What age foe potty training?

[shish]

What age do you start pooty training? And how? Ds is 13 and a half months old, but not walking yet..

its not age related, there are alot of these threads in the archive. You should look at readyness, ie. they can tell you they want to do a potty.

To train quickly ideally they need to be able to:

• be aware when they need a wee/poo (not just when they are doing a wee/poo)
• communicate - usually tell you - when they need a wee/poo
• 'hold on' for a few minutes when they need a wee/poo
• physically get to the potty/toilet themselves quickly
• manage their own clothes

For most children this stage is between 24 and 36 months. If you try before they are ready, it could take a very long time, a lot of mess and laundry, and you may establish some psychological opposition on their part.

Some people swear by waiting til 3yo, especially for boys. But it's actually about readiness. My boys both started training at 24 months, and were completely dry daytimes within a very few days.

Good Luck!

I think Rosin has it pretty much spot on. There is no magic age for these things. With ds1, I gave him a choice one morning, nappy or pants. He went for pants and was pretty much clean/dry from that moment on and was 2.8years. Now, ds2 is another kettle of fish. He is 3.1 and although can do it, would prefer not to. He is ok with wee's providing he is naked or just has pants on, but clothes are a nightmare. He also refuses to poo in the potty and will hold/fight the urge until he is shaking with the pain . I figured I would leave it another month or 2 and then try again.

Thanks for all the advise. I hear of mums who have started potty training so much earlier and I was starting to panic that I should have started by now.. What's the best way to start? Or should I be looking at any books?

Forget it for now completely. I wouldn't start until after two, adn then only if you are pretty sure they have some understanding of when they are going/about to go and can manage to sit on a loo/potty, have an interest in toilet training and can manage to pull their pants up and down etc.
Boys often ready later than girls.

How then was I (and lots of other people my age) potty trained by 12 months (or 18 at latest)? Don't see how it was done, but am very interested!

I think, in teh olden days, babies were just plonked on potties for hours (maybe not hours) until they preformed. Also, suspect people's definition of "trained" varies, much like "walking"

Thta's what another mum told me she was doing with her dd. She puts her on the potty as soon as she wakes up every morning and sits with her. I can't see my ds sitting still on a potty for than a couple of seconds!! So, I think I will probably take the advice to wait.

i was sitting my son on potty regualy at that age but he has only just started training properly but if you make it way of life at that age then you could be lucky to be able to have him clean quicker as i stopped then ds found potty scary so just keep popping him on at each nappy change it wont hurt to do that at least he wont find it so frightening later on

Even if you don't want to potty train, you can introduce a potty as a potential toy and get him use to it.

squishy, basically parents use to a method with is now refered to as EC or Elimination Communication.

Basically you watch the baby for verbal or non verbal signals for pending wee/poo and pop them on a potty or toilet for a minute (never hours)to see if they want to go.

It's hard to say which way is best. I read about EC and because my little boy had nappy rash (has sensitive skin) decided to give it a try. I read you could do it part-time so we went with that and introduced the potty after meals and after naps and sleeping. It did save on nappies from the word go, and I quite enjoyed doing it because it felt worthwhile and my DS seemed quite happy with the whole thing.
He was bottomless at home from 20 months and would use the potty by himself for poo and most pees and by 22 months he was completely reliable at home with no accidents at all.
He still had a nappy when we went out and still has one at nights (which we are about to work on).
I didn't take him out without a nappy until he was 26 months and it was a bit stressful to begin with, but he's been very reliable since about 28 months, running to the potty, and telling me when he needs to go.
The problem is I have no idea when he would have potty trained if I had left it, but he was not a good talker so I don't think he would have told me that he needed potty or whatever until he was at least 2.5.
If you would like to give it a try do a search on elimination communication to get some info and see if it's something that you would like to try. There are some good Yahoo groups for EC as well, for support etc...
Good luck with it.

Thanks, I saw a programme on EC and have introduced a potty into the room (ride along toy or chew toy seems to be favourite). DD is 9 months and there are a couple of times a day when I KNOW she is going to do a poo, so may well start, but as I work FT and DH isn't much cop at taking initiative, might wait a couple of weeks for the bank hol weekend and use a long weekend...... in the mean time, will just try to get her to use it as a chair for a few moments a day....worth a try!!

Would wait a while longer yet.
Ds was 26mths when he was ready,
dd1 is 19mths and for past month has said wee wee and poo poo when doing relevant one but she cant pull her trousers down etc so there is no point in considering no nappies as I just then exchange them for being on call to pull pants down every 10mins.

oh meant to say there is nothign wrong with having a potty hanging around just to get them used to it but dont expect anything, we have had 2 purely coincidental wees but thats because she will sit on the potty while doing other stuff.

squishy, Good Luck You might as well give it a try, I bet you start catching Poo's straight away. EC can work fairly well part time.

Nemo2007,
If you want to have a go, you might be pleasantly surprised at how long your child can hold on between potty trips.
At just under one, my DD goes for a wee roughly once every four hours, so although I do have to follow her up the stairs, take her pants off and lift her onto the toilet seat. I prefer to do that rather than full nappy changes, especially the poo ones.

BE I would think about trying if not for also having 7mth old.

Thanks BE , when did you start with your little one? Did you start with toilet straight away or use a potty?

We started with a potty at 10 weeks old...here is her picture...
Pulling A Poo Face

10 weeks??? That's really young. I will look into ellimination communication. It's all so confusing

Elimination training is not the same as potty training. EC is more child lead, easy going, longer term version of potty training.

I started at 10 weeks and expect to finish around the age of 2/3 years old. However my child will have decided when and where she wants to wee/poo over that time and she is already clean and often dry and therefore often wears real pants rather than her hated nappies...she removes them at any possible time.

We love ECing and to be frank when I see the pamper adverts on TV, I wonder why such old children are still in nappies

Well its not quite as easy as that if you have a child who point blank refuses to potty train

Guess what?? My ds will be 4 yes 4 in December and whoopee doo he just got to grips with using the toilet this week.

And yes I did try much much earlier with him but as I say he refused to the point of screaming and making himself sick, also I have an older child, who I have to get to school every day, so holidays are/were the only time available to try.

Not every child is the same and potty training can be very very hard. But they all get there in the end, which is all that matters.

My dd was dry day and night at 24mths.

Fimbo, Congratulations on your son potty training. I can't image how hard it must be either pottying or changing nappies for two children at the same time, especially when he had such an adversion to the potty.

You are so right, they will get there in the end and that is what I tell myself, it doesn't matter if my DD finishes potty training at 2 or 5 years old, as long as she does finish at some point. I'm happy to empty potties and lift onto toilet seats for several more years yet.

Ok.. I'm now even more confused about what to do. The thing is that I really don't know how to get started...

Do you want to start now ?

You could try putting your son on a potty or toilet after naps and see if you can catch a wee OR if you know he is going to poo ?

Read him a book or play with a toy whilst on the toilet or potty, to keep him interested.

Good Luck