POTTY TRAINING System motivates without mess

The product does away with disposable training pants.
SALT LAKE TRIBUNE
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah -- For 25 million toddlers nationwide, the transition from diapers to underwear can be a formidable task.
Forgetfulness and innocence frequently lead to accidents, resulting in hampers full of wet pants and just as many frustrated parents.
Westminster College adjunct professor Avid Amiri says his product -- PODS (Potty On Discrete Strips) -- is helping parents soak up their frustrations and find at least one solution to the inevitable struggle.
Constituting 80 percent of sales on his company's Web site -- http://www.pottytrainingsolutions.com -- the flushable strips are designed to be inserted into the child's undergarment instead of using disposable training pants.
"If you read studies about Pull-Ups and the standard diaper, the only difference is that [Pull-Ups don't] have adhesive on the side," Amiri said. "Kids have no motivation to use the potty because it is just too easy to go."
Water crystal technology
The trick to the PODS, which retail at $9.99 for a package of 20, lies in a water crystal technology able to absorb one and a half cups of liquid and neutralize acidity in urine. As the PODS fill with liquid, a moderate temperature change -- it gets colder -- lets children know they need to get cleaned up.
"With PODS, the children respond to being wet more than if it is absorbed immediately, but it doesn't make a huge mess," said Joni Mitchell, the site's message board administrator, who wishes she had known about PODS when her children were toilet training.
Amiri said he believes the success of the product has something to do with parents now being able to find it.
After purchasing Potty Training Solutions, Amiri and partner Dan Urmann used a few Web site optimization techniques to gain a top ranking on Internet search engines Google and Yahoo under the key words "potty training."
Amiri says they have built strong links with other sites, selected better keywords and added "sticky items," such as message boards and professional advice, to attract loyal customers.
Amiri, however, does not want to depend solely on the Internet. "If you do lose rankings [on the search engines], your business is essentially wiped away," he said.
Plans are also in place to carry PODS along with other potty training products in malls.
"You can literally equip yourself with an arsenal of items, so you can go into the battleground of potty training with a stubborn, [recalcitrant] youngster and win," Amiri said.