I went straight to the toilet (toilet insert)with my 2.5 year old, but used a potty with my second child at 4 months. I found it was easier to use the potty for a bub, but the toilet was the only consideration for my first. I did go through a few potties before I found one that worked for me - high back and splash back for boys at the front. There was a transition period though as well to move to using the toilet, so you need to consider that factor. It took about a month for Ky to get comfortable with using the toilet at 14-15 months, as he was use to the potty. Using the potty also made it harder when you were out and about in shopping centres, etc, as I had to bring a potty with me, because he didn't want to use the toilet. The foldable travel toilet seat made a huge difference to success though in this area to start using a public toilet.