Houston Babies
potty training age question
So I hear/read you should start between 18-24 months, but Addie is not interested. Matter of fact she freaks out if I try to sit her on the toilet, even with her little seat. (I'll admit I only tried twice, I don't want to push her). The thing is I don't care that much. She's fine in diapers, won't be 2 until December and even if she's not interested then I'm not too worried.
So at what age would you try to seriously start training? Is there a too old age IYO? It seems like most of our friends, including those Addie's age or a bit younger, are trained or in training. Maybe peer pressure will encourage her.
-Clare
This discussion has been closed.
Re: potty training age question
I think the time to start them is maybe when they show an interest. I've been working with Sarah for a couple of months. It started out her just sitting on the potty and me reading books to her. She wouldn't go, but we kept it up daily.
I can't do anything during the day since she's at MDO but she wakes up with a dry diaper, so I put her on the potty first thing in the morning. I have her potty right by the toilet. This may be gross, but I sit on the toilet and pee while she's right there. Most of the time she will go when I go. If not, we sit there and read a few books. Once she goes, she starts clapping, so she knows what she is supposed to do. She also will reach for the toilet paper and will mimic wiping.
Also, about 20 minutes after dinner we'll go to the potty and read books. 90% of the time she'll poop in the potty. And will tell me yes or no when I ask her if she's done.
She can't tell me when she needs to go, but I'm thinking if we can get the morning and night time pottying going well that when she's a few months older she will.
I just don't want her to end up like my niece. She's 3 1/2 and still not close to being potty trained.
ironically, there is a thread about this going on with my mom's group right now. the consensus of the moms of older kids is to wait until your child is ready. i am feeling the pressure since all the schools we looked at said they have to be potty trained to start at 3. often boys train very late and right now, tru has no interest. it's making me anxious...
however, based on the advice of these moms and a couple of books i picked up (including The No Cry Potty Training Solution), we are just going to wait until he starts to show signs. the NCPTS has some tips about ways you can gently encourage them to start showing the signs, like using a lot of potty key words when changing the diaper and letting them go in the bathroom with you and kind of narrating what's happening.
also, some friends of mine were having issues with their son and potty training. they asked their Dr and he said "if the child is 5 and still not trained, then it's an issue but for now just follow the child's lead."
anyway, i would say not to worry. maybe check out the NCPTS and read the pre-training tips. we've already started using "potty language" when changing diapers and it's having an effect. truitt usually throws fits when getting his diaper changed but after a couple days of talking about wet vs dry and clean vs dirty, he is much more amenable to having his diaper taken care of.
We do use the potty words and Addie can sometimes tell you when she has a dirty diaper but usually answers no if she's busy doing something. She could just care less so I'm not pushing it. She does go in the bathroom with me, (or fling the door open if I don't bring her in). I think we'll get her a baby potty and keep in near the big one so she can get familiar with it.
sounds like you're on the right track. she'll get there in her own time.
I started Eloise a couple weeks ago - not "serious" potty training, more like warming up for potty training. I don't really think of it as potty training yet, just getting friendly with the toilet.
She was in the bathtub and I could tell she was about to poop, so I whipped her out of the tub and set her on the toilet. She pooped on the potty and thought this was hysterical. I told her she was going poopoo and she picked up on the word right away. So when she was done she got down and looked at it and we flushed and said "bye-bye poopoo!".
Now if you ask her if she wants to sit on the potty, she'll run for it yelling "poopoo! poopoo!" (unless she's doing something more fun, then she says no even if she's pooping right that second) She poops on it a couple times a week and has peed on the toilet a few times too.
I don't know if it will help, but because Eloise uses cloth diapers, we dump all her poop in the toilet, so she sees every time that poop goes in the toilet and gets to flush it down.
A friend in our play group started at 22 months with a 3 day plan that says 22 months is the best.... anyway, this little girl is very advanced communication wise and had been telling her mom when she was going in her diaper, etc... but is still having regular accidents a couple months later. My friend encouraged us all to wait a bit.
DS is 22 months and tells me when he is going #2 about 90% of the time but sometimes runs away when I want to change him. He is interested in the little potty that we went ahead and bought and put out for our potty trained friends.... but I'm thinking we'll hold off until the spring or maybe when MDO lets out for the summer, so we don't have to worry about him going at school for awhile.
Our doc suggested we get a potty. That we talk about the potty.
And, she suggested, we wait to actually start training until 2.5 years old. She did say that he is a boy and that is part of the reasoning. She said that school can start trying whenever they like, but that we need not worry ourselves with it until 2.5 years of age.
I'm cool with that. I potty trained my younger brother and sister. It was not fun. So, I'm taking a vacation for a few more months.
Despite that decision, we have started taking him into the bathroom for all diaper changes. This mimics schools approach -- they started saying let's go potty vs. let's go change your diaper a few months ago. We're supporting this by associating the bathroom with peeps and poops...it is a small step and we expect it to be a long journey.