When should you start potty training ? Are these signs of being ready? 1st time mum

[Km12345]

My little boy is just turning 18 months. I know this may be a little early to start potty training but I feel he sometimes shows signs of being ready/being ready soon .

Signs if notice
-when he needs a poo he will go hide somewhere so we can see him
-he will try and pull his nappy of
-he touches it when it's puffy
-if he has no clothes on he often pulls his nappy of
-yesterday after undressing him from lunch, he was completely naked and he ran away, squatted down and did a wee on the floor (he was very aware of what he was doing )

I know this may now all be sings , and I'm a 1st time mum so I have no idea when I should start!! He is 1 in August so my original plan was to start then as it would be summer and it would be easier to let him run around the house in the nud while training

I've already heard that boys can be harder to train than girls? Not sure if this is true

Like I said first time mum so this is all new to me but one of my concerns is that I'm working from home due to lockdown atm so he is with me daily but when I go back to work (in a school) my mother and mother in law look after him. My mum will 100% stick to what I ask her to do with regards to keeping up the training, but my mother in law will not (experienced her with another grandchild just putting a nappy on them because she's to lazy to attempt the training)

Any advice appreciated

Thank you

I recommend the oh crap book, but ignore her stuff on night training. I also disagree with her advice to not introduce a potty before you start properly potty training - have one in the bathroom and talk about it. Your boy needs to first be able to communicate with you so he can tell you he need the toilet either verbally or sign language, be able to pull his trousers up and down and understand the concept of wet and dry - not wee but when playing with water.

Thank you! Going to have a look at getting this book

Good luck. DD1 potty trained just after her second birthday but to be honest she was probably ready earlier.

Give it a go for a couple of weeks, no harm trying. If you’re not getting anywhere then just stop, don’t push it.

My boys were much earlier than my girls, but none of them were ready before 2. Also, one showed all the signs but couldn’t control it, we took about 6 attempts for her! Just don’t take it personally if it doesn’t work, they’re all different and there’s no point forcing it.

The running around naked thing just didn't work for my DS1. He just kept weeing on the floor and found it funny! So it will be fine in the winter, at least he will be able feel the wetness.

I also agree with getting him used to the potty now even if you don't start. I think as long as you don't pressure them it's fine to give it a go early.

I’m just reading the oh crap book, haven’t started yet myself. Couple of take always so far - the author says boys being harder than girls is not true, and rather than asking if they’re ready, instead ask if they’re capable. For me, my daughters language is not yet good enough but improving rapidly at the moment, so I’m hoping in a couple of months she will be better, and also she can’t get herself dressed/undressed at all, so I’ve decided to focus on that to start with. I’m a teacher with 2 weeks off at Easter so I think I’ll probably start then so we can just be at home with no childcare to worry about. I think consistency in approach, whatever you do, is important so if your MIL won’t be on board it may be best to wait until you can have a week or 2 without needing her care to really focus and get off to a good start.

Oh - also interested to know why you would ignore the stuff on night training in the oh crap book @Thatwentbadly ?

Night time dryness happens when a child starts producing the correct hormone. This happens earlier in poor sleepers.

My little girl was very ahead in her milestones generally and seemed ready about 20 months. She did quite well but after a week in it still wasn’t clicking. Looking back I see she was just too young and I don’t know why I was so focused on getting it done that early. Lockdown had just started so I thought I’d give it a go but it was unnecessarily stressful.

The oh crap book is good, but a bit crazy in parts.. in my scenario it would have said to never give up! What a stressful few months that would have been.

DD was 2.3 when I went back to it and everything went great.