Customer Reviews

Safety 1st Potty 'n Step Stool

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(31)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(46)
1 star:		(60)

 

 

First, as of the date for this review: No potty chairs on Amazon have received a 5 star rating and all seem to be lacking in one feature or another that a particular family needs. Some are too small, too large, too plain, too colorful...If you read the reviews, the complaints are endless! Manufacturers have yet to design a seat that pleases us all, I think, because our children come in all shapes and sizes, some are gentler and others are rougher on toys and kid gear. Even our bathrooms are all different sizes (not to mention the flooring-- some have to have stoppers on the bottom of the potty chair, while for others, it doesn't matter). My point is: Take your child to the store and allow your child to test the fit of the potty chair. Compare the features and designs of the chairs carefully before buying and you will be much more satisifed with the purchase.

I read all the reviews here (boy, I had no idea a potty chair could be such a serious purchase!) before purchasing this seat...so I knew that others have had bad experiences with this chair and knew what I was getting into. However, my son chose this seat at the store and refused to even consider any others....Imagine me in the aisle trying to convince a toddler to please get off the potty chair so we could put it in the cart. He was adamant that this would be his so I decided we would just "make do." After bringing it home and assembling it 3-5 minutes, I was pleasantly suprised. It is compact and fits perfectly in our tiny downstairs bathroom. He likes that it is multi-colored, but resembles an adult toilet since it has a lid(The Totco Toliet Trainer & Training Rewards Soft Seat Potty & Stepstool have received decent reviews and resemble an adult seat, too). My son is 27 lbs./32" and hangs off the seat a bit-not a good thing when you have boys sitting down to go potty (I know some reviewers have complained that it is too small. Again, you should let your child sit on the seat before buying it). My only real complaint is that the splashguard is hard plastic and constantly falls off, but I noticed this at the store and knew we would have to rig something up. If you have a boy, you will definitely want a splashguard that stays in place. Over all, this seat is more suited for girls than boys, but we will be keeping it in the 2nd bathroom. Good luck on your search.

I was disappointed after I bought this potty to see that my daughter was having a hard time staying on it. First, the product was not stable; it did not adhere correctly to the floor, and would move left or right every time she was trying to get on it. Secondly, I had to remove the lid, which kept on closing onto her back. Finally, Safety 1st should have installed a shaped ring that was more adapted to the baby's bottom, so she knows where to stay, and get used to the sitting. My daughter is now 2, and I am finding myself shopping for another potty! ...

We own two of these (one for the car and one for the house) and we love them. The first potty we tried -- another brand -- was incredibly unstable. This potty is very stable and easy for the child to use. We have had no trouble in all the months we've used it with tipping or with the latches -- I think people who are complaining aren't putting it together right (though it's simple to do). It's also very easy to take the pot out. The best part is that when your child is ready to use the toilet, you just put the top of the potty on the toilet (the handles make the child feel secure) and use the bottom of the base as a step stool. The step stool is very wide, allowing the child ample room to step up and actually turn around to position herself over the toilet. All in all, this is a simple, inexpensive, well made product that follows your child every step of the way through potty training. Good baby products like this are hard to find -- I highly recommend this.

This potty is no good! My 20 month old boy has had more trouble with this potty! The pee guard is useless, the hole is too small, if he lifts up the potty by the handles to carry it the top comes off of the base, the lid falls and hits him on the back as he is trying to sit down, etc. Do not waste your money with this potty! I recommend the Graco soft seat potty and step stool.

We purchased this potty because it had all the bells and whistles others have noted. However, it is nearly useless for the main reason I got it; to use as a potty trainer. The seat whole is round and simply too small. We have to be very careful to position by daughter on the whole depending on what we are expecting her to do. If she is too far forward, urine spills over the seat and onto her clothes and the floor. It is very disappointing to a toddler to have made it to the potty and done everything right, but have to change into dry clothes anyway. My friend bought a Graco Soft Seat Potty and Step Stool, and it is so much better. This Safety 1st model is worthless.

I give it two stars for the following reasons

#1 star is for the handles.... since the back cannot be used for gripping to steady a standing boy who is shooting with short legs, at least it has handles on the side

#2 star is for the use as a step stool, which is fine.

Other than that, this seat is horrible, and my mom bought it used for us, swearing that her friend's grandkids loved it, so it cost me nothing and I threw it in the trash bin.

If the title caught your attention, I must explain that... you see, the deflector they put there is clearly a dangerous thing. It is HARD plastic... you have to push to snap it in. if a boy wants to try to lean to help keep his winky down, he will hurt his stomach on this device, not to mention the area around his privates.

also, if they try to lean back and push the deflector down, it comes off so easily that they are slamming it into their penis, hurting themselves.

the only way my son could sit on this seat was to tuck his penis between his legs like a scared dog with his tail.

Even then, he could not get both his anus and his penus to aim for the hole at the same time, as the hole is not very big. He was not a giant child, being only 18mo at the time and wearing 2T clothes... he is now 5yrs old, 4' tall and weighs 45lbs... a string bean of a child.

But back to the deflector... so after he slams it into himself, it falls off, into the potty... you have to reach in... careful you don't injure him yourself, fish it out, and try to fasten the thing on... all with a toddler who won't get off his beloved new potty.

In your quest to get the thing back on, you end up punching your son in the privates... and then he succeeds in pinching himself in it... after peeing all over.

So after his final first go... and a pinch that has yielded a scratch that is bleeding on his genitals, you try to empty it.

That is when you find out that it takes the jaws of life to take the removeable bowl out... and that it is impossible to clean the urine that didn't get in the bowl.

while this might work for girls with VERY small privates, there is no way I could subject my son to this again.

By the way, this potty is one thing I blame for him not going on a potty again (literally running from them and refusing to even be changed at times) until he was over 4yrs old.... it was clearly traumatic.

DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT

We purchased this potty as well as another model, using this one in the 1st floor powder room. I liked the idea of step stool plus potty, and now am sorry for the purchase.

My daughter is tiny for her age [barely makes the 3% level for 3.5 year olds] so the size isn't a problem. The problems we have had is that the angle of the hole in the potty [or lack thereof] causes the stream to aim out of the bowl, down the front of the potty and all over her clothes and the floor! Not the best design! As for cleaning, yes the 'pot' does come out easily, but with a beginner-potty user, I find that it isn't a sealed pot, and leakage occurs into all sorts of crevices that probably weren't expected. This seems to be a case where design doesn't meet real-life use! We much prefer the other potty we bought.

This potty worked well for our girl, but does have a couple drawbacks. We initially kept this potty in the bathroom and my daughter covered it with reward stickers. Once she was trained and using our toilet (she holds herself up on the regular bowl), we moved it to our van for convenience. It is easy to use and clean. We actually use gallon zip lock bags to line the bowl when travelling so we can avoid spills while getting back home to flush the contents. Although the potty has a slide out step and the whole thing flips to become a step stool when the seat is used as a toilet topper, we have never used this feature.
There are 2 drawbacks that have become rather annoying. First, as another parent mentioned, the top is connected to the bottom by two plastic tabs in the back. After some use, these do not hold well and the top can easily come off. This happens frequently in the van when we are moving it around or lifting the lid to empty it. The second negative is that if the bottom and top are not carefully matched in the front when closing it, pinched fingers or legs can result when the child sits.
Overall, I would recommend this potty for a girl. We have an 18 month old son and I am now shopping for a potty for him. Based on the comments on this site about boys and this potty, I will probably buy a different model for him.

I was surprised at the low rating this potty has received?! Do people expect the potty to train the child for them? My son is 16 1/2 months and started using the potty about 2 weeks ago. We're not officially pushing it, but he asks to go on the potty and we put him on it.

He liked to play with the splash guard at first, but I told him "no" and he no longer bothers with it. The seat is easy to lift to pull out the little pitcher to clean. Some seats don't have the protected handle on the bowl, so you have to grab the bowl right where the kid just sat (and sprayed!). This one has the handle protected under the seat itself.

The stool is the sturdiest thing I've seen. A daycare worker recommended this one because of the two-step stool being easier for little ones to climb when transitioning to the big potty.

My only reason for rating 4 stars instead of 5 is that some mystery pee sprays onto the inside of the potty below where the pitcher is. I can't see how it gets there, but I have to swish it with a clorox wipe every day.

At first I thought this was a great product. Until after a few months of opening and closing (to dump contents) one of the hinges broke. No big deal unless you are moving it, then you have to make sure it's closed all the way and is snapped in the front. But when the guard broke I was very upset. Having a son, this is a crucial part of the potty. I tried emailing Saftey 1st many times. They wanted product numbers, well with the box disgarded months ago and no numbers anywhere on the product I was lost. I would not recommend this product for little boys. After 2 weeks of messy potty breaks still waiting to get a replacement guard.