EARLY Interest in the Potty

Hi!

I would just keep doing what you are doing. It is definitely not too early, and as long as you are clear and kind, it will work. All of my kids began pooping on the potty at age 5 or 6 months, and they have always loved it- yes I did say 5 or 6 months. I simply sat them on the big toilet (with a smaller seat resting on top whenever I noticed they were starting to go poop. After a day or so they began to catch on and got excited. Today those children are (a girl) age 9, (a boy) age 6, and a girl) 17 months. As I type this my 17 month old just called out "mommy, all done". She had just woken up and I put her on the potty as I usually do and she pees and (if she needs to) poops. She never really has any poop accidents, it is always amazing though she is the 3rd child I have trained this way. However, pee does take longer to train them to do on the potty. I still have her wearing diapers, and whenever I can I remove them and set her on the potty, and if she has pee, she does it. (And many times she sits on her own little potty herself and does pee and poop.)

I have a 6 week old daughter and am going to start her the same way. They seem to get so much confidence and excitement from getting to do "big kid stuff". Good luck!

It's not at all too early. My daughter started training at 14 months. We took it slowly and by the time she turned 2 she was completely out of diapers. I think we tend to wait too long, then it can become a power struggle. My mother claimed to have had all four of us out of diapers by 14-16 months and I have no reason to doubt her memory. If I had been a SAHM I'm quite sure my daughter would have been trained much earlier; she was ready but her daycare wasn't interested in helping that happen.

My daughter was interested in it when I was potty training my older son. I discouraged it and wish I had let her potty train the same time. It doesn't sound like your little guy is quite understanding the idea of going potty in the potty chair although he is on his way there. Try putting him on it when you run his bath water.. once he does it the first time, he will learn fast. Encourage it as long as he is interested. He might give it up and actually potty train around 2 and half or closer to 3, so don't get discouraged if that happens.

Hi G.,

Absolutely continue to do what you have been doing. As long as he is interested it is easier to do it now than make him wait. My son showed an interest when he was about 14 months and we were going through court with his father. We had a gaurdian ad lietum (GAL) and mentioned to her that he was potty training and we wanted his father to be consistent with what we were doing. He was actually doing very well but his father and their family didn't want to train him. The GAL said that well most people don't start potty training children till after they're 2. That gave his father permission to not train him and he wasn't potty trained till about 4 1/2 then. So I absolutely recommend trying as long as he is interested. Don't push but do something like the one person did by setting him on the potty after dinner or while waiting for his bath. If he loses interest then just wait till he's ready again.

Good luck!!

In my daycare, most of the kids start "practicing" around age 2 or so, and are using the potty full time by the time they are 3, but one little girl was successfully using the toilet before she was 2! It just depends on their interest, ability to communicate, physical skills with pulling off and on with their clothes, and most importantly - understand the feeling of having to go and pushing their pee or poop out! I don't allow them to get toilet paper until I'm sure they understand how to use it, not just pull it off the roll and make a mess with it. Good luck!

Personally, and in my opinion and experience, there is a window of opportunity for potty learning that parents miss nowadays in the US. It starts around 12mos and ends around 22mos. Parents nowadays think that kids can't potty learn that early, and blow off their childs very clear signals.

Now, that being said, we used a method called Elimination Communication to potty learn our boys. My oldest was a very late started, we didn't learn of the method until he was 18mos old, but we started, and he picked it up very quickly. By 20mos he was out of undies during the day, and by 2 he was totally independent in the bathroom except wiping #2's. He's 7yrs old now and hasn't had an accident or potty issue ever.

With our youngest, we started with him at 6mos, which is still considered a late start in the EC world. we taught him the signs for potty, and by 9mos he was signing potty to us and spent 3-4hrs a day diaper free (we also used cloth diapers for both boys). By 10mos he was able to say potty, and by a year he was taking himself to the potty during naked time. he went into undies full time around 15mos, day and night, and again hasn't had any potty issues ever.

It was such an easy, bonding process for us with both boys. They both understood, and with teaching them the signs for potty, they picked those up almost immediately.

www.diaperfreebaby.org is a great site for EC. I would tell you to go with it. Expect accidents, expect silliness, expect him to look at you like you have two heads at first. But then remember, would you rather have that with a 1yr old, or fight wit ha 3/4yr old who has a will and the ways to fight you on every move you make with potty learning. Starting early is a great option. While I realize its not for everyone, IMO its the easiest option, especially if you can keep your child going while in that window of opportunity.

G.,

I started early with my fourth and it made things so much easier. Immediately after dinner, I would take her up to the bathroom and have her sit on the potty while I ran her bath water. The combination of having just eaten and the running water would make her go about 25-50% of the time. If she didn't go, no big deal. If she did, great. After several months of this, she began holding pee through dinner and peeing most of the time while I ran the bath. Then she started going at other times - first thing in the morning, just before bed, etc. When I actually potty trained her at 23 months, she did great.

There are other things you can do to prep them. Children need to know concepts like up and down, wet and dry, dirty and clean, to be potty trained. Your son can take responsibility for his own cleanliness - putting away his own dirty dishes, dirty diapers, dirty clothes, dirty towels. He can clean up his mess when he spills and get you diapers and wipes when he needs to be changed. He can also learn to dress and undress himself. All these things are preliminary to toilet training and will make it easier when he is ready.

I used the book "Toilet Training in less than a day" with all four of my kids with success. One piece of advice: It works like a recipe, not a list of suggestions or ideas, so don't pick and choose and expect results. You have to follow as outlined.

Good luck,
S.

I think you should keep doing what you are doing. Keep it light and positive. I just potty trained my daughter at 18 months. She was diaper-less for a lot of the day because of a horrible diaper rash, so would just put her on the toilet every hour or so. No pressure. If she went we celebrated and if not she just hopped down. I was never intending on starting this early, but like you I saw a few signs and went with it. She does have an older brother(who potty trained at 25 months), so that may have helped. I still put her in a diaper during nap and sleep times. It has been about 3 weeks and we have had 4 accident free days. Good luck.

I have to agree as well! Most parents go so much as to what's 'socially right' as far as development goes with kids. If he seems interested work with it a little and see what happens! What could be the worst thing that could come from it, still being in diapers? You have nothing to lose. My daughter went through a similar thing shortly after she turned 2 though. She thought it was funny (they all do because it's new and exciting) and she also knew she'd get a little treat. But then she did lose interest for awhile and she started peeing in her underwear, so I just had to redo the process and think of fun ways to get her interested again. Good luck to you and just think, you wouldn't have to buy diapers anymore if he really is ready!