Anna C

My best advice is to go to the library and check out Oh Crap! (Or whatever potty training book you choose). All adults involved in potty training should read the book in its entirely before beginning the potty training. Go all in and follow the method that you pick, and don’t half-ass it. We read potty training tips from parentData to guide us, but it wasn’t until we actually read the book and committed that we were successful. There is a lot of nuance to it which is what makes it so difficult, and having a book help navigate different situations is helpful. Finally, pop that champagne when you’re successful!

I think it’s also important what is important NOT to hear postpartum. Here is a list of things that really were not helpful to me postpartum:
1) sitting next to me (esp while I was breastfeeding my newborn) and chatting up a storm. New parents need rest and more peace and quiet because they are exhausted. If you’re at their house to help with the newborn, notice their cues that they don’t want to sit and gab, and give a new mom space to recover emotionally and physically. She probably just wants to read, watch tv, sleep, or dump the baby on you and leave.
2) Don’t talk so much about your own experience. Focus on being supportive of what they are going through now. If they need to cry or are upset, be a listener instead of offering advice or trying to cheer them up. And no, they don’t want to hear your birth story on repeat.
3) absolutely don’t mention anything about their body. A postpartum body needs time to recover, and in general people tend to be frustrated at how slowly things take to go back to normal. Don’t add to the frustration.

The best words to say are that they are doing amazing! And “how can I help?”, and “do you want to leave the baby with me and go somewhere?”