How Do You Even Start Potty Training?

By all means, you can start now if you want. But don't expect much. My daughter was qutie similar, at a year and a half. However, she did not get toilet trained, really, until just before she had to do so to get into preschool, at age 3. For months, I know she knew what to do, but she just wasn't able to control it. Even now, she has frequent accidents. . . mostly notably, yesterday in the front closet!!
So, introduce the concept, but gently and with low expectations. . . !good luck!!

Hello! 15 months is generally young but she seems interested, try it! It may take a few tries, however. My son was kind of interested in the potty at around 18 months but didn't "get it" until almost 4. (Boys!) Rent the potty movie and maybe pick out a potty with her. Good luck!!
M.

If she's announcing it, she's definitely ready. She's not too young at all. About 2 months ago my husband and I went to a potty training workshop because we want our soon-to-be 2 year old girl to be potty trained before the new baby is born. We actually bought the kit from the class. It's by Baby Signs so your daughter can learn some signs too. We also learned in the class that before the introduction of disposable diapers, almost all children were potty trained before 18 months!
What I suggest is, putting her on the potty, just to sit there and see how she reacts. Make it fun to sit on the potty. You might be able to catch her when she's ready to go since she announces it anyway. If she does go while she on there, make sure you make a big deal about it (clapping and telling her she did a god job) so she knows that this is really exciting. Our daughter really enjoys having stickers on a chart on the wall every time she goes. Also, put her in training pants. Not disposable training pants (they are useless except that you can pull them down and back up easy) but the cotton kind. She will know immediately if she has an accident because she will feel it. Sure, they don't hold a lot, but I'd rather clean up a few pee spots on the floor than change diapers for an extra couple years!!
I know it might seem crazy to some parents who have successfully potty trained their children without tools, but if you can get one of the potty training kits from baby signs, it will really point you in the right direction. It comes with a book for parents, a book for children, a dvd, a train whistle (the theme of the kit is "get on board the potty train), and stickers.
Our daughter is just shy of 2 now and within the last couple weeks has really made huge steps in potty training. Now we can trust her to tell us when she needs to go and the only time she wears a diaper is to bed and if we go to the store.
Good luck!

Hi J.,

My son is 20 months and using the potty (still in diapers, sure, but uses the potty a few times a day still). Basically, we just asked him if he wanted to sit on the potty one day (he only sits on the big potty- never his potty seat. i think he wants to be like us) and he said yes. We asked because he was becoming, like your little one, more and more aware of when he was going, and more interested in other people using the potty too.

We bought him two potty training books- one with Bert and Ernie and another one too. We read them ALL the time. We also keep one in the bathroom and he "reads" it while on the potty.

Go for it... just ask her and sit her up there and see what she does!

My daughter was the opposite. She had NO desire to potty train and at 3 years old I was starting to wonder if she would ever be ready. I found this wonderful potty training program by Baby Signs. It's called the Potty Train. It comes with an instructional book for you, a board book for her, DVD, whistle (to help them focus while they are sitting waiting for something to happen, and stickers to reward them when they go. I also bought the Baby Bjorn toilet seat. This seat fits in your toilet and just has a smaller area so she won't fall in. My husband was totally grossed out by having a portable potty in the house. My daughter LOVES the seat and can put it on and take it off by herself. The two things combined and my daughter was using the potty completely less than 2 months later. A step stool in the bathroom might help her get on and off the toilet since she is young and probably won't be able to easily get on the toilet by herself. If you want to read about the Potty Train program you can go on the site pottytrainwithbabysigns.com up. Baby Signs feel that waiting for your child to be 3 makes it harder for them to train and that starting early is not a problem if you child is ready. Sounds to me like she is. One other thing that we used for my daughter was presents. I went to the dollar store and found a bunch of fun, inexpensive Disney toys. I put them in plastic baggies and hung them on the wall above the toilet. If she went to the bathroom she got to pick a toy. We used this method getting her to poop on the potty. I agree with the other responses to use training underwear and skip the pull ups, they are too much like diapers. We never used them with my daughter after watching my sister use them and have them not work on her daughter. Hope these ideas helped and good luck.

Hi J.!

I think your little girl is ready by what you have shared. There is not a defined age as when to start potty training, but most babies will let you know when they are ready. I found this article, maybe it helps to clear your questions http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/potty-training/CC00060 I definitely would try to take her to go "potty" as soon as she says the words and see what happens.
Good Luck to you and her!
God Bless You!

As a licensed child care provider and mom of 3 I can tell you potty training is such an exciting time for little ones!! I'm sure you are going to get a million different responses regarding age and readiness, but I'll be the first to throw in my 2 cents ;) I began all of my own children young! At around 12 months I introduced the potty chair into the bathroom. I didn't expect them to actually do anything in it, but wanted them to become comfortable with its presence. I would have them sit on it and we would read stories, bring in small (easily washable) toys to entertain them,etc. By the time they were 15-20 months and a little more ready to actually begin training it was much more second nature. BTW my own kids were fully trained by 18 months (dd), 25 months (ds), and 21 months (dd), so no I don't think your daughter is too young!

I find that bringing a newly pottying child to the toilet every 35-60 minutes (set your microwave timer!)at least for the first week helps to create a sense of consistancy and routine. This way you are more apt to catch them before they have already gone. I personally do not like pull-ups and prefer good ole fashion training undies for children who are potty training. They allow the child to feel when they are wet/soiled vs. a pull up wich pulls the moisture away.

One of the biggest keys is tons of praise and patience. Don't be embarassed to jump up and down and do a celebratory "pee-pee in the potty" dance. Reward/sticker charts can also be a good motivator. (M&M's were used with my own kiddos- 3 if you pee, a small scoop if you poop- we used a small medicine cup) You want them to feel the sense of pride and excitement that such a milestone should bring. Some children (I have potty trained more than my fair share!) are going to just "get it" while others will need time and perhaps need to wait a bit longer. I don't believe in forcing a child to potty train, but I also believe a little nudge is not such a bad thing.

Hope this is at least a start in the right direction. Please feel free to email me at ____@____.com if I can be of any further help!

Oh dear, i have about two minutes to write this in LOL
I had, ( out of seven kids) one little girl who completely toilet trained herself by the time she was eighteen months old. She did not like feeling nasty.
My mom told me I potty trained myself by the time I was sixteen months old
Get her some of these new pullups, AND let her pick out some "big girl panties" Tell her she needs to tell you when she needs to wee or do her nannies. ( poo)
Do not make any fuss whatsoever when she has accidents. Tell her she is doing well and that the rest of the day or tomorrow may well be more successful.
When she masters potty with pullups then move to the cloth panties.
You do have a potty? If not , get one. even one of those seats that fit onto regular sized toilet.
OH MY WORD, YOU ARE FORTUNATE, DO NOT LET IT GET BY !!!!!
Best wishes and God bless
grandmother Lowell

she's ready.. get a potty seat and some books and take her every hour. reward her successes with something - stickers are great, but sometimes they need more.. we tried just a great big cheer and a pee/poop dance (they thought it was weird and they wanted to see it every time!). B&N has a great book in the kid's section that is all potty songs set to nursery rhymes.. very cute and gets them to sit longer.. let her pick out big girl undies too.. if she's ready, it will happen quickly! goodluck

Get her a potty and some training undies. Pullups are terrible to use they can't feel they are wet even those ones taht claim they do don't. If your neighbor and mom are ready to help and continue the same routine you use at home then go for it. It's very important to have your child's caretaker on board. I had the problem with my oldes when he was in a small family daycare because he would go potty at home but the lady doing daycare wouldn't follow through on her end and he was there 4.5 days a week so it took a long time with him. My little guy will by 20 months in a week and he tells you when he needs to go Before he started talking we had him signing potty people claim kids under 3 are too young but they know a lot more than we give them credit for. Go purchase some books they have wonderful ones out there for children. Good luck.

Hello J.,

Consider yourself lucky. Every child develops their motor skills, verbal, etc. at different stages. I'd say take advantage of this chance and listen to your child cues if she wants to learn more about the potty. We started going to the library and picking out kids videos and books on the subject. Both my kids loved to watch and read them, but didn't quiet want to sit on the potty until about 6 months later. I felt it was quiet a long process but we didn't really push them. However, I learned that when they are mentally ready for it, they make the transition almost on their own. Good luck with it.

Hi - I am kind of in the same boat, my son is 16 mths and doing the same thing. We bought him a potty which he loves and will sit on briefly...but I worried that it is too early. If you get any good tips will you please pass along? Thanks so much!!

both my girls did this around 15 and 18 months. i got pull ups and panties and tried it out, but it soon passed, and they stuck with diapers till 2 1/2-ish. im potty training #2...ugh so much fun! good luck

well i told my daughter she was making me a picture( a butterfly)i sat her on the potty while i was on the toilet and we played a game who could make a picture first i know it sounds stupid, but it worked.

If your child is showing signs that she is ready to potty train, by all means, let her. My daughter was trained at 20 months. I noticed that she was ready when she would wake up dry in the morning and from naps. So first thing in the morning I would put her on the potty, then before and after naps and before she went to bed. I did that for a couple of weeks until she got used to sitting on the potty. Then one day I just put big girl underwear on her. She had one accident but didn't like the feeling of being wet, so I told her she had to go on the potty and she wouldn't be wet. So she did and that was the end of that. Training her for "number 2" was even easier. My daughter would hide when she had to poop, so whenever she would go to hide, I would pick her up and put her on the potty instead. I now have a 16 month old little boy and I don't think he is going to be quite as easy to train!!!

Naked, naked, naked...LOL, i potty traned both my kids by letting them basically walk about the house naked from the bottom down, winter can be difficult i suppose, but when they have no diaper on, I find they feel free to pop a squat when ever they may feel the urge, and another important thing that worked for me is putting a potty in the living room, or playroom..where ever you are at the time, i found it more difficult to lead them all the way to the bathroom when they had to go. GOOD LUCK!! and don't worry if they get it and then regress, it happens often, they will still potty train when they are fully ready :0)

Well, you could put a potty chair in the bathroom (after our first child, a girl, we bought multiple potty chairs, one for each bathroom, carting them around the house and to alternate locations was gross) I did the "potty training" routine three times. Two boys and a girl, all very different.
One thing I can share with you is the only one getting "trained" at this age will be you and your caregivers. She is, more likely than not, too young to learn urinary and bowel control. I have seen so many parents convinced their kids were "trained" before they were two years old. In reality it was just adults learning what their kids face looked like when they urinated and then running around like crazy people hauling toddlers off to the bathroom.
As far as developmental skills go, don't rush this one. There is no prize for you or your daughter to "train" early. Right now it's a novelty. Hanging out in the bathroom reading stories gets old...fast! You both can wait on this one :)

She's is already giving you the signs she's ready to go on the potty. If you don't aready have one get one of those potty seats that you can put on top of the potty. Also get her big girl underpants and keep her in them all the time she's anywhere where you'll have quick access to a toilet. She'll have accidents now and then but that's the nature of the beast. Don't miss this opportunity. Girls train quicker than boys.