Potty training 15month old???

[Soprana]

Hi all. Sure this has been covered before but can't find a thread on it so please forgive if going over old ground.
My dd (15.5 months) has recently started telling me when she's done a poo, and is pretty much always correct altho' sometimes it's a false alarm. Does this mean I should start potty training her now or what? Is it too soon? If I should start, what would experienced mums (I have only the one) recommend as the best way to start? All advice gratefully received!

Do you want to start potty training now? Even if it means only "catching" the odd wee and most of her poos, with her gradually learning over time? If YOU are ready to embark on a potty training journey, then by all means, go ahead. If you want to do the Gina Ford "get it done in a couple of weeks" then no, I don't think that's a reasonable expectation.

We started the gradual approach at 14 months and 18 months he was out of nappies during the day with 1-2 wet pairs of undies (stuffed with absorbent soaker) and at 18.5 mth he had his first dry day and now only has the odd accident at nursery, 1 every other day, usually in the morning when his key worker is not in the room yet and the other women are ignoring his asking to wee.

We started with a very laid-back approach and no expectation that he'd be out of nappies anytime soon. We looking to the potty training version of BLW - doing things appropriate to his stage of development, no pushing, backing off if he gets upset or has had enough, etc. The general things we did are:

1. Routine. He was able to process sequences and perform a series of actions in order. We sat on the toilet first thing in the morning, first thing when we got in in the evening, straight after naps (well, after a cuddle and a breastfeed and suggesting it to him, which was usually enough to have him getting up and heading for the lav).

1. Mimicking. He got to watch mommy pee and daddy even let him watch once, which apparently horrified him. He never was interested in sitting on a potty, but sitting on the toilet and brushing his teeth with mom was a treat. (Great way to get toothbrushing knocked on the head, too!)

1. Room association. Nappy changes were done in the bathroom. His poo was dropped into the toilet ("look, poo goes in the toilet") and we used flushable wipes and he got to see it wash away.

1. Verbal suggestion. If I saw him making a poo I said "let's go and make your poo in the bathroom" or "you can make a poo in the toilet if you want." In the beginning, by the time we got to the bathroom he was done, but within a week we'd started catching them.

1. Books and toys. He still has special toilet books and toys. It does mean that when he wants to avoid going to bed he asks to wee wee, and we do spend a lot of time in the bathroom still, but it's great interaction and he has learned a great deal through it.

I hope that helped.

Wow! That's pretty comprehensive! Thanks so much! I'm not sure I'm really psyched up for it yet. I'm all for poo-ing in the loo rather than a potty - horrid things! We haven't got the option of changing nappies in the loo, unfortunately, as it's too small (separate from the bathroom), so that won't work for us, but I'll figure something out. Might wait a few months. Work up the energy!