Toilet trained at 18mo

[Mammie81]

MIL and I dont always see eye to eye, and on this one we def dont.

Shes a nursery nurse and mentioned over dinner that a girl at her nursery is toilet trained at 18mo. She thought this was terrible, why would you do it to such a young baby blah blah blah. Its too early.

But I saw this as a bloody triumph! Who ever trained this young girl was clearly a magician! Im a first time mum and Ive not got anywhere near to toilet training yet, so Ive no idea really of how hard/easy it might be (but friends have led me to believe its a tough one), and if I didnt have to change nappies at 18months Im sure Id be ecstatic.

AIBU to not see the down sides to this like MIL does? What ARE the downsides? I cant see why this would be a bad thing?

'It's forcing in as much as you're putting pressure on a baby to take responsibility for its own toilet habits before it's ready'
Running round after a toddler with a potty , which is what someone was describing 'forced' training as is not really getting them to take responsibility though is it?
I don't see how you can 'force' a child to be trained before they are physically ready

So what if the baby was potty trained at 18 months. It's not a race. It's not a competition. (Personally I think it is ridiculously early and wonder what on earth the parents were thinking of putting that pressure on a little baby).

The right time for potty training is when your child is ready for it.

Every time I put a nappy on my DD from 17 months she took it off and politely handed it to me. I did not want her out of nappies as I was struggling to potty train her 3 year old brother. She did and was dry day and night from then on.

DD2 as 17 months. I thought she was a prodigy! a genius!

turns out she wasn't and is just your average pain in the arse teenager now.

I am always hearing stories of the 'olde days' where kids were toilet trained at 2..no sorry 18 momths...no sorry a year. in fact they were toilet trained before they were born.

I toilet trained mine at 23 months and that worked for us, minus a poo or two! Who cares just do it when it's right for you.