Potty Training "Too Early"?

[mamadoak]

My daughter is only 9 months and I'm thinking she might actually be ready to start potty training?! My Mum tells me I was potty trained by the age of 1… but that was the 80s, and there were a whole lot of things that happened in the 80s that HVs etc would look pretty shocked about now!!

Although my wee girl is only 9 months she has been mostly dry through nap time and certain stretches of the day for the past few weeks and has really obvious 'tells' for pooping… I have found myself knowing when she is going "to go" and taking her up to her room almost waiting for it to happen - surely I may as well use this time to put her on a potty? She can stand herself up with only a little support but can't walk. She says a few "words" (syllables) but nothing "potty" related… We have a dog so I always take her with me when I "go" if I'm in the house by myself and she is curious/ aware of whats happening (can't believe that's a fact I'm sharing with everyone! ah.. motherhood! lol).

So the question is… WHY is it not good to start potty training early? If it backfires it is damaging in any way to potty-training long-term?

Obviously I wouldn't be expecting a quick, 100% success rate! But has anyone started training under similar circumstances and had some success?

You should look up Elimination Communication, it sounds like this is what you are planning on doing.

No harm in giving it a go - it would be more a case of you reading the signs than her "training" but it might save you some nappies!

I'd wait until she's walking personally. One thing at a time! Sounds like she'll train pretty quick after that.

I started before then. It wasn't full potty training but a form of elimination communication whilst keeping nappies. By 9 months I would say 95% of all poo went in the toilet, and 50% wees. Both were fully trained by 15-18 months.

So although at your daughters age they still wore nappies and wet, I found it much nicer and easier to very rarely have to clean a pooey nappy. I could put them on the toilet before we left house for example and they would often wee or poo, so I knew they wouldn't go 2 mins after we left. Very Handy before going on buses/ trains/ planes/ in cars

It's all very well saying "I know when she needs to go so I'll just pop her on the potty" but surely she needs to know when she needs to go, which she'll be too young for yet. I'd personally wait until she's walking and can communicate that she needs the toilet. Can you even buy pants for a 9 month old? I've only ever seen them for 1.5years +.

Dip - mine would point to the bathroom before walking age and I would just take them and hold over toilet. Before that they would get that scrunched up red faced look!

You can buy pants from Newborn but like I said I kept mine in nappies as wasn't expecting them to be fully dry at that age anyway, just enough that solids went in toilet and some wee so they didn't every have soaked nappies. We used reusable nappies so we could open up, put on toilet, and put same nappy back on if it was still dry. Far easier using reusables if no poo to clean up!

We too did a form of elimination communication like Artandco, as soon as DS2 could sit.

It worked well as although DS stayed in nappies, but was rare to have to change a dirty nappy. There were less wet nappies too. certainly no less bother to do.

DS2 was fully out of nappies by 15 months or so.

We didn't look for cues from DS, we started by sitting him on the potty when we normally change his nappy. he nearly always did a wee and then started to poo at the same time.

So from an early age, he had that association, with is possibly where "potty training" comes from.

it wasn't forced, but his body reacted in that way - so it was very easy. We would take a potty out with us, and sit him on when we got somewhere etc....and thought no more of it than that.

I know someone who has done this with her dd, I think the pros are less nappies to deal with, but I don't think the child is truly potty trained in the sense that they can control when they go, and wait for you to find a toilet. My friend who did this is a sahm who spends a lot of time in the house and it worked well for them. It's less convenient if you spend a lot of time out and about and I don't think it is something nurseries would want to do if you need to go back to work (I may be wrong - I never asked!). My friend's dd still has a lot of accidents at two and a bit, mainly when they are out, or if her dd is distracted. However at home she usually asks for a potty and gets there in time. I suppose it depends if you'd rather deal with nappies all day, or no nappies most of the time but lots of accidents?

Go for it, but why even bother with a potty? Just get a good toddler training seat and pop her on the loo. If she sees you using it it makes much more sense that she is copying mum. I tried a potty for a while with dd but when ds came along it was never used as no one else in the house used one. He was much happier to be doing the same as everyone else. I also delayed his training as other people said that it was too early. He was a very early talker and knew exactly when he needed a poo as he told me so.

I have a 1950s parenting book which says that the early trained child is really a trained mother!

'Elimination communication' is exactly what people used to do before washing machines became widespread (compare how 'giving finger foods' became 'baby-led weaning')

If you want to reduce the number of nappies you use (a really important factor before disposables) and can live with an imperfectly trained child for months, then go for it in whatever way you are happy with.

It really does not make much difference to when they become fully trained, as that is developmental. But it does make a difference to the basic physical tasks of the toddler years.

There's some sort of useful reflex (I think) which means that if the GI tract has just been stimulated by food, it's predisposed to eliminations too. So sticking a child on a pot after meals means there's quite a good chance something will pop out, and that might help get a feel-good factor about the whole damned process.

I recommend reading "infant potty training" by Laurie Bouke. Go for it and good luck! X