From asking ChatGPT for a potty training plan, to using Alexa, Google Assistant, or Siri to prompt your child, Nurse Rebecca Mottram explores the concept of AI tools for potty training and whether they can be trusted to give parents the evidence-based guidance needed for supporting their children through this major developmental milestone.
As a potty learning expert and advocate for baby pottying, it’s my job to know that the biggest barriers to potty training success in our society are misinformation and disposable nappies.
It’s not easy for modern parents. Previous generations could count on having parents to pass down information about baby pottying, it was normalised to teach potty skills from birth and there was more access to resources like local children’s centres with qualified baby group leaders to share sound guidance. But as it becomes less possible to survive on one income, fewer parents are at home during the early years to support the development of potty skills, relying on childcare providers and disposable nappies. Our parents generation likely also used disposables and had both parents working, meaning if they are fortunate enough to be retired and available to share knowledge and offer childcare, baby pottying wisdom has likely not been part of their experience to pass down to you.
Given everything parents have to contend with, I understand how using a search engine or a large language model for instant access to potty training information has become normalised. But what impact does this have on the quality of guidance that parents have access to?
AI Potty training hacks
So what’s the problem with using an AI assistant like Alexa or Siri to prompt your child to use the potty every 20-30 minutes?
For potty learning to be successful, your child needs connection with their parent or caregiver and that parent or caregiver needs to understand that prioritising preventing accidents is not going to lead to long-term success. A child becoming toilet independent relies on them completing a complicated process that involves over 40 different skills. As they develop body awareness, their parent or carer must also be physically present to learn their signals or timing (this comes from noticing many things from when they are doing a wee, what their behaviour was before that wee, how this relates to their water consumption…) and to give their child helpful information “that dance you’re doing could be your body’s way of telling you it’s time to go potty.”
Arbitrary prompts from a device cannot tailor the advice to your child and replace this connection. In fact, using a robot or computer to promot your child could easily lead to over-prompting, and that is definitely something you need to avoid:
Overprompting happens when we ask a child to sit on the potty before their body is giving them a signal. If the bladder hasn’t filled enough, there’s no strong urge to respond to. Your child is only responding to your demand, not what their body is telling them. Read more about overprompting in my recent blog, or watch my video below.
AI Potty Training Plans
I know your time is limited. And I’m not here to generalise about AI, but asking Google or an LLM like ChatGPT “how to potty train” will give you unreliable results, some of which is even harmful advice.
The internet was designed to be a wonderful tool that would provide people with access to information that would advance scientific knowledge around the globe. The search engines that we now use to find advice are flooded with misinformation, misinterpretations of data, bias towards corporations who sponsor studies or editorials and are filtered by algorithms and AI based on our existing beliefs and behaviours leading to confirmation bias rather than balanced research. Why risk it?
Most LLMs like ChatGPT are now also rolling out ads which means that not only are people already getting bad faith guidance from AI, just like they got bad faith guidance from the internet – but the same reason why quality evidence based reliable guidance is less accessible is because the ads-driven content from the nappy manufacturers is going to be prioritised.
AI is designed to give you an answer that it thinks you will like (even when it doesn’t know what the right answer is) and to sound very trusting when it does so. Not enough people know that AI often “hallucinates” and makes up information, even citing research that does not exist. I have googled my own content before when searching for a link to something in a hurry and been shocked at how misleading the AI summary of my guidance that pops up is. Even if you asked ChatGPT “how to potty train like Nurse Rebecca Mottram” it’s rarely an accurate reflection of my guidance. As a time poor parent, are you going to check sources and verify the guidance that it gives you? Probably not.
So, that’s where I come in.
I’m a children’s research nurse and NIHR Doctoral Fellow with over a decade of experience in evidence-based practice and clinical research. All the advice I share on potty learning is rooted in high-quality, peer-reviewed research. I’ve also worked hard to make it accessible for even the most time-poor parent. For example the episodes of my free Go Potty podcast are each around 5 minutes long!
Nurse Rebecca Mottram is an advocate for Baby Pottying and a potty training expert. She is the author of two books; The Baby Pottying Guide and Positively Potty, the host of the Go Potty Podcast and founder of the Little Bunny Bear shop. If you are trying to resolve a potty problem, you can explore Rebecca’s free resources, join her Facebook group or request a private consultation.