Potty training at 19 months

[NellyTheElephant]

Does anyone have any ideas about potty training a slightly younger child?? DD2 is 19 months and I am very keen to get her potty trained. YES, I know, if you leave it a bit later it?s much easier (I potty trained DD1 when she was 2.3 and it was as easy as falling off a log, she was completely dry in 3 days and although it took another couple of days before she got the hang of poos by a week / 10 days that was it, done). The problem is I?m now expecting DC3 (April 2010) and by the time DD2 is the ?right? age of 2 and a bit the new baby will be a month or so and there?s no way I can potty train then. Also I long to have a bit of time off from nappies, if I don?t get DD2 out of nappies before DC3 arrives next year I will have been changing nappies without a break for 7 long years by the time I potty train DC3!!

So, DD2 is very aware of what the potty is for, she sits on it and says ?pssssss? then looks in it hopefully, but rarely produces anything (she?s done the odd wee and one memorably enormous poo!!). She tells me when she has done a poo (usually) and will often run to the potty after doing a poo and sit on it (with the pooey nappy still on). If I tip a poo from her nappy down the loo she?ll say ?bye bye poo poo? or ?poo poo in loo?. However, I?m not sure really what to do or where to start ? I never ?did? anything to potty train DD1, we just took her nappy off and she soon worked out what to do, with the aid of chocolate button bribery.

In the early 70s when I was a baby everyone was potty trained around 18 months ? so what did they do then to make it work that we can?t seem to manage now? I asked my Mum, but she can?t remember, she said ?we just did it?, which wasn?t much help!! I don?t care if it takes a bit longer, if I get her trained over the next month or so I?ll still have 6 nappy free months before the next one turns up. So?.. help or ideas anyone??

I read ches' helpful comments on the potty training at 15 months thread - we've pretty much been doing all of that, so i guess the question is how can I progress and get rid of the damn things altogether.

Well, the child is either ready or not and your circumstances with new baby and wanting a nappy-free period (perfectly understandable) won't make the slightest difference to whether she is in fact ready to potty train.

I'd just take the nappies off for a few days and see what happens, have a potty within easy reach at all times and chocolate rewards at the ready. If you see a marked improvement in 3 days, then carry on. If not give up for a while.

The thing is 30 - 40 years ago ALL children were considered 'ready' to be potty trained at 18 months ish as that's just when they did it - so what did they do differently from us? I'll definitely take the nappies off for 3 days and see how it goes, but what if she doesn't make much progress - how can I proceed (beyond the obvious back to nappies). Possibly I'm being naive, but my Mum's generation aren't lying when they say they had us all out of nappies so much earlier (the nightmare of terries and all that washing was a big incentive), so how did they manage successfully to potty train children who we would now consider not to be ready???

I think that when we were toddlers, our parents were more willing to preempt us rather than make us ask to use the toilet, and were more willing to help us. Today's "signs" of readiness include that a child can pull their pants down, and I'm sorry, but that's got nothing to do with continence.

It took DS about 5 weeks to crack poo always-in-the-toilet, and he was never one to be bothered by or really notice poo in his nappy. Your DD will probably get there much quicker. As for wees, if you time it well she'll have more success in producing. First thing in the morning (didn't take DS long to start holding it in when he woke up), after a nap, before/after going out, etc. If she's willing, you can put her on regularly and keep her dry; that way when she does have an accident she'll notice and start holding it in when she can. Incorporate a potty into all your routines and you'll probably find you're using hardly any nappies even if she isn't completely trained yet. Our nappy use plummeted after a month, even though wee often caught him off guard.

My dd2 was trained at 19 months. I can't give you any advice though, I don't think I really did anything, it was all down to her copying her big sister.

Children are ready at different ages.

I agree with ches, I think it has a lot to do with the changing definition of potty training. Some stuff I have read has said that a child is not toilet trained until they can pull up pants, take themselves to the toilet without any help, wash and dry hands without help and basically take care of it all themselves and that if you wait until they can do all this it will be a quicker and easier process.

That is fine, but my DD couldn't hold her own knife and fork, choose her own dinner, tell me she was hungry or use a cup without spilling some, but I haven't waited until 2 and a half to wean her. I have helped her to learn. So that is the approach I have taken with toilet training too.

interesting point Yanda. A friend of mine did elimination communication and her dd was fully dry at the age of 12-14 montsh. This opened my eyes to the possiblility that some children are ready before the standard potty training age of 2-3 years. It's obvious really, some children are simply ready earlier then others, and it helps to be open to this possibility.

It certainly saves on the cost or washing of nappies!