Age of potty training?

stlmomma27

When did you start potty training? What age?

My son is 22 months old and I have been sitting him on the potty for 3 or so months now. He will pee every time he sits, he has pooped twice, but I think it was an accident. If I see him pooping in his diaper, I either ask if he wants to go on the potty or I sit him there. That usually back fires. He knows what the potty is and knows to pee on it. 

Is he still too young? Advice?

*LrCg*

I did cold turkey for my kids. They were 17 months, 15 months & 14 months & were trained for daytime, naps & bedtime. It took just a few days to train them & although they could tell me before they had to go we had to help pull pants down & put them on the potty. We did CD so I think that was an advantage. But I don't think 22 months is too young. The way I see it is 30+ years ago kids were trained by 18 months.

stlmomma27

@*LrCg*

Can you elaborate on how you did it exactly? I would love to train my son. He's a big boy!

*LrCg*

I did it different ways because of the personality of my kids.  The older 2 I did the timer method because they are more perfectionists and would have been discouraged with accidents.  So I put them in underwear and on the first day took them every 30 minutes (when the timer went off- we danced, chased, raced to the potty), 2^nd day 45 minutes, 3^rd day 1 hour and just kept extending it until we got to 2 hours.  I would congratulate them for having dry underwear and if they had an accident (there were very few) I never scolded.  Because of their young ages I just expected that I would take them every 2 hours for a few months however, they surprised me and within the week got sick of me telling them when it was time to go and they started telling us.  For my 14 month old she grasped it much earlier (she had been going on the potty here and there for at least 2 months prior) and was more independent so I just did naked days.  I put down 2 vinyl tablecloths I got from the store and put her potty seat on it and just played.  I never took her- if she had to go she walked over to it and went.  She had 1 pee on the floor accident.  We kept her potty seat out for maybe 2 days then put it in the bathroom.  By the 3^rd day I put her in underwear.  Instead of verbally telling us she would just walk into the bathroom when she had to go or she’d come up and grab your hand.  It’s been over 6 months and she’s just now being verbal about it.  They all got M&Ms for going on the potty (it was the only time they ever got chocolate or any type of goodie). 

I never made them sit for extended periods of time (at most it was maybe 2 minutes) and I never did games/books on the potty- I always said the potty was to do business and get off.  I also never followed the advice to push fluids.  I understand the idea was to get them to go more but I figured if they spent most their time in the bathroom they wouldn’t want to do it anymore.  For pooping, the week prior I started to give them more fiber- I used children’s fiber gummies and fed them high fiber oatmeal to keep their poop soft and easy to pass.  I continued it for about a month and slowly decreased it. Peeing was easy- that took just a few days but to be 100% on poop took 1-2 weeks.

For naps/bedtime I used a Dappi diaper cover to go over their underwear so if they did have accident/spot it was contained- I made them go prior to naps/bedtime.  For bedtime, I kept liquids up after 6:30-7pm (bedtime is at 8pm) except for the small drink when brushing teeth.  For the older 2 we woke them up to go potty when we would go to bed (@10-11 pm) and they would pee and go back to sleep and wake up dry.  I did this so they understood we expected them to be dry and also if they had to go in the middle of the night that was okay too (obviously they were still in cribs so we told them if they had to go to talk into the monitor).  We did this for @ 1 month and they continued to wake up dry (rarely did they wake up in the middle of the night asking to go).  My 14 month old just did it on her own- since she was 1 she had been waking up less wet and when we PT she stopped peeing at night. 

I never experienced any regressions- not with growth spurts, birth of a sibling, etc.  I have 1 boy and 2 girls and never noticed a difference in training a boy vs. a girl.  We did make our son pee sitting down, it wasn’t until he was @ 2 ½ that I trusted the aim and let pee standing up (plus I was worried if I allowed him to pee standing up he’d never relax and take the time to sit down and poop). 

HTH!!

junebugrbig

I don't think there is a right or wrong age...it is when they show signs of readiness.  If your child is fighting you about it, then they are not ready.  I don't feel like this is something you can force...it will become a power struggle. My DS was close to 3 before he was even interested.  DD is 2-1/2 and started a couple of months ago.  Good luck!