Potty Training/EC with 12-month-old boy

OhioBobcat

We've purchased DS a potty for Christmas and I want to start at least introducing him to the concept, but without pressure or negatives if he doesn't go. I guess part of me would like to consider the EC (elimination communication) route, but I don't know if he's too old for that now that he's a year.

We've done BLW since he was 5.5 mos and he has "brushed" his own teeth since about 6 mos with his first tooth. He also likes to "brush" his hair if you give him his brush...so he's really big on doing things himself and I like encouraging this.

MIL says SIL was potty trained by 18 mos so I know that it is possible. I also have heard it's a bit of a struggle with boys...which is partly why I'd like to start early. My aunt tells me my mom had my older brother trained in just one day...but I think her method at the time was to not let him off the potty until he went...so not really a method I want to consider.

Can anyone give me a rundown on how they've done it or how they do it with their boys and any tips on the best way to go about it? Has anyone had success starting young around 12-18 mos? How long did it take from the time you began introducing it? TIA. x

2breilly

My DD is just about 14 months and I would love to start introducing her to the potty. But from what I've read, they have to know that they aren't clean when they soil themselves and have the desire or curiosity to go on the potty. Currently, my DD doesn't care about sitting in her wet or dirty diaper so I don't think she's quite there yet. I guess you should check for readiness and that will be a good indicator for you. Here are some sites that I thought were brief but informative:

https://www.babycenter.com/toilet-training-readiness-checklist-2-years

https://babyparenting.about.com/cs/pottytraining/f/readiness.htm

GL!!

Mrs.Hizzo

Do what you want, of course, but my experience is that if you try to start it before they're really ready, you'll set the whole thing back a good year. Particularly with boys. My advice is to keep your LO in diapers for another year without trying to half-ass the potty training along the way, and then when he's clearly ready, take a week and get it done. There's just no good reason to push this.

The 3 Day method worked great for us, and the author suggests 22 months as the ideal age. For my own kids, I think that's still way too young, but obviously she's had a lot of success with other children that age or she wouldn't recommend it. 

BelleBaby

My mom told me I was trained at 14 months (I'm not sure I believe her on that, but it was on the earlier side I guess).  My brother not until almost 2 1/2. 

We just got the boys their potties and we're only slowly introducing them.  They sit on them right before bath time and that's it so far.  E has peed every night before bath for the past week.  B hasn't gone at all yet.  I'm not in any hurry, so we're just letting them take the lead for now.  My pedi said that boys are usually harder to train, some taking until almost 3 years old to really get the hang of it. 

Oh, and my boys are 19 months as of yesterday, just to give you and idea of where we are age-wise.

Adam'sGirl

DS is 18 months. I bought two potties when he was a year and just kept them around the house and let him play with them. We talk to him about them and about what they are for. I sit him on it before bath time, but he has yet to go. We just started reading a couple of potty books to him (the Elmo potty book and the Karen Katz potty book), and that has really gotten him interested. Now, he occassionally asks if he can go sit on his potty, and when he asks, I got take him. He has yet to go, but he is definitely interested in the potty. I'm just letting him set his own pace. I figure being interested is a good first step, and we'll just go slowly from there. I'm not pushing it in any way right now.

OhioBobcat

Adam'sGirl:

DS is 18 months. I bought two potties when he was a year and just kept them around the house and let him play with them. We talk to him about them and about what they are for. I sit him on it before bath time, but he has yet to go. We just started reading a couple of potty books to him (the Elmo potty book and the Karen Katz potty book), and that has really gotten him interested. Now, he occassionally asks if he can go sit on his potty, and when he asks, I got take him. He has yet to go, but he is definitely interested in the potty. I'm just letting him set his own pace. I figure being interested is a good first step, and we'll just go slowly from there. I'm not pushing it in any way right now.

Funny you should mention this...my Aunt in America just sent him this book for his birthday and he LOVES it!

I was planning on keeping things casual/low-key for the time being anyway and definitely not expecting any performance anytime soon.

Good to hear experiences from others though, so thanks!