15 Months Old, Time to Potty Train?

jasminelorraine20 · September 2013

A friend of mine told me that since LO is one it's time to start potty training. I thought I had a lot more time before having to deal with that, but am I the one behind? When did other parents start?

baloneydisc · September 2013

DD is 20mo and we're not potty training yet. We have a potty and DD will sit on it, but she's not ready yet.

skibunny59 · September 2013

DD is 18 months. We have a potty and she will sit on it but she's not ready yet. Right now we're just getting her comfortable with sitting on the potty. Like when I go to the bathroom I will ask her if she wants to go and sit with mommy and I will sit her on her potty while I go. If she doesn't want to then we don't push it. She actually did poop in it once but that was just pure luck.

mommymegan831 · September 2013

I can't imaging much more aggravating than trying to potty train a 15 month old. DS is 15 months and he's no where near ready. When DD was around 20 months she appeared ready. She'd take her diaper off when wet or dirty and would go right before bath time. We tried at 22 months and she even had a few good days in underpants, but then it went to hell real quick. She'd go on the potty, and 2 minutes later go in her pants. We waiting again until she was about 27 months and she really refused to keep a diaper on and she took to it right away. She was still the earliest potty trained kid I know. Most kids don't seem to be out of diapers until closer to 3, I think 2 is a good age, but we'll see how things go with DS.

dufferoo · September 2013

Once my daughter turned 3, we decided it was time to potty train. She was so ready, it took all of about a week. That is the benefit of waiting!

TeacherVicky · September 2013

Does your friend have kids??? This made me LOL.

I would imagine it would be VERY frustrating to try to PT a 15m old.

DS just turned 2 and we haven't started. He's not ready.

JENandJEH · September 2013

With our oldest, we tried a few times after he turned 2 and he was just not ready. I didn't want to turn it into a battle so we waited. He turned 3, my husband came home from deployment and basically said "This is how big boys go potty." and from that point on he was potty trained with zero accidents. I firmly believe that waiting until they are truly ready makes it so much easier. Our 18 month old is no where near ready to potty train so it's not even on our radar.

(Also, I realize that we got lucky with my oldest and I fully expect DS2 to be much more difficult to train...just sharing our experience with waiting!)

NerdyMama2 · September 2013

DD just turned one and we're not potty training for a while!

oliversmommy32912 · September 2013

It's not impossible but I can't imagine trying to potty train a 15 month old. My kid didn't even start walking well until 14 months! DS is 17 months and still gives me a blank stare when I ask him if he went potty. We aren't going to even start thinking about potty training until two with the full expectation that it might be several months after that.

sunnyday016 · September 2013

DD was ready at 2y2m, so we trained then. It took a few months for her to be fully trained.

DS is 18m and no where near ready. I hear boys typically train later, so we probably won't think about it until he's at least 2.5, unless he shows strong signs of being ready before that.

juliane2004 · September 2013

Gosh no. Don't rush it, IMO. Like a PP, my kids didn't walk till 15 and 17 months, so PTing at that age is crazy to me. Nah, don't worry about it yet.

jnnfrrose6 · September 2013

I've read that they start potty training extremely early in China (like, 6 months in some cases), but it's also part of the culture and pretty much the entire community pitches in (if they see a kid that looks like they're about to take care of business, they grab them and get them to a potty). They also have special pants for it (basically crotchless pants for kids). Is your friend Chinese?

FemShep · September 2013

We didn't start trying to potty train with DD1 until a few months after she turned 2. LOs will let you know when they're ready. Common signs include showing lots of interest in toilets and what you do there and getting uncomfortable with wet diapers. Don't force it; you'll just create a ton of aggravation and stress for yourself and your LO.

tbmadeamistake · September 2013

If you want to start now I suggest reading "Diaper Free Baby" It gives a lot of great tips on how to start, but it's not PT in the sense that many of us think of it. It's more the baby training you. You have to learn how to pick up on their cues and how to act on them. It's certainly not too young, but it will be more work for you. DD just turned 16 months and I'm starting this with her. Not pushing, becaues if it's a battle she'll only regress and it won't work, but making sure she knows it available and if I notice that she's about to go, I'll ask and take her to sit on it.

jasminelorraine20 · September 2013

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I thought it was too early, I will definitely wait

EMOmamma · September 2013

We're PTing my 2.5yo and my 15mo DD will ask to sit on the potty too. I have no visions of her actually being PT but I like that she's interested and not afraid of the toilet. I expect she'll be trained sometime in the next year though.

If you want you can get a seat or potty and let them sit on it sometimes (like when you go or before bathtime, after naps, etc) but for full force training it's not the norm in the US to be training that early.

aeh72 · September 2013

I wasn't even going to think about starting until after DS turns 2.

shannm · September 2013

Do what works for you. Many people will cite that kids are trained earlier in other parts of the world. In my world there were two factors, one, I was in no hurry and two, I did not want to use pull ups, ever.
So we waited until DS was more obviously mature enough (he was about 2.5) and went cold turkey with a modified three day method.
I hope to do the same for DD.

DawnLilly · September 2013

DS is 15 months and signs pottie when he has to poop but only poop and we rush to the bathroom. At this point I'm satisfied with that. He has a seat that goes over the toilet. I'm not about to clean anything like a plastic toilet out. I have always changed him in the bathroom and set him on there after I remove a pee diaper and ask if he has to go. Sometimes he does sometimes he doesn't but he gets praised when he pees in the toilet and only gets to flush it if he does. He has enough understanding that I think when he can feel that he has to pee and hold it long enough to get there he will tell me. I don't believe there is a set age.

allardr · September 2013

TeacherVicky said:

Does your friend have kids??? This made me LOL.

I would imagine it would be VERY frustrating to try to PT a 15m old.

DS just turned 2 and we haven't started. He's not ready.

I laughed too, we plan to maybe around 2, but it all depends the kid. I do say get a potty maybe to have around before then. well get her one around 18months just to see/ sit on/get comfortable with.

Deltadawn8 · September 2013

DD1 was 2.5y when we potty trained her and DS was just potty trained over Labor day weekend. He turned 3 back in June. Don't worry about that now - you've got time.

Natty13umppo · September 2013

I read somewhere that your LO may be ready for potty training when they let you know they are wet and/or dirty. They should be aware or uncomfortable in a soiled diaper to be motivated to train. My DD would sit in her dirty diaper all day so I know we aren't ready to train.

However, my mom was recently asking if I was going to start training DD as back when I was a kid, she claimed all kids were trained by age 2 or so and now she just can't believe seeing all these much older children walking around in diapers or pull ups. *shrug* I think you *CAN* "train" now, but it is more difficult. As others have mentioned, in some cultures/other parts of the world, training occurs much earlier.

laurn321 · September 2013

I'm in the camp of why not start trying? As long as you're not putting pressure on the baby, it's a good time to start introducing the toilet. Diaper Free Baby is a good place to start. It used to be the norm that kids were day trained by 2.

We've been putting our son on the toilet since about 3 months old and then around 15 months he started to tell me that he had to go. At 18 months we ditched diapers during the day and now at 19 months he's 90% trained away from home and about 50% at home (go figure, I thought away from home would be harder).

I found that as long as there no pressure on him, he actually succeeds more and once I actually trusted him in underwear he started to hold it better. It is more work for you, but it's not too bad. I'm doing a load of underwear every 2 days and I get one wet outfit a day at the worst.

JWSchwarz · September 2013

I have heard that girls are earlier (around 2 1/2) and boys around 3 or 3 1/2. They do potty training in the 2-3 year old class at DS's daycare, so most of the kids are 2 1/2 - 3 when they start it.

Want a personalized experience?

15 Months Old, Time to Potty Train?

Re: 15 Months Old, Time to Potty Train?

Married DH 7/30/11

CSC arrived 5/7/12

CHC arrived 6/2/14

Choose Another Board

Search Boards