A toilet training initiative introduced by nursery group Busy Bees has reduced the provider’s nappy waste by around 26%.

The childcare group introduced the toilet training initiative in more than 400 nurseries across the UK and Ireland last year to help parents and children achieve successful toilet training earlier.

The scheme aims to give practitioners and parents the skills, resources and confidence to recognise when a child is ready, and help them successfully make the change first time. This includes providing new and engaging toilet training activities, such as fun games, vocabulary-focused play, songs and role-play suggestions, while improving communication with parents on the topic.

Following the launch of the initiative, the childcare provider has reduced the number of nappies it uses by nearly 26%. Some 79% of Busy Bees’ parents who have successfully nappy trained their child since the scheme launched said they received valuable support from their child’s nursery or key worker, while 45% said their child came out of nappies earlier as a result of the scheme.

Parents said the most helpful elements of the scheme were conversations with nursery practitioners and advice on ways to spot readiness and talk to their children about toilet training. The majority (88%) of parents said their nursery and keyworker should play an important role in helping to toilet train their child.

The programme was developed after Busy Bees’ practitioners found that children were being toilet trained later since the pandemic. Deena Billings, European quality director and safeguarding lead at Busy Bees, said: “Six months on, and we’re thrilled with the results across our centres, with almost half of parents saying they believe their child had come out of nappies earlier because of our support. Not only does this reduce the number of nappies our centres use by a quarter, but also those used by parents at home – benefiting their pockets and the planet.”

Kelly Maskell, centre director at Busy Bees East Malling, said: “The initiative has given colleagues the confidence to bring up the subject of toilet training with parents whose children are showing signs of readiness. As well as using the learning resources to plan activities in our toddler room, we were also encouraged to create a display in our reception area which I know prompted a lot of conversations with parents.”

She added: “From there, we were able to help children develop the communication skills to support toilet training and share specific advice about readiness with our parents. Myself and the team were able to shed some light on some of the non-verbal cues that can sometimes cause confusion, including when toddlers start to take their nappies off.”