Reading one - or all - of these best potty training books can make teaching your child how to use the potty and how to listen to their bodies a lot easier.
The first step in potty training is to choose the best potty, next is to read up on suggested methods and advice. This stage of parenting can be a challenge and while, 'all children are different' is the disclaimer of the century, it's because it's true. You know your child and your family dynamic better than anyone else. These books are full of information and serve as guidelines, for you to cherry-pick the ideas you feel may work for you and yours. As research shows potty training is a complex process that can be affected by anatomic, physiologic and behavioural conditions. So, not a one size fits all approach.
Jamie Glowacki, a potty training expert and author of the acclaimed 'Oh Crap! potty training book says; “The need to pee and poo is a primal one; learning to put it somewhere specific is social, and social behaviour must be taught.”
Here are some of the best potty training books to help make this tricky time easier for toddlers and parents.
Best potty training books for toddlers
1. Pirate Pete's Potty
Age suitability: 2-3 years
With over 4000 ratings on Amazon this number 1 best seller has 4.6 out of 5 star rating. One reviewer says: "A friend put me onto this book as they believed it helped their little one with potty training. I can honestly say this helped my son in his potty training as it discusses growing up, getting big boy pants, doing pees and poos in the potty, having accident's and has a button that cheers which is obviously a hit."
As best potty training books go, this beautiful hard back book has an interactive 'cheer' button when the character uses the potty which is great for helping little ones feel confident and motivated to use the potty.
2. No more nappies
Age suitability: 2-5 years
With over 5700 ratings on Amazon this number 1 best seller has a whopping 4.7 out of 5 star rating. Endorsed by Dr Amanda Gummer who has over 20 years working with children and families. This colourful and engaging book introduces children to an important life skill - using the potty.
One reviewer says: "The illustrations are lovely and bright, the storyline is very basic and easy to remember for your child to relay back to you and the flaps get your child involved with reading and offer a distraction whilst sat on their potty. There’s a part where the little boy has an accident on the floor and now my daughter tells me if she’s had an accident too, so beneficial to teach children that accidents are going to happen. Also the addition of little tips for parents on each page is helpful. Definitely recommend!"
3. What is poo?
Age suitability: 3-5 years
When it comes to potty training a lot of children can wee okay in the potty, but struggle to poo. This board book, a 'Teachers Pick' on Amazon, addresses that and normalises pooing and talking about it for children and their parents.
One reviewer says: "I bought this book amongst a few others on the subject as my daughter aged 2 and a half was withholding stool and I wanted her not to be afraid of poo. She took to the book immediately, she likes all the flaps, points out different animals and asks for it regularly. I actually think it's helped with this issue too as she now proceeds to list all of the animals that do their business from the book once she has done her own!"
4. Everybody poos
Age suitability: 2-5 years
A very simple premise, its not war and peace and initially you may think 'what?' but kids seem to love this book. It gets the point across with simple illustrations and words, easy for a toddler to follow and remember.
One reviewer says: "Great illustrations of animals and it gets the message across that everybody poos. It’s great it also shows a potty, plus adults and kids using the toilet. I add some sound effects when reading and I’m always asked to read this again a second time. I recommend this to help potty / toilet training, without it being another boring literal book telling you what to do."
5. Bing Toilet Train
Age suitability: 0-3 years
With over 3700 ratings on Amazon and an impressive 4.6 out of 5 star rating. This colourful and engaging book introduces children to the 'big toilet'. A CBeebies favourite, Bing bunny and Flop share their challenges as they talk all about potties and navigate toilet training. Toilet training, it's a Bing thing.
One reviewer says: "My 2 year old LOVES Bing bunny, so this book was bound to be a hit. He’s learning about toilets and potty’s and has really enjoyed pointing out the various details in the pictures. I will buy the Bing potty chart to join it once we get to potty stage. Only downfall as with all noisy kids toys, he will push the button over and over, and loves it. Mummy however, doesn’t love it 100 times over."
6. Lulus Loo
Age suitability: 2-3 years
This interactive story teaches the basics of potty training with Lulu and all of her potty adventures. From getting her first potty and learning how to sit on it, with a few accidents along the way, and ending with her wearing big girl knickers and using the toilet. Your child can also help Lulu to do up her nappy and pull down the loo roll.
One Amazon reviewer says: "Good book, nice pictures, my daughter completely understood what it was trying to say and she soon got the idea herself. She enjoyed fastening and unfastening the nappy and they seeing the sparkly wee in the toilet at the end. Did the job and now in her big girl pants. Downside was – the flaps were a bit flimsy for this age range and didn’t last very long before being ripped.""
7. Who's in the loo
Age suitability: 0-5 years
With a whopping 4.8 out of 5 star rating this paperback book - written by award-winning Jeanne Willis - is quirky and great fun with lots of sin-song style ryhmes. 'Who's in the loo? There's a very long queue. Is it an elephant having a poo?' - this will no doubt have your toddler in stitches.
One reviewer rates it five stars and says: "A fun book for young ones to enjoy... it is cute and funny. It helps explain the need to wash your hands after using the toilet but in a fun way."
8. Potty Superstar
Age suitability: 1-3 years
This beautifully illustrated board book follows Harry on his journey as he learns all about potties, washing hands and accidents. It also has helpful tabs so your little one can tune into the story at any point.
One Amazon reviewer rates it 5 stars and says: "It’s a good book. It’s not just couple of sentences, but an actual short learning potty story. Colourful and very durable for toddler to read it a lot. Very happy with it."
9. Potty Superhero
Age suitability: 2-5 years
Looking for a potty training book? Consider this fun option, the protagonist superhero is ready to start potty training, and she puts on her big girl pants before saving the world with her 'super potty powers'. This 10-page boardbook encourages and motivates toddlers beginning to potty train and reach the finish line to be nappy-free.
One reviewer rates it five stars and says: Brought it in anticipation for starting potty training as daughter was showing signs of being scared of the potty. She enjoyed the book and got excited for big girl pants."
Potty training books for parents
10. Oh Crap! Potty Training
This is an Amazon bestseller, with over 8000 reviews leading it to an impressive 4.4 out of 5 stars. With one reviewer saying; "Simple, easy to read, someone commented that this author was bossy, but I find the majority of authors on this topic bossy anyway, and personally I didn't find her bossy, in fact I thought she had her head screwed on, down to earth and had a simple and easy method that gave results."
Jamie Glowacki is an internationally recognised potty training and parenting expert. The self-titled 'Pied Piper of Poop' leads parents to successful potty training with her six-step plan. The language that's suggested parents use is amazing. Phrases to use with your child like, 'you let me know when you're ready to go for a wee wee' and 'you know your body. And the potty is right there when you need to go'.
These words help to eliminate potty power struggles, shows trust in your child and gives them the confidence to listen for signals in their body and act on them. As best potty training books go this is a great one. Jamie tells it like it is and leaves room for error, because we're all learning.
11. The Gentle Potty Training Book
As best potty training books go, this is 208 pages of research, advice and answers to parents questions when faced with teaching their little ones how to use the potty, the most important developmental stages of early childhood. Author, Sarah Ockwell-Smith, advocates an approach that is based on your child's unique developmental stage - because the gentlest, easiest and most effective potty training happens when you work with your child as a team.
With an impressive 4.6 out of 5 rating on Amazon, one reviewer says; "I love the practical advice on how to run the training day by day. I love also that all the parents questions are at the end , many parenting books mix them up in the text and I find it misleading sometimes. This book is gentle to parents not only to kids."
12. Potty Training in One Week
This bestselling one-stop guide to potty training is by well-recognised and divisive parenting expert Gina Ford. And has an impressive 4.2 out of 5 stars on Amazon
One reviewer says: "With a toddler and a baby I don’t have time to read books which is why I loved this.... really short, straight to the point and no waffle. In our case I’d rename it potty training in 10 days as that’s how long it took us but it was great. Much better than other books I bought and never finished as they were too long winded."
Bestselling childcare author Gina Ford shares her tips and tricks on how to get potty training done and dusted in just one week. Her easy-to-follow programme will help parents to deal with common potty-training pitfalls, such as how to deal with accidents and what to do at night time.
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