Potty Training

B&C03 · June 2011

My son is 18 months old (29 pounds and 35" in length - a tall kid) and the pedi suggested getting a potty and have him try sitting on it in the beginning. I know every child is different and train at different speeds, but how long would you say it would take to potty train him? If I can have him trained by the time he is like 26 months I would be happy. Also we are looking at the Elmo Potty, Baby Born high back potty and the Fisher Price Frog Potty. Anyone have any comments on these products?

mabma80 · June 2011

I wasn't even thinking about potty training at 18mths. Sorry, but your doctor is living in a dream. We didn't start with DS1 'til he was just about 3 years old, which is when he became interested. He was completely potty trained by 3.5 years old. We didn't buy a fancy potty, just a regular potty with a pee pee shield. We tried my nephews potty that would play a song after he'd pee in it, but DS would only throw stuff into it just to hear the song play. It was pointless. I think it took the focus off of its purpose. So, I bought a potty watch from onestepahead.com and he was trained in three days.

DS2 is interested in the potty, and he'll be 3 next month. I got a new potty watch and we've started with pullups. He's a little different then DS1 cause he does things at his own pace. But I'm pretty sure he'll be trained by Christmas. : )

flgator · June 2011

I asked how long it took to train DS (DS1 is older though). Here's the link:

https://community.thenest.com/cs/ks/forums/thread/52755469.aspx

hth

Brewtowngrl · June 2011

DS pee trained at 2.5. He still had about 1 accident a day for months. A few months later he regressed and asked for a diaper. After about 1 month of diapers he asked for his underwear back and stopped accidents. He didn't BM train till after 3 and still wears a diaper at night.

We got him a potty seat when he was 18 months and it was just a toy. When we really got serious about PTing he was big enough to sit or stand at the potty. I will not give a seat to DS2 either. He will go right to the toilet.

Jinsy80 · June 2011

PT didn't fully click for my daughter until she was 3 years old. We trained her at 2 1/2 years, but she was still having some accidents. You can get him a potty so he'll get used to it, but I definitely wouldn't pressure him. It could backfire on you!

rsd12 · June 2011

At this age I might follow his lead, but yes get a potty (our pedi suggested it too) - we went with a simple one - less idea of a "toy". While my oldest was not pt'ed until 2 years 9 months - it only took 3 days with pee, but poop took another year (but he went at nap time in his training pant). My middle son showed an interest at 18 months & I wished I jumped on it.. but was too pregnant ; ) so I waited till I was ready at 25 months - it took him 3 days for both (but he was not mess free for good closer too 3 yrs old). Now the baby, er I mean my youngest is showing an interest right now, & I will be honest I just put him on the potty (sometimes not even with a potty ring) & he does not mind, but I am soooo not ready to potty train him yet.. so I am just following his lead - if he asks I put him on (he has yet to do anything).. when the older boys are in school I will spend more time with him on it.

B&C03 · June 2011

mabma80:
I wasn't even thinking about potty training at 18mths. Sorry, but your doctor is living in a dream. We didn't start with DS1 'til he was just about 3 years old, which is when he became interested. He was completely potty trained by 3.5 years old. We didn't buy a fancy potty, just a regular potty with a pee pee shield. We tried my nephews potty that would play a song after he'd pee in it, but DS would only throw stuff into it just to hear the song play. It was pointless. I think it took the focus off of its purpose. So, I bought a potty watch from onestepahead.com and he was trained in three days.
DS2 is interested in the potty, and he'll be 3 next month. I got a new potty watch and we've started with pullups. He's a little different then DS1 cause he does things at his own pace. But I'm pretty sure he'll be trained by Christmas. : )

B&C03 · June 2011

Thanks but some of the posters below have had a different experience. My son IS showing an interest in the toilet. Again, thanks for your reply.

mabma80:
I wasn't even thinking about potty training at 18mths. Sorry, but your doctor is living in a dream. We didn't start with DS1 'til he was just about 3 years old, which is when he became interested. He was completely potty trained by 3.5 years old. We didn't buy a fancy potty, just a regular potty with a pee pee shield. We tried my nephews potty that would play a song after he'd pee in it, but DS would only throw stuff into it just to hear the song play. It was pointless. I think it took the focus off of its purpose. So, I bought a potty watch from onestepahead.com and he was trained in three days.
DS2 is interested in the potty, and he'll be 3 next month. I got a new potty watch and we've started with pullups. He's a little different then DS1 cause he does things at his own pace. But I'm pretty sure he'll be trained by Christmas. : )

moroccojade · June 2011

Don't let the PP discourage you! Your doctor is NOT living a dream. Most countries of the world have kids PT before 18 months. It's just in the lands dominated by Pampers and Huggies that we let kids go as long possible in diapers.

My DD was accident free/diaper free during the day by 16 months. 19 months at night. By 20 months all of her potty trips were 100% solo. Our last name is not Einstein. Stick out tongue

howleyshell · June 2011

mabma80:
Sorry, but your doctor is living in a dream.

I respectfully disagree.

Both my boys did full out potty training at 19 months and were out of diapers for non-sleep times at 20 months.

Ditto every single world MoroccoJade said about early potty training.

Think about it this way.... dogs and cats potty train at 6-8 weeks.

Do we really think our kids are not able to or do this until they walk up to us and ask? Or have we been sold a societal message that it's "best" to wait?

Sure it's probably MUCH less work to wait but it's totally do-able to train younger and you're not going to scar them for life if you try it. Especially if they're expressing interest!

Like all things with kids it's not black and white. Get a potty and see where it goes. If you feel like it's not right for you or for him - back off and revisit it later.

For us it took 1-2 weeks of full out "no diapers" focused training before I felt confident leaving the house with them in underwear. We spent a lot of time playing out side during that time.

We went with the Bjorn travel potty. We had 2 other potties (inherited and gift) and I liked the Bjorn best. It's got a super high penis shield in front which is great for boys and the fewer parts and pieces the easier clean up is.

We moved to the potty topper as soon as they got the hang of things simply because it's much less work with nothing to clean out.

GL!

smilejenn · June 2011

I don't think there is anything wrong with introducing the potty to him, but how long it takes to potty train really depends on if he's ready or not. If he's ready, it may only take a few days to train like it did with my son (who was much older). But most boys aren't ready until much closer to 3. In fact, the average age for boys to become potty trained is 3 years and 3 months.

JPnMe07 · June 2011

I also think 18 months is early. DS was having occasional thoughts about it by 2 but actually just turned 3 a couple weeks ago and JUST got it - 2 weeks pretty much accident free. They can regress on you if you start pushing it too early, I can attest to some of that. If you introduce it as a "if you want to, its there, but no pressure" I wouldnt see a problem with it though.

BTW my DS is also a very big boy - just turned 3 this month and is 42'' tall and 39 lbs - DH is 6'4''

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