Advice on When to Start Potty Training

Hi,

The time to start, according to pediatricians and child psychologists, is when your daughter shows interest in the potty on her own, and when she is staying dry through the night on her own. This tells you that her body is ready to be able to hold it and that she is capable of potty training. Any time before that and you are asking her to do something that she is not physically ready for and you will be in for a fight. Even if she is physically ready (holding it through the night, waking up with a dry diaper), if she is not interested, then you should leave it alone.

Girls are usually ready around the age of 3, and boys around 3 1/2. But this is just the center of the bell curve. Some are earlier, some later, but the majority of kids fall in the 3 range.

There is a lot of pressure (I have no idea why) to push kids to do it earlier. But please, wait until she is ready. It will go a lot easier for both of you, and you will have a VERY proud little girl.

For my son, now 3 1/2, we got him a little potty when he was about 2 1/2 and just had it in the bathroom. He would sit on it when we used the toilet, etc. Then he started urinating every night before bed on the potty and continued this for several months. When I tried to push him to go more often he resisted and stopped using it at all. So I just stopped and would ask him if he had to go a couple of times a day. If he said no, I let it go. One day he told me he didn't want to wear diapers anymore (at about 38 months) and we have been doing great ever since. He is not potty trained at night and wears a pull up for nighttime. We will work on that when he seems ready. My daughter is now 2 and takes her turn on the potty after my son goes. Sometimes she does something but mostly just sits for a minute or so. I know that when she is ready she will know where to go and what to do. My advice would be to follow her lead. You could get a potty to introduce her to the idea, but let her take it from there for the time being. Good luck! I am sure you will get a lot of advice on this one.

Hello H. A:
There are no hard and fast rules. Just depends on a family's perception and child’s readiness. Right here in Chicago there are some groups who potty train their child from six months and are done doing so very fast. Sounds unbelievable, but it is a fact

When parents are busy working, you have to wait for the right time of the child by seeing child’s readiness and time on hand. Also if child goes to a child care provider, her input is also very important.

In case SHM, it mostly depends on the readiness of the child. Every child develops differently but still you have to see some of the following readiness point.

1. Ability to control bladder. A newborn goes pee in every 10 – 15 minutes. Very soon he starts changing it to after formula, and then longer gaps depending on the progress of the bladder.
At the time of the potty training if his bladder is controlling pee for 2 hours that is the best time.
Remember, do not be to late looking for the two hours. Even one hour works in some cases.

2. Bowel moment : the best time is when it is once a day and specially at the same time everyday. Morning is the best time.

3. Awareness of the bodily function is very important. Child should know how grown ups go and he/she will do the same in the potty

4. Sign of discomfort, when a child goes pee or pooh. Child starts feels discomfort, it is time to learn going potty .

5. When child can start taking directions, and is able to do as told. Because potty training needs a lot of directions for him. It a child’s FIRST COMPLEX LEARNING THAT INVOLVES PRACTICE REMEMBERING AND LEARNING.

6. When a child wants to use big people underwear especially with the favorite charter pictures. This is a very good way to get a child get interested to learn potty training.

7. When child has discovered bathroom its use and is always interested in going there.

8. When a child touches his diaper or tells he just went, by some signs or gestures.

9. When your child is dry after a nap, his bladder control is good and he can easily be potty trained.

10. Emotional readiness is very important. It is a combination of physical emotional and mental readiness that has to work together.

These are the most important signs that make you feel that your child is ready for potty training.
However, when you are ready, start a program and talk to child about potty training, tell the child how mommy and daddy go to the wash room and that “you are going to do the same”

After talking to him few times and making sure that your child knows he has to learn this. Plan one week or three days and train your child.

You will be well on your way to a child potty trained in 3-5 days, not 100%, but most of it.

F. A

I wouldn't start thinking too hard about it until she's 2 years old. Start by getting her a potty seat and letting her sit on it with clothes on. If she's interested, let her sit with no clothes on. We did this as a routine w/ my son after his nightly bath. No pressure, no rewards. We read a book while he sat, and when something actually ended up in the potty that was great and was praised. When she's a little older I'd say let her take the lead, but you can suggest a diaper-free day, with the condition that she sits on the potty every 45 minutes. (this works best bare-bottomed - if she doesn't pee when you sit her there, take her back every 10 minutes until she does. I set a timer to remind us). Let her drink lots that day so she can go in the potty a lot. This will empower her and help her understand that she CAN go. ...I'd start with this. you can use rewards liek a sticker chart or something (we bribed with sweet tarts once the stickers lost their allure) but only for a couple weeks. All in all there is no sure-fire way to make it happen but the most important thing is to encourage, but not pressure them. My son potty trained at 2 yr 4 months and it took us less than a week.

My daughter is a little bit younger but I'm working with her.

In the past month, I've been taking her into the bathroom after breakfast and reading to her while she is bare bottomed. She doesn't go into the potty often, and many days nothing happens at all, but I just wanted to introduce her to the "potty." I end every session by going pee myself and asking her to listen...Just last week, I started showing my daughter where her poop goes when I take off her dirty diaper. After about 6 days of that, we have been able to catch her going a few times and get her on the pot. In the past few days, she has asked for a few dry diapers, telling me that she is picking up the basic concepts I am teaching.

Soon, (as soon as I can find the time), I am going to do a few naked bottom days and see where that takes us.

I highly recommend cloth diapers. It makes a big difference because the diaper stays wet longer, while it works its way into the insert. She can feel the wetness. Cloth diapers also just can't hold as much as 'sposies, so you are changing the diaper more often.

There seems to be some debate about the proper timing for potty training. All I know is that the rest of the world seems to train their kids (both girls and boys) around 18 months, so this tells us that most kids are capable. I was potty trained at 17 months, as was my husband. In fact, studies show that mother motivation plays a key role in when a child is potty trained. If the mother believes the child can be trained by 2, most kids can be. So, in short, the most appropriate time to train is when YOU want to train.

I waited and trained my twin girls when they were 3. I did not want to have to train for months, so I waited until they were older, and did it in 2 days.

My daughter was out of diapers by 2.5 years. I started by putting her on the toilet with one of those seats that fits in for toddlers rather than a potty chair whenever I noticed she needed to have a bowel movement. She got used to recognizing that need and would start indicating to me she needed to go. Once I had her trained on doing bowel movements on the toilet, I then convinced her to start wearing panties during the day. She then had a few accidents the first two days, but after learning what happens when not wearing a diaper, she caught on. She has been successfully out of diapers all day and night for nearly a year. I still had her wearing diapers at nap and bed time for about a month beyond the initial change to panties. I still need to remind her to take restroom breaks sometimes, but she has had very few accidents in the past year!