Potty training at 14 months - madness, or a good idea? When should I start?

[User21276799]

DD will be 14 months soon. My MIL (fount of all parenting wisdom, ahem...) claims that all her kids were potty trained at 14 months and we should be doing the same. I've never heard it done so early, and all my friends seem to have started around 2.5yrs, if not later.

We're expecting DC2 in the Autumn, so I think I either have to do it before the new baby arrives (i.e. by the time DD is 18 months) or quite a while afterwards, sometime after she's 24 months (the idea of potty training with a newborn brings me out in a sweat!).

What's your advice??

The only vain hope you have is that you have a girl not a boy! I would say too early but give it a go if only to prove your MIL wrong!

Everyone I know was around 2.5 to 3.5yrs.

Your MIL is just wrong - all her kids may have been out of nappies at 14 months but they were NOT potty trained! In the "good old days" of cloth nappies etc there was a lot of pressure to train babies early. At 14 months though it is impossible for the child to know when they are going to go! A mum who "potty-trained" at this young age had to be watching the whole time (and regularly sitting the baby on the pot). Unless you want to waste time/energy this way and risk putting your daughter off the potty, I'd advise waiting till she's around 24 months - or, better still, until she shows signs of knowing she's about to need the potty for herself. My DD wasn't potty trained until she was 2.5, but the process took only 5 days and we had only 1 accident because I waited until she was ready. Hope this helps!

it is not impossible, some children do know when they want to go, most don't because they have been trained to wee in their nappies. you do not have to be watching them all the time, my 3 were able to ask/make a noise/sign they wanted to go by then and two were out of nappies totally by 15 months. However, i would say it is something i had been doing since they were about 5-8 months old - ie putting on the potty regularly so it may not work so well in an older child. Give it a go in a low key way, putting them on the potty at sensible intervals and see what happens - don't stress about , your child may decide to or not, i wouldn't force it. My two girls told me they didn't want pants anymore at 15 months but to be honest had been clean and dry between changes for a long time before that.
(The nappy industry wants you to think that 2.5 -3 years is the best time!)