Potty Training - Rochester, MN

I started my daughter on pull-ups when she was 18 months. Although she really didn't start potty training until 24 months but by that time, she referred to her pullups as underwear and there was no power struggle at all.

Eighteen months is the earliest I have heard of someone potty training. But if the child is interested - go for it! You don't want to miss the opportunity and be stuck with a child that refuses to train until they are 4!

Cassandra is spot on in her information. Its totally possible. At this age you will be using a bit of traditional potty training, and a lot of Elimination Communication. The website she gave you is a good EC resource.

We used EC with both our boys (we also used cloth diapers, so Iwould suggest you switch to prefolds/covers for a while, then onto undies), and we started with my oldest when he was 19mos. He was using the potty full time by 20mos, and by his 2nd bday he was going to use the bathroom alone, no reminders, save for wiping #2's, which he needed help with until closer to his 4th bday... mostly because I'm anal (no pun intended) and always wanted to make sure he was clean.

My youngest I started EC much earlier, when he was 6mos (which is actually considered a late start for eC!) and by the time he was 9mos, he had learned the signs for potty, and would crawl down the hall going 'mama' and doing the potty sign. By a year he was walking to hte potty to go and could get his pants down. By 15mos he was in undies full time and could go to hte potty, get his pants down, and his undies up but needed help with pants that had buttons. He's 3.5 now and goes totally alone, wipes himself most of the time and everything.

ANYWAY, I'm sure you will get people telling you boys are slower, DO NOT BELIEVE THEM! Its just an excuse people use to leave their boys in diapers.... that is truly my opinion. My boys got it ver yquickly, and when you do it early the child is very compliant, they don't really know how to argue yet, and they are copycats.... they want to do what you do. Good luck. :)

No, I don't think it's too early. Even if he just sits on the Elmo potty with his diaper on, it's a step in the right direction. But, I wonder why he doesn't like to sit on it with no diaper--does something on it hurt his butt, like is the seat too big or too small?

While it will be more work for you, things will go faster if you forego the pull-ups and use training underwear. (Of course, he may still need a diaper/pull-up at night for some time.)

Training your son at 18 months is entirely possible! My son is 13 months old and for the last month, he's gone poop and pee in his potty chair. My husband and I bought him a Baby Bjorn Little Potty for his first birthday. The first time I sat him on it, I did it right after he drank a lot of milk, and then I had him sit on it until he went pee. Then I made a *huge* deal about the pee, and something just clicked right away with him.

I sit him on his potty chair after each meal, right before bed, and then any other time I can tell he might be going poop. It is really cute, when he first sits on it, he will start grunting and pushing! I always show him the potty when I take him off it, so I either say, "What a big boy--you went poop!", or "It looks like you didn't have to go potty, so we'll try again later." Of course, sometimes when he sits on it, nothing happens, but every day he goes both #1 and #2 at least once in the potty. We have him sit on it for 10 minutes or until he goes potty, whichever happens first.

I know he is quite some time away from being "potty independent". (Heck, he's not even walking yet!) He can't tell me when he has to go potty--we are working on the sign for "toilet"--so it's up to me to know when he may have to go. I feel like we are training him early enough so that it's just instinctual; he just "knows" what to do. I know there will be speed bumps along the way, but hey, every time he goes in the potty, it's one less cloth diaper I have to wash!

Good luck to you, and maybe check in to getting a different potty. They come in all different shapes and sizes these days. I can't say enough good things about our Baby Bjorn Little Potty. If a secondhand potty doesn't creep you out, there are always a bunch for sale on Craigslist.

Oh, and you might find Diaper Free Baby's website helpful:
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/. I belong to the Twin Cities group; let me know if you want more info.

Another mom learning about EC. I just went to a Diaper Free Baby meeting, and they were giving away a few Baby Bjorn Little Potty cozies, which makes me wonder if the toilet's not too cold and that's why he doesn't want to sit on it without a diaper???

http://www.theecstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_inf...

It's not too young at all. People tell me all the time my son potty learned at a very young age (done by 2.5) but I KNOW he was ready earlier. I just didn't have the skill set to figure out how to teach him honestly. Read up on Elimination Communication - it's completely eye opening and I had a real paradigm shift about treating children with respect because of it.

We are still working with our 2 year old on the potty training thing but I can tell you from experience that the pull ups are a waste of money, they are too much like a diaper. They are convenient in the fact that they pull up and down but at the same time if they wet them it is just like a diaper. I would recommend the plastic pants and the underwear or training underwear.

when my son finally potty trained Pull Ups were just a huge waste of money may as well of been wearing diapers never tried plastic but the underware, awsome especially if you let him pick them out then say if you want to wear them you have to go on the potty. once i figured that out my boy was potty trained in no time :)

Hi K.! It's totally possible that he is ready! My daughter was ready at 16 months and we were well on our way to being diaper free but then my daughter got diabetes at 19 months and stopped training in it's tracks. I was so disappointed!
Go for it!!!

I also recommend you read "Potty Training in Less Than a Day" before you get started. I wish I had read it with my first child. It took me 9 months to potty train him. I started around 18 months. My second son is 26 months old. He's been potty trained with that method now for 3 weeks. It is hard doing it in the winter, though. Because he doesn't have the best dexterity, I have the heat cranked up so he can run around in his underwear. The suggestion to wait until warmer weather is a GREAT idea. Last summer mine son just wasn't ready.

One wonderful tip my mother-in-law gave me for when a child is ready is if you put a new diaper on right before nap and he wakes up dry, he probably has bladder control and is ready to start. Bladder control is really the key and I think that is why, generally, boys are slower to train. Also because physiologically, I think it's harder or them to sense. However, it sounds like your son may be ready.

Last thing, I know pull ups are really convenient, but they hinder training instead of helping; even the Cool Alert ones. Now that my youngest knows in advance when he needs to go and wants to use the potty, I use them for long trips or visits to places where I do not want to deal with an accident, but I take them off at the first chance and I constantly have to ask him if he's dry. They just feel too much like a diaper. I mean, a child spends the first 18+ months wetting himself, it's easy to revert.

Good luck to you and pick up the book. It's very cheap, but it's old school. You'll have to ignore some of the slightly sexiest comments and you'll probably make some adjustments, but the research and practices are solid. I have heard many success stories with this method.

Our little guy is 15 mo. Like the previous poster, we started early (9 mo), as he was waking dry from naps here and there. I would get him right away, and he would pee on the potty at 9 mo old. Then we slowly increased the frequency. He loved to sit and watch, while we filled the bath. He loved being able to sit up high and see from that view.

We read the Diaper Free Before 3 (likely at your library), which is a very positive approach. It discusses 3 stages for potty learning. It sounds like you are already doing stage 1, where you are spending some time on the potty. Stage 2 involves using cotton training pants for a couple hrs a day in the beginning. Cotton training pants are suggested by the book. It also covers how different personalities may begin with the potty and suggestions for those types. It is and easy read and also discusses the history of potty training, if you are interested.

So, at 15 mo, he is signing to go. He poopes in the potty most days. Last night after I took of his diaper, he ran to the potty, I put him on, and he went. It is a normal part of his routine like washing his hands, and it has always been a fun/positive place. That is the key.

Go for it- the earlier the better, in my opinion! If he is showing signs that he is ready, take full advantage.

I say go for the underwear- I HATE pull-ups. Except for naptime, of course. Pull-ups are just diapers they can pull up and down, and will not give him the "icky" feeling underwear does when he's wet. Your best bet would be to go with the underwear.

Good luck!

I am certainly not a pro but I have heard that Pull-ups are glorified diapers in that the child does not learn when wet and is not uncomfortable as when underpants are wet.

We went the route of underpants and plastic over the underpants (I did not want wet all over my house).

Of course we used Pull-ups at certain things (like her birthday party as she was new and thought with all the people she would be excited), when she was a flowergirl.... and at night until she hit that momentous moment. :)

Good luck!

18 months is too young for most kids, but it's definitely worth a try! It can't hurt, anyway. I just wouldn't push it- let him go at his own pace.
I prefer pull-ups until I know they're serious about going potty in the toilet. My oldest showed interest around his 2nd birthday, but was not really ready until about 27 months, so we used real underwear then.

I always found that rubber pants and underware is the best way to potty train. I also let them go without slacks because it is easier to pull down the undies without britches in the way. If your son doesn't like sitting, let him stand. Also to get him to sit still give him something fun to look at that is only for while pottying. Maybe a book with stickers that he can choose one when he potties. My granddaughter loves the funny pages so she would always "read" the sunday funny pages. It keeps them there longer and occupies their mind so they aren't trying as much and can relax enough to go. Your son may be ready at this moment but he also might tire of it and stop the potty training in the middle, if that happens, just keep it available and let him do it at his own choice, they will potty train in a week if you let them decide on their own.

K., It is possible for a boy to train that young. My son started @ 18 1/2 months and was completely day & night trained by 19 1/2 months. You need to be very consistant and make it fun (race to the potty, etc). I found that cotton training pants / underwear worked the best. We only used the plastic cover when we left the house. We also skipped over the potty chair and went straight to the regular toilet because our son has always wanted to be "just like the adults" in everything he does. We used lots of praise and "what a big boy you are!"

Toilet Training in less than a Day is a great book. I trained my oldest three and it worked well. (Same system Dr. Phil recommends.) I also had a college professor hold potty training clinics using this method (pay to drop of your child, pick them up potty trained in the afternoon.) The success rate percentage was in the 90's.

With my fourth, I am potty training earlier. I always waited until after 2nd birthday with the first three. But I am not still potty training until it's warmer - probably March/April when she is 22/23 months. So for now, she just comes and sits on the potty and pees and poops about once a day. (She's 20 months.)

There are a lot of things you can do to prepare him. Teach him to dress and undress himself (pulling pants up and down is key to being potty trained.) Teach him to pick up after himself - put diapers in pail, put dirty clothes in hamper, etc. Teach him opposites - wet and dry, down and up, clean and dirty. These are all prerequisites to being potty trained. And if he wants to sit on the potty in a diaper, that's great. My daughter started that way, too and now wants the diaper off to sit on the potty when she poops.

Good luck,
S.

kids go through phases, though they are useful for future growth.....
what i mean is that i think that at some point during the childs second year (age 1) they are interested in potty.
its a good idea to have the potty to use, and put him on it now and then. it takes some getting used to - going without a diaper on. put him there regular times, after waking, before bed or nap, after meals... that kind of thing. give him some books to look at while he is sitting there. depending on how you think he will react, either stay with him or leave, i know i cant go if someone is watching me, so maybe your kids cant either? i dont know. :P

anyway, im bettin that in a month or so he will be moving onto something else, however, the introduction to the potty and potty ideas will stay and carry over to when he is REALLY serious about the potty. just go with the flow. dont refuse him if he wants to sit, and never make him sit for longer than he wants, even if he didnt go.

anyway, good luck and go with it! :D