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Parenting

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Original poster

Early potty training.

14 replies

SBailey · 23/04/2006 21:06

I've been potty training my DS for a month now (just turned 21 months this week) and for all I only have 1 child (so I don't have a huge amount of experience) I don't understand why other's wait until their kiddies are 2.5 - 3 years old. My friends with kids the same age think I'm mad but so far we haven't had an accident whilst out and he's only had 2 accidents all week. From bits and pieces I've read kids stop wanting to please you once they hit 2 so why not potty train them younger? I know myself and my sisters were potty trained by the time we were 2 and I'm sure my parents and their parents would have been also. My DS doesn't talk yet but I pick up on his cues and he hasn't had time to become afraid of the big toilet which he uses when we're out (with a foldable cushie tushie seat) and doesn't yet manipulate me so it seemed the perfect time. We haven't mastered pooing on the potty or toilet yet but it's early days and I'm sure he'll get there.

I don't mean to offend anyone - just in case I have!

Samantha

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fastasleep · 23/04/2006 21:08

Tried my ds at that age and he screamed, became afreaid of his potty and the toilet and smeared poo everywhere which then really upset him, we only got one poo (or wee!) in the potty and that was just luck..

all kids are different!

NotAnOtter · 23/04/2006 21:09

it just depends on the child ..some want to some dont, mine have trained at 20, 19 26 an 25 months in that order... i used to think i would train them all early but you never can tell. two year olds can be stubborn bu^%ers!!

WibbleWobbleBum · 23/04/2006 21:10

I waited until my dd was almost 3 because she wasn't ready ... it simply wouldn't have worked for us. I'm glad that doing it early has been right for you, but it certainly wasn't for my dd.

The best time to potty train is when the child is ready, imo ... and you can't put a date on that, it happens when it happens. All children are different, thank goodness.

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Bozza · 23/04/2006 21:11

Well my DD is 23 months and I plan to train her at the end of May when she will be 24.5 months. At 21 months she wouldn't go near the potty or toilet. So I'm not sure I agree with all your arguments. FWIW I would have potty trained her then but for that they don't have toilet facilities in her room at nursery. She is moving into the next room at the beginning of May, but then we have her birthday and a few days away and I plan to try her then.

MrsStrutsHerStuff · 23/04/2006 21:28

lol training for a MONTH now, try 3days sweetheart dd was 2.4 and dd same (28m) exact. with all your hard work(a month) you haven't mastered pooing, well sorry to say its all part of traning, if thats a month down try another for the pooing or you could wait till baby is a little older and get peeing and pooing all done with, so there you have it, some of us wait till they are past 2 because its EASIER (for them and us as parents), and for your kids stop wanting to please you once they hit 2 is a load of balls, my ds is 7 and loves nothing more of his mummy and daddy being proud of him so really he loves pleasing us by the sweet things he does, can you see some posts get on my goat{grin]

Original poster

SBailey · 23/04/2006 22:46

I didn't see any other posts for potty training kids under 2 and I think it's because too many mother's are put off potty training early because we're told you have to wait until "the child's ready" and that "it's easier and takes less time when they're older", and I know it's only been a month but bloody hell I think it's progress and I wasn't expecting it. I could have waited until he was 2.5 and made less progress in a month and still had the same problems with pooing!

MrsStrutHerStuff - I was referring to the "terrible two's" so would expect your 7 year old to enjoy pleasing you!

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moondog · 23/04/2006 22:49

I potty trained dd at about 21 mths and am about to start with ds who is the same age.
(I need to get a bigger potty first.There is a serious overhang problem with dd's old one!!)

I didn't find it hard. Mind yuo,I use cloth nappies,so think they become more quickly aware of being wet and uncomfortable than with disposables.

I couldn't tolerate the thought of changing nappies for another year! Yuck!

Nemo1977 · 23/04/2006 22:55

completely depends on your child. My ds at 20mths plus would happily sit on a potty and wee etc. I was pregnant so couldnt be bothered to follow through with any training. However when the baby arrived Ds was 2.2yrs and he decided he didnt want to wear nappies and from then on has been trained of a day. I havent even tried of a night and am sure he will let me know when he is ready.

WigWamBam · 23/04/2006 23:02

When dd was ready, she was dry straightaway, and within a couple of days we were having no accidents at all. I had no desire to pither about for a month and still be regularly having accidents - that makes as little sense to me as waiting until they're older makes to you. I didn't put off potty training because I thought it was too difficult; I simply waited for the right time for dd and me. It made sense to me to do it that way, it felt pointless to try when I knew she hadn't made the correlation between the feeling of needing a wee and the actual weeing. The fact that it was quick, easy and painless suggests to me that I did the right thing for her.

There are other considerations too - for me, it wasn't only about bowel and bladder control. It was important that dd could tell me she needed to go, and could get her own clothes up and down herself so that she could use the potty herself whenever she needed to. Otherwise I felt it was making things far harder than they needed to be. We all do what we feel is right for our children, and the fact that you don't understand it doesn't mean that it isn't the right thing for other people.

MrsStrutsHerStuff · 24/04/2006 16:08

terrible two's whats that? my dd is 2 nearly 3 don't know what terrible 2 is?

munchkinsusie · 25/04/2006 09:32

just thought i should add my experience into this. i've decided to follow my mum's advice and do what she did with me and my brothers, and what she says most people did then. my daughter is 13 months and i have started using the potty with her. the idea is that she is still permenantly in nappies (and i use terry squares by the way) but when you're at home you put her on the potty when you think she's about to go. i also put her on the potty when i need to go as well. so far we've had two wees and two poos in the potty - and thats after four days at home. i know that this is not "potty training" in the current sense of the word because there's no way she could get herself to the potty - and at the moment she cant tell me in any form that she needs her potty, but i hope that this will help her learn what a potty is for, how to use it and hopefully she will start to tell me she wants to use it in the next 6 months (my mum says she should be potty trained for poohs by the time she's 18 months and then wee by the time she's 2). yes, this does take a bit of effort, whisking her off to the potty when she passes wind or makes a 'pooh face' but i'd much rather sit with her on the potty reading a book together for 5 minutes (and by the way, she's more than happy to sit there) than have to clean up a bottom covered with pooh - which incidentally she also hates and has started to really have a crying fit when i have to change a pooh nappy. is there anyone else out there doing this?

hulababy · 25/04/2006 09:57

My take on potty training was to wait until DD was ready to do it herslef. This turned out to be 24 months. And because she was ready and fully understood what was involved, wanted to do it herself, and was physcially able to take herself there, remove her cothes and pullt hem back on after, potty training was a doodle. She was completely dry with no accidents by day 3. I can't imagine having had it go on for a month or more.

I really think early potty training is very often, although granted not always, is not about the child being potty trained but about the parent training themselves to take their child to a potty/toilet to use.

IMO they are not the same thing.

Psychobabble · 25/04/2006 21:28

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

fsmail · 28/04/2006 21:49

My Ds was just over 3 when clean and dry and then took two days when he found out he could not go to pre-school until trained. He was instantly dry at night too. My DD (21 months likes to go to the toilet when I go or her brother goes, has her own little perch next to ours and sometimes takes me by the hand to her perch although still in nappies and therefore am buying a potty over the next few days to try her. I was going to leave it later because of DS but she seems a lot more forward and is very interested in it so she is a different kettle of fish. However, talk to me in two weeks and I may have given up.

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