Potty Training - Stamford,CT

My daughter started showing interest around 16 months so I brought out my son's old potty chair and put it in the bathroom next to the toilet. She would wake up every morning and pee in the potty while I was getting ready for work. That lasted for a few weeks and she would only pee first thing in the morning, but I still left out the potty chair. Then around 21 months, she started showing interest again, so I began to potty train her. She's gonna be 2 next week and she's been completely potty trained for over a month now. She only wears diapers at night. It's great because I have a 4 month old too, so we don't have to buy so many diapers anymore. I think it depends on the kid too because my son wasn't ready to potty train until he was over 2 years old, but my daughter didn't like wearing diapers I guess, and she was pretty easy to potty train. Good Luck!

My mother's test was - they must be able to say "potty", to walk to the potty, and pull their own pants down. :-) Most parent wait much longer than that to start, but there's no harm in putting out a potty and praising her for using it. My experience starting early was that it was a longer process. Some parents wait until older and then complete training in as short as a few days. I took the longer approach. Neither of us was ever frustrated by the process.

My daughter first successfully used a potty at 14 months, but was fully trained at 26 months. I didn't push at all, just encouraged her progression. She liked to sit on the potty while I was filling the bathtub. She would almost always pee!

My daughter just turned two and around 17-18 months we brought the potty out for her to sit on and try before bath etc. She has never actually gone on it but likes to sit with us while we go :) Open door policy sometimes. It worked well for our older daughter who was potty trained at 2.5yrs. Hoping for the same with this one. Good luck!!

You might find this up-to-date, fact-based educational website helpful. It gives a few variations on"readiness" checklists, plus tips on various training strategies, the best ages to start them, and the advantages and disadvantages of each approach: http://www.parentingscience.com/potty-training-tips.html

My first three are potty trained (the 4th is only 13 months), and they have been interested as they near the age of two. But that's usually all it's been - interest. We let them sit on the potty when they want and go potty when they want. We've let them start wearing underwear if they want. But usually their interest starts backing off when they start having accidents in their underwear.

My first I didn't try until she was over three. My second, I decided I wanted to potty train him around age two - around the age he showed interest. And, he potty trained.

BUT...

The level of potty training you get when they are two is not quite the same as when they are older (generally speaking, as I'm sure that there is the rare child this doesn't apply to). When my son trained at age 2, he still couldn't pull his pants up and down. He had to be reminded regularly. If I was busy with the baby, and if I couldn't get to him (which seemed to happen at least once a day!), then he'd have an accident. The amount of effort I was putting into it was silly to me. I had to put so much focus and effort every day to remind him and help him. And, from what I've heard from other parents, it's pretty normal at that age for it to be a lot more work.

For me, it didn't work. I had other kids I had to take care of too (one being a few months old), and so I decided to stop after him being trained for four months.

When he turned three, we started again. All I did was take his diaper off, no underwear - he went bare bummed (best way to train!), and he was trained in a couple days AND he could do it all himself. It was SO MUCH EASIER.

My daughter just turned 3 yrs old a couple weeks ago. We she was around the age of two, she showed interest. She'd even go potty. I put her in underwear, but when she had accidents, she lost interest and wanted her diaper back. So, I never pressured her. I knew from my son that it was easier when they were older (though at age two, she could pull her pants up and down).

Anyway...so a few days before she turned three years old, I told her she was going to get to potty train like her brother and sister. I made it sound SUPER exciting. She was super excited. She had nothing associated negatively with potty training. She did great. She didn't have accidents for the first few days. Then she went poop and pee in her underwear on the 4th day (?). So, I took them off and told her that they aren't for going potty in, so she'd need to go bare bummed for a little bit until she felt like she would be able to only go potty in the toilet (she wasn't in trouble). And, that was it - she was fully potty trained after that. She never had another accident. She figured out how to poop in the toilet after that (that's usually the most confusing for them).

I have totally rambled. Point being - when you train when they are little, you have to be a lot more involved regularly. And they are likely to have more accidents regularly. BUT, if you have no other kids, this could work perfectly for you.

For us, we have learned to wait until age three because of how much less stressful it is for everyone...and how much more advanced their potty training is...plus how fast they learn. But again, if you have no other kids, it might not be an issue for you to start soon.

You could start, but it's very early and chances are you wouldn't be successful and you'd both get frustrated by it. I honestly think people who start too early, in the long run, have a harder time of it.

We didn't "start" our oldest at all...one day (and granted, she was at least 2.5 years old, maybe closer to 3) she just said she wanted to wear her panties. She was trained from that moment. I don't think she had a single accident. I kept pullups on at night for awhile...but all the hassle, mess, etc...we had none of it. I think it's worth waiting.

Sure. The caveat is that she might regress in her interest, but as long as you're not too invested in success, it's all good.
My mother-in-law gave me a technique that worked great - keep her in pull-ups and every three hours or so take her to the toilet for a couple of minutes, whether she feels the need to go or not.. make it fun, read a book, etc - but no pressure. If she goes (pee or poop), great, if not, no worries. You will eventually see when she tends to pee, and anticipate going to the toilet before she soils the diaper. Baby stores sell folding plastic seats for public toilets, perfect for continuing the "training" on the go.

If she is capable of pulling down a pair of cotton training pants then go for it. My daughter was trained well enough by her 2nd birthday that she didn't have accidents. She sometimes needed a little help with her clothes, but she always told me that she needed to go and I'd help her get there in time (can be a challenge in stores or restaurants sometimes, or even at playdates when they don't know the quickest way to the bathroom or if they need to ask first, etc).
Keep her in loose dresses and see what happens. The pull ups might be a tiny bit easier to pull down than the cotton panties (the leg cuffs sometimes get hung up if your child has chubby thighs, lol), but much harder to get back up. imo
You might, however, wait just a bit before starting the actual training process itself, and use this time to talk up the subject with her. Let her flush when YOU go. Let her stand there and talk to you when YOU are using it, and answer all her questions about it (where does it go? ha ha). Get some books about using the potty. Then, as you progress through all these "readiness" things, she will also mature a bit physically and be better equipped to manage the physical process with getting her clothes off/down, getting to the bathroom, pulling the step stool over, climbing up on the seat (with an attachment for her), using it, getting back up, wiping, clothes back on, washing hands, flushing, etc. There are a lot of steps that require some level of physical maturity to master, not just mental readiness.

If you think she can manage the majority of the physical steps, then let her try. No need to go straight to a "reward system" either. Just lots of praise and potty dances and high fives. :))

My child loved to look at books while using the potty (she's still a book hound) and never liked to be alone in the bathroom... she liked me to sit on the side of the bathtub while she sat on the potty and she would taaaalk and taaaalk and taaaalk and taaaalllk. Eventually, I would have to ask her if she planned to sit there all day or if she was done. LOL