18 Months Refuces Sitting on the Potty

Updated on December 06, 2010
S.F. asks from New York, NY
24 answers

She only sits on my lap and on her feeding chair, I tried every type of potties, shaped like chair, cars etc, and to distract her when she is sitting, but no use, she is alwaya standing up. What can I do moms?

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So What Happened?

Thanks mums, seems like she is too young, going to try again when she is 2 years old

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F.S.

answers from Indianapolis on

Its true they go when their ready. My daughter didn't go until she was almost 4! I tried brives, prizes, and everything still nothing. I wouldnt worry at all if I were you.

6 moms found this helpful

M.L.

answers from Houston on

Wait 6 months to a year when she is ready. Much easier to wait until she shows signs of readiness, then to struggle for months on end.

5 moms found this helpful
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C.O.

answers from New York on

Some 18 month olds can potty train. They enjoy it, they are interested in it. Others will not do it and I kinda think forcing them will only back fire. If she is USING the potty willingly at 18 months-then embrace her standing up. But if the whole process is stalled because of her lack of desire to sit on the potty, table it and come back to it in another 6 months (or more).

My son wasn't interested in the potty until just before he was two and a half. Then he jumped in, started, and within 8 weeks he was mostly functional (ie-out of diapers and able to go out of the house without major accidents). We still have accidents and he is three and a quarter now. But the accidents have more to do with him playing and not wanting to stop to go to the bathroom. Accept the fact that potty training is a complex issue, not something that begins and ends with a "weekend process"

3 moms found this helpful

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L.A.

answers from Austin on

She is still too young. When she is ready she will want to sit on the potty. Our daughter was not interested until right after she was 3 years old..

Give her and yourself a break try again when she is at least 2 years old.

7 moms found this helpful
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M.T.

answers from New York on

Why does a one year old need to sit on the potty? Is she showing signs of toileting readiness? Most one year old babies are not ready for toilet training. Unless she is ready to use the potty consistently, throughout the day every day, I say don't bother. I can't see the benefit of a child who occasionally uses the potty and uses their diaper the rest of the time. I waited til my kids were 3 yrs 1 month (training took 4 days) and 2 yrs 10 months (took about 3 weeks). Your baby is clearly not ready. She probably has no idea when she has to go to the bathroom or what you expect her to do on the potty. Don't force the issue. Put the potty away, reconsider the issue in 6 months or a year. I preferred the extra time in diapers to a long and messy training process

4 moms found this helpful

I.M.

answers from New York on

Give her time, she is not ready yet.

4 moms found this helpful
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C.D.

answers from New York on

she is to young not ready yet wait a few months

4 moms found this helpful
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L.O.

answers from Detroit on

she is toooooo young.. do not even think of potty training until she is 2 or 2 1/2.

my kids were potty trained in 3 days.. but they were 2 years 2 monts...(girl) and 2 years 10 months (boy)

18 months is tooo young.

3 moms found this helpful

M.3.

answers from St. Louis on

Shes not ready, dont make her afraid of it. Introduce it again when shes 2.

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M.P.

answers from Portland on

She's not ready for potty training. Her body is not mature enough and she's emotionally not interested. Wait until she's older.

3 moms found this helpful

C.B.

answers from Kansas City on

you can let it go. the more of a battle you make it the more she will associate the potty with bad feelings and want nothing to do with it. in my opinion, 18 months is way too early to be stressing about this. make it easier on yourself and her. go by her timeline, not yours. at 15 and 18 months this is just about the parent's convenience, or, hate to say it, bragging rights. nothing to do with raising a happy healthy child.

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B.B.

answers from Dallas on

18 months old, is not too young for some. My 18 month old son is very excited about sitting on the potty. He does well. So, yes it's possible for an18 month old. I just don't think your daughter sounds very ready. Revisit the potty in 4-6 months and she might be ready.

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J.R.

answers from Glens Falls on

She's too young! She doesn't understand what you want and doesn't have the muscle control for it yet anyway. You need to put that potty away or you could just be making it harder on yourself for when it is really time to start this!

3 moms found this helpful

M.M.

answers from Chicago on

She's not ready yet, stop stressing about it.

My son is 2.5 and he won't have anything to do with the potty yet. They'll do it when they're ready.

3 moms found this helpful
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I.*.

answers from Columbus on

She's too young to potty train. It's ok to keep a potty seat around for her to get used to it but she'll probably be around 2-2.5 yrs before she's actually ready. You're only going to make it h*** o* you and her if you try to force her.

3 moms found this helpful
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M.M.

answers from Washington DC on

She's not ready. Wait a while, maybe a year, when she is 2 1/2 she should be more ready.

3 moms found this helpful
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J.L.

answers from Pittsburgh on

I didn't read any of the other responses, but I just wanted to tell you that my daughter is 2 1/2 (33 months) and STILL will not go on the potty. She is ready in every way except she doesn't want to let go of the diaper. She keeps telling me she is a baby (but she's a big girl every other time!!!). Most of my friends kids were at least 3 before they were successfully potty trained. You can't force this issue, she has to decide for herself when she is ready and it is not right now. Relax about it and it will come one day.

Updated

I didn't read any of the other responses, but I just wanted to tell you that my daughter is 2 1/2 (33 months) and STILL will not go on the potty. She is ready in every way except she doesn't want to let go of the diaper. She keeps telling me she is a baby (but she's a big girl every other time!!!). Most of my friends kids were at least 3 before they were successfully potty trained. You can't force this issue, she has to decide for herself when she is ready and it is not right now. Relax about it and it will come one day.

3 moms found this helpful
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V.B.

answers from Houston on

Please don't go down this road until your daughter is ready. She is too young and I would not force it. Wait until she is a little older and understands what she's supposed to do. My oldest (daughter) didn't even start potty training until she was almost 2.5 and she was fully verbal (speaking in complete sentences) at 17 months old. Just because she could talk at that age didn't mean she was ready for the potty. My son is just now 2.5 and is only starting to get interested enough to sit on it. He still hasn't actually gone at all.

There really is no rush and if you push her, she will lose interest and you'll have worse problems later on. Trust me on this one, just let it go. Leave the potty there and let her sit there when she wants to. Otherwise, put it away for a few months and then try again when she's a little older. Just my 2 cents!

3 moms found this helpful
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S.D.

answers from Washington DC on

Let her be. She might not be ready for potty training. If you push it now, you will only delay it. I do not want to sound like I know it all but, she seems a bit young, but you know her best.

2 moms found this helpful
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K.G.

answers from Albany on

You'll know when she is ready. Let go for a while. Pressuring her and getting yourself stressed will only make things harder. I worked on it with my daughter between two and three years old. We didn't get too far because she just couldn't hold it and wasn't mature enough. After she turned three she was very interested and self motivated and was totally potty trained in a month and then quit her pacifier herself. They are smart little people and will meet their milestones when the time is right. Good luck!

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E.C.

answers from New York on

She's only 18 months - wait until she is 2 and then if you want to seriously potty train, try this.

Potty Training in One Day

My friend taught me this and it worked, even with my child with special needs. Granted it took two days instead of one (and longer follow up).

The big idea is that you potty train your child in one day. You can start with a 2 year old. It’s best to do it before they get in to the ‘no’s, when they still want to please you. But it still works perfectly when they are older. It is not an issue of waiting until ‘they are ready’. I am not a naturally cheerful person, but I put on a big act all day. Amazing how it works. One cannot get angry or show frustration (trust me I know – I’ve done it with three kids). Cheerful! Happy! Enthusiastic!

You and your child spend the entire day from after breakfast until dinner in the bathroom. You fill them with as much liquid as possible as early as possible for as long as possible so they have to pee a lot and get to practice feeling the sensation of needing to pee a lot and of running to the potty a lot. If they take an afternoon nap, stop the liquid 2 hours before nap time (I diaper for the nap time, but my friend did not).

The child wears a tshirt and panties (thick training ones or thin normal ones) that she can pull down on her own easily.

You two play games, sing songs, have a great time together.

Then you say, “Are your panties dry?”
She feels her panties. “Yes!”
“Good job. You kept your panties dry! You get a skittle! Let’s run to the potty! Isn’t this fun?” You sit on the potty to show how much fun it is to do. She sits on the potty. Have a big drink of chocolate milk

The point is not to go pee on the potty or to wait until she goes on the potty. The point is to keep the panties dry (the derivative is that she pees in the potty).

Every few minutes you stop your song/game/puzzle and say, “Are your panties dry?”
She feels her panties. “Yes!”
“Good job. You kept your panties dry! You get a skittle! Let’s run to the potty! Isn’t this fun?” You sit on the potty to show how much fun it is to do. She sits on the potty. ! Have a big drink of chocolate milk!

Repeat every five/ten minutes. Eventually she will have drunk so much that she will have to go. It doesn’t matter if she has an accident. Be cheerful. “That’s okay. Let’s clean it up! (Have her help you.) Sit on the potty. Yeah! Let’s get on dry panties.’ In a few minutes, ask her, “Are your panties dry?”
She feels her panties. “Yes!”
“Good job. You kept your panties dry! You get a skittle! Let’s run to the potty! Isn’t this fun?” You sit on the potty to show how much fun it is to do. She sits on the potty. Have a big drink of chocolate milk.

In the afternoon, practice running from another room to the potty, repeat everything.

They will get a lot of practice feeling dry (treats), sitting on the potty (balance, coordination, success being independent). And eventually even peeing on the potty. The focus is on keeping their panties dry!

Before the Big Day
Let them be in a diaper. Don’t worry about potty training and previous struggles with it. For a week ahead of time, talk about what fun mommy and child are going to have, a whole day together – no sister, no daddy, no etc. We are going to have fun! You get to keep your panties dry! We will play! We will run to the potty! We will go peepee on the potty! So exciting.

The Big Day
Do not: answer the phone, check the computer, make dinner, call about the roofer coming.

Do: Put on an apron with good pockets filled with little favorite treats (skittles, m and ms, goldfish – whatever she doesn’t usually get). Fill sippy cups (stoppers out so easy to drink more fast) with whatever she will down huge amounts of (I never gave my kids full strength juiee or chocolate milk, but they got as much as they wanted that day). Stock the bathroom with toys, books (not a movie player), music, little puzzles. (Don’t have them all out to see and be overwhelmed with – have them in the bathroom closet or under the changing table – bring out a few things at a time to play with.

She will get lots of experience and joy out of keeping her panties dry and lots of experience running to the potty and experience in peeing in the potty. You are well on your way to having her out of diapers.

For the night time, I kept her in diapers. The reward for keeping her diaper dry for three nights in a row was getting to wear her panties to bed. Stop liquids of any kind 2 hours before bed. If she regularly has a wet diaper at night, no big deal. Tons of kids have small bladders. Just let it be. Make it a big deal to get to wear panties, but not cajoling/punishing/teasing/stressing about it. One of my girls wore diapers to bed for quite a while after being fully potty trained during the day.

You’ll do a great job!

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D.K.

answers from Pittsburgh on

She may or may not be ready. More than 1/2 the world's children are trained by 12 months of age. This 'wait till they're ready' idea is a specifically American thing. Try the real toilet - at 18 months she probably wants to do everything you do. Let her come in the bathroom when you go. (yup, no more privacy) There are seats that fit over the regular seat so she won't fall in (Baby Bjorn makes one but there are other brands) Plus NO POTTY CLEANING. yuck.
Good luck,
D

1 mom found this helpful
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D.S.

answers from Tulsa on

tatoos tatoos this is how i got my son to do it. I let him sit on it clothed and gave him a tatoo did this for about a week and then went to unclothed. anytime he sits go or not he gets a tatoo. he gets real excited and will hand me the tatoos before sitting. he is hard of hearing and speech delayed this is his way of telling me he wants one.

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J.V.

answers from Chicago on

Try to make it less about the potty and more about "special fun time" with mom. So start by sitting in the bathroom with books. if she doesn't' want to sit on the potty, fine, let her sit on you. Gradually she will get more use to the potty and will be willing to sit on it for longer and longer periods of time.

I got my daughter use to her potty seat at 15 months, so that by 18 she was wanted to sit on it.

Potty seats aren't comfortable, give her time to adjust to it.

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