handle so that it can fit easily in little hands.
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7. Even Firefighters Go to the Potty: A Potty Training Lift-the-Flap Story
This funny hardcover book uses classic lift-the-flap humor to tackle toilet time.
Yep, even firefighters on their way to answer a fire alarm sometimes have to stop to pee.
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8. We Poop on the Potty!
This award-winning book takes a look at how all sorts of animals poop, including unicorns and dragons.
The difference with humans?
We poop on the potty!
9. I’m A Potty Superhero: Get Ready for Big Boy Pants!
Everybody loves a superhero!
This lovely toddler-friendly book provides positive inspiration for your little learner.
Cute illustrations, a fun storyline, and catchy rhymes make this a must-have.
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10. Big Girl Panties
This gorgeously designed book appeals to grown-ups and kids alike.
All about those big girl panties, it takes a light and positive approach to toilet training.
11. Poop! A Pottytime Joke Book
This fun rhyming story has bright bold artwork and a poop-shaped finger puppet.
Need we say more?
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12. How to Potty Train a Dinosaur
This Editor’s Pick on Amazon turns the tables and lets your little one learn about how dinosaurs potty train.
Its role-reversal approach is creative and effective — and it offers some good laughs along the way.
13. Poop! There it is!
With a title like that how could we ignore it!
This beautifully silly book helps keep toilet learning light and pressure-free.
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14. Everyone Poops
While intended for older kids, little ones can get lost in the beautiful illustrations of this “we all poop”- themed book.
And if you’ve ever wondered what whale poop looks like, well, this may just be where you find out.
15. Potty Training with Tot on the Pot, Complete Kit
This all-inclusive multi-award winning system has it all: step-by-step instructions for parents, an anatomically correct doll, toy potty, children’s book, and reward cards.
You can choose either boy or girl dolls, with light or darker skin tones.
Do you and your child have a favorite potty training book?
Let the mamas at Peanut know.
It may be just the thing they’re looking for. 💜