When do you start potty training?

[rosierosa]

I've got a 14 month old and know she's far too young to start, but when do most people start? Thanks :-)

I let DD make the decision for me - I waited till she told me she wanted to wear big girl pants and didn't want to wear nappies any more. She's 2.8 and has been in pants for about a month now - she seems really invested in it and is doing well. As with most things in child rearing so far, I found it far easier for her to tell me when she was ready than try to guess.

There is no harm in having a potty around asap, let her sit on it before bath etc. With my DD1 I tried training her just when she'd turned two and it was a disaster, in retrospect I think it was because I launched straight into it with no gradual familiarisation with what would be expected of her. She trained very easily the next time I tried at 2.3 by which time the potty had been lying around the house for three months, I'd been constantly reading her the potty stories I had bought for the first time I'd tried, she was desperate to be allowed to wear her lovely pants which I had kept showing to her etc).

With DD2 and DS I started talking about the potty from about 18 months (i.e. at nappy changes always mentioning how soon wee wees and poos will go in the potty), and getting them sit on it for a few mins before bath (not produce anything), regularly reading those potty stories to them and they would often have a bit of time with no nappy on when at home and occasionally produce something in the potty. With DD2 I trained her properly at 22 months and she picked it up very easily. DS decided to train himself a few days after his 2nd birthday (I hadn't planned to do it until a few months later as we were in the process of moving house and everything was very hectic, but as he kept doing wees and poos in the potty I thought I might as well switch him to pants and he only ever had a handful of accidents). I really think that the most important thing with potty training is that they should know what is expected of them well in advance of you actually trying to get them to do it.