Potty Training
Buy and sell potties and training seats in Guatemala.
Coming off diapers takes less kit than most parents expect, and all of it fits in one box. A potty on the bathroom floor, a reducer for the grown-ups’ toilet, a step stool so small feet reach and a few cloth training pants for the first weeks turn up new and pre-owned, usually as a set from a family whose youngest finished in a few months. The long holidays between one school year and the next are a good time to start if a first year of preschool is coming: weeks at home to practise without a rush.
The floor potty comes first for most toddlers:
it sits low on the floor, a child can climb on without help, and the bowl lifts out to be emptied into the toilet. The plain one-piece kind is light and quick to rinse; make sure it has rubber feet, because a potty that slides when a toddler drops onto it soon gets refused. The toilet-shaped trainer comes apart into a little potty, a seat that later goes on the adult toilet and a step stool. For boys, look for a tall splash guard moulded into the seat rather than one that clips on and gets lost. Cloth training pants with a padded middle catch the small accidents of the first weeks and come by size with the baby clothing, while a waterproof cover under the sheet, found with the baby bedding, saves the mattress at night.
Fitting a reducer seat to the toilet you actually have:
a reducer sits inside the adult seat and shrinks the opening, so it works in any bathroom and takes up no floor space. Toilets come with round or elongated bowls, and a reducer made for one rocks on the other. Measure your seat from the hinge bolts to the front edge before you choose, and look for rubber grips underneath and a lip that hooks over the front. A ladder seat puts steps and handles in one frame for a child who insists on climbing up alone, but needs a hinge that locks and room beside the toilet. A folding reducer that packs flat goes in the diaper bag for visits and errands, since public toilets rarely offer anything a toddler can use.
A toilet-shaped trainer holds its price better than a plain potty:
a plain floor potty costs around Q60 new, which leaves a used one almost no room. A toilet-shaped trainer with its seat and step runs about Q170 to Q300 new, and a used one with every piece and the plastic still smooth goes for roughly Q80 to Q150. What the buyer pays for is a complete set with a clean finish: a trainer missing its step, or with a bowl gone cloudy, is back to the price of any plain potty.
What the plastic of a used potty gives away:
fine scratches inside the bowl hold stains and smell long after washing, and plastic that has turned cloudy or yellow will not come back with bleach. Look for hairline cracks around the rim and where the bowl slots into the base, because that is where a potty splits under a sitting child. On a reducer, check underneath for the rubber grips, which peel off and go missing, and on a padded seat run your fingers over the vinyl: any split lets urine into the foam, and that seat is finished. Unfold a ladder seat and push down hard on the bottom step; the hinge should lock with a click and the frame should not twist. Cloth training pants go at the elastic first, then the padded layer thins, so hold them up to the light.
A potty, reducer and step stool listed as one set:
a family just starting wants the whole kit, not three separate trips. Wash and disinfect everything, let it dry in the sun and photograph each piece with the bowl lifted out and the underside showing. Say whether the reducer sat on a round or elongated toilet, whether the splash guard, lid and grips are all there, and how long it was used. A parent coming from Mixco or San Marcos will want to know before the trip whether your reducer will suit their toilet, so give the hinge-to-front measurement of your seat and ask them to measure theirs.