14mo wants to use potty - what to do?

[Queenchewchew]

I thought I had a while before I had to worry about this but my 14mo has taken an interest in using the potty since he’s seen my friend’s older tot using the potty and I feel totally unprepared.

He’s asking for the potty and will try to use it if I leave it out and his nappy off but he’s small even for his age and he doesn’t seem to be tall enough to get onto it properly, so it keeps ending in disaster. I’ve tried finding cloth training pants but they all seem to start at 2-3 years and he only just into 9-12 months clothes.

I don’t want to discourage him when he’s interested but I also don’t know how to encourage him? Any tips?

What sort of potty do you have? Basic ones (rather than fancy ‘mini toilets’) are designed for small toddlers so should be fine.
I think that expecting to toilet train at this age is probably a bit ambitious but absolutely leave the potty out and at nappy time / bath time / after lunch invite him to sit on it if he’s willing. Lots of praise for anything he manages to do.
As for pants, it’s unlikely that the smallest size will fall down and it’s actually easier to pull them up and down if they’re a bit big. DD was 26 months and wearing 12-18m clothes when she potty trained - we found 1.5-2year pants and these were fine.

My eldest toilet trained at that age and was dry at night too by 18 months so it is possible. We never used potties though, we went straight to the toilet with all of ours.

Definitely just let him use the potty, especially before and after bath time, in the morning etc. my DC trained around this age and we're reliably dry and clean by day before 18m. You can get smaller absorbent pants on cloth nappy websites. I had some for ages 12-18 months.

That’s encouraging to hear! I’ll need to get a seat and a step and try him on the toilet

I have been letting him try to use the potty but he seems to be too short to get on it properly on his own (it’s just a bog standard ikea one)

That’s good to hear. Do you remember which brand they were?

If you do plan on going straight to they toilet, get one of the seat inserts first. My youngest fell in the toilet a number of times when young. 🤦🏻‍♀️

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Training-Upgrade-Toddler-Toilet-Anti-Slip/dp/B0BRSF2MVF

let him have a go and invest in one of these. My youngest was fully trained at 2 after watching his older brother. I’m certain younger is possible .

A toilet seat with the toddler seat attached and then use a stool would probably be a better option if he is struggling to sit on potty, my daughter was potty trained at 19 months. Next challenge if you are successful is trying to find pants that small!