Did you potty train when your child was truly ready or because you thought they *should* be ready?

[poopy]

I am genuinely interested in what others did.

Did you potty train your child because
a) He/She was the age you thought they should be potty trained?
b) You decided it was time?
c) He/She was really truly ready?
e) Nursery/daycare told you you should potty train?
f) other?

And to add to the answer above - how old was your child and how long did it take?

I am curious because I know people who have endured weeks/months of accidents/carrying around a suitcase worth of changes of clothes etc because they decide it is potty training time. And I know people who waited and waited and (usually) potty trained their child overnight (near the age of 3)

I tried DS at 2 and a half - gave up after 5 days as I wasn't prepared to do the whole change clothes every hour thing. Tried again at nearly 3 and he was dry in 24 hours.

DD is 2 and a half - I have absolutely no intention of potty training her just because she is 2 and a half ... but she is beginning to show some signs so she may be ready earlier than DS - who knows?

Why do people potty train at a certain age just because they think they ought to?

c) She was ready

She did it herself

Nursery were pushing for it earlier but I said no. She had had problems with constipation and I was really worried that if I pushed it these would get worse.

I don't know that I had the idea ds was truly "ready" but we had tried twice before and it went terribly so knew he wasn't ready those times. I waited a bit longer and when it seemed to be going better I decided this was the time to stick with it.

ds1 at around 2.4 I think. It was too early and was a bit of a hassle with lots of accidents. I was all enthusiastic with star charts etc. Looking back I think 'what a mad loon'. My mum kept going on aobut potty training once they're 2 and it seemed lazy to just leave him in nappies.

ds2 having learnt my mistake I was going to wait til he was 3 but at 2.5 he came up to me wanting to use his potty and has been pretty good since then, much better than ds1. He hadn't shown any signs until that very moment but since then has been more or less dry at night etc. Bizarre.

ds was 2.2yrs and he said he didnt want nappies I wanted to leave it longer having just had dd but he insisted so plonked potty in room and that was it.

Foghorn - sounds like ready to me.

It was nursery who suggested she might be ready; she had shown none of the signs at home, but wanted to use a potty at nursery like all the other children. So we started at home, and had a few very soggy days, but after 10 days she was dry all day. She was 2;3 at the time. Still in nappies at night as I can't face all the extra getting up at the mo! I really think that if I'd waited for her to show any sign of being ready I'd still be waiting.

Hiya, i'm new to mumsnet so here it goes... DD is 2 and a half and i have decided that i am not ready to potty train her yet, am hoping she will lead the way - is that wrong?? DD sits on potty when she feels like it, pretends to go for a wee or will pull her nappy down to show me what she has done and thats about it.

I started training ds at 2.4 months when he showed me he could run to the potty, sit and wee with no prompting. He's dry during the day now (he's 2.7) and has been for a while but we're only just getting there with poo. I felt some pressure by friends doing it with their children but most of all I wanted him out of nappies (I have an almost 1 year old as well) and also felt it wasn't dignified for him to be in nappies anymore and we were struggling to change him without a fight every time - especially with poo. It has taken six weeks or so I guess but both me and dh are glad we did it when we did and ds was ready - although I'm sure it would have been quicker had I left it 3 months or so.

I've no intention of training DS until he is at least 2 1/2, I figure he ought to be capable of going upstairs, getting out of his clothes, going to the loo, flushign toilet and washing hands getting back into his clothes and coming down all on his own.
Otherwise he isn't really trained cos I still have work to do!
(PS i don't expect him to do it all on his own every time - but if he can't do it at all then every time he needs a wee I have to be there. My ideal is that if I'm cooking and he needs a wee he can go on his own so things don't burn!)