Potty Training @ 16 Months?

B.,

I am going through this with baby #4 right now who is 18 months old. With my first three, I waited until after their second birthday to potty train. Everyone said it was too early, but my maternal instinct said I had waited too late. They all potty trained within a day to a few weeks with this method.

With number 4, I started putting her on the potty after dinner while I ran the bath when she was 12 months old. She started peeing in the potty about 50% of the time. Now she is 18 months and will hold it after dinner until I can get her to a potty and pees in it daily. She tries to pull her pants down and even finds the potty and sits on it when she has to go. I started when she was so young that I didn't have any resistance from her.

I don't think I can fully potty train her at this point because she is still so little, but I intend to do it as soon as the weather warms up and right now I just let her pee on the potty a few times a day.

A few generations ago, it was normal to potty train between age 1-2. In some cultures, it is even earlier. (The Amish have their kids out of diapers by 12 months and the moms just take them to the potty until they can do it on their own.) With the introduction of the disposible diaper, moms lost their motivation to potty train. It is just easier to keep them in diapers longer. Then the kids get so used to it, it becomes hard to train them and they are often age 3-5 before it happens.

If she is interested in the potty, let her use it. Pediatricians now say "don't potty train early" not because you shouldn't, but because they don't want to deal with all the phone calls from frustrated moms who get into power struggles with their toddlers.

I used the book "Toilet Training in Less than a Day" and it worked great with my first three, although two of them took longer than a day. With child #3, I had some practice with the method so it only took 4 hours to fully potty train at age 26 months. (He was my oldest to potty train.) You can get the book on Amazon.com or on eBay.

Good luck,
S.

1 mom found this helpful

Hi B.,
Go for it. My daughter did the same thing at 20 months. We put her in underwear and that was it. Done.

If you wait or let her go back to daipers, you may miss the opportunity and then have to wait until later when she wants to again.

Kids are remarkable. You just need to teach her that the expectation is to go on the potty, not in a daiper. Don't make it stressful.

Try putting her in underwear. She will probably have an accident at first, but then she'll know that she needs to go on the potty if she doesn't want to be uncomfortable. We also did an m&m treat every time she went as a reward and slowly weaned off them when she was consistent.

Great! Won't it be nice to not have to buy diapers!

Good luck,
K.

My niece potty trained herself at this age. Keep doing exactly what you did before. Pay attention also to what time of day she usually poops, so you can have her try around that time. Don't pressure her, and let her do it when she wants to. It works best when the child feels in control of the process.

My daughter was the same way. At 16 months she first started peeing on the potty and I never pushed it, just continued to put her on the potty and asked daycare to do the same. She never peed for them but would for me when put her on. At 18 month I put her in underwear and by 19 months she was fully trained, through the night. My advice is to keep going with it. If she starts to fight it, don't get frustrated. Let her do it at her pace and it will move easily. My son was a little older (just over 2) and was extremely easy as well. He just wanted to wear underwear and had very few accidents. Good Luck... it is wonderful not to have to buy diapers anymore!

REJOICE! Potty training happens way too late in this culture, so go with it. It doesn't sound like you need any tools - follow her lead.

Good luck,
W.

alot of people say that is way to early and she will regress later when you think you're in the clear with it, etc. but i can tell you that it can be possible! my daughter did the same thing at 15 months. she was having after-bath naked time. she looked down, looked up at me and said "potty", looked back down and peed on the floor. i'm the kind of mom that got really excited about that instead of worrying about my floor. anyway, what worked for us (it was just the 2 of us in the house) was to keep the potty chair in the living room and have extra naked time. mainly because she wouldn't leave the room by herself and i couldn't always jump fast enough when she had to go. i would think if you can keep interested in her doing this then so will she. if you treat it as a passing phase, she won't realize the importance. i consider myself very lucky i wasn't still battling this issue til she was 4! good luck!

S. m

As long as she is wanting to let her. There is nothing wrong with it. One of mine was potty trained before the age of 2 too. Each child is different. Happy potty training. Give her lots of praise and encouragement.

Hi-
I didn't have a chance to read all your other responses, so I may be just be repeating others replys. I started potty training both my girls early (one at 16 months, one at 14 months!). Both were fully trained by the age of 2! Usually, most kids show an interest in the potty between 16-18 month, but most parents don't pick up the signs or don't think their children are ready...and therefore lose that window of opportunity and end up waiting until closer to 3 yrs. As you can see, it did take a bit more time to train (than say, a 3 yr old), but in my eyes it was well worth the extra time and effort on my end to not have to change poopy diapers...and to just pay for diapers!

If your daughter is showing signs of interest, obviously, and you are willing to put the time in to help her transition...GO FOR IT! I could go on and on about methods and trial and error things I've used, but the best advise is just to follow her lead...and don't give up! Also, a usual timetable I use is try every hour, and 1/2 hour after any meals or snacks! That may seem like a lot...but most of being able to use the bathroom is habit, and the sensation to go. So, even if she only tinkles a little bit, she's benefiting from the process.

Good luck, and feel free to bounce ideas/frustrations off of me anytime.

Go with it! If she wants to use the potty, let her. My kids both trained fairly early and my second one wanted to be like the big sister and it was done in a few days. The first born we did the 7 day/$70 method which was well suited to her personality. This method you stay home for a number of days, put the diapers away forever, dress them in real underwear and teach them to use the potty. It worked great. She was wet the first day a bunch, didn't like feeling wet for even a short time, then the next day had an accident or two and then the third day none. The $70 is to clean your carpets. We had wood floors so no problem.
Enjoy her victories and praise her whenever she does something new.
Good luck and enjoy your little one!
J.

I'd say consider yourself lucky and go with it! if she has an interest, let her lead the away and you wil be way ahead of the game. My little girl was doing well at pottying this summer at 18 months, but in the early fall we tried to take away he pacifiers and told her big girls don't need binkies - well, we had also been telling how she was a big girl for going potty, so she put 2 and 2 together, and decided she didn't want to me a big girl and go potty if that meant no binkies....and reverted for a while - now at just 2 years old (on Dec 8th) we are just starting to get her back to going pee on the potty sometimes.

It sure can't hurt to try - saves a few $ on diapers and a few less in teh landfill, even if she is only partly trained for a while!

Jess

Hi B. keep doing what you are doing. If you let this phase pass without potty training you may not get another chance until 3 or 4 so go for it now. Just keep letting her tell you when she needs to go. you also can ask her about every hour if she needs to go.
Good luck my son was potty trained by 18 months for the same reasons as your daughter.

Oh my gosh, you're hoping this is a phase? Be truly thankful she is showing signs, and work with her on this! My son was over 3 years old before we potty trained and even then he wasn't showing any interest, I was just tired of having a 3 year old in diapers. My suggestion is to put her on the toilet every 1-2 hours, and throughout the day ask her if she needs/wants to go potty. If she is using a big toilet fine, then don't waste your money buying a kid toilet, they are just messy and take up space. My lifesaver with my kids has been the toilet ring that sits right on the toilet, they are cheap and also easy to clean. If you miss this golden opportunity to toilet train her now, it may be harder down the line when you are ready. Remember, it's all about her being ready, not you so take the ball and run with it!!! Just a side note, my niece was 18 months when she trained, so your daughter really isn't as early as you think she is.

Well hey... I'm B. W too!

My boys were both out of diapers by 18mos. We used a method called Elimination Communication. You cna read more about it here www.diaperfreebaby.org

16 mos is a perfect age to potty train. She is eager to please, she will follow direction without battling you, and she still has control over her bowels. If you leave her in a diaper until she is 2+yrs old, kids lose that bladder control. Babies don't dribble pee, they pee all at once and with control, they KNOW how to pee and poop. However after years of sittting in an ultra absorbant diaper and never using those muscles, they do lose them and have to relearn.

But at this age, 16mos, she still has control, so teach her the words for potty, or the signs, and go for it. She is totally ready, and you just have to be patient and stick with it. If you revert back to diapers now, she will regress and then you'll have to start over with true 'training' when she is 2/3/4yrs old.

Go for it! I started my 1st two at 12 and 13 months and my 3rd one at 5 or 6 months. All of my kids were completely done by 2 years old. Your daughter is plenty capable. Don't make that big of a deal of training, just teach her that it is just part of our normal routine...like you eat at the table, and go potty in the bathroom. Be consistent and I don't recommend pull-ups...go straight to cloth underwear when you are ready and don't look back. You may have to deal with a little laundry for a short time, but it will be worth it! You can do it!

I am the Mom of 3, all much older now, but both of my girls were completely potty trained by 18 months. It was as if a switch was flipped and all of a sudden they wanted to use the potty. I bought them big girl underpants and told them that we don't potty in the big girl undies and whaalaaa done. I must say my son took forever. diference in boys and girls?? who knows. but she seems to be telling you she is ready!! good luck

chances are she is still not ready, but it is not totally out of the possibility that she can start either.
the only thing i could see standing in the way of potty training is the face that usually kids this age cant hold it very long, and they go potty about every 20 minutes at the least.

so go with it. chances are in a month or 2 there would be a setback, and she might not want to anymore, but go with it! the more you allow her to take control of her potty habits and have her having fun with it, the easier its gonna be when she NEEDS to be trained. :D
awesome job mom for reading your child and allowing her to have the freedom to choose her time! :D
just go with it!

I'm with the other moms here...try to capitalize on it. My daughter did the same thing, almost at the same age (think she was 18 months). We thought it was so great, but didn't really push it - didn't make a point of putting her on the toilet every couple of hours - just kind of let her do it when she 'volunteered.' And then, I'm pretty sure because we didn't push the issue, she reverted back. She became disinterested and went back to diapers/pull-ups. So for her it was a phase, but I think only because we didn't work harder. She eventually was trained by about 2 1/2, and it really wasn't that difficult, but it sure seems like we could have saved time and a whole lot of money had we tried harder when she was 18 mos! Good luck!