Over the past few months my son's best friend (who was 3 going on 4) completed potty training. Since the 2 kids spend immense amounts of time together it was only natural for our son to become very curious about the porcelein fixture from hereafter referred to in baby terms aka the potty. Not a day would go by without him following anyone and everyone into the bathroom and trying to flush it. Even though he's not yet 2, we decided it would be a good idea to put a small potty in our bathroom for when it was time.
Its pretty amazing the variety of potties available and well, its pretty overwhelming. From simple attachable rings to potty chairs with Nascar themes that go Whiz and Whir everytime your child goes wiz. Yes, I am afraid it is all quite true...After doing a bit of reading, talking to friends and finally a visit to the baby store, I decided to go with the Baby Bjorn Little Potty.
About Le Petit Potty
The Baby Bjorn Little Potty is a small one piece potty chair that is not really a chair at all. Instead of a chair which encourages sitting back with kids knees even to their bottom, feet often dangling - the Baby Bjorn Little Potty is low to the ground and meant to be straddled. This european styling is based on theories from the East that squatting is a more natural position for doing business such as potty (and even giving birth), as opposed to the Western tendencies of laziness aka sitting down. The Baby Bjorn Little Potty does have a tiny ledge which could be construed as being a chair-back but who are we really kidding?
To give you an idea of just how small the Baby Bjorn Little Potty is only about 9 inches from front to back, 8 inches or so from side to side, and about 4 inches off of the floor. The bowl portion of the potty is about the size of a very small grapefruit.
Good things come in Small Packages
The Baby Bjorn Little Potty is compact and doesn't take up much space at all. This was really a selling point for me because we don't have very much extra space in our bathroom and this potty fits nicely in a few small spots of our bathroom both for storage and use. Since the potty is so small it also would make a good portable potty to take along on trips, keep in the back of your vehicle, etc.
The Baby Bjorn Little Potty is also very inexpensive. I purchased ours at a local store from under $10. I've seen the potty ranging from $8 to $12, which is the cheapest one out there. It seems unreal to be using the word cheap and Baby Bjorn in the same sentence, as they are known for having some of the priciest and posh items for babies out there. I guess, since this potty is a single piece of plastic, how much could Baby Bjorn realistically charge for it?
Also, because the Baby Bjorn Little Potty is made of a single piece of molded plastic it is very easy to clean and lacks nooks and crannies for disgusting stuff to lurk in. Even better, the one piece design means no assembly required. The Baby Bjorn Little Potty even has a molded in splash-deflector with no sharp edges on it.
Now, I am not sure that I entirely subscribe to the whole squatting verses sitting theory. But, I am willing to give it a try. Based on my son's experiences with this potty I think the theory has merit. At first he was quite timid about mounting this potty but he has since spent quite a bit of time trying it out and I was very impressed with how quickly he sat down and actually went tinkle in it.
So, with that, I'd like to say that the funky shape of the Baby Bjorn Little Potty may actually encourage doing potty on the potty for some kids. Is your kid one of them?
Well, not to make you think I am even more nuts than you already do for being so verbose about a potty. But, if I might go out on a limb to tell you one final positive attribute of the Baby Bjorn Little Potty. Put simply, its cute. Partly due to it small stature, but also because its available in a variety of colors including black, red, ocean blue, sunflower yellow, pretty pink and of course standard issue white. On the front of each little potty is the Baby Bjorn logo teddy bear. Can you say.. Aww?
Size does matter!
Unfortunately the Baby Bjorn Little Potty has some serious shortcomings. It is too small. Now, my son is not petite by any means, but he's not even 2 yet, so I thought this potty would be an appropriate size for him. Boy, was I wrong. My son, who is currently a 2T or 3T (not extraordinary sized at all) barely fits on the Baby Bjorn Little Potty. When squatting properly on this potty he is literally wedged between the back ledge of the seat and the splash deflector. Of course, being the wiggly toddler that he is he has tried out sitting on the Baby Bjorn Little Potty in all sorts of ways (frontwards, backwards, side-ways) and none of them look comfortable at all.
This may not be an issue if your child is small. But for us the small size really inhibits the proper functioning of the potty. I realized this when my son tinkled in the potty and was basically sitting in his own tinkle. YUCK!! I can't even imagine if it had been poop, nor do I want to. How is that any better than a diaper? Maybe we can use this small potty to potty train a stuffed toy to aid along in the training process....
Overall
The Baby Bjorn Little Potty potty would be perfect if it was just made in a larger size all around. As it is, it did serve its purpose well as a beginning introduction to potty training. But, now we are out to find a potty that fits...
Potty On!
To learn about Baby Bjorn products you can visit: www.babybjorn.com
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