Potty Training

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2014

A friend of mine recently excused herself from a party for a little while so that her 17 month old Daughter could go "Focus". When she returned I asked her if by that she meant use the potty...she replied, yes. It blew my mind that her daughter was potty training so of course I asked for more details. She told me that she began around 15 months because it just seemed like her Daughter was ready. She said that around 15 months she seemed interested in her Mommy's potty routine (flushing the toilet, washing hands etc. so she decided to start taking her into the potty every time and started talking through the steps. She then took notice of when her Daughter would go potty (#2) and would sit her in the potty seat around those times until she actually went. She congratulated her and slowly trained from there on. Her Daughter is now 19 months old and fully potty trained - she tells her Mom she has to go "focus" lol. In fact, they just went on a long road trip (8 hours) and her Daughter only went to the potty at rest areas with her portable potty. I should note that she thinks it took longer to train because she has a full-time job and there was confusion when she was at Grandmoms or Daycare

So, I started asking around and apparently a few of my co-workers potty trained before 2 with success. I think I may try in a few months as my DD does have at least 1 bowel movement that is pretty consistent in the mornings. There won't be any pressure but it's worth a shot, imo. How amazing would it be to have her fully trained and out of diapers before we try for a 2nd :-) One can hope lol

Anyone else start or thinking of starting soon or has another child that trained early? Any feedback you can provide the rest of us that may be thinking of starting early would be great!

caden1206 · July 2014

This whole process can be frustrating if done too early. I think sometimes parents confuse interest with being ready. I will get my daughter a potty when she shows interest, but probably won't start encourage potty training until a bit after two. My son potty trained in one day because we did it wheb he was ready. He had one accident awake and one accident at night his whole life. He was approaching three when this happened. Before that you could tell he physically and mentally wasn't ready.

delino · July 2014

beaubecca said:
I didn't take the poll because there was no s/s! I plan to look for signs of readiness before 2, but if no such luck I'll likely start training right around age 2, give or take a month or two.

This exactly

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2014

Sorry...what is s/s? @beaubecca‌

CNJ4EVA · July 2014

beaubecca said:
I didn't take the poll because there was no s/s!

Same.
I'd love to start training at 15m, but IMO it's a rare 15 month old that's ready for that.Having a newborn in that timeframe may also be an obstacle.

So my answer is when she shows signs of readiness.

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2014

beaubecca said:

TrulyBlessed22 said:

Sorry...what is s/s? @beaubecca‌

special snowflake for those of us that don't fit any of the categories listed!

Ooohhh, lol - sorry will add that next time.

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2014

caden1206 said:

This whole process can be frustrating if done too early. I think sometimes parents confuse interest with being ready. I will get my daughter a potty when she shows interest, but probably won't start encourage potty training until a bit after two. My son potty trained in one day because we did it wheb he was ready. He had one accident awake and one accident at night his whole life. He was approaching three when this happened. Before that you could tell he physically and mentally wasn't ready.

I've never gone through it but have heard it can be a doozy and have seen it be all over the place...younger and successful fairly quickly and on the opposite spectrum, older and still taking a long time. I will def. be looking for cues but I don't plan on getting crazy with it and if it's simply not showing signs of potential success in the near future then I will wait it out till later :-)

JoJo716 · July 2014

We will definitely wait until he shows signs and seems really ready. I am nervous about doing it early because I have heard it can cause kidney problems if done too soon or forcing it. I am also concerned that we are going to start trying for a sibling and I know that can cause regression as well. For moms with lo's in daycare, my mom told me that she did not even have to potty train me, they did it!

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2014

@JoJo716‌ I've never heard that about kidney problems but will def ask the Ped about it at her 15 month visit - thanks so much for bringing it to my attention.

c-elizabethf · July 2014

I will also watch for signs, I might buy a little potty around Christmas time and sit it in the bathroom but I won't force her or anything. I will just see if she's interested.

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2014

Food for thought. If nothing else I think it's worthy of a convo with the Ped. This is why I love this site. I can always count on you all for these things. Thanks @jojo716

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/Wellness/early-potty-training-harmful/story?id=16806522

Blueyed228 · July 2014

beaubecca said:

I didn't take the poll because there was no s/s! I plan to look for signs of readiness before 2, but if no such luck I'll likely start training right around age 2, give or take a month or two.

Same.

Ive read up on early potty training and they say the most important thing is to have no goal or expectation, and I find that people I know who go for really early potty training always have time frame and expectation (done by the time #2 gets here, etc).

Kashy · July 2014

DS is showing signs of being aware that he is peeing and even seems to hold it on purpose. For the past few weeks he has been peeing on purpose in the bath. I always let him run around naked while getting his bath ready and as soon as I stick him in the tub he will just stand there look down and pee. He also seems to grab the front of his diaper right after he pees.
I'm not looking to potty train him yet but I think we are going to get him a little potty and sit him on it before bath time.

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2014

@kashy funny, DD squats when she's pooping so I always know when she's going #2.

huzzahuzza · July 2014

My LO does the same qith his diaper when he's peeing.
I thought a friend of mine was crazy when she told me her 11 mo old poops on the potty every day... must be nice to have a consistent pooper!

TrulyBlessed22 · July 2014

huzzahuzza said:
My LO does the same qith his diaper when he's peeing.
I thought a friend of mine was crazy when she told me her 11 mo old poops on the potty every day... must be nice to have a consistent pooper!

LOL - DD has one consistent poop every morning but the rest not so much. I do know when she's pooping though cause the squat comes into play lol

huzzahuzza · July 2014

TrulyBlessed22 said:

huzzahuzza said:
My LO does the same qith his diaper when he's peeing.
I thought a friend of mine was crazy when she told me her 11 mo old poops on the potty every day... must be nice to have a consistent pooper!
LOL - DD has one consistent poop every morning but the rest not so much. I do know when she's pooping though cause the squat comes into play lol

I guess I do know when J is pooping because he disappears for a small little bit. Like he'll go around a corner and play for a little bit out of our sight. Then he comes back and he's got poop in his pants! But it's never at the same time! I'll be lucky if I get two days in a row!

coffeeandbooks · July 2014

I feel pretty clueless about potty training and definitely a little nervous. LO has pretty much always been my little shadow so he does go into the bathroom with me. While I am in there I tell him what I am doing. I feel like maybe that is preparing him a little bit, like he will eventually make the connection, but I am not seeing any signs that he is near ready.

I was just reading wonder weeks yesterday and some of the kids seemed to train right after a year, but it feels far fetched to me.

So my answer to the question, is I don't know what I am going to do, beyond just hope I get a real clear sense from him when he is ready.

fancefpp · July 2014

Um, my almost three year old isn't potty trained yet. Maybe I should tell him to focus.

emmy236 · July 2014

Well I apparently am the only jackass that has already started. And by started I mean I bought a potty and am starting to let R sit on it. He gives cues when he's about to poop so I think that is something I'll be able to tackle first. I guess I'm a little surprised people are waiting so long. In other parts it's common for most babies to be potty trained by 2. My mom, aunts all had us potty trained by two, some as young at 18 months. They are old school/old country though and consider something very wrong with the mom if she can't get her baby potty trained by then. She said you just put on "training pants" and the kids figured it out. I have no plans on just taking away diapers but I plan to go to pull ups probably around 18-20 months. Right now I put the potty in the bathroom and when I go potty I take him and sit him on his potty (pants still on) so he knows that's what it's for. My mom does try to sit him on it diaperless to see if he'll go. Our day care supports it and even his room of 12-18 month olds has a real potty in it. I'll probably get more serious around 15months.

blush64 · July 2014

My sons were trained before they were two because they were ready. It only took a couple of days and they were completely done. (no pull ups) They happened to be ready early. I will not push A. If she is actually ready early that is fine but I don't really care when she is ready.

At this point A is not ready. I am fine with following her timeline as long we get her trained by 4 years old for school. I think people put too much importance on potty training. It doesn't mean anything other than not having to buy diapers.

EDIT I think there is something wrong with someone who doesn't understand some kids are not ready by 2 years old. Thinking there is something wrong with a mother who hasn't trained her kids by 2 years old tells me there is something wrong with the person judging. It isn't old-school country in my opinion, it is just wrong. Some of my older relatives are old school and still understand not all kids are physically and/or mentally ready at 2 years old.

MamaMD · July 2014

I plan to wait until she shows interest. She isn't even walking independently yet so it seems a little early at this point. I work with a nurse practitioner who has pediatrics training and she said they usually recommend buying a potty and putting them on it once a day around 18 months (unless they are really showing interest sooner). That seems reasonable to me but we'll see how it goes.

PumpkinAndThePeanut · July 2014

We started around their first birthday after E was waking up with a dry diaper (after naps, and sometimes even in the morning) but I'm not pushing it. We sit them on it when they wake up, and sometimes they pee in it, sometimes they don't. If they don't want to sit on it, I take them off right away. No goal or "deadline" in mind. Honestly, not much progress has been made since we started and I'm fine with that.

Haven't tried poops on it. They squat and hide in the corner to poop so I know when it's happening but I can't leave the other one unattended while rushing the pooping one to the potty so it's a bit of a logistics problem.

ALP514 · July 2014

Her favorite seat in the house! lol She always follows me in the bathroom so I put the potty we got as a baby shower gift in there so she has somewhere to sit. Now she just goes and sits on it for fun. I don't plan on starting till around 2 or when she's ready but I thought this picture fit the post quite well!

AshleaB12 · July 2014

I plan to wait until whenever he is ready. I waited until my DD was just a bit older than 2.5 and it was a piece of cake. She basically just did it herself. We ditched the diapers and she only wore underwear during the day and a pull up at night. Once we started she only had a handful of accidents. She never does now and is now completely night time potty trained. I didn't want to have to train myself to constantly take her to the bathroom. I wanted to wait until she knew she needed to stop what she was doing and tell me she needed to go to the bathroom. I think that made it so much easier. A couple months ago I ran out of pull ups and took her to the store and let her pick any underwear she wanted for night time. She had been waking up with a dry pull up for a long time so I figured it was time to give it a whirl. A few people have told me boys can be a bit harder to potty train than girls so I just plan on watching DS cues and if it's before 2 then great and if it's closer to 3 that's fine with me too.

huzzahuzza · July 2014

My friend tried to potty train her son so that she didn't have two in diapers and as soon as baby #2 showed up he started having accidents again. He's 3.

kelseyhh · July 2014

Emmett doesn't seem anywhere even close to ready. I haven't thought about when I'll start. I guess when he starts to show signs, but I figured older than 2 for sure.

Lolalipsy · July 2014

Eliza's used the potty once for a tinkle but to be honest I can tell she hasn't a clue what's going on. I have no expections, I just put her on it before she has her bath every night and if she goes she goes. I'm just trying to get her to used to the idea of it.