Parents should also make an effort to differentiate these two functions when the child is learning to go to the bathroom, so they learn the difference between urinating and having bowel movements. What to do - some approaches Each in his or her own time This approach advocates allowing the child to warm up to the idea. A first step is letting the child play and get used to the actual tools, the potty in particular. Have the child sit on it or even carry it around. Eventually a parent should show how it is used, have the child sit on it without clothes, and even take a bowel movement from a diaper and put it in the toilet.
Many experts believe that using pull-ups can be confusing and compromise success.
These new inventions are so effective that the child may not actually feel the urine or bowel movement while he is wearing them. Thus, cloth training pants may be a better alternative. Certainly at some point regular underwear, rather than any diaper or pull-up, may be necessary to actually help the child feel wet or soiled, thereby learning what it is they need to control. In the short term there will be accidents but they will decrease. Although this approach incorporates many of the same steps and methods outlined above, many parents structure the learning in a more specific way.