Potty Training - Agawam, MA

I would love to hear some potty training advice too and not just criticism on the appropriate age to start...

I think that we need to define a few terms... My mother told me that she had both me and my brother "potty trained" by 18 months. After asking a lot of questions I realized that to her "potty trained" meant that we would let her know when we needed to go pee pee or poop and she would take us in and sit us on the potty. To other moms, it seems to mean that the child can do everything by him/herself except maybe wipe themselves.

What she did was:
- to sit us on the potty without a diaper when she went.
- turn on the faucet (for some reason both she and my grandmother who had 9 kids swear by this)
- IF we did anything she would make a huge fuss, kisses, hugs, etc... while pointing so we made the connection between the attention and the big reaction.
- if nothing happened, well... nothing happened.
- Children love to copy the adults. Have dad help out if you have a son. Let them see what is going on and describe it.
- Don't forget to wash their hands when they are done regardless of wether they did anything.

I think eventually, once my mom noticed that our diapers were dry most of the time (daytime) than she switched to underwear. We still wore diapers at night for a while... And we still had the occasional accident.

In any case, I don't think it's too early to start to give them examples of what goes on in the bathroom. I take my 15 month old boy with me and he sits (clothed) on his potty while I sit on the toilet. It is a first step and the next step may come in a few months.

My daycare provider who has been caring for children for 25 years said that you cannot train a child before they are ready. So save yourself weeks or months of frustrations and watch for these signs (based on what she said):
- can tell when they have poop in their diapers.
- start to understand what "poop", "pee" and "potty" mean.
- are able to get their pants and/or diapers off.
- start to imitate your behavior (wiping, sitting, etc...)

By the way, I have heard a lot of good things about the baby bjorn potty chair as well as the seat cover with cartoon characters (Dora or Diego) sold at target.

I hope this helps,
A.

Hi M.,

I noticed many folks are saying 18 months is too young.
A web site of interest is

"The American Pediatrics Association"; toilet training.

They say 18 months is not to young if you feel the child is ready. There was no mention of psychological problems that I read.

Hi M.,

I just started potty training my son as well. He is 20 months old and has been doing great. His day care is a HUGE help with it. I started by getting him his own seat and had him sit on it while I was, but once he figured out how to get off of it, he would take off naked and was afraid of the "big toilet", so I got him a toddler seat for the "big toilet" and told him this is were you go poop and pee. I started to ask him if he wanted to try and he would say yes, so now he goes on it about every hour and he is doing so well at daycare that they asked if we can start with pull ups in stead of diapers, so I said sure. I'm not sure if this will help you but good luck and let me know if you have questions!

Is there someone (a doctor or parent or friend) who is suggesting that you do this now? 18 months seems awfully early to start potty training. My sense is that most doctors, child psychologists and day care professionals are urging parents to wait on this, different from earlier generations where everything (solids, potty training, etc) was started very early. If someone is urging you to start potty training your 18-month-old, I would seriously question them as to why they feel this is necessary, as it goes very much against current medical and psychological understanding of child development and psychology.

From what I've heard, children who are encouraged to start potty training earlier than 3 usually have a very difficult time of it, and even if they seem to learn it initially, they usually "regress" at a certain point and start having accidents all the time. Honestly I don't think it is worth the hassle and the long drawn-out misery to start that early. Better to wait until he's 3 (for boys, even 4 is a common age to potty train), and then it will go smoothly, painlessly, and quickly, and - most importantly - successfully. No point in potty training a toddler if you are going to have to do it all over again a year or so later.

If you want to get him started on the initial phase of potty training, you can at some point introduce pull-up diapers, which can help kids begin to practice using the potty, while still catching a small accident. Pull ups don't hold as much as a regular diaper though, and a child needs to be developmentally ready to use them, meaning he has to understand where pee and poop come from, how to recognize when he is "ready" to go, how to pull his pants up and down, etc. Ask your pediatrician for the the "list" of physical and psychological developmental points that your child needs to have attained in order for him to be considered ready to begin potty training.

Good luck!

I am a daycare provider and was wondering if your child is showing any "signs" yet. 18 months is a little young for potty training, see if your child is interested in the potty or the big one even realizes that he is urinating and where it comes from, most of the time this will happen during bath time. Talk to you daycare provider and get input from her. She also may be able to give you advice from observing your son to see if he's ready for potty training, Being a mother myself I can understand that you would like to potty train as soon as possible but the reality is if your son is not ready, potty training will be extremely lengthy and can be a nightmare. Hope this helps, good luck!

18 months! I know that their are a lot of comments that say that it is too early. But really in some cases yes, others no. My oldest now 7 Potty trained by 18 months. He went in the bathroom sat on his potty every time and I do mean everytime someone went to the bathroom. He was eager to learn and knew the difference of wet vs. dry. And told of the distinction. All I would say is don't be upset when he can't do it, but be soooo proud and supportive when he does. My baby girl age 2 won't even use the potty. Although she gets to the bathroom everytime. And my youngest son just 1 does use the potty when I take him. My point every child is different and does things at their own pace. If you want to potty train try it. Be sure you are consistant at home and at day care or where ever. If you plan to potty train at home you have to do it everywhere resteraunts, movies, playground, grandma's...Consistance is a major part of potty training.

To be honest 18 months seems very early ... my daugther started at 2 and thats because she really wanted to. I got her the book once upon a potty (it's a red book) and the dvd and I use to read her the book EVERYDAY and we would watch the dvd. Also I DO NOT recommend pull ups during the day... once you start put him in underwear at all times (except at bed time) otherwise the pull ups are just like wearing diapers so they get confused!! Good luck
K.

dont push him.. if he's ready , he'll do it easily, if he's not ready, don't make a big deal of it. have his dad show him what to do and if he is interested great, but he's still very young.

M.-

I don't know why you are wanting to potty train so early, if it is because of daycare or something else. But 18 months is WAY too soon to potty ttrain, especially a boy. Unless he is showing signs of wanting to potty train I would wait until he is closer to 3. If you wait until HE is ready and not start when YOU are ready the whole process will be a lot less painful for him AND for you. There will be less accidents. 18 months I feel is way too soon and I would venture to guess that if you brought it up with your pediatrician they would say the same thing. Even for a gilr 18 months is too soon. i know our parents and grandparenst often say "oh my kids were potty trained at 1". That is completely unrealistic. That is among the minority of children who potty train so soon.

My advice, wait until HE is ready, which is usually around 3 years old.

Hi M.,
Is there a reason why you are going to start potty training at such an early age? Does your son show signs of interest in using the potty? Just a question that I usually ask and a parent who comes into my center wanting to potty train at such an early age. Unless the child shows interest in the potty we usually don't start "Potty" training until 2. Although, I feel it doesn't hurt to introduce them to the potty and ask if they would like to sit on it. If your son wants to encourage it. If not don't force it, try again next time. I do suggest that you be consistent and change his diaper every hour and ask him if he wants to use the potty every hour. Good luck with your potty training. : )

everyone else here that has given advice has said that 18 months is too early but my pediatricain said that i can start potty training. my little girl will come to me when she has pooped in her diaper and tells me "poop" and she kinda knows when she was gone pee. I started taking her in the bathroom with me and just kind of let her see what it means to go "potty" and then I hold her on our toilet seat. we will be getting a little potty for her shortly. let me know how you go about doing it! My daughter was born in June of 2006 so they are close in age!