What to Dress Your Toddler in During Potty Training

When it’s time to say goodbye to nappies, what your toddler wears can really matter. The right clothing makes it easier for them to connect what is happening with their body and get onto the toilet quicker without having to wrestle buckles or zips.

In the Potty Pros Academy, your toddler will remove their nappies in Stage 3. By this stage your toddler is already familiar with the toilet and understands what it’s for. By this point, they’re not just starting from scratch. They’ve already built confidence around sitting, flushing, and washing hands and using the toilet daily - so moving through to adding underwear tends to happen quite quickly and smoothly.

Here’s how to dress your toddler step by step as you remove their nappies.

Day 1: Nothing on the Bottom Half

On the first day, keep your toddler’s bottom half completely bare.

This helps them connect the physical feeling of needing a wee with what’s actually happening. With no fabric in the way, they can clearly see and feel what’s going on, which makes that connection much stronger.

You’ll also find it easier to spot when they’re about to go, so you can calmly guide them to the toilet in time.

Day 2: Add Underwear

Once your toddler has begun to recognise when they need to go, it’s time to add underwear.

This step introduces an extra layer — literally and figuratively. It helps them practise pulling clothing down and up, and it feels more like “real life”. There may still be the occasional accident here, but that’s normal. The focus is on consistency and confidence, not perfection.

Because Potty Pros toddlers are already used to using the toilet daily, they often transition through this stage more quickly than expected.

Day 3: Full Outfit

By day three, you can usually move to a full outfit, underwear plus trousers, leggings, or shorts.

This is where your toddler gets to practise their new skill in everyday clothing. Choose soft, elastic waistbands with no tricky fastenings, think simplicity and independence.

At this point, you’re supporting the routine they’ll use outside the home, whether at nursery, playdates, or out and about. And because they’ve already learned the foundations through the earlier stages of Potty Pros, they will be more than ready for this step.

Keep It Calm and Simple

When you follow the process in the Potty Pros Academy, they will build strong foundations before you remove their nappies in Stages 1 & 2, so once you remove their nappies and add underwear the process often happens quite quickly over a couple of days. 

If you’re not quite at this stage yet, my free guide — 5 Things to Do to Prepare Your Toddler for Potty Training — will help you start off strong, building all the right foundations before you take the nappies off.