Without causing a huge row......

[KnickersOnMaHead]

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Because ALOT of children under the age of 3 are ready to potty train. and with a few days of accidents it is done there are then no more nappies..

I would say not to ever push it if the child doesn't go for it but DS2 has decided in the last couple of weeks that he doesnt want to wear a nappy and he isn't yet 2.

Do you work for Pampers or Huggies?

I didn't potty train DS. I gave him lots of nappy off time with a potty around, and he decided to use it, and then started asking to use the toilet when he was wearing a nappy. So he didn't need to wear nappies from 2 and 2 weeks. His decision, not mine

Because it's horrid changing nappies? I had 3 in nappies at once and hated all of it!

However I did wait for them to ask, dtwins asked at around 2.3 yrs and ds1 about 2.10.

I think people did it earlier years ago because kids felt more uncomfortable in the old terry nappies when they were running around and that was a lot of washing.

Age isn't relevant in a lot of cases. A child is either ready, or they aren't.

I often wonder why people feel it necessary to potty train when their child is clearly not ready, but that's a different question.

some people train from birth, it is called elimination communication.

some children are ready a lot sooner than others. both of mine were out of nappies, dry day and night at 3. i did try sooner with both of them, but no dice !

but yes , some are much younger, my friends have had DCs out of nappies at 2

Because they're showing signs of being ready, probably.

Ds1 trained at 2.4 - he asked to stop wearing a nappy and to wear big boy pants. He was reliably dry in a day.

Dd trained at 22mo, again she refused to wear nappies anymore. I think it took about a week before she was reliable.

There's no way you can say neither of them were ready and it would have been ridiculous for me to force them to wait until they were 3 before I put them in pants.

The majority of children are ready before they are 3, I'd agree with you if you said before the age of 2 because an awful lot of children aren't ready that young.

However, if a child is showing some of the signs of being ready then a week of training should tell you whether they really are ready.

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Because just before her 2nd birthday dd used the potty of her own accord one night, seemed to get what it was for, so I just gave it a go ..... and it worked.

I don't think ds would ever have asked to go, he was quite happy in a wet nappy. But I decided he was old enough (2.5ish) to at least try pants, because I don't enjoy changing nappies and the ones we had were getting a bit small. I didn't want to buy a whole lot more. If he had carried on having accidents for more than a few days we would have gone back to nappies.

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I potty trained DS at about 2.4 ish. It wasn't a case of it being necessary to but I thought I'd try and as he wasn't very verbal, he wasn't likely to tell me if he was ready. I did it long and slow with really no pressure and did everything people tell you not to do eg use pull ups but it worked fine for us and by 2.6 he was (odd accident aside) nappy free .

One of the reasons I tried was because DS got very distressed everytime he did a poo in his nappy and would scream blue murder when you treied to change him - he hated the feeling of poo in his nappy/on his skin I think. Seemed a good reason to try and it hasn;t been that big a deal to be honest.

no I wouldn;t force a child who wasn't ready but sometimes (like DS) you don't know whether they're ready until you try.

AHHHHH I seee
so In answer to the re-worded question - no idea - but I don't think the age of 3 comes into it if they aren't ready their 3rd birthday wouldn't force me to do it

I was just wiping my 2.4 year olds poopy bottom one day and I looked down at her and thought "this is starting to be a bit wierd" - she's was just so big and like a proper kid and doing so much else for herself, it just didn't really seem right anymore. And I was tired of doing it, and she drinks so much not even pampers size 6 could keep her dry for more than an hour or so - it's so bloody expensive as well! I decided to give it another go and it was over in a day or two. (had tried before way too early - result of over eager nanny). Ah, the joy of not dragging a changing bag everywhere - the fun of buying her favourite Pingu pants and seeing them all drying on the line!

Out of interst Knickers - why do you choose 3 as the age you obviously feel is most appropriate.

Also - I think a lot of first time mums just get a bit carried away and over excited at the thought of moving on to another stage of development. I think with my first child I moved on as swiftly as I could with everthing - sippy cups - lumpy food, kept a check on whether she had age appropriate toys. With my second, I'm so laid back it's ridiculous. I'm just going with the flow and moving on things only if he seems to be complaining.

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There is a middle ground between NOT potty training and FORCING. You can take a child-led, slow, gentle approach. A child is capable of asking long before they can use words. My DS first asked to use the toilet by pointing and grunting at 14 or 15 months. He is 18+3 and just had his first accident-free weekend. It took us 4 months to reach this point, without any struggles, fights, etc. By the sounds of things we've had fewer wees/poos on the floor than "normal" for the "standard" rushed method of potty training.

Frankly, the "standard" method of training does not fit all children. It is not appropriate for children who do not cope well with change. By the age of 3 a child is very well aware of wee/poo and many have learned to wee/poo in a nappy, hence all the threads of "help my DC will only wee/poo in a nappy." If these parents had known of or not been ostracised for starting much earlier with a longer, slower, gentler approach, they would more than likely be spared all the tearing their hair out.

Every child is different - and unique. There is no need for potty training.

What hf said.

We opted to use elimination communication (not toilet training) i.e offering our children the use of a potty from a very young age.

We did this with our 2 year old DD, starting at 10 weeks old and I have just started recently with our month old DS.

I do this as it is nice for the baby/child to have an option to be dry and clean and it is much nicer for me to offer the potty/toilet than changing dirty nappies all the time.

In the baby's case it is much easier. He wee's after every nap without fail, so I can either wait until he has done his wee and do a full nappy change OR hold him over the potty for 30 seconds and put him back into his dry nappy again.

He is still a baby....he doesn't have to sit in wee in order to be a baby (and he is a totally wonderful baby )

Bottom line we all do what is right for our own children, including EC or toilet training at whatever age suit us and our children.

Interesting Article about Toilet Training

From similar recent thread

I am STILL potty training a 3.5 going on 4 year old!

I haven't been as lucky as some mums on this thread.
I tried for the first time when DS was 2.5 as it was quite clear when he was filling a nappy!

He wouldn't have any of it! Had a total fit.

So tried again when he turned 3. AGAIN, had a total fit....REFUSED point blank to even try and sit on a potty. Complained it was cold.

Only now at 3.5 almost 4 is he more open to the idea and is at least trying.

I know in south east asia, most children are potty trained by the age of 18 months - no questions asked. I know I was!

I don't know how they do it as my DS has been so resistant!