Pre-potty Training?

Hi H.,
My daughter started doing the same thing around that age. She also became VERY interested in the potty at the same time. I started putting her on the potty each night before her bath and she would go pee (and sometimes poo!) almost every time. I never forced her to sit on the potty though. She was into in for a while then lost interest. I never made it a big deal and when she was about 2 1/2 she decided she wanted to wear panties. We had one "accident" on the carpet the first day and that was that! The most important thing is finding what motivates them. I am not a fan of candy as a reward so we found some healthy animal crackers instead. My daughter rarely gets crackers, so it was a special treat. After a week or so of success, I would only give a cracker if she asked. Our pediatrician told us to be patient and our daughter would let us know when she was ready. She still isn't potty trained at night and we aren't putting any pressure on her about it. I think it is more important that she gets great rest at night than to be potty trained, nor has she shown any indication that she is ready for night time training. Our pediatrician told us no to worry about it unless she isn't by 6 yrs old.
Sincerely,
L.

Hi H.,
As my grandmother once pointed out to me, it used to be that all children were potty trained prior to 2 years old - and it was never part of the discussion whether they were ready or not! I know times have changed since then, but if your little one is showing signs of interest, then why not go for it? Get a little potty chair and/or a potty seat for the "big" potty, and let her know what is expected of her in terms she can understand. It is a LOT of work to potty train a toddler, but only for a few days if you do it right. She may be too young for successful night time training (in my experience, they will either train themselves once they're daytime trained, or it will take a few years longer - nothing you can really do about it either way since they're asleep).

What I did with both of my girls was to tell them that we weren't going to use diapers anymore (as a side note, you really have to mean it in the deepest, darkest corner of your heart, Mommy). Then, one weekend I'd have them go naked from the waist down. (Underwear just confuses them.) Watch her like a hawk - if you even have the slightest inkling she might have to pee, run her to the potty. She'll have an accident or two at first but you just have to stay on top of things and make sure she gets there on time. You don't want to punish her if she doesn't make it to the potty - just tell her, "Next time you'll make it!" and then be sure she does! Honestly it's not unlike paper-training a puppy, if you've ever done that! Anyhow, after about 3 days, chances are she will pretty much "get it" although you'll still have to remind her frequently to sit on the potty for several weeks until it becomes habit for her.

Good luck!

While there is a lot of literature out there with the "readiness" bias, there is also a growing body of literature in the "train them like they used to" bias, with research to back it up. You have to take everything you read with a grain of salt these days and make choices based on what seems best for your girl.

We did what Larissa did, which was have the potty around and encourage sitting and experimenting without a regimen of going to the potty all day. After a few successes of pee, we added a few more "sit times", like after waking up from night time and naps, and before bath or bed. By 21/22 months, we were full on training, and my son is now approaching 28 months and doing great.

When my daughter was that age, we also had a potty and we just had it in the bathroom and when one of us would go to the bathroom, she wupld sit on her potty too...sometimes she would leave her clothes on and others, she would ask for them off and actually pee. As logn as you dont pressure her to use it, and just have it around, she may be interested in it.