How to encourage peeing during potty training and why its important

Consuming water has endless benefits.

It helps to keep your child's body hydrated to maintain their body temperature, deliveries nutrients to their cells, improves brain function, memory, concentration, maintain a healthy immune system, its good for teeth and bone health and helps the digestion system function properly and prevent constipation...to name a few!

And when it comes to potty training specifically, when you encourage your child to consume more fluids, it increase the changes of your child peeing... and when your child pees more, it creates more opportunities for potty learning!

That means more opportunities to make your child aware of what is going on in their bodies and how to respond to them.. which inches kids closer to independent potty use.

But what do you do if your child is not a big water drinker? Here are some ways that you can increase your child's water and fluid intake during potty training and beyond!

1. Fruit infused water

Infuse your child’s water with fruit to add flavor, color and vibrancy! The more colorful your child's water is, the more excited they will be to drink it. There are so many fruit combinations you can use to infuse your child's water. For example, add some berries, citrus and/or cucumber to give a fresh and subtle flavor.

You can also try adding pieces of frozen fruit directly into the water like frozen raspberries, blueberries and mango, or you can blend fruit into ice cubes and freeze these before adding them to your child's water.

2. Watery Foods

If your child is particularly picky about drinking water, try giving your child foods that are high in water content. Some foods that have a high water content are:

• watermelon (92%)
• oranges (87%)
• pineapple (86%)
• grapes (82%)
• strawberries (91%)
• tomatoes (94%)
• Cucumber (95%)
• Spinach (91%)

You can also try offering these frozen!

3. Ice Popsicles 

🥤 Ice Popsicles - freezing smoothies, yoghurt or juice is a popular, easy choice to get those extra liquids in!

4. Fun Water Bottles 

Make drinking water fun by using novel water bottles and cups! Take your child with you to the store to pick their favorite one, or you can offer your child the choice of this rainbow swirled silicone sippy cup, metal silicone sippy up or glass and silicone cup!

 5. Add a straw

Sometimes the simple update of adding a straw can see your child drinking more water! You can add any straw to your child's cup or make it fun and novel by trying these:

silicone straws

curly straws 

Novel straws

6. Make it a game!

Try make the act of drinking water a game with your kiddo. For example, with this Bluey sippy cup you might say, "Drink until you reach Blueys feet!"

7. Be a good role-model!

 At this age, your kid is looking for your guidance on what to do in this world! So one of the best things you can do is role-model drinking water throughout the day. Keep a water bottle with you and as you drink some water yourself you can say "time for us to have a water break!"