Early toilet training - tips please

[lola88]

Has anyone toilet trained around 18mo? I need some tips as I've not toilet trained so young before DN was about 2.5 so could talk better.

DS has shown interest in potty training for a few months but I've not started actively training. We have a potty which is around and he sits on from time to time but has never actually used it but the last week every time I go to the loo he's patting his nappy and wanting to sit on it. This morning we were in the livingroom and he suddenly started to pat and took me to the toilet by the time we removed his sleep suit and nappy he'd already went (he was still dripping so I could tell) but he still sat on for a moment. So i'm thinking he's ready to train but I'm not sure if i should go for the full training or get some pull ups and go slow since he's so little.

Any tips would be great

I'd just take it v slowly. If he can't communicate effectively yet you'll both find it very hard. I used the book potty training for boys which is excellent and for early (pre training) stages recommends things like having the potty around and catching wee in a pot when in the bath and tipping it into the loo while making a bug fuss about how great it is.

Ds fully sorted at 2 including nights after a couple of weeks of painless training. Chocolate buttons involved! BUT he was an early talker and was physiologically ready.

Training, particularly a boy, at 18 months would be v v unusual. You can always try but be prepared to back off quickly if not ready.

Pullups are imo a waste of time. They're either ready or they're not.

Thanks :) he is quite good a communicating using a mix of words and signs for example to go to the toilet he will pat his nappy say go out and take me out to the loo and pull at his nappy/trousers and say up.

I've never been a pull ups fan but he's getting really annoyed when I don't take his nappy off for him to sit on the loo when we are out I thought maybe pull ups so he can sit when he wants to?

TBH I'd hoped to get closer to 2 but he just seems ready now :(

Personally I'm a pull ups fan. Ds doesn't have many accidents but if one happens I'd rather not have a huge mess to clean up. You could get cloth training pants? Bright bots ones will hold a small wee/accident. No harm in trying I think. You'll soon see if he's ready or not. Just don't stress about it or place any expectations on him.

I started mine quite early (not as young as yours though), they were in cotton nappies so it was easier in a way than regular disposables to get them off quick and put them back on again. I also have some potty training pants which can hold a small wee if we didn't get there in time. We had pottys all over the house - bathroom, upstairs, downstairs, and one that followed him round the room! If we were home for long enough and not too busy I would just leave his nappy/pants off and a potty nearby then he would go use the potty himself.

My dd2 was potty trained at 19 months, on holiday. Ds at 22 months, despite having a severe speech disorder. Dd1 was just before she was two.

I don't really see the link between talking and potty training, if they can't talk, you can always use signing.

I used pull ups occasionally for long car journeys and places where there might not be a toilet close by. To be honest, pull ups weren't really necessary as my children were realible at using the toilet, but I used them anyway so I wouldn't get stressed out hunting for a toilet.

As you can see, we broke all the so-called rules. If I had read mumsnet at the time, I probably wouldn't have believed my children were ready to be potty trained much before the age of three, as they were all late talkers.

We also used cloth nappies, if that made a difference, I'm not sure.

Thank you all. I'm going to get some pull ups tomorrow and have a trial run for a few days to see if he's ready. I think it's me that's not ready tbh by the time dn potty trained she say telling me in sentances and we lived with my mum who did it going it alone with a little one is a scary prospect!

Ds has done everything much earlier he's been a surprise after lazy dn

I potty trained DD1 at about 2.4, it was a bit of a traumatic full on process. I hadn't really done any warm up on it at all and launched straight into full on no nappy potty training. With DD2 and DS I started much earlier and much more slowly. From about 18 months potty was there and they sat on it fairly regularly (after naps, before bath sort of thing) and had fairly regular nappy free time at home. All very gentle and non stressful. Mine had been in cloth, but once they started doing occasional wees in the potty I switched to standard pull ups as so much easier. Choc buttons always given if anything went in the potty or loo. With DD2 we went cold turkey on nappies at about 21 months and she was trained within a couple of days. DS decided to ditch nappies a few days after he turned 2 (nothing to do with me - we were in the middle of moving house so not exactly good timing), but like DD2 he had very few accidents. So I'd say just take it very easy, regular potty trips, reading books on potty, a variety of those how to use the potty type books (Pirate Pete was my DS's favourite), talk about it in an information (rather then pressuring way) at nappy changes (Oh look you have done a poo, soon your poos will all go in the potty, won't that be nice) and that will just make life easier when you come to training properly once he has got the general idea.

Thanks Nelly that's pretty much what I had in mind, it seems easier to go at his pace while he's still small. I don't want to turn it into a total drama he will be the first to start any type of training of my friends babies so I know there would be lots of non intended preassure if we went full pelt at it.

My DS1 started at around 18 months just by getting him to have a sit on the potty and him getting used to it. I 'd noticed him lifting his t.shirt and looking at his tummy whenever he was about to wee or poo so if I saw this I'd quickly sit him on the potty ( was just a bonus if anything went in though!) . Although he didn't really speak til after two he was pretty much trained by then.
DS2 is 19 months and has just started wanted to copy his brother and wants to try the potty. He's only done this a couple of times so surprised me yesterday by pointing to the potty then doing a poo on it. He looked pretty terrified at the results though. He went all wide eyed and backed away slowly! Soon cheered up when he got to help flush though.