When do you plan to introduce the potty? I just bought the Fisher Price "Cheer for me Potty" because it was so freakin cute. I'm thinking to start at least once a day to sit her on it & get her used to it.
If you have other children aside from LO, when did you start to potty train? When did they get the hang of it & go on somewhat of a regular basis? Any advice?
Re: potty training
I wouldn't think a LO would be ready for potty training before 18 months old?at the earliest. I could be wrong, but I think the baby needs to be able to verbalize that they have to go to the bathroom AND be able to control her/his bladder (the muscles).
I'm sure the moms here of toddlers would be better able to say when is the time. But I've never personally heard of a child under 2 being potty trained. Girls are usually easier and earlier... boys harder.
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DD will be 2 in a month and I am hoping to start with her shortly after that. I've already got a potty seat, got it about a month ago, and she does sit on it every other day or so. Our nanny puts her on it before her bath and she likes to play with it sometimes - takes the little bowl thing out of it.
We have been waiting for her to be able to recognize the concept of using the potty - she started talking about her bathroom needs about 6 weeks ago, which is why I went out and bought the potty seat. But she still can't tell me BEFORE she has to go and she also doesn't necessarily tell me after she goes either, so we aren't rushing into anything. My main goal is to get this done well before the next baby arrives, but we have a good bit of time yet.
Maybe I jumped the gun. I am an impulse buyer & end up having to return things. I found a pretty good site with info. Sphincster muscles usually are developed between 12-24 mths. other good info on this site too. Also some good potty training products. They have potty training dolls & potties. I think I will return this one.
https://www.pottytrainingconcepts.com/A-Potty-Training-Age-Readiness.html
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My youngest boy was potty trained at 18 months. My oldest was potty trained at 3. The three year old was ready before that and would go on the potty since he was 2 IF I put him on it, however, he was much happier just letting me take care of that end of things. When he did finally start using the potty, he only had 2 accidents and was completely trained in 1 week.
My pedi at the time told me that they are physically ready when they are dry though the night and walking. By that determination, both boys were ready at 9 months, but I wouldn't have dreamed of starting potty learning then. I let them tell me when they were ready.
1st off, I highly recommend skipping the potty seat and using a potty ring from the get go. I have heard so many stories of kids only going on the potty seat and then needing to be basically retrained to use the toilet. My daycare on uses the potty ring and it seems to go way smoother.
Anyway, to anwer your question, my older DD 1st showed an interest at arounf 2 years but was not trained until 2 years 9 months (has been trained for about a year now). I am not the push it type of mom and let her take the lead and once she was ready, it was so smooth and she actually was night trained before day trained. We kept the potty ring and a stool in the bathroom at all times and I had a travel potty ring that I also had with me all the time. She would go in phases of interested and not carring and if we pushed at all, she would stop going. Daycare gets a lot of credit for getting her trained since starting in the Toddler 2 room (2 years to 2 1/2 years) and the preschool 1 room (2 1/2 to 3 and potty trained) they offer to the kids to sit on the potty at diaper chaning time and just the pure fact of seeing the other kids go helps them get interested but again, they don't push it.
My little one who will be 2 on the 13th has been sitting on the potty since 16 months. She still refuses to poop on the potty but will pee on the potty at least once a day and sometimes up to 5 times a day. Again, I'm not pushing it at all but she sees me and her big sis go all the time so she often asks to sit on the potty and more and more, just tells me she has to go and she is now telling me when she has pooped and often teels me she is about to poop - we ask her if she wants to sit on the potty but don't force it. She still has wet diapers a lot so not forcing her into training underwear or anything yet. Once she gets over the poop fear, I have a feeling she'll move forward with all of this fast.
I totally am in the let the child take the lead boat on this one. It just seems to go faster that way than forcing it if the child is not ready.
It is really a committment on us as parents - I needed to take the time to really work with my boys on it. I did not start with my oldest until he was 2 & 3/4's - it took him 3 days to figure it out, but poop took a year. He would hold it until bed time in his training pant. We started on a little potty but moved up to a ring fairly quickly.
With boy #2 I decided I would give it a shot about 2 weeks ago (about 26 months old)... I am amazed at how well he is doing. Of course there are going to be accidents, but there needs to be so they learn. Never used a potty seat, went straight to the ring.
With both my boys the best way they learned was by being naked. The oldest did not like any reward for doing it - it was a bit hard for him he did not like the feeling of peeing. So my pediatrician gave me a great recommendation. My 2nd loves getting m&m's everytime he go's.
As long as you are committed it can work!