Oh Crap! Potty Training: Everything Modern Parents Need to Know to Do It Once and Do It Right (Oh Crap Parenting)
Condition: Used - Acceptable
Buy Now, Pay Later
As low as
$1
/ mo
Learn more
- – 4-month term
- – No impact on credit to apply
- – Instant approval decision
- – Secure and straightforward checkout
Ready to go? Add this product to your cart and select a plan during checkout.
Payment plans are offered through our trusted finance partners Klarna, Affirm, Afterpay, Zip, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. No-credit-needed leasing options through Acima may also be available at checkout.
Learn more about financing & leasing here.
Selected Option
Free shipping on this product
30-day returns
Learn more
30-day refund/replacement
To qualify for a full refund, items must be returned in their original, unused condition. If an item is returned in a used, damaged, or materially different state, you may be granted a partial refund.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
Availability:
Only 3 left in stock, order soon!
Arrives
Oct 20 – Oct 22
Recently Viewed
Format: Paperback, Illustrated
Description
From potty-training expert and social worker Jamie Glowacki, who’s already helped over half a million families successfully toilet train their preschoolers, comes a newly revised and updated guide that’s “straight-up, parent-tested, and funny to boot” (Amber Dusick, author of Parenting: Illustrated with Crappy Pictures). Worried about potty training? Let Jamie Glowacki, potty-training expert, show you how it’s done. Her six-step, proven process to get your toddler out of diapers and onto the toilet has already worked for tens of thousands of kids and their parents. Here’s the good news: your child is probably ready to be potty trained EARLIER than you think (ideally, between 20–30 months), and it can be done FASTER than you expect (most kids get the basics in a few days—but Jamie’s got you covered even if it takes a little longer). If you’ve ever said to yourself: -How do I know if my kid is ready? -Why won’t my child poop in the potty? -How do I avoid “potty power struggles”? -How can I get their daycare provider on board? -My kid was doing so well—why is he regressing? -And what about nighttime?! Oh Crap! Potty Training can solve all of these (and other) common issues. This isn’t theory, you’re not bribing with candy, and there are no gimmicks. This is real-world, from-the-trenches potty training information—all the questions and all the answers you need to do it once and be done with diapers for good. Read more
Publisher : Gallery Books
Publication date : June 16, 2015
Edition : First Paperback Edition
Language : English
Print length : 304 pages
ISBN-10 : 1501122983
ISBN-13 : 89
Item Weight : 2.31 pounds
Dimensions : 6 x 0.9 x 9 inches
Book 1 of 2 : Oh Crap Parenting
Frequently asked questions
If you place your order now, the estimated arrival date for this product is:
Oct 20 – Oct 22
Yes, absolutely! You may return this product for a full refund within 30 days of receiving it.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
To initiate a return, please visit our Returns Center.
View our full returns policy here.
- Klarna Financing
- Affirm Pay in 4
- Affirm Financing
- Afterpay Financing
- Zip Pay in 4
- Financing through Apple Pay
- Financing through Google Pay
Learn more about financing & leasing here.
Similar Products
Top Amazon Reviews
Format: Paperback
This book is THE BEST, most current book on potty training available. I purchased this book before beginning in earnest the potty-training process with our daughter. We introduced the concept of the potty at 16-18 months, and did the potty training over the course of 5 days (1 long 3-day weekend and 2 days off from work) when she was 21 months old. The author of Oh Crap!, Jamie Glowacki, is very glib, so I can see how some people might be put off by her style. If you're interested in getting a sense of her methods and style, I recommend visiting her blog (jamieglowacki dot com) or viewing some of her videos on YouTube (channel "oh crap with jamie"). When it comes down to it, her method WORKS. However, even though she says to follow her methods exactly, she also says in other parts of the book that you can do what you think is best for your child -- but if it doesn't work, then you've been warned! Fair enough. We did the bare bottom for days 1-2. Day 1 wasn't great, but on day 2 something just clicked and she actually started going to the potty on her own! Day 3 she was commando, but was running to the potty so often that she didn't have her pants on very much. Listen to Jamie's advice, don't give your under 2 year old extra fluids. On day 4 we tried commando again, but it just didn't work. When she had an accident, it just made her socks wet and her upper pants stayed dry. There was no real discomfort associated with peeing her pants. So after her mid-day nap, we switched to training pants - with no pants. This worked great! Only 2 accidents. Day 5 she was in training pants most of the day, with pants on to go on trips outside the house. Day 6 fully clothed all day with short trips outside (5-10-15-20-30 minutes) and everything was great. Only issue was number 2, which she still wasn't comfortable with. Day 7 she was back at daycare, no accidents, except a number 2, but later went 2 in the potty! Day 8 perfect, a couple small accidents, but still going 2 in the potty. Day 9 same. Day 10, back at daycare again and ZERO accidents. Based on our interpretation of potty trained, our daughter is fully potty trained: she can now verbalize when she needs to go, will sometimes go when prompted, and will sometimes go without telling us (we've surprisingly found her on several occasions peeing on the potty with her pants down), consistently goes 1 and 2 on the potty, has a complete potty routine, and stay dry for naps. Averaging 0-2 accidents per day, with 0 days more often. In terms of nap and night training, we also deviated a bit from Jamie's method. Our daughter has been staying dry for naps while in diapers, so we didn't put her in a pull-up for that, and just used training pants. She's had zero accidents during naps. Dry every day. So she's completely day-trained. At night we're using a pull-up (technically pampers easy-ups), but even still, she has woken up on at least 4 mornings with a completely dry diaper and has begun to consistently self-initiate the morning pee. So, we're happy with it as is. We have no intention of waking our daughter up in the middle of the night. We're just going to continue having her use the potty before bed and upon waking, and hopefully we will see a progression to more dry mornings. If not, and we're getting close to the 2.5 year mark, we may intervene and use Jamie's method. I get why there are negative reviews for this book. Jamie tells it like it is, and some people don't like that. It's a book, it's not like she's there with you, making you do anything. If you don't want to do it her way, then do what you think is best for your child, but honestly, she knows her stuff and her advice works. Slight modifications here and there are fine, but you can't hodgepodge different methods together or deviate significantly and expect the same promised results. This book is THE model that you should follow. This is the ONLY book you need to buy on potty training. Just BUY IT, READ IT, THEN START the process when you have 3-5 days to devote exclusively to spending time with your child. This book has everything you need. Plenty of chapters of prep, a clear how-to chapter, a chapter on nighttime training, chapters on trouble-shooting related to each stage or block of the potty-training process, a chapter on poop, a chapter on daycare - just look at the Table of Contents in the Amazon Preview. This book even has a Dad's cheat sheet (which could have a more neutral title, but you know, hetero-normative gender roles...), as well as a general parents' cheat sheet. Both of these were extremely useful. My husband would not read this entire book, but did read those two cheat sheets. Lastly, I would also attribute our potty training success to the following products and books used in conjunction with Oh Crap! - Elmo's Potty Time Sesame Street - Elmo's Potty Time Yes, you can rent it via Amazon on-demand, but trust me, you're going to want to have a hard copy that you can watch infinite times. - Fisher Price singing potty (do you really want to be checking between your child's legs every couple minutes to see if they peed? This tells you instantaneously, even if you're in the other room, and my daughter loves the instant gratification and fun songs) Fisher-Price Potty Training, Learn-to-Flush - Baby Bjorn potty chair BABYBJORN Potty Chair, Gray Because you'll need a second potty, and because everyone told us we HAD to get this one. It's fine, perhaps more ergonomic. Definitely more portable than the Fisher-Price chair. - Big Girls Use the Potty! (in paperback) Big Girls Use the Potty! It breaks the process down step-by-step for young girls (it also comes in a boy version) and has a sticker chart and stickers. We didn't use the stickers as rewards (my daughter was too young to grasp that concept - Jamie also advises against rewards), but did use the chart as a visualization of our daughter's potty progress - a concept she COULD understand and she took much pride in counting all her stars. - Potty by Leslie Patricelli Potty (Leslie Patricelli board books) Cute, easy for toddlers to understand, simple text and pictures with room for improvisation by parents - Oxo Tot 2-in-1 Go Potty OXO Tot 2-in-1 Go Potty for Travel - Green Eventually you're going to have to take your child outside for more than 30 minutes, and this is where things get complicated. Public restrooms are gross. Put this on the FLOOR as far away from the toilet as possible in the large accessible bathroom stall. Once they're older/bigger this seat also morphs into a potty seat for use on the toilet. It's extremely useful for all the random times your child tells you they need to go - at the park, immediately after arriving somewhere in the car, in the elevator...
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 29, 2016 by JHanlon
Format: Paperback
I am SO glad I ordered this book! Jamie, we followed your instructions, and my daughter was more or less potty trained in a weekend. Thank you! By more or less, I mean that, in less than a day, she went from complete obliviousness to UNDERSTANDING that when she had "that feeling" that she needed to sit on the potty and put her pee in it. On day 2 she had only one pee accident. There were some misses for a few more weeks as she worked on her ability to pull her pants and undies down and some trail and error with timing/waiting/holding but she is now 100% day AND night potty trained. Some things that I think make this method different from (and superior to) other potty-training books: 1. Jamie has worked with many, many kids and has some kind of magic window into their brains. She really helped me understand what was going on in my daughter's head. Some of the most helpful things for me was explaining how I can phrase things so that they make sense to my toddler, such as "put your pee/poop in the potty" and "I want to HEAR your pee." NEVER in a million years would I have thought on my own to use those phrases with my kid, but, you know what? They made complete sense to her and worked like a CHARM! In Jamie's words: Toddlers, whatEVER! 2. The timeframe: Jamie recommends working with kids while they are within a certain developmental timeframe defined loosely in months of age. Before reading this book, I didn't think this was such a big deal, but now I get it. My daughter was almost 28 months old at the time, near the end of Jamie's timeframe and I can see how starting just a few months later when she had more autonomy would have made the process so much more difficult. There is this special window where they are old enough to do it but not old enough to know how to "play you." One of the things that helped me decide we needed to get moving was how she explained how you can tell children are "capable" of using the potty. 3. Nighttraining: The method Jamie suggests makes total sense and works, but I never would have though of it on my own. I think my kid would probably be sleeping in pull-ups for another year while I waited for her to wake up dry. Instead, she sleeps in panties and wakes herself up if she needs to potty. It doesn't get any better than that. 4. Flexibility: While there are some definitive "steps" to Jamie's method, she also provides flexibility for you to evaluate your own child's needs. I recognized my daughter's early need for me to "back-off" and let her have some control because the book showed me how to recognize that and adjust accordingly. 5. Motivation: Jamie doesn't recommend that you rely on candy or stickers or matchbox cars to reward your kid when she/he potties on the potty but to let pottying on the potty be its own reward. Friends of mine have asked me what prize my daughter gets when she "goes" on the potty. My answer: "Her dignity." The ONLY negative thing that I would say about this book is that Jamie gives child care workers a pretty bad rap. The way her "Daycare workers and other caregivers" chapter begins, the best soundtrack to accompany it would be the funeral march. I read the book in one night and had myself all wound up to talk to my child's teacher the next afternoon, prepared for battle but as soon as I said " We are going to start potty-training" this weekend, she was totally gung-ho and told me that she had actually sent my daughter to the potty with another girl that day, and she had gone twice on the potty earlier (a Wednesday). The following Monday after that weekend's success, I sent her to school in panties and all her teachers were happy for her. They never lost faith in her, even on those days where she had more than one "miss" while trying to get her pants down and were NEVER negative or suggested she go back to pull-ups/diapers for awhile. Maybe I am lucky to have such skilled and loving teachers caring for my child, but I'm sure I am not the only one. I wish Jamie would have started this chapter in a positive way (like the rest of her book) and then provided "troubleshooting tips" if the first approach didn't work. Instead, she almost sets you up to think you'll have a fight on your hands. Also, being in full-day child care is hardly an anomaly as many, many mothers of young children work. The "Daycare" chapter thrown in halfway through the book instead of info peppered throughout seemed like a pretty antiquated setup. So, longest review I have ever written but this book deserves it! I hope it works as well for your family as it did for ours. My neighbor's daughter just turned 2 and she (the mom) mentioned to me that they are going to start potty training. The next day I walked my copy of Oh Crap Potty Training across the street. I told her to keep it because we don't need it anymore!!!!! Jamie, thanks again!
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 18, 2015 by WoodbineFarms
I was absolutely terrified to start potty training. As a first-time mom, I had no idea where to even begin. Ever the book geek, I researched to find the top expert on the topic, and Jamie's name and book popped up again and again. After a quick scan of her book, I knew the research hadn't failed me. She was the one. I sat down and read this wonderful book cover to cover over the course of a few weeks. It did NOT disappoint. The book is highly encouraging, funny, and filled with fantastic tips and tricks to help a nervous new parent like myself. Reading it was like talking to a friend who just happened to be a potty training expert. Jamie's writing is accessible, down-to-earth, and warm. She infuses into the book a powerful confidence that, yes, you can do this. Her confidence and warmth are contagious and pretty soon, I realized, Hey... I CAN do it. I love, too, how she readily admits we all need to customize the training for our kiddo, and I did just that. I took probably 97% of her suggestions and then added my own flair to make it work for my daughter--and work it did! My Little One was going #1 in the potty consistently by day 2, and she was doing #2 in the potty that very week. We only had a few accidents within the 2 weeks, and now (almost 9 months later), we almost never have accidents, maybe one every few months. Night training was the hardest, but Jamie's suggestions of having the potty in the room, along with piddle pads absolutely made it work, and I found her steps (or "blocks" as she calls them) both manageable and inspiring. The metaphor reminded me that as humans, we learn in chunks, and the "blocks" helped me tangible, visual steps to move from diapers to 100% toilet independent. Her concept of "blocks" helps break down this process so I didn't feel overwhelmed and could see clear progress as my daughter moved from one block to the next. Jamie is brilliant, and I honestly can't praise this book or her enough. If you're in the midst of potty training, this is your guide. Thank you, Jamie. You made what could have been a long, stressful nightmare much, much easier, smother, and successful.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 3, 2026 by Moon Unit
Format: Paperback
We purchased both this book and The book “potty train in 3 days”. Loosely following both books as a guide, We were able to daytime potty train our 2.5 year old to use the potty chair in about two weeks. Recently, she’s been working on night time training by her personal request. Pros: - lots of trouble shooting ideas - a concrete approach - has ideas to help get the potty training started - I liked what the author had to say about disengaging from power struggles - I also liked what the author had to say about how and when to prompt your child. She did a good job, in this specific section at lest, identifying that each child will need a different level of prompting and some children will exhibit an adverse reaction when prompted to go potty. Cons: - the author of this book has a very condescending tone and has very rigid beliefs about how to potty train. She takes a “one size fits all” approach and does not account for different temperaments (although she claims to). - there is A LOT of fluff in this book. It is a long read for how much content is actually present. Parts were super redundant so I ended up skimming portion of it. - the tone of the book places a lot of pressure on the parents and potty training experience and has the potential to overwhelm. - the author strictly opines that parents should follow her method to the “t” and not stray, which I thought to be too rigid and unrealistic given that every child is different and might have different needs when learning to use the potty. There were parts of this book we did not feel good about following and we didn’t think would work for our child, so we amended things as we saw what worked and didn’t work. One big “no no” the author cites is not providing treats for using the potty or making too big of a deal about it because kids need to know going potty in the toilet is an expectation. While this is true for children who have learned how to use the potty, those who are learning need incentives to change their routine. What ultimately ended up working for us was using a sticker chart as a token economy for her to earn a small wrapped prize she could see (think bubbles or stickers). We kept the chart in a location where she could see it and once she earned the pre determined amount of stickers, she earned the prize. She was so excited to earn stickers in order to get to unwrap the gift! This, along with us preventing a power struggle through not providing any prompts other than “your potty chair is located here when you need to go.” Supported daytime potty training in a couple of weeks. Final thoughts: this book has some good tips but you know your child best. Don’t feel chained by this method if parts don’t work for you. Potty training is a dance, after all! 😄
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2020 by Deckers
Format: Paperback
It's funny what some people will lock on when reading a book. I bought this because I was having issues potty training my 3rd child (the first was essentially potty trained by a day care and ended up with long term bowel trouble, the second trained very late and only because we took away all TV until he was trained). Even if I had a great method before, I had my third when the other two were 10 and 7 - it had been too long for me to remember how to do this. For me, the two biggest take-away CLICK! moments were 1) Don't ask, plead, beg, or fuss at your kid to go potty. Just say "Time to go potty, and then you can come back and play more". My 3 year old said NO the first two days, but I picked him up and took him to the potty, sat him down, he peed, and was proud of himself. By day 4 he was telling me that he had to go! 2) She asks "What is your child capable of?" my Word! Of COURSE he was capable of walking to the potty, pulling down his pants, and going! He had been casually telling me for weeks that he had peed, and needed a change - of course he was capable of learning how to go potty! Those two mental shifts were all I needed to get going - he was clearly ready and waiting for me. The other very helpful thing about this book is the clear step-by-step expectations. A child has to stand before walking, walk before running. By the same token, a child must learn THAT they're going, what it feels like when they're about to go, and then they can tell their parent that they need to go. She doesn't jerk you around with the idea that your kid will be flawlessly trained in 3 days - she gives reasonable expectations for each step of the way. Most importantly, she tells parents about times where their child will likely struggle, even if they had been doing fine until then - and not to give up then! As for the negative reviews - as a third time mom, I'm pretty used to taking what I think is helpful and discarding what isn't from various sources. For example, for my kid, I didn't even need to do naked time - I've been pretty in-tune with his potty signals for a long time. But the logic behind going commando is faultless - undies feel like diapers around the tush, and it's hard to break the habit of a lifetime without making things feel very different. I don't think she was shaming or deliberately guilt-tripping anyone - I think the people taking that away from this book were already feeling conflicted and freaked out about how long it's taken to potty train or are feeling very defensive about having to work outside the home. I've been both, and I remember how sensitive I felt anytime someone said BOO about me sending the kids to day care. She does give tips about how to make this method work even if you are a working household and have to deal with daycare. That said, it's unequivocally easier to potty train if you have the freedom to do it yourself at home. Otherwise you have to get all other caregivers on board, and that can get tough. That's not guilt tripping or shaming - that's a plain fact. The night time advice isn't all that helpful, but to be fair it's the exact same advice my pediatrician kept giving when my older son had bed wetting trouble. It must work for some kids, otherwise it wouldn't hang on this long. All in all, a book that helped THIS mom and her 3 year old get with the potty program before baby #4 came on the scene!
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2016 by Kelly
I think the tone of the book was refreshing for the perspective of the parent. It wasn’t sugar coating and was written matter-of-factly which I appreciate. Jamie’s process of “blocks” really allows families to take their time and lay the foundation of potty training for their toddlers. You aren’t working by days but on how your child progresses. Especially valued a book that acknowledges “early” potty training (before 3 years old). Some of it is definitely a bit over repetitive but maybe because she’s really trying to drive her points. As a typically type A parent, put me in the headspace to breathe and really give my child this new sense of independence and dignity.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2026 by Jacob Tappe
Format: Kindle
After potty training 3 kids successfully, I read this book before training kid #4 and even though I had been successful before with the other kids- this book was a GAME CHANGER. I cannot recommend it enough. I currently reviewed it as I've started kid #5 with "potty learning." I love that this book teaches you as the parent to help them learn this new skill. It's a lot less stressful when you treat your child with genuine respect and the expectation that they can accomplish this!
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on August 5, 2026 by 2preacherwife
Format: Paperback
As with any parenting book, this one has its pros and cons. When I first read it, I didn't mind the dismissive, humiliating tone. I had a toddler in the "window" the author deems appropriate and I was reading this book, so I was obviously doing everything right from the start. The problem is the author sets you up for success if you follow the rules, but when you fail at part of the process you a) feel like you've royally messed up and b) don't get a lot of in depth information on how to get back on track. This is a very emotional process on its own, but I feel like the author's tone does not help ease any of the anxieties that come with potty training. I cannot speak for the nighttime process yet (although from the sounds of it, I think we'll just wing it and ignore the author's advice), but the day-to-day potty training process can and does work. While we had lots of issues crop up, my daughter eventually "got it" after 1 full week of training. The things I liked about this book were the clear and concise plan that was laid out. I also really appreciated the author's stance on not giving up and saying your child isn't ready when things get hard. Your child is not going to magically potty train themselves. It is going to be a frustrating process, but they WILL get it. Going back and forth between diapers and the potty is confusing and not at all helpful. During our process, I had many people tell me that maybe my daughter just wasn't ready and I should try again later. This book helped me combat that idea. First, I was NOT interested in re-living the potty training process over again (did I mention it's HARD?). Second, my child displayed all the signs of readiness before we started and I KNEW she was capable of learning something new. The book helped me put my foot down and stick with it, even when it was miserable. I also really liked the idea of not giving rewards for going potty. My daughter responded wonderfully to praise and we invented our own little celebration song because of it. Even now that she goes regularly she gets very excited about it and is SO proud of herself. I love that she did not need a sticker or a piece of candy to know she was doing a good job. The things I did not like about this book were the set age window for which to potty train. My 27 month old showed all the signs of readiness, but the author suggests she would have been just as ready as early as 18 month old. My daughter communicates well for her age, but even with that I can't imagine explaining and doing this all at 18 months old. And with the age window ending at 2.5 years, I felt like the odds were stacked against us with every minute that passed and she was not potty trained. Never mind the fact she makes it sound like, if your child isn't getting it, it is 100% your fault. The chapter on daycare is particularly depressing and set me up to believe my daughter's school was going to be difficult to work with. They were not. In fact, they were our biggest cheerleaders during the process and continue to champion my child (as they should.) To suggest to someone that, if their daycare does not comply with all the rules in this book, you should move your child to another daycare is insanity. Your kid is having trouble potty training, so why not uproot their entire day-to-day life and see how that goes? Horrible advice. Basically, the general tone of this book creates so much anxiety that I can see why so many parents are turned off by it. There were many troubleshooting suggestions that were simply the cliff's notes explanations of how to deal with issues. Some of them state the obvious but give you no real solution. For instance: -Prompt, but don't OVER prompt your child. -Your child does not get a choice about sitting on the potty, but don't turn sitting on the potty into a punishment. -If your child is misbehaving during the potty training process, it is okay to discipline them as you normally would, but don't ever punish them in regards to the potty. Also, the author mentions a Facebook group to commiserate with experts and fellow parents. There is not one; just a page for the book that posts some teaser blog posts and directs you to the book itself. I suspect if you really want that kind of support, you'll need to pay their consultants to help you. All and all, this book has some great tactics and can really help you potty train your child. Just be prepared to roll your eyes a lot at the author's tone and her anecdotes about all the amazing things she does for her own child (controlled diet, progressive schooling, etc.) that don't necessarily fit into most people's reality. If she would just stick to the facts, this would be a lot shorter book and I suspect more people would follow through with its teachings.
...
show more
Reviewed in the United States on February 27, 2017 by Caitlin