Anyone potty train at 9 months (as per Baby Whisperer)

[houmousandcarrotsandwich]

Title kind of says it all really.

I've read Baby Whisperer but never really followed her EASY routine. I just wonder if anyone has actually followed her advice of starting at 9 months & being able to ditch nappies by a year?
It seems unbelieveable that this would even be possible if baby cant walk or talk!

If anyone has managed this, I'd love to hear your story!

Yes - I agree that 9 months is a perfectly good time to start. I started in the first year and my son was all done before the age of two (and no pooey nappies months before then). My daughter is just 17 months and we still regularly use the potty in a very low key way, with some successes here and there.

Do you notice how above somebody wrote - you must be kidding, it's a baby! as though babies couldn't possibly possibly have any control over their bladder and bowel functions. Well here's the news - they do! Not as much as a three year old (go figure) but enough to make it worthwhile to work with them on the control that they do have.

Being out of nappies is much healthier and more comfy for your child and much better for the environment. I really encourage you to give it a go - there really is nothing to lose!

we started putting babe on loo (with insert) at about 5.5 months at every change (straight after each feed, which followed each nap) and now at 8 months, she does all poos on the loo, except very occasionally when unwell/we've been out all day and haven't been able to get to the loo. But even then, she often 'saves' all her poos for the end of the day - in the last month i've changed a pooey nappy maybe twice? And she is not what you might call a "regular pooer", she can do 4 one day, and then none the next if you see what i mean.

I'm not working very hard at it, it just seemed natural to me to offer the loo at every change (at home) as she seemed to prefer to poo with nappy off. Hence not trying very hard for wees, and not doing it at all when out - i'm a sensitive soul and don't like the comments!

Am also v impressed for mumsnet as this is the 1st time i've seen an early potty thread that has not yet descended into sarcasm and early potty bashing! And i have been lurking on this subject for some time now!

woops just re-read OP and realised i went off topic - sorry, just adding my twopence on early experiences, but realise this is not what BW meant by early potty training - i was doing more sort of chinese style, as my grandma did with me as baby apparently

actually reason i was lurking was to find out if anyone else had had success a la baby whisperer potty training, as i have vague thoughts of starting next month more 'properly'... so v encouraging to hear all your stories, thx

Very interested in this thread!

DS is 12.5 months and I've just ordered a potty which will come any day soon. I'm not going to potty train as such. I'm just going to sit him on it several times a day and see what happens. Hopefully eventually he'll just get the hang of it.

I didn't know there was a chapter in the Baby Whisperer - I must read that.

Our parents will have sat us on the potty by 12 months, so I'm not sure why everyone says wait until 2 either.

Having read the Mumsnet Toddlers book, the cold turkey method of waiting until 2 then deciding to abandon nappies over night sounds way too stressful!

This is fascinating stuff! Never even thought of putting my 10 month old on the potty. Maybe it will help my 29 month old to get the hang of it if she feels a bit of healthy competition from younger sister!
Thanks all.

I have been putting dd on the potty since she was 4 months. She was very good at using it, but it all went pear shaped when my dd started nursery.

For EC to work you need to care for your child full time.

We started to get back on track at 15 months. DD is clean at 21 months, but doesn't give much warning. Hence we still have nappies. Wees are a bit hit and miss. Also my dd nursery will not have a child in pants before the age of two. I am not planning to do proper potty training until the summer.

I prefer a gradual approach to potty training. The way I see it is that I am showing my dd an alternative to using her clothes as a toilet.

My son was over three when he was potty trained, but he was delayed due to issues with physical development. He was under a child physio until 3 and half and had speech delay. Even so my son was trained day and night be 3 years and 3 months.

I think that older children can be quite resistant to change. I believe that if dd's nursery had been vaguely supportive of ec then she would be out of nappies by now.

I just wanted to add an update to this. We started putting DD on the potty when she was 11 months, at first just once a day (in the morning after her first bottle). She is a very obliging and happy girl and was more than happy to be sung to or read to. We had great success after just a few times of trying: now we get a good poo EVERY morning! We have now adapted it so that she goes on the potty just after she wakes up after her naps. Most times we get a wee or a poo or both. If we don't, it's no big deal.

She's 12 months now and we have only 1 or 2 soiled nappies a day. So it's really working for us. She doesn't communicate when she needs to go - it's more of a routine thing.

All in all, I think that it has been a success so far. I'm not sure how long it will take before she's completely clean during the day. I have found it a lot easier using the potty than changing nappies all the time as DD is very wriggly and hates lying down for a nappy change but seems to love her time on the potty.

I'm convinced that the disposable nappy industry spreads misinformation about the age of potty training. It just seems like too much of a coincidence that the rise in consumption of disposable nappies has gone hand in hand with a massive seachange in the age when parents start potty training

By the way her Nanny and I are very consistent with the routine - we always do the potty after she's woken up. Also, we use cloth nappies so it really saves on clean up if we don't have to deal with poo all the time!

I am also pleased to see this thread. I came on here to see whether I could find a potty for my 6.5month year old. I bought a potty for my daughter 2 weeks ago, but it is far too big for her little bottom - any suggestions on potties for small bottoms.

A while ago I read that the best age to start this is after they can sit up by themselves but before they can crawl. Part of the problem with potty training later is that the child has already been "nappy trained" (ie taught that going in the nappy is the right place to go). We are the only species that encourages their young to sit in their own waste - in fact, scrap that because nappies only exist in the western world.

Before disposable nappies were the norm, early "training" was usual because all nappies had to be washed by hand so there was far more incentive to train early. Apparently there was an advertising campaign in the US in the 1960s by a disposable nappy firm endorsed by a leading paedtrician of the day (Sears, Spock...?) suggesting that children who were potty trained too early suffered psychological anxiety or some other theory. But, as others have said, no harm in sitting little ones on a potty frequently throughout the day to get them used to the idea.

maursh have you seen the baby bjorn potty? lots of ec'ers like that one. you can get some good links on the diaperfreebaby.org website. i didn't do ec though, i'm doing early toilet training, and we've gone straight to the toilet.

We've just bought the "becopotty" from JojoMamanBebe (as a smaller spare), it's quite small, although very heavy.

We have been putting DS on the potty and now the toilet since he was 7 months (now 11 months) and can count the number of dirty nappies we have had in that time.

As above posters, we pop him on once he gets up in the morning and before and after naps. Once he has done a poo or a wee, he can then go nappy free for a good while - it's so much easier than cleaning a dirty bottom!

Good luck.

Just logged on to find help for potty training 2.5 yo DD who is disgusted at the thought of doing a pooh in the potty/loo and so is holding it in for days on end. Looking at this I am now thinking I will definitely introduce potty early on to DS (currently 7 weeks...).

But EC a bit full-on for me. And not really possible for anyone planning on returning to work, surely?

ec doesn´t have to be full time at all. Like any other child rearing theory you can adapt it to your own lifestyle quite happily

i love mn in general but unfortunately on this topic i feel more than a little burned and am sure if this convo stays active sooner or later the heckling will start...

just to say you do NOT have to do it full time, ds1 went to nursery from 11mths and we didn´t mention it to them but carried on doing our thing at home and he used to save all his poos til he was offered the toilet at home.

we have started with ds2 (7mths) and he is very happy to poo on the loo already and in fact I haven´t cleaned a dirty nappy for a few weeks now. though this early on that could be just luck (haven´t been keeping a tally with dh!). We aren´t particularly trying either, just when he starts doing his little pushing, grunting noises that might indicate a poo we put him on the toilet. and he normally is, so he does. I can only go from experience with my two but if you listen for their cues, they are usually there, you just have to learn what they are.

good luck.

No need to wait till 9 months start at birth! I've read that the reason babies wee/poo during changes is they naturally dont want to go in the nappy and that newborns not having control is a myth. Historically it's what people did. All this MN hysteria about child abuse just because someone does it differently does my head in. That said I couldnt be arsed myself and potty training at 2.4 with my daughter was pretty painless Good luck lol!

dd1 clean and dry by 12mths, started holding over potty at v. young age. my gran made me do it olden day method or something.... now dd2 23mths old 10years after dd1 neither clean or dry or any intention of being, she will sit on potty or toilet for ages but will only go down her leg when she gets off, oh and poo in a clean nappy.

More positive support from me - one of my 'pet subjects' and nothing but good from my perspective: environmentally, financially, practically, hygienically, has only positives in my opinion. I did it from 5-6 months when they could sit on a potty and was mostly aiming for poos in the potty, which was pretty much achieved by a year old in both dd and ds. Continued to wear nappies (cloth) til just 2 for dd and 2.4 for ds, as they would still wee a couple of times a day, notably in their sleep, and that did not bother me much, but it was a joy to have no more dirty ones to deal with, and so much nicer for the babies. Never a nappy rash in my house!

By the way ds started at nursery part time at 13 months and I did keep mentioning that he was used to using a potty, but don't know/can't remember how much notice they took!

I had no idea early potty training was in the Baby Whisperer - surprised it is not more common with that being such a popular book. When I had my dc (ds is now 6.5) I never came across anyone doing what I did. They all thought I was weird! I was just doing what my mum did as it seemed sensible to me and I detest waste.

I never read the baby whisperer, but I did put my DS on the potty quite regularly for a little while. I can't remember the exact age, but it was around 6-12 months ish. He was quite good at it and we saved a fair bit of washing (cloth bum). However, he seemed to lose interest as he got the hang of walking properly and I didn't really go all out to stick with it. I wish I had done as he is now 19m and we are starting again.

I was talking to a friend about potty training the other day. We were saying how it seems to be quite the thing to wait until they are older. Even parents who do not seem to adopt a 'baby led' approach to anything else seem, often, to want to adopt a 'baby led' approach to potty training i.e. wait until they are old enough to practically suggest themselves. Odd.

Don't know if that made sense. But good luck OP. It is more than possible.

Thanks op for starting this thread. I had never considered potty training early but after reading this will be looking for a potty for my 9mo - it can't hurt can it!!

I just wanted to add an update to this, to let people know about our experience. DD started going on the potty at about 10 months. It was just part of her routine that she would go on there and have a book read to her after she woke up from sleeps. She was really consistent with poos all along (and would sometimes ask for potty, but not always). She never got the hang of wees until we decided that we'd go cold turkey on nappies and put her in knickers. She was 21 months. All I can say is that it was an UNQUALIFIED SUCCESS. After two days, and about four wet accidents, in knickers she totally cued on to it. IT WAS SO EASY. No fights, no dramas, no tears, no bribery. She now asks for potty for poos and wees and hasn't had an accident for over two weeks. Aged 22 months.

Not dry at night yet, will crack that one next.

As a post-script, I reckon if I'd gone cold turkey on nappies at a younger age she would have been potty trained earlier. It was my reluctance to deal with accidents that lead me to delay her independence.