We reached another milestone the other day. Less momentous than the day, over two years ago now, when my son announced that he finally wanted to try out the potty seat we'd acquired some time before and would no longer be wearing diapers (to this day, I am amazed at how easy that transition was), but a milestone nonetheless.
The other day, with my now-five-year-old son's blessing, we handed off our two Baby Bjorn 'Toilet Trainer' potty seats to a two-year-old acquaintance.
There's always something bittersweet about passing the accoutrements of babyhood on to the next youngster, but offering a used stroller or high chair to a friend is at least an act of generosity relatively unalloyed by embarrassment. Offering a used potty seat is a (figuratively: figuratively, I assure you!) stickier situation.
And so, it was with some hesitation that I asked our friends to take a look at what I assured them were a couple of toilet-toppers whose two years of use had left no discernable mark whatsoever upon them: the seats were white as the driven snow and the finish was unmarred by even the slightest visible sign of wear. My friends quickly declared the seats pristine; the offer was gratefully accepted; and another chapter of babyhood was closed.
Well, nearly closed.
As I handed the seats over to their new owners, I recalled how I had selected the Baby Bjorn model, despite its relatively high price, based on the rave reviews I'd read here on Epinions. Toilet-training then seemed a mysterious enterprise fraught with danger and the positive experience of other parents was reassuring. Three years later, it seems incumbent upon me to report to you that I can wholeheartedly concur with those raves: these seats are marvels of ergonomic design and quality construction.
Take a look at the picture of the seat and the first thing you'll note is its almost aerodynamic sleekness. Okay, you don't really want a potty seat flying through the air, true, but a seat that looks space-age is likely to be deemed 'cool' by its intended user. And, trust me, you want your kid to think that using the potty is cool. (The seat comes in various color choices, by the way, to match nearly any bathroom decor: ours were both white with colored trim.)
That sleekness has other benefits beyond the purely cosmetic, too. The molded plastic is entirely seamless. No seams means no cracks or crevices to collect unspeakable detritus and a seat which you will be able to pass on to a friend without undue embarrassment after a few years of active use. This is A Good Thing.
No seams or cracks also means no pinched tushies. This is An Extremely Good Thing. Sitting perched up high on the big toilet is an intimidating experience for a toddler: make it an uncomfortable experience and your toilet-training job will become orders of magnitude more difficult.
The Baby Bjorn potty seat is smooth and gentle on sensitive little bottoms and the molded curves are cleverly designed to provide a sense of security with no pinching, poking or prodding. The integrated shield in front, in particular, is just high enough to provide the needed protection (if you have a boy, don't let anyone try to tell you that a shield is unnecessary) and is gently sloped enough to avoid, um, painful dismounting incidents. Many toilet-topper potty seats include a removeable shield which, by necessity, means a hinge or seam which can (and, in accordance with Murphy's Law, will) pinch Junior's private parts and wreak havoc with your toilet-training progress, not to mention the therapy sessions he'll later spend blaming you for not springing for the Baby Bjorn potty seat.
If you've read a few of the other reviews on this seat, you're probably wondering about the Baby Bjorn's unique feature: the continuous size adjustment feature. It's hard to spot in the picture, but just beneath the arched handle is a dial adjustor which allows you to customize the seat for the precise size and shape of your toilet seat opening. Several reviewers seem to be under the impression that this feature somehow adjusts for the size of the child's backside, which rather baffled me back when I was first researching potty seats and which is quite patently not the case.
In fact, the dial serves to rotate two flanges on the underside of the seat, so that they firmly grip the rim of the toilet seat opening and allow for a thoroughly secure mounting of potty to toilet top. With the flanges properly adjusted (a trivially easy process), the potty becomes almost an integral part of the toilet: your child can climb up without fear that the potty seat will slip or slide. Removing the seat is also easy and generally does not require any readjustment of the dial.
The opening on top of the seat, on the other hand, is unadjustable and a good thing that is: a potty seat ought not to have moving parts anywhere near its business end for what I hope are fairly obvious reasons, already touched upon above. In fact, the opening is just the right size for the typical two-to-five-year-old novice toilet user and the molded contours of the back and sides naturally position him comfortably and effectively over it.
The final touch is the arched handle which conveniently allows you to hang the seat for storage next to the toilet. Located as it is behind the raised back of the seat, the handle is highly unlikely to ever become, even temporarily, soiled: another well-thought-out design element.
The Baby Bjorn Toilet Trainer is (if you'll excuse the expression) hands down the best potty trainer out there and well worth the few extra bucks you'll invest in it. In fact, amortized over several kids (and as far as I can tell, this seat could easily take years of active use), it might even be less expensive than the cheap ring seat you might be tempted to buy.
Baby Bjorn White/Red Toilet Trainer Learning something new can sometimes take a while. The BABYBJ�RN Toilet Trainer makes learning to go to the b...More at Diapers.com
A comfortable toilet trainer that a child can sit on safely Adjustable dial adapts to all types of toilet seats; adjusts easily and sits firmly in pla...More at Amazon
The BABYBJʆN® Toilet Trainer helps children learn to use the toilet themselves. Fits most toilets and is easy to attach. Once adjusted, it fits per...More at Albee Baby
Fantastic prices with ease & c...(Stock status: N/A)
Baby Bjorn Toilet Trainer Parents looking for a simple, no nonsense toilet trainer should look no further than the Baby Bjorn Toilet Trainer. It is o...More at Amazon Marketplace
Epinions.com periodically updates pricing and product information from third-party sources, so some information may be slightly out-of-date. You should confirm all information before relying on it.
- Add to My Yahoo!: 
- Add to Google Homepage: 
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.