When Did You Start Potty Training Your Children.

Mine showed interest at 17 months, so I got on that bandwagon. She was interested, but just didn't get it, so I put her back in diapers. At 27 months, she was saying, "I'm poopy! Change my diaper!" That is when I did the 3 day potty training and it was great! It took longer than 3 days for her to completely get it, but it's a great book.
She is 30 months old now and diaper-free!

my older daughter showed an interest at a year and a half, so I bought a potty, and a doll that pees, and some potty books and movies. I kept it low key, and she used the potty a little... but she didn't really start using it until she was about 2. she pooped on the potty right on her 2nd birthday and was fully trained 3 months later. it was a breeze!

I tried with my son when he was a little over 2 years old but he wasn't ready, just interested.
I tried again when he was around 33 months and he was trained in a couple of days, both day and night he he has been nearly accident free ever since.
The idea was no diaers, no pressure and asking him regularly if he needed to go.

No tricks, no pressure. If she's showing an interest, encourage it. But, don't expect anything from her right away. My daughter was 19 months and pooping in the potty on a very consistant basis. But, that was more because I saw the cues and took her. She was diaper free during the day by 2.5 & only a couple months later at night. Completely diaper free before 3 years. I would just ask her, frequently, if she had to potty. And, when she did pee, we got extra excited. So, lots of encouragement, patience & praise, no pressure.

ETA-I just read some of the responses and wanted to add--if you go to panties and she's not ready, put back in diapers. So what? It would seem that if she's not ready & you're forcing panties on her, you'll just have power play. We tried panties about 3 or 4 times. It's not about you "training" her, it's about her "learning" her own body cues. You can't teach her that.

My daughter showed interest in using the potty around 18 months too. I got her a potty seat and put it in the bathroom. She would come in when I was in there and open it and sit on it in all of her clothes! She's put her babies in it, sit on it in her diaper and pee, stand on it to wash hands but had NO interest in actually using it and I was totally fine with that. Although I wanted her trained and I didn't like the expense of diapers, they never really bothered me and I wasn't in any rush. 7 days exactly after her second birthday she woke up in the morning and told me she wanted to use the potty and she did. We went and got her big girl panties that day. She was in panties all the time at home from that day on and was in a diaper when we went out for about 2 weeks. She wears a diaper to bed now (she's 2.5) but wakes up dry every morning and she's in panties from wake up to bed (including naps). She's had 2 accidents since that day. Just let her set the pace and encourage her when she does a good job, don't worry about the accidents and ask her ALOT if she needs to use the potty! Good Luck!!

Potty training is really training for the parent, not the child. I by trial & error found that if I was out & about, we had no accidents, but at home, we had them all the time. The difference was me. When we were out & about, I was more conscious about not having accidents & was forever taking mine to the bathroom. at home, not so much. So, I switched mine to pull ups during the day, & set my watch for every 45 minutes. When my watch went off, then we went to the bathroom. Helped alot at home. I did not make mine sit there for ages either, we would try to go & if nothing happened, I would just say, maybe next time. Took the pressure off. When we were out & about, I would go potty as we went in the store & before we left the store. You learn really quick where the bathrooms are & which ones are nice. I went to a garage sale & bought like a weeks worth of clothes for cheap & put them in a bag in the car. Also, I found puppy pads placed in the car seat help keep it from being a mess once you start wearing big girl panties. Once you get the day time bit down, & you want to work on night time, I say save the laundry...neither of mine minded sleeping in the pee & I'm not sure they ever even woke up. I had mine go at bed time (8:30pm) then I would wake them & take them to the potty again at (10-10:30pm) when I went to bed. They never fully woke up & went back to sleep almost immediately. I then set my watch for 1:00am & I would get up & do it again. They would then stay dry till 6:00am, which is when I got up for the day. This I think trained their sleep cycles cause after a month or so, they asked me not to wake them anymore that they could go in their own. I let them try & so far we have had no accidents. Yes it is tiresome waking up at night, but no worse than when they were feeding and hardly no laundry!! I did find if they wore pull up at night, they would use it. They did better with regular undies. My first, a girl, was about 18 months & she was pee pee trained by 2.5 poo by 3 & night trained by 3.5. My second, a boy, started around 18 months & day trained by 2 & night trained by 2.5. Hope this helps you in your potty journey. :P

I never tried, when both of mine showed an interest I started changing their diapers in the bathroom so they would make the correlation, and made it easy for them to go there (small potty, stool and potty seat). Mine were almost three and 27 months when they did it on their own! Helped the younger one to watch big sister so she did it sooner.

We ised elimination communication. Our oldest we started at 18mos and he was potty independent (except for wiping #2's) by age 2. Our yougnest we started by 6mos, he was out of diapers full time (day and night) by 15mos.

So go for it!

My oldest son showed interest at 18 months, so we went to pull ups and started working on basics with no pressure. At 23 month he was using the potty 50% of the time, so we went to undies and, although it took a couple of days, he got it and was fully trained before his 2nd birthday. Our second one was 2 1/2 before he showed interest, so we started the same thing with him at that point. The important thing to remember is that once you go to undies do not go back (except at night). They will have a lot of accidents the first day or two, and will want to go back to diapers, but if you hold your ground they will get it quickly.

We did it at 24 months, and at that time I wished I'd just done it sooner! I think 18 months is a good age - not so old that she's hit the "terrible twos" but old enough to be able to communicate somewhat. Prior to the 1980's, people used to potty train kids at that age routinely. If it worked for centuries, it will work now! ;-) Just remember, it's not really about what she's "ready" or "wants" to do - this is a life skill just like learning to put her shoes on, or learning to eat with a spoon. You have to teach her and be really consistent and clear about what you expect from her. Since the weather is warm, try letting her run around without any clothes on her bottom half. That will illustrate very clearly to her what "that feeling" is that leads up to pee-pee! My older daughter was horrified the first time she peed on her feet, and made a big effort to get to the potty after that (and I helped out by reminding her and taking her to the potty alllll the time).

Good luck!!

Hi S.
I know you said girls but my youngest potty trained was our older son. He was 19mo - I don't think I thought about training him yet. When he woke from his nap one day, he said"these(pulling at his pants) are yucky" I simply said "if you don't want yucky pants, this is what you do" Brought him to the bathroom, and explained the deal, and went to buy "big boy pants" & put them on him. He never messed, wet those "big boy pants". My girls are twins. They were about 2 when older twin, yes by a whole minute decided to use the potty chair I had bought and set in the bathroom. I was thankful and put her in "big girl pants" telling her not to wet them. Ok she looks at her twin and says"I a big girl, you a baby" I put her twin sister in pull ups and it took about a month for her to be interested. She might have been later but of course her sister being trained made it interesting. Our younger boy, took longer. He was the one that would hide and not want us to see what he was doing, etc. so he was about 27-28 mo before he was trained.
I hear stories about people sitting their kids on potty chairs til they go etc. I think if you are watching you will see when they are showing or telling you they are interested. If you miss that first interest I think that is when you get into kids being 3 or close to 4 before they are trained. I don't think you have to pressure to present the alternative. 3 of my 4 were trained in a day, because it was so much easier, less messy etc. Mine all hated wet diapers but I did use cloth diapers not disposable.
With all of them it took a little longer for the night dryness to happen
God bless you as you give it a try

You'll probably get a bunch of different answers. Because I feel that there are as many answers to your question as there are children. And the MOST important thing to do is always what works for your child. I know that is kind of a non-answer, but what may work for some may not work for others. And potty training is one of those leading a horse to water kind of issues.
If I were you i would buy the potty and let her run around the house naked from the waist down and see what she does. You'll probably be cleaning up puddles for a couple weeks. But if she is ready she will go in the potty. If she isn't ready you will know. She will tell you by crying and getting frustrated alot. It doesn't hurt to try. As long as you are calm and cool she is not going to be traumatized by this first attempt.
Don't do pull ups. They know it is a diaper, and it is like you telling them that this diaper is okay but the one you have to lie down to change is not okay. My son is in pull ups at night, but he still calls them diapers because they are vastly different than the underpants he is in during the day.
Also remember that potty training is a PROCESS. anyone who tells you that they potty trained their child over a weekend is lying to you. Or at least they are not telling you the whole truth. You can spend a long weekend at home getting rid of diapers. But expect accidents, even weeks after the initial push. My son is 2.5 and he potty trained relatively easily, starting in February maybe? He only has accidents once a week or so now, but even just this morning he had an accident because he was so tired I don't think he made it to the potty in time. I have heard that when you start younger the process is longer and there are more accidents. But i don't think that means that you should wait. If she is showing interest let her try.
Good Luck!!

I bought a potty for my daughter when she was 18 months old just to get her familiar with it. She would come and sit on it while I used the bathroom. I officially started potty training her when she turned 2.5. It took four months before she was in panties full time. It was always my understanding that to be considered "potty trained" a child must be able to pull their pants up/down by themselves, get on/off the potty by themselves, wipe themselves, and wash their hands all by themselves. I knew that at 18 months my daughter was not physically capable of mastering these so I waited. Everyone is different.

I waited until my daughter was consistently interested and asking to use the potty like big girls do. She was about 2 1/2, and was staying dry at night, so I knew her bladder and nervous system were ready. Training was a snap – no accidents after about a week.

NOW. All over the world kids are potty trained by 12/18 months. The US is ridiculously slow. Especially GIRLS! Take advantage of her interest and just do it. You'll be sooooo happy when you're not lugging diapers and wipes everywhere you go. (my daughter started expressing interest before 2, and just started using the potty... no "training" required. a few weeks later, no diaper at night)

started using the pot at 18 months, at 2 we started training. I found pull-ups were confusing for her. She couldn't tell she just went. We still have pull-ups for bed but she now tells us and even other adults she needs to go. she is 3 1/2 now

My children were all different, I would place my kids in big boy underpants and see how the acted when they peed. if they got up and peed in the corner, they were ready, if they peed and did not notice until too late = not ready. If she is interested in trying there is no harm in letting her get familier with it. The site I loved and it worked for mine once I knew they were ready is http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/264 look at it.

My daughter was about 10 months old when she 1st pooed in the potty. I got her her own little potty to set next to ours and let her play with it and right after any naps or after eating meals i would set her on it and she would usually go by herself, well i mean i timed it right for the times when she usually had a wet diaper. Poops are easier for us because she grunts and gets all red when shes about to poo. She will be 1 next month and we still have accidents but she likes to use her potty and its mostly just fun at 1st and she does like to put stickers on her potty after she does good, like pulling on her pants to let me know she has to go, but other than that i just let her do it when she wants to! Good luck!

If your 18mos. old is showing interest then get the potty out. Tell her it is there for her because she is a big girl, which she is. Never discourage, if she has an accident, she may be upset but let her know its' nothing and you will get her clean clothes. Sometimes' putting the pottie in front of the t.v. with a little book that she likes, or if your bathroom is on the main floor but not to far that she seems alone, then put it their. Sometimes if in the grownups bathroom, put a mirror at her height. She can watch herself making faces and what not and will go quicker. Wherever you feel that she will be comforable, use that room. I hope this all works for you, have fun training and always reward your child after its done. That doesn't mean with candy or such but perhaps little ones' biscuits or something. When she's done be sure to give her a real big hug and tell her you love her and you are so proud that she is becoming a big girl. This will delight her.

I started potty training my daughter at 16 months. I would put her on the potty when she was pooping, you know when she started to make the "poop face" :) Then we just spent most of our time with no diaper on. We taught her the sign for potty because she wasn't talking when we started. We also gave her a jelly bean and did a little potty song and dance every time she went. A little silly but fun and she LOVED it! We put her in diapers when we went out anywhere just because I also have a now 9 month old daughter and it was just too much to try and find a potty while we were all out alone. It would have gone much faster if we would have just gone completely off diapers but it wasn't too bad. She still wears them for naps and bedtime. I also bought a travel potty that we take with us. It can sit on top of a regular toilet seat or stand alone so it's perfect for taking anywhere. Good luck!