When did you start potty training your LO?

[JugglingMum17]

My LO is 19 months now, still has heavy nappies even during his nap and he still is not communicating when he is about to do a wee or poo so I don't think he is quite ready to give up nappies just yet.

Just curious to find out when you all started?

What method worked well for you? Ie crash course or gradually over a long period

[mistermagpie]

My DS is 21 months and pretty much the same as yours. I don't think he's anywhere near potty training yet and aim to reassess when he's a bit older - maybe 2.5? Most of my friends with kids started potty training between 2 and 3 with the greatest (fastest) success being with the older kids.

[NuclearMumb]

A bit early i think. Started at just about 2 with my DD, had to give it up, tried again when she was 2.5, no trouble at all. With my DS, it was his initiative. At 23 months he was refusing to have nappies on so we gave it a go but agreed with him after a couple of extremely messy weeks that he would have pull ups. Tried again when his brand of nappies changed and started to give him a rash, no luck. He was properly potty trained at 2yrs 9months.
There definitely is such a thing as 'being ready' and my kids definitely weren't!

[Juanbablo]

With ds1 I tried at about 2.5 but he wasn't ready. We tried again at 2.10 and he got it easily.

Dd potty trained herself at 22 months. She literally took her nappy off one day and used ds1's potty and that was it.

Ds2 was 2.7 and took to it very easily.

Basically, what I'm saying is, if they are ready then it won't be a hard slog. And they will do it quickly.

[MyFavouriteName]

About 2.5. He got it in 3 days, pretty much. Didn't try earlier so don't know if he would have got it before.

[anyadviceformee]

I tried at 24 months but he just wasn't ready for it. Tried again at 28 months and he picked it up within a week - still wears nappies for bed

[StinkPickle]

Tried at 2.5 he wasn't ready so tried at 2.10 and he got it easily.

Second child tried at 2.10 he wasn't ready tried at 3.0 he got it fine then.

[bigredboat]

DD is 27 months, she trained herself about a month ago. We've had a potty around the house to play with for months, she kept just going and weeing on it during nappy free time so we just went from there, I reminded her every hour or so the first few days but now she's pretty good at telling me when she needs to go or just going and doing it. I wasn't planning on training her just yet but you'll know when your child is ready.

[Lollyb86]

Just over 2..she got it pretty quick and was out of nappies/pull ups in the daytime within the week and was out of nightime pull ups within 6 months

[Stormwhale]

Started with my dd at 2.5, but she just wasn't ready despite having dry nappies during her nap. I kept trying every couple of months, but she wasn't truly ready until after she was 3. Before then she would get upset at the idea of pooing on a potty/toilet and it would all fall apart. When she decided she was ready it was easy. We stayed home for 2 days and she cracked it with no accidents. She has been reliably dry since then with only very occasional accidents if she is too engrossed in what she is doing.

[Decsbetterhalf]

3.5years - DS got it in 3 days. No accidents after day 4

[cliffdiver]

DD1 was 2yr 9months - she was dry in the day within days and dry at night within a month.

DD2 was 1yr 10months - she was dry in the day by 2yr 2months. However, it took her until her third birthday to poo in the toilet. She's now 3yr 1month and still in nappies at night.

[MrsBellefleur]

Dd was between 2 and 3 as she was potty trained before she started nursery at 3.

We tried closer to two and she wasn't ready at all so after a couple of disastrous days stopped trying and started again a couple of months later. She got it in one day.

We used a reward jar, she got a milk bottle lid in a jar for every wee and two for a poo and every few days my mum would swap them for 20ps. When she had a decent amount of money (we also put some towards her present) we took her to the toy shop to choose a present.

[user1487372252]

You could buy a potty and see how he responds to it.

Go with nappy off in the house/playing in garden first to see how it goes and once you've both mastered this try trips out.

Try and be relaxed about it and go with what lo wants. If they're not ready leave it for a bit. Trying to push it too soon can lead to it taking longer.

There's also good wee book - princess polly for girls pirate Pete for boys. I think this helped my 2.

[CircleofWillis]

At 3.5 over a bank holiday weekend. A few accidents when out for a month afterwards then fine. Still in nappies at night but these are mostly dry.

[DorotheaHomeAlone]

Just turned two. Took a couple of weeks to be completely Day dry. Left night nappy a coyotes more months. She was ready earlier and interested but I had a newborn and couldn't face it.

[CassandraAusten]

DS1 was 25m - a bit early in hindsight, he took quite a while to get the hang of it. DD was 26m and was incredibly easy with hardly any accidents. DS2 was 32m and had loads of accidents in the first week - I nearly gave up - but then something seemed to click and he was fine.

I always go cold turkey, nappies off (except at night or nap time) on the basis that it's less confusing for them than a "sometimes nappy, sometimes pants" approach.

[MelinaMercury]

There's no rush, they'll let you know when they're ready :)

One of mine was 3.9yo, dry day and night from day 2. The other was 2.10yo and had accidents probably about half the time.

Neither have ever used a potty, they much preferred hopping onto the toilet.

[MelinaMercury]

Oh and i think cold turkey works best too.

No nappies in daytime, EVER!
Pull ups at night so they can go to the toilet before bed and in the morning or through the night.

[HorraceTheOtter]

DS was 3. Took until he was almost 4. DD was just 2 took 2 days at her initiative. He was dry at night by 4, she was by 2.2.

[MissCalamity]

DS was 2.6 trained quite quickly but struggled to poo in the potty & was constipated for a couple of weeks. He was dry at night less than a month after starting training him & never had an accident.

DD wasn't ready until 2.10 - 2 months on she has a few wee accidents when she's engrossed in something, she's nailed pooing in the potty/toilet but is still wet at night.

I honestly thought dd would potty train quicker & earlier but it goes show they're all ready at different times!

[neversleepagain]

My twins decided at 2.8 that nappies were no longer for them. There was very little input from me as they were really ready.

[MusicToMyEars800]

I started potty training at 18months, my dd used to just roam around with nothing on, I found pull ups didn't work, she was dry during the day just a bit before she turned 2yrs 6months, it was messy and not easy but persistence payed off.

[SleepingBooty]

I waited until 3yrs for both of them. Took a few days. No way was I going to be clearing up accidents for months.

[skankingpiglet]

I started putting DD1 on the potty before bath time at 16mo, and kept her on it by chatting/singing etc then praising any coincidental successes. By 21mo she was recognising when she needed to go, asking to use it regularly (and successfully) throughout the day and was easily managing 4hrs between wees, so we went for it. She got the hang of it within a couple of weeks. We have however had a number of set backs eg when her baby sister arrived, but even with those plus other occasional accidents (usually down to getting too involved with her toys and not wanting to stop to go to the toilet, or being stubborn because I asked rather than her requesting to use the loo) I'm glad she trained when she did. It's been hard work but for me having one less year of washing nappies, or in fact another year's worth of disposables going to landfill if we were using those, has made it worth it. The occasional pair of wet trousers is a lot less work than nappy washes every other day.
I think using cloth does make a difference to when they train though. Both because the child gets the wet feeling and learns when they've gone better with cloth, and because the parents have an extra incentive to get them trained. I saw a chart a while back plotting average potty training age against the introduction of the domestic washing machine and disposable nappies. The average age in the 1950's was 18m!

[JugglingMum17]

Okay I will reassess when he is then.... he will be 2 in September so maybe if I started I can see whether he is ready. If not I will try at 2.5 years.