The Full Guide to Toilet Training Clean-Ups

by JAM readers

August 19, 2026

For night time training make up their bed: mattress protector, bottom sheet, mattress protector, bottom sheet. This way when you get woken up in the middle of the night all you have to do is strip the 2 wet layers off and you can go back to bed.
Personally, I like using mattress protector pads (similar to these) on top of the sheets which often prevent needing to change sheets at all.

Put wet clothing in this bag. We keep it on a doorknob right outside the bathroom (it keeps smells inside).
Use baking soda in the laundry to prevent lingering smells.

For little puddles I mop up with paper towel then wipe hard surfaces with a cleaning wipe.
Use a sponge. (Don't use the same color you use for your dishes, and don't keep it in the kitchen.) It absorbs liquid well and doesn't make excessive waste like paper towels or excessive laundry like regular towels. Once you get all the liquid off the floor you can sanitize it if you want and then dry it, if it's still wet, with just one paper towel or regular towel.
Use Clorox wipes! Clean and sanitize in one.

For carpets I take a little cleaning towel (I have a stack of old face cloths), press all the moisture out with all my weight, then pour seltzer on the ex-puddle. Don't ask me why or how. It removes the smell!
First get as much liquid out as you can with a paper towel or regular towel, then spray urine destroyer (like this one), wait a few minutes if you want, and then blot/rub again with a towel. (I'm not totally convinced this removes the actual bodily fluid from the carpet, but it probably gets most of it. It also adds its own smell, which is pretty strong, so if it doesn't get the other smell out it's unlikely anyone will be able to tell.)

For liquid on your child, I recommend just putting the kid in the bathtub and rinsing him without filling the tub so the liquid will drain out. Then you can fill the tub afterwards if you also want to give him a proper bath.
For solids there are two main options: water on something, and water in something. Water on something: wet toilet paper or wet wipes. Water in something can be done while sitting on the toilet or in the bathtub, but you have to know your drain system or have a good filter on the drain so the solids don't go down the bathtub drain if they shouldn't. Peri bottles like the ones the hospital gives out work great for this, but you'll need to refill them a few times.
For in the bathtub, I like to use the shower hose on one of the more powerful settings because that doesn't need to be refilled every few seconds. And then I put the kid on the toilet sitting on the potty seat and use the peri bottle for the spots the shower can't reach.
When you're done with that you might want to wash your kid properly with soap, especially if he still smells.