When, roughly, are people starting potty training these days?

[EightiesChick]

Have just had phone coversation with my mother where she said 'Oh well, the next step for DS will be toilet training and pull ups I suppose'. I said 'Eventually, yes'. DS is 18 months. I wasn't planning to start this at all soon, really, as I was under the impression that the theory now was to leave it longer as they tend just not to be ready before a certain age (2? 2.5?) and therefore you are saving yourself tears by waiting. But I can't for the life of me remember where I've got this impression from, so:

How old were your DCs when you started trying to toilet train them? And would you recommend that age to someone else (ie me)?

Well past their second birthdays! DS1 (lazy boy) was not far off three, in fact. DD1 was around two-and-a-half, and DD2 I can't remember, but would have been in the same ball-park. Don't even think about it until they are ready, show an interest, can sit still for 30 seconds etc!!

DD is till ongoing (long story) at 4.5

Ds at 2.1 is fast showing an interest, just missed doing a poo on it tonight and very jeen to wipe his bum.

DS is 2.3 and is just starting to show an interest, he gets himself undressed and sits on the potty quite happily for a short while. I'm not sure that he has quite figured out what he supposed to do after that though as he hasn't actually done anything in it yet!

I wouldn't worry about it, most of the people i know didn't successfully train their DC's until around 3

When they are ready!! We seem to have had a potty knocking around for ever so it's not a big deal iyswim, and in both cases the boys have instigated the training (of which there was very little)

DS1 was nearly 4 we had tried before and never got anywhere so left for him to decide, which he did one day with a shout of mum I've done a wee... he was sat on the toilet!

DS2 (2.6) decided he wanted to wear DS1's pants on Thursday I said ok but you will need to go on the potty if you need a wee, which he did, and is now completely potty trained, been shopping all day today without an accident

sorry that was ridiculously long

Oh and just to warn you I had MIL asking from practically DS1's birth about why he wasn't in pants yet, it will be question you don't actually hear when said!!

MrsT - did you find somewhere to stay on Thursday?

DD1 was about 23 months

DS nearly 3

DD2 is only 18 months and not planning to do anything anytime soon.

We started at 25 months. DD reliably dry almost straight away. Poos took a bit longer though.

If I were to do it again I would start sooner - not strictly potty training though, just leaving the potty around and encouraging them to play with it / sit on it a first.

This makes it easier when you actually train them as they are used to it and not anxious about using it.

FiveGoMad, I just knew I'd find you on this thread!

DS turned 4 early this month and we're getting nowhere. He will not, will not, will not use a potty or the loo.

At all.

Ever.

Starts school in September and I'm trying soooo hard to be casual about it all.

LadyCad, I seem to have become obsessed, It is very hard being casual about it but we discovered that getting cross got us nowhere. She seems (touch wood) to have got the hang of the weeing bit.

We had a treat jar, full of small sweets etc that after anyone in the house went to the loo we used, this acted as some incentive for her as she wouldnt get the treat until she used the loo but she was a bit miffed that other people were. You could maybe try that. We also tried toilet tokens, which she got after using the loo, she got small presents as a reward for collecting so many tokens. Our problem is that these had a limited lifespan but they did work so you could maybe try to get him going.

DD1 was 2.5 years and was showing an interest in the toilets at nursery and what the 'big children' did. We used a sticker reward chart and she had the hang of it in about 3 days, poos took about a fortnight until they were consistently in the potty. From talking about it with my friends she seems about average age-wise.

Generalisation possibly, but the ones who have struggled tended to be the ones who started earlier.

dd was around 2 1/2. ds showed an interest early on and was trained for daytime by the time he turned 2.

We've just managed at 3rd attempt with DD - she is 3.2 yrs.

DS was 2.11 yrs so I don't have early potty users amongst my kids!!

I have to say that once they got the hang of it, they have been dry within a week. 18 months sounds really young to me although several friends of mine have potty trained their kids successfully under the age of 2.

I started on Monday with dd who is 2.10. It is going pretty well so far, we have been out and about and she has only had one accident at home. I was waiting for the summer holidays to begin, I probably could have started in the last couple of months. I left ds until he was just past 3 and we did it in a week, no accidents.

This was despite mil going on and on at me from a ridiculously young age! I do think it's never too early to have a potty around though.

when ready, ds was just under 3 years old and was ready and also 2 other children in nursery started potty training at the same time, which is an advantage.

when ready. definitely.

we nearly started DD before DS was born (2y2m difference) but decided against it because I'd read she'd be likely to regress anyway when new baby arrived. tried a few months later but got nowhere, DD was scared of 'letting go' I think.

then out of nowhere we managed to get DD to wee in the potty last monday night! she's 3.1. on the tuesday she had 2 accidents, on friday she had an accident at nursery, dry other than that! it was so quick, I am now so so glad we waited until she was ready. she's been out and about and everything, no problems. just realised she isn't weeing at night now so we're ditching the night nappy too tonight - was expecting it to be a few months down the line, but we'll see!

a really good thing about leaving it so late is that I haven't had to do the constant reminding thing - she realises herself when she needs to go and tells me in good time or just goes to the potty by herself. I basically let her wet herself (i.e. I knew she needed a wee but didn't force her to sit on the potty) - it did her no harm but it helped her realise what weeing actually was!

I got a bit upset in the past that people with early trainers seemed to think late training means the child is less intelligent! ridiculous thing to think.

"I got a bit upset in the past that people with early trainers seemed to think late training means the child is less intelligent! ridiculous thing to think."

absolutely agree, children who are "more intelligent" often get dry later, maybe because they focus on more interesting things and forget about the toilet...

I was trained at 2.9 - not that late now, but 20yrs ago it was quite late. I was a precocious little madam, in fact I may well have been reading a little before being dry

I think it's just luck, really, it depends on so many factors - physical, emotional etc

Definitely depends on the child - go at their speed.

I have three boys who were trained at 2.1, 3.1 and 1.10. They were all so different and showed signs of being ready to 'have a go' at different times...

We potty trained my DS 2.8 on holiday last month, quite a good time to do it as relaxed, reliably around him for a full week, and he was fine, then about a week later he kept asking to go for a wee after bedtime and it seemed confusing to say 'well, it's nighttime so do it in your nappy'. So the next night he actually refused to wear his nappy. Like you I was dreading changing wet sheets in the night and bought 4 sets of them just in case. In the end, in the space of 4 or 5 weeks we have only had two night time accidents. and sometimes in the mornings he can be up for half an hour before going for a (huge!!) morning wee. So you might be surprised! I think their control quickly improves once they are potty trained, the only very annoying thing is you get called after bedtime if they need a wee, and this for us is turning into an attention thing and a delaying tactic at bedtimes, so perhaps this would be better handled by an older child. I'd say go as long as he is happy with the night time nappy and maybe wait until he is dry at night. But I wouldn't have known my DS was dry at night - he always used to wee in his nappy at night right up until the night I took it off him. All I would say is, when you first do it, have all your stuff to change him and the bed right by the bed, and somewhere to plonk your half-asleep child like a folded up duvet so they don't completely wake up whilst you're doing the changing. Sounds obvious but the first time I did it I was fumbling around for ages in the dark trying not to wake him up too much. Sorry, bit long! (Bored at work.)

My DD was about 2.7 and DS was exactly three at which time he also stopped wetting nappy at night so all nappies stopped then with only one or two night accidents. Agree with others if you think they are ready give it a go but if it dosen't work out try again later. Don't feel pressurised into it, will not be good for you or DS.
One other thing it's a lot easier than you think, I remember dreading the whole thing particularly with my DS as heard boys were much harder but actually it was very straight forward. Good Luck.

1.11, day and night from the start.