Potty time! ... I think?

etaguines

My LO just turned 18 months. Does anyone have any good tricks that worked when potty training? Am I starting too early?

mommaofmultiples

Every child is different.  I would let your child take the lead.  You can buy a potty and wait for them to start sitting on it themselves!  Let them see you use the potty and wait for them to start imitating you.  I have twins and starting potty training them at 18 months.  One was potty trained by 20 months, the other was potty trained at 30 months.  It was a frustrating extra 10 months.  That is when I learned they will potty train when they are ready.  It's not worth the headache to try and make them.  My third child is now 21 months old.  She started sitting on the potty at 15 months but has since regressed and I have to be okay with that.  I know she will fully potty train when she is ready.

Bigboobsmcgee

Boy or girl?

I agree with PP above. Let your child take the lead but buy a little potty if you want or try putting them on the regular toilet. Talk about going potty but don't push it. Let them watch you. There are lots of things to try but go slow. My son didn't potty train until he was almost 3.5 years old. Nothing I tried worked. He had to make the decision himself.

Good luck! It's a headache lol.

hclzmm14

I've read they can't hold it all night until 20-22 months. So I've not even started yet and my daughter is 22 months. I do think she is ready but I also have a 5 month old so I'm not itching to start right now lol

etaguines

Thanks everyone! This makes me feel better. I'll just take it easy. BTW, my LO is a boy

*LrCg*

I haven't been on these boards in a long time but just so happened to come in today (slow day in the office due to teh holiday).  I disagree that it's too young.  I have 4 children (2 boys & 2 girls) DC#1 (boy) was 17 months, DC#@ (girl) was 15 months), DC#3 (girl) was 14 months) & DC#4 (boy) was 17 months when fully potty trained meaning for naps and bedtime (however in full disclosure I wouldn't consider #4 fully potty trained because he still wakes up wet @ 2 times a week but it's only been a month and with his siblings night time training took anywhere from 1-2 months to perfect).  When we PT we also did it for naps and bedtime.  When we PT our first it never occurred to us that others thought it was young (why would it- prior to the 1980's kids were trained by that age)- we just did a check list in our mind and said well he's ready and we're going to be on baby leave at the time so lets just do it.  Now I should clarify they were potty trained but not potty independent for at least year meaning they couldn't pull pants down, get on the toilet and wipe but they certainly could let us know when they had to go and stayed dry/clean until they got there.

My 'trick" would be commitment and consistency and no stress.  I always say there's this window in which they just want to please you and its before the power struggle of 2 hits and its a great time to potty train.  I've helped my friends with their kids and they've PT kids at 3 and prior to 2 and agreed that the younger the easier.

Bigboobsmcgee

*LrCg* said:

I haven't been on these boards in a long time but just so happened to come in today (slow day in the office due to teh holiday).  I disagree that it's too young.  I have 4 children (2 boys & 2 girls) DC#1 (boy) was 17 months, DC#@ (girl) was 15 months), DC#3 (girl) was 14 months) & DC#4 (boy) was 17 months when fully potty trained meaning for naps and bedtime (however in full disclosure I wouldn't consider #4 fully potty trained because he still wakes up wet @ 2 times a week but it's only been a month and with his siblings night time training took anywhere from 1-2 months to perfect).  When we PT we also did it for naps and bedtime.  When we PT our first it never occurred to us that others thought it was young (why would it- prior to the 1980's kids were trained by that age)- we just did a check list in our mind and said well he's ready and we're going to be on baby leave at the time so lets just do it.  Now I should clarify they were potty trained but not potty independent for at least year meaning they couldn't pull pants down, get on the toilet and wipe but they certainly could let us know when they had to go and stayed dry/clean until they got there.

My 'trick" would be commitment and consistency and no stress.  I always say there's this window in which they just want to please you and its before the power struggle of 2 hits and its a great time to potty train.  I've helped my friends with their kids and they've PT kids at 3 and prior to 2 and agreed that the younger the easier.

How do you FULLY potty train a 15 month old?! How can they possibly be able to communicate that to you each time and stay dry during naps and ALL night? That sounds completely insane to me and almost developmentally impossible. Apparently not in your case but I just can't image a kid being ready that young!

*LrCg*

The 14 month old was very verbal (she is the 3rd child) and when she had to go she would either walk her self to the bathroom and wait for you to help, she'd say "potty" or at the sitters she would just grab her sitter's hand and lead her there.  The 15 month old was not very verbal (said maybe 5 words at that age).  We did the timer method with her so for the first month we took her every 2 hours and she'd stay dry and go.  She probably said the word "potty" maybe 1-2 times a day.  After about a month of that she got sick of us taking her and would just say "potty" full time.  For night time we just put them in underwear with a cover (in case of an accident), no more drinks past 6:30 pm for the first few months and when they went to bed at 8pm,we'd wake them up to go at 11 pm they'd be dry and would go and then wake up dry (it taught them that we expected them to be dry and if they had to go they could too) and it took 1-2 months (depending on which child) and eventually they were dry 7 days a week and no longer needed to be woken up at 11 pm.  If they had to go in the middle of the night they would call out into the baby monitor (it was rare that they did).  For my 14 & 15 month old honestly this was not an issue because they were already staying dry for naps and bedtime prior to PT.  I should probably add my kids were all cloth diapered and not the fancy kind- we used plain cotton with a fleece liner and when they turned 1 years old we took the liner out so they could feel the wetness and it was within a few months we noticed they were dry for extended times, etc.  It may sound odd/abnormal but it wasn't along ago that it was completely normal. 

Bigboobsmcgee

*LrCg* said:

The 14 month old was very verbal (she is the 3rd child) and when she had to go she would either walk her self to the bathroom and wait for you to help, she'd say "potty" or at the sitters she would just grab her sitter's hand and lead her there.  The 15 month old was no very verbal (said maybe 5 words at that age).  We did the timer method with her so for the first month we took her every 2 hours and she'd stay dry and go.  She probably said the word "potty" maybe 1-2 times a day.  After about a month of that she got sick of us taking her and would just say "potty" full time.  For night time we just put them in underwear with a cover (in case of an accident), no more drinks past 6:30 pm for the first few months and when they went to bed at 8pm,we'd wake them up to go at 11 pm they'd be dry and would go and then wake up dry (it taught them that we expected them to be dry and if they had to go they could too) and it took 1-2 months (depending on which child) and eventually they were dry 7 days a week.  For my 14 & 15 month old honestly this was not an issue because they were already staying dry for naps and bedtime prior to PT.  I should probably add my kids were all cloth diapered and not the fancy kind- we used plain cotton with a fleece liner and when they turned 1 years old we took the liner out so they could feel the wetness and it was within a few months we noticed they were dry for extended times, etc.  It may sound odd/abnormal but it wasn't along ago that it was completely normal. 

Not at all. That's what worked for you and I think it's great. Just surprising because my son was the most stubborn kid in the world and wouldn't potty train until he was 3.5. That sucked.

AmericanInOz

unless you have a lot of time to give to it now, I'd leave the pt til later

most girls these days seem to pt around 2.5 and boys later

I'm not even going to attempt it with ds til he's 2.5, but we talk about awareness of having wet his diaper, diaper free time outside etc now. DD was pt at 2.5 within a few days, so I'd rather wait til ds is ready

*LrCg*

AmericanInOz said:

unless you have a lot of time to give to it now, I'd leave the pt til later

most girls these days seem to pt around 2.5 and boys later

I'm not even going to attempt it with ds til he's 2.5, but we talk about awareness of having wet his diaper, diaper free time outside etc now. DD was pt at 2.5 within a few days, so I'd rather wait til ds is ready

Why do you think it will take a long time since her child is 18 months old?  I PT 2 kids at 17 months old and it took 7 days to be dependable (meaning at day 4 I could have taken them out and about and they'd be dry but still were having maybe 2 accidents a day).  My 14 & 15 month olds took less than 3 days.  I think it's a myth that the younger they are the longer it takes.  I've found (when helping my friends with their children) the older they were the more resistant and power struggles happened. 

Bigboobsmcgee

*LrCg* said:

AmericanInOz said:

unless you have a lot of time to give to it now, I'd leave the pt til later

most girls these days seem to pt around 2.5 and boys later

I'm not even going to attempt it with ds til he's 2.5, but we talk about awareness of having wet his diaper, diaper free time outside etc now. DD was pt at 2.5 within a few days, so I'd rather wait til ds is ready

Why do you think it will take a long time since her child is 18 months old?  I PT 2 kids at 17 months old and it took 7 days to be dependable (meaning at day 4 I could have taken them out and about and they'd be dry but still were having maybe 2 accidents a day).  My 14 & 15 month olds took less than 3 days.  I think it's a myth that the younger they are the longer it takes.  I've found (when helping my friends with their children) the older they were the more resistant and power struggles happened. 

I just wanted to say that your kids are definitely NOT the norm when it comes to this! They are way ahead of the game. You have been successful but I haven't heard of any other kids being able to be potty trained  that young. I definitely don't have any friends IRL that have been able to do it.

*LrCg*

Bigboobsmcgee said:

*LrCg* said:

AmericanInOz said:

unless you have a lot of time to give to it now, I'd leave the pt til later

most girls these days seem to pt around 2.5 and boys later

I'm not even going to attempt it with ds til he's 2.5, but we talk about awareness of having wet his diaper, diaper free time outside etc now. DD was pt at 2.5 within a few days, so I'd rather wait til ds is ready

Why do you think it will take a long time since her child is 18 months old?  I PT 2 kids at 17 months old and it took 7 days to be dependable (meaning at day 4 I could have taken them out and about and they'd be dry but still were having maybe 2 accidents a day).  My 14 & 15 month olds took less than 3 days.  I think it's a myth that the younger they are the longer it takes.  I've found (when helping my friends with their children) the older they were the more resistant and power struggles happened. 

I just wanted to say that your kids are definitely NOT the norm when it comes to this! They are way ahead of the game. You have been successful but I haven't heard of any other kids being able to be potty trained  that young. I definitely don't have any friends IRL that have been able to do it.

Honestly, I don't think my kids are abnormal or "ahead of the game" in any way- they are normal kids.  In fact, if you speak with anyone born before let's say 1980 they would all say that they were PT prior to 18 months.  I think parents just don't realize what their children are capable of.  When we PT our first, we didn't think it was odd at all, until after we did it and our friends were like that is crazy awesome but our older relatives thought what took so long that kid was 17 months old (seriously someone said that to us).  Since then I've honestly helped a lot of my friends-granted most did it around 20 months and one agreed after PTing her other children at 2 1/2-3 years old that PT her DS prior to 2 was much easier.  I truly don't want to cause a debate I just don't like it when a parent is interested and people say their too young, it's going to be battle, it will take too long, etc. because isn't always and it doesn't have to.  I just like to encourage parents.

Bigboobsmcgee

*LrCg* said:

Bigboobsmcgee said:

*LrCg* said:

AmericanInOz said:

unless you have a lot of time to give to it now, I'd leave the pt til later

most girls these days seem to pt around 2.5 and boys later

I'm not even going to attempt it with ds til he's 2.5, but we talk about awareness of having wet his diaper, diaper free time outside etc now. DD was pt at 2.5 within a few days, so I'd rather wait til ds is ready

Why do you think it will take a long time since her child is 18 months old?  I PT 2 kids at 17 months old and it took 7 days to be dependable (meaning at day 4 I could have taken them out and about and they'd be dry but still were having maybe 2 accidents a day).  My 14 & 15 month olds took less than 3 days.  I think it's a myth that the younger they are the longer it takes.  I've found (when helping my friends with their children) the older they were the more resistant and power struggles happened. 

I just wanted to say that your kids are definitely NOT the norm when it comes to this! They are way ahead of the game. You have been successful but I haven't heard of any other kids being able to be potty trained  that young. I definitely don't have any friends IRL that have been able to do it.

Honestly, I don't think my kids are abnormal or "ahead of the game" in any way- they are normal kids.  In fact, if you speak with anyone born before let's say 1980 they would all say that they were PT prior to 18 months.  I think parents just don't realize what their children are capable of.  When we PT our first, we didn't think it was odd at all, until after we did it and our friends were like that is crazy awesome but our older relatives thought what took so long that kid was 17 months old (seriously someone said that to us).  Since then I've honestly helped a lot of my friends-granted most did it around 20 months and one agreed after PTing her other children at 2 1/2-3 years old that PT her DS prior to 2 was much easier.  I truly don't want to cause a debate I just don't like it when a parent is interested and people say their too young, it's going to be battle, it will take too long, etc. because isn't always and it doesn't have to.  I just like to encourage parents.

Forgive me, I wasn't saying your children are abnormal. I didn't mean for my words to imply that's what I'm thinking!

I've been on the boards a super long time (had a different name) and if you have been around TB you'll know that PT'ing that young is very unique. Most parents that frequent these boards aren't able to potty train until after 2, so most will give very different advice because their situations are very different from yours. Most of us have struggled and it shows in the advice we give.

Again, please don't think I'm calling your techniques OR your kids abnormal.

Bigboobsmcgee

And I was born in 1980 so I don't really pay attention to parenting techniques prior to maybe 5 years ago! I have no idea what was done in the 80's and barely remember what my mom has told me!

*LrCg*

Bigboobsmcgee said:

*LrCg* said:

Bigboobsmcgee said:

*LrCg* said:

AmericanInOz said:

unless you have a lot of time to give to it now, I'd leave the pt til later

most girls these days seem to pt around 2.5 and boys later

I'm not even going to attempt it with ds til he's 2.5, but we talk about awareness of having wet his diaper, diaper free time outside etc now. DD was pt at 2.5 within a few days, so I'd rather wait til ds is ready

Why do you think it will take a long time since her child is 18 months old?  I PT 2 kids at 17 months old and it took 7 days to be dependable (meaning at day 4 I could have taken them out and about and they'd be dry but still were having maybe 2 accidents a day).  My 14 & 15 month olds took less than 3 days.  I think it's a myth that the younger they are the longer it takes.  I've found (when helping my friends with their children) the older they were the more resistant and power struggles happened. 

I just wanted to say that your kids are definitely NOT the norm when it comes to this! They are way ahead of the game. You have been successful but I haven't heard of any other kids being able to be potty trained  that young. I definitely don't have any friends IRL that have been able to do it.

Honestly, I don't think my kids are abnormal or "ahead of the game" in any way- they are normal kids.  In fact, if you speak with anyone born before let's say 1980 they would all say that they were PT prior to 18 months.  I think parents just don't realize what their children are capable of.  When we PT our first, we didn't think it was odd at all, until after we did it and our friends were like that is crazy awesome but our older relatives thought what took so long that kid was 17 months old (seriously someone said that to us).  Since then I've honestly helped a lot of my friends-granted most did it around 20 months and one agreed after PTing her other children at 2 1/2-3 years old that PT her DS prior to 2 was much easier.  I truly don't want to cause a debate I just don't like it when a parent is interested and people say their too young, it's going to be battle, it will take too long, etc. because isn't always and it doesn't have to.  I just like to encourage parents.

Forgive me, I wasn't saying your children are abnormal. I didn't mean for my words to imply that's what I'm thinking!

I've been on the boards a super long time (had a different name) and if you have been around TB you'll know that PT'ing that young is very unique. Most parents that frequent these boards aren't able to potty train until after 2, so most will give very different advice because their situations are very different from yours. Most of us have struggled and it shows in the advice we give.

Again, please don't think I'm calling your techniques OR your kids abnormal.

I've never taken offense of anything you've said. Quite honestly I've been on TB, off and on, for over 8 years. I've always left because I was tired of the sparky and discouraging comments. It was on a whim I checked back a few weeks ago & was pretty impressed to have discussionsome with you without the snark or nastiness. That's what parenting should be like. Difference of opinions should be encouraged because it's then that we learn more and can grow as parents. Thanks for being a fresh of breath air

mhernand12

I have heard of many toddlers potty trained by 18 months.  Every child is different and no book or average can tell you when they are ready.  I would suggest what others have, see if they are interested in the potty and let them take the lead.  It's going to take some work and extra effort from you regardless of when you do it.
Good Luck!