Potty Training

[Mine]

Hi there

I was wondering if there was an average age when you need to start potty training..??

DS is almost 18months old. He doesn;t say very many words, but understands so much more.

If i ask him if he has done a poo, he will nod or shake his head depending etc. But he can;t actually say the words if you know what i mean....

I think he's a little bit too young to start potty training, but everyone around me keeps asking why i'm waiting to train him as he should be out of nappies by now

Very confused first time mum!

I think that for the majority of boys 18months is extremely young to be training. Unless you want to spend your life chasing after him with a potty of course. I've also heard it all before from my Mum that we were all clean and dry by 18 months. But I am sure that is because in her day Mums all had to wash terry nappies and therefore there was a great incentive to catch as much as you could in a potty to save on laundry.

My mum also reckons most people potty trained around 18 months back then - these days it is usually somewhere between 2 yrs and 3 yrs, totally depending on the child.
Dd1 I started at 2.3 mo and she was easy
dd2 I did the same and she was a nightmare, still wets herself sometimes now, just turned 5. Looking back I should have left her later rather than followed what I did for dd1.
ds is 2 next month, we have a potty he knows is his, he tries to wee in it sometimes when nappy is off, but so far nothing in it. I think I wil wait fot the summer to start it for real. He can run round naked then!

My MIL insists my husband was "potted" (expression drives me mad!!) by 3 months!!! Not sure I believe this although I think putting them on the "pot" at certain times of the day was common then!!!.

I dreaded it starting my DS. He was two and a half. I put aside a week at the end of the summer to do it and although it was a very dull and repetitive week, we pretty much had it sorted in two weeks - I was gobsmacked!! I made sure we went out for a hour a day (without nappy) just to keep me sane though!!

From what I read at the time, the worst thing to do once you have taken them out of nappies, is to put them back in again so if you do start DS now, there may be a temptation to put him back into nappies if he doesn't take to it!!

I personally think he is a bit young. I wouldn't consider it until he can at least say the words 'wee' and 'poo'. Don't feel pressured by others, you could try if you like but don't beat yourself up if he dosn't get it straight away.

thank you.
I'm certainly going to wait until the summer and i'm sure he;ll be able to say a few more words by then.

Will i ever learn to ignore other peoples comments and go with my instincts