Should i begin potty training my 18 month ds?

[Ash80]

My ds has recently began saying a few words, one of which is pooh pooh!. He says pooh just beofore he does it, at times after he has done it.
He also helps me get his nappy and wipes and puts them on the bed for me to change him, when i ask him to help me.
I am in no rush to potty train him, but a friend of mine told me that he is giving the signs of readiness

If i do start, how do i go about it?

I wouldn't bother, tbh.

When dd2 is able to tell me (in words!) that she needs to do a wee, that is when I will try and train her.

IME, poo is one thing. Wee is quite another!

If you start now I bet my mortgage you'll be mopping up wee/changing wet trousers for the next year at least.

If you wait until he is properly ready, it'll be done and dusted in a week or so.

oh god no, you'll have endless months of accidents and following around him with a spray bottle and paper towels!

sorry, I think you're better off waiting. dd2 (just 3) cracked it in a few days just after Christmas. Her cousin, same age, has been potty training since last summer and still doesn't have the hang of it - his parents were just in a rush.

I thought so too

Agree with other posters.

My daughter could also help get her nappy and wipes ready at that age, but she wasn't ready for toilet training until 3.2 (and it happened in one afternoon).

It's up to you. My firends 18 month old was showing signs,. She just started oputting him on tehpotty adn giving big praise when he did anything, adn by 22 months he was in cloth pants - seriously! That is unusual though, and what notnowbernard says is more likely. why not jsut introduce him to the potty at every nappy chnage and see where it ends up - that way no stress, but at least he is starting to make connections etc

but I'd say 4 months is a long time to sort out potty training

ds1 is 20 months and we're training - I'm taking it very slowly as I haven't a clue and didn't know whether to start all out in pants or just at home then out at certain times etc - went for second option, been doing it for 2 weeks now and he's pretty much there, not much warning but no wee accidents and had 2 poos on potty (one half in pants but hey its early days and beats nappy changing!)

I'd take potporris advice and have potty around so he can make association of what its for, it doesn't mean you have to do anything else but let him have a sit at certain times or whilst you get new nappy sorted and talk about what its for, I'll surely help in long run??

I can let you know how we started if you want to know - good luck with whatever you decide x

You can start whenever you like. We pottied our DD from being a baby and she has been dry and clean and in pants from 12 months old. She is now 17 months old and will sign when she wants to go to the toilet.

Yes, we have the odd wee accident but if we choose not to potty her, she would definately be having (at a guess) 6 'accidents' a day in nappies

I found having maybe a couple of wet pants/tights a month is a lot less hassle, than using up to 6 nappies a day. Which is 180 nappies a month to either wash/dry or buy/chuck in the same timescale.

To start pop him on a potty after naps/meals, when he asks, before you leave the house and when you arrive somewhere. He'll catch on very fast at his age.

You can back up with trainer pants/nappies if you are worried about accidents

HTH

agree with general consensus - i waited til 2.5 years with ds1, it took a couple of days, if that, to toilet train, missed out the potty stage completely. know a few people who did it from 12 months ish and spent a lot of time wiping up their kids wee and poo from my floor which did not much enjoy! think they all get there around the same time whenever you start. though think the point about saving nappies is fair.

my ds keeps saying wee wee. he is 20 months. do you think he is ready to be potty trained?

my ds is 15 months bought a potty about 3 weeks ago and let him get used to it being around. Then started puttting him on it at nappy changes. He knows what it is and will now go and sit on it when he's being changed or needs a poo. havent got there with wees yet. I'm not expecting him to mircaulously become trained on it but we are doing ok. Had a few things in there and he was given loads of praise which has helped.

i agree with babieseveryhwere, it doesn't do any harm to try potty training early...as long as you don't show signs of disappointment when they do have an accident or don't do pee/poo.
introducing the potty, getting them used to the feel of it, the look of it, and praise for when they do pee or poo in it, is a good start.
we've been doing this since ds was 4 weeks old. obviously he can't control his functions at such a young age, but he knows how to sit on it now and he is 10 mo, and if he has a toy in front of him to play with, he quite happily sits on it without any probs. to him it's normal to see the potty, he doesn't look twice at it, it's not alien to him.

yes 4 weeks, bear in mind he only seen the potty now and again as the weeks went on but now he sees it more frequently than before. we haven't forced the issue, just bring the pot out when we remember.
my mil also believes in this form of training, and her three kids were out of nappies earlier than the average age. it's not a race for us tho, we're merely doing it to save ourselves extra work/waste of nappies and mostly to get him accustomed to the feel of the potty.

thefearlessfreak, it's people like yourself that make this age to start ECing as it's now referred to seem really shocking when it other cultures this age is perfectly normal to start ECing. it's just part and parcel of everyday life.