Toilet train at eighteen months

[MCB7]

Is it possible or totally unrealistic?
Came across a few replies on here that it's been done but I think you would need alot of patience and time.
Thoughts?

Is your child shown any interest in using the toilet? Or the standard signs of being ready to toilet train? If not you are on to a loser.

From my toddler and other children I know who potty trained around 2, they had older children they copied.

You can try. But they tend to tell you when they're ready and trying to force them before they're ready can cause more issues. My early potty trainer was showing signs at 22 months and it took her to 26 months to full master it, she's still not dry at night at 3. My older children were almost 3 when they trained and were clean and dry (day and night) in 2 days.

Only doable if your child is ready … if not it’s a no no. 18 months is (too) very young. Those who claim they have done it but said it was a lot of hard work - that’s because the child is not ready. They probably cracked it at the age they were actually ready.

Toilet training is easy and quick, when the child is ready. Mine were all done in literally a few days. Purely because I waited until they were ready, and they all trained at different ages.

Can your child dress themselves (ie pull their own pants/trousers/tights up and down)? If not, there is no point because they can't actually go to the toilet themselves. Technically they will only be 'potty trained' around the house when naked from the waist down. Which is pointless IMO.

We tried and it went badly, but to be honest we then successfully trained a year later when at home we had exactly the same problem we'd had first time around, but when she was in nursery (which she wasn't at 18 months due to lockdown) it helped her get over the issues and she's now doing ok. So that suggests it is possible, but toddlers are tricky and it's really difficult to know what the problem is if it doesn't go to plan. Sorry, probably not very helpful!

I don't think he is ready as of yet
Posted a thread on his tantrums at nappy changes so perhaps thought this was a way out of it. I think I'll continue with him in nappies until he is 2

To be fully potty trained they need to be able to tell you when they need to go and physical able to hold it for long enough to make it to the loo even if you’re out of the house and it takes a little while to find one. My 18MO was in no way capable of that. At such a young age I would have thought it’s likely to be elimination communication rather than proper potty training meaning it will require you to interpret cues and then try to be quick enough to catch it. To me that just seems like more hassle than keeping them in nappies until they’re properly capable of training so I’d wait until at least 2 years of age then look for the main signs of readiness like nappies being dry for at least an hour at a time and knowing when they are wet or dirty and telling you.

You could try but why on earth would you? It will be much easier if you wait longer.

Think I'll hold off
Thanks

I think very few children are ready at 18 months but its not impossible. I trained my dc at 2 and had no problems at all, it was quick and easy. Tbf they have very good bladder control even now. My youngest was nearer 3 though, mild sn including sensory issues and low muscle tone were a factor there though.

Are they ready? Do they hide to poo? Know the difference between wet and dry? Can communicate their needs clearly? Pull their trousers up and down? If yes then you can go for it.

Unfortunately no,

We trained at 18 months. He wasn’t showing any “signs”. We just had a decent break over the Easter holidays and felt it was a good time to try. Honestly, we fully expected it to not go well and were completely happy to stop and try again at a later date. However he did really well!

Yes, it took a bit longer to get him fully reliable than it might have taken with an older child (but not necessarily, I know people who struggled more with their 3 years olds. There’s more to it than age). However he was doing so well that his nursery agreed that we should keep going.

He did need a bit more help to manipulate his clothing and get on and off the toilet as he was smaller. His language skills were limited so it wasn’t as easy for him to tell us that he needed the toilet, but we used a sign for a while. I’d prompt him every 2 hours if he hadn’t been. So he wasn’t potty trained at that age as in he could go completely independently to the toilet alone, wipe his own bottom and wash his hands.

However he was totally out of nappies during the day and could hold his bladder for 2 hours, so he must have been ready on some level.

We absolutely wouldn’t have forced the issue if he wasn’t able to hold his bladder for a reasonable length of time or was getting upset. But I think it was right for him.

With my second child, I might leave it a few months later, just until that language burst which would have made things a little easier. But I fully intend to try around 20-24 months. And it might not be right for him and he might need to wait until later. It’s different for all children.

However I just wanted to share our experience as I always see responses to this question as “you need to see the signs” and “18 months is too young” and it’s simply not true for all children. You can try, with a no pressure approach and accept that it may not work out. But it also might.

Interestingly by sister in law is a nurse and told me a very important part of this is actually a physiological development. Which usually occurs between 2-3 years old. See article link and extract.

www.nursingtimes.net/clinical-archive/continence/the-physiology-of-micturition-22-07-2003/

“ Control of micturition
Children and adults have considerable control over when and where they pass urine. They can also increase or decrease the rate of flow and even stop and start again, so micturition is clearly more than just a simple reflex. This control is learnt in infancy and involves other sensory fibres in the bladder wall. These fibres convey information on the degree of bladder fullness via the spine to the higher centres of the brain, the thalamus and cerebral cortex. This causes us to become aware that we need to pass urine and of the urgency of the situation.

These links between the spine and cerebral cortex are not established until about two years of age and it is suggested that toilet-training is therefore not physiologically possible until that time (Martini, 2002).”

Perfectly possible but most on MN will say not because they haven't experienced it. Depends on your child.

My 2 DSs were trained by 1yr for DS1 and 18mths for DS2 as I did a tweaked version of EC. This was only for daytime as night-time has a different physiological mechanism. I was able to do it as I was a SAHM & even then DS2 took longer than DS1 due to the needs of dealing with more than one child. Also EC starts from birth as it's based on instincts not to soil one's immediate surroundings and to go when given a basic physical signal (eg holding baby away from the parent - the theory is that the change in temp triggers urination as in some other mammals). So it would not be worth doing if starting after newborn stage until you get to the next trainable stage, but it will depend on the individual set up & would have best chance of working with at least one caregiver present as close to 100% of the time as possible hence why it's impracticable in most circumstances - a shame as it's good environmentally.