What age should I be looking to potty train?

[ProlificYoungGentlemenBreeder]

I was talking to a friend and her DS is potty trained and he is just 2.
My DS is 2 later in the year and tbh I wasn't even thinking about potty training until he was 2.6-3?
I was also hoping to get a little toilet seat instead of a potty?

I don't think my DS is ready, how do I know? I just don't know now!

Gentle advice please :)

Watching this with interest. my DD is 22 months, and I've bought a potty chair etc and encourage her to use it when possible, but not actively training her. I am thinking about doing more after a holiday planned for the beginning of May, but would love to hear how other people approached it. DD does have quite long dry periods (we are at two hours dry right now) and she's obviously aware when she needs to poo because she usually goes off to a quiet corner to do it in her nappy, so I'm thinking she might be ready soon. gentle advice would be lovely, please.

Hi again, I have just read the MN potty training bootcamp, and will probably wait until DD is just 2. I have time off work that week so that should help!

Lots of people will probably come on and say wait until they are ready or at leat showing signs. But my DS never showed any willingness or readiness so when he turned 3 I told him they didn't make nappies or 3 year olds.

It took 3 days of me actively training him. I Followed Cod's boot camp and it seemed to do the trick.

My DD on the other hand asked to wear knickers at 22 months. No active training needed at all, she knew when she needed to wee and took herself to the potty as and when it was needed.

So to answer your question, er give it a go? If it doesn't happen then wait a few months, your ds is still very young.

Before disposibles people used to train about 1yr/18months, because they got fed up washing nappies, and as the nappy got soggy the child didn't like it either. With the improved technology (both in washables and disposibles) on both sides the motivation has reduced.

All of mine have been trained between 2.4 and 2.6 months. Ds wasn't showing many signs, but it needed to fit in with school holidays, so we went for it. In fact same for dd2 - she was potty trained because dd1 had chickenpox, showed no signs before and got it in 48hrs.

Fine to go for little toilet seat, but remember that can't follow you around the house when you are playing/watching favourite cebeebies proogramme, or go to the park. We do a mixture of both, plus travel potty (and me just holding him on big seat); that way he doesn't get fussy.

Do you think a travel potty and toilet seat would be ok? I really want to avoid a potty but we have an upstairs bathroom so I either just use the travel potty downstairs or get over my fear of potty's!

I think I may start once he is 2 and see how we go!

Not sure why you are anti -potty
At first it's the best thing to get them on in a hurry - we put outa in the living room on a huge plastic sheet so when he was playing he could get on quick. As the days progressed my DS did prefer the toilet so I went with it. He was 2.5 when we did it and was showing signs. I think 2 is young for a boy but they are all different.

The travel potty needs a plastic bag in it as a potty, so they sit on the bag which is proped open over the frame of the travel potty. Mine also opens out as a little seat over the loo, which ds sometimes asks for. If you only have upstairs toilet I would get a potty. In the early stages ds was weeing 3-4 times an hour. When they need to go, they need to go, you won't have time to get up, even now 2 weeks in he needs to be within 2-3 minutes of sitting on it. I think you and he risk being discouraged by it as your ratios of getting there on time are less and so he gets more failures than successes. If you wait until he is 3 then maybe there will be more chance of getting him there as he will understand more the need to wait.

Just because you use the potty it doesn't mean that you can't sit him on both, I would maybe try to sit him on toilet when you are planning for him to try - first thing in morning, before going out, before food etc, but have the potty handy to catch any that he initiates or if he has an accident - I sit mine on if they are wet, once I've taken their wet things off, and while I collate clean things. It shows them that even if they make their clothes wet they don't gain any time and they still have to sit there, but mine are happy to sit on potty (ds on for 4th time in 20mins as a delaying sleep tactic), so easy for me to say. I would say that if you wanted to you could probably limit potty use to a few months by which time you will be getting more notice, and they can hold it in longer.

Good question!

Just about to go cold turkey with DD2 who is 2.1. She's had access to the potty for the last couple of months and asks to use it, especially for poos (although she quite often poos in her nappy before she gets to the potty). We 'trained' DD1 at the same age and she took to it pretty quickly, I don't really remember it being particularly stressful, so hoping DD2 will be the same.

I think you have to be realistic. There WILL be accidents and near misses, but that's part of the process. I do think it's a good idea to wait for them to show at least some signs of being ready though.

My plan for cold turkey is:

Stay at home as much as poss for first couple of days (except for school run!), and 'pottying' every half hour. I won't go back to nappies except for nap and bedtime. Have got a couple of piddle pads for pushchair/carseat and a travel potty for when we do go out. And that's it. The rest is down to DD!

3duracell and minty brilliant advice.
I'm getting a potty, a stool and a toilet seat.
Cold turkey is an excellent plan, nappy for nap and nights only.
Good luck everyone!

Is early 2 too early or do you think nearer 3 is better?

With ds1 I tried every month or so from about the age of 2. Sweat, wee and tears and damp patches everywhere each time. At about 2.7 he started to ask for the potty and was dry in a few days. With ds 2 we waited until he took the lead (about 2.5). Again dry within days. Both times the timing couldn't have been worse. With dd we will leave it until she takes the lead which is starting to happen. We don't push it all, in fact we really need her to wait.

In a nutshell I recommend leaving it as long as possible and waiting until unit they want to do it

I don't think 2 is too young if your DC is showing signs.

I think I'm going to leave it until 2.6ish see how we go.
Thanks for all the useful advice :)

I don't think there is any wrong or right time. I think it also depends when the parent has time to be completely focused and stuck at home to cope with potty training. My son was 20 months when potty trained (we didn't actually do anything, just bought the potty chair and he then started to ask to use it so we got rid of the nappies). I've just potty trained my daughter at 2.1 yrs as I was off work during Easter. Stayed at home for 2 days whilst she had countless accidents but she soon got the hang of it and is now asking for both wees and poos (although gets mixed up between the 2, saying she's done a poo when actually needs a wee!). Both children's potty training wasn't stressful at all, it's quite refreshing once done and I just stick a cheap plastic potty in the bottom of the buggy when we're out and just hope she doesn't need a poo! I just had 2 potty chairs (one for upstairs and one for downstairs), a toilet seat and step and a cheapie potty to carry out and about with us. The chairs are great as even my 5 yr old still fits in it an uses it at night time in his bedroom as he can't be bothered to walk to the bathroom!