Potty training 20 month old

[Sandyview]

Looking for some advice/experience of anyone who has successfully potty trained 20 month old boy. I wasn’t expecting to start for a while to be honest and wasn’t considering it until after 2, sorry if this is a bit long.

The last few weeks DS has started telling me before he needs the toilet. He will come over and say ‘poo’ and then a few minutes later go.
He understands that wee and poo go in the toilet , he will say poo toilet, wee toilet. Also understands how we wash our hands afterwards, and can do this unaided (although supervised) using his step.

I did buy a potty last week and one night took his bottom half off. Me and DH explained he could use it for a wee or poo and he spent a lot of time getting on and off it and playing with it . He then did a wee on it totally unprompted , we couldn’t believe it to be honest and obviously then did a lot of praising etc.

All the above makes me think he is ready however I have some reservations. He isn’t able to pull his own trousers down, so would need help. Obviously something we can work on. He goes to nursery twice a week and although his language and speech is excellent at home he doesn’t talk as much at nursery and I’d be really surprised if he told them when he needed to go, plus add in the distraction of being at nursery in general.
I also feel like if we start we need to fully commit to it and I don’t want to let any negativity creep in if it doesn’t go well and we have to stop. Really torn on whether to give it a go or just wait a bit longer. I don’t want to rush him and personally have no issue him will being in nappies.

Give it a go- it’s not worth missing a window of interest. The book ‘oh crap’ is excellent

I'd let him continue doing what he's doing at home but have him in pull ups at nursery. Let nursery know if it's continuing to go well at home and can they prompt him to try going to the toilet there. They'll be supportive of the process. Hopefully he will take to it at nursery just the same, but the pull ups are on for backup for now. Then at some point when you feel he's ready take the plunge and switch to pants all the time.

That's what we did and we had an easy transition to toilet training with no accidents. Others will advise just going completely cold turkey but this is what worked for us. I felt he benefited from having lots of success at home first before going into pants 24/7.

It sounds like his body is giving him all the signals, some children do train at a young age quickly and with very few accidents, my son got it at 22 months. If he is having a lot of accidents beyond the first week or so you can always try again when he is a little older

You don't need to fully commit to it in the sense that you don't have to do it in all settings. Agree with PP that he could use potty at home and pull ups at nursery, until he's ready at nursery. All the "potty train in 3 days" "completely take away nappies" narrative is rarely how it works in real life - it can be much more gradual

I would also say that by all means work with him on getting pants and trousers up and down, but it isn't the end of the world if that takes a while. You just go with him and help – you'd need to help him wipe, empty the potty, and check he washes his hands properly anyhow.

Definitely agree with PP. No need to rush- potty training can be a journey (and a half!)

He's doing great so just follow his lead.

How did you find potty training went for your son? My son is a similar age and we’re just starting (day 2). Feel it’s going well but worried we’re prompting too much.