when and how to potty train

arazzaia · July 2015

Ok my little one is almost 16 months old and I was wondering when to start potty training? Also how do I go about this??

jesselayne8 · July 2015

Read "Oh Crap, Potty Training". It will tell you ideal window for training and give you step by step instructions.

Perfect Sonnet · July 2015

I am sure some kids potty train at 16 months, but that seems so young to me. Mine started when she was just about three. But we didn't start until we were forced into it by our daycare.

As far as how to go about it, we just stopped putting her in diapers and told her she had to use the potty now. At that point she was old enough to understand what that meant. She had some accidents and we still have some bumps, but she has basically got it now. It helps that she is in pre-school/daycare and sees all of her friends going all day too.

Bigboobsmcgee · July 2015

16 months seems really young to me too.

keyshahart · July 2015

From what ive read every toddler is different. They can be ready anywhere from 18mon-3yrs. They will show signs like stsying dry for longer than 2 hrs, telling you when theyve gone or need to go and they need to dhow interest in the potty. I introduced the potty at about 20mon and just used it in the am and after naps. Recently at 23months i attempted the 1 week potty training and was successful. The first and forth days were full of accidents but after a week shes done great. We can even go out and she tells us when she has to go. Goodluck.

red3ye · July 2015

Every child is differnt. At 2 my niece decided to potty train. It's true, believe it or not, she was done with diapers and withing 48 hours stopped having any accidents. With her sister, days and days of work. My son is fighting it. He has the signs of being ready, but won't go in the potty chair. Will sit on it until he needs to go, then gets up and pees on the floor

MesmrEwe · August 2015

As others have said "Every child is different" and what works for one won't work for another. Better to start early and get them used to the idea of sitting and reinforce how fun it is (read books, bubbles, and most of all, have a sticker chart for being successful!) Be flexible and use what works for your child. I was the smug trainer of a girl who was done day and night by 28mo who we started around the same age as your LO...Then DS came along who is the polar opposite - Good Heavens, we've done it all with him, finally, we threw in the towel and all of a sudden he decided because his friends were done at daycare he wanted to be too without an accident... Now to get him done at home too which is proving to be a bigger challenge (as long as he's buff - no problem... If he's got ANYTHING on, nope, poop accident city...

Whatever you do, use what works FOR YOU!

SLGILL1978 · August 2015

I agree with every child is different. 16 months does seem young. I would follow his/her lead. Wait until they show interest and/or start asking. Don't force him, because often times it'll take a lot longer to potty train.

patriciahomol · August 2015

I agree with pp, we didn't even try to potty train until ds was a month before turning 3.

jmugirl38 · August 2015

16 months may or may not be too young- depends definitely on the child from my experience with my own and working in daycare previously. With my DD, she showed signs around the age of 2 that she wanted to potty train- ie, not wanting to be in a wet or dirty diaper at all, staying drier longer. We introduced the potty around 18 months just so she could see it, get used to it, etc. We also started to flush her poop in potty from her diapers so she could see that this goes in toilet too. After her second birthday, we slowly started the process- did it during summer, easier with her wearing summer dresses to potty train :-) She was day trained first, I read that night training usually doesn't get mastered until around 3yr old, but she is over 3 and still working on that part! Good luck!!!

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