How do you know when to start potty training

[jesslambo88]

Hi everyone we're first time parents and we have no idea when to start potty training with our little boy. He's 19 months now. We go away in July and wondering if it's best to wait till we're back anyway. Thanks

19 months is younģ, esp for boys. Signs of being ready are
Communication of having done wee or poo
Having fairly long gaps of dry nappy
Being interested

You can start him thinking about it but potty or toilet seat, when he's been dry, put on toilet. For us DS was always dry in morning so started with wees then as bladder was full.

I was dreading potty training as I only ever heard horror stories. My son was just used to seeing me and my husband use the toilet which completely normalised it for him. Around 3 he started showing signs of being interested so I told him he could use the toilet if he wanted to. We bought a potty which he used a couple of times and tipped it into the toilet and then he decided he wanted to use the toilet like his parents do so I got him the toilet seat/ladder thing. He started taking his nappy off himself and just...went. Bought some pants for him and we were potty trained. It really tied in with him having a dry nappy overnight. It seemed to be an overnight thing. He had a couple of accidents only.

I think if you wait until they show the signs they are mentally and physically ready, potty training “can” be easy, depending on your child. There was no “training” really required for us at all!
I really think 19 months is very young though, especially for a boy. You might be in for lots of tears, tantrums and stress about it if you’re trying to push him to do something he’s not ready for.

Our DS is 2.5 years old and we're thinking of doing it this June/July. His big sister was potty trained at 2.9. Unless they are totally insistent and it all comes from them there is no way I would entertain it before 2. The latee you leave it the quicker, easier and more successful it is IMO

Around 2 DS was showing signs of being interested and occasionally did wees in the potty etc but not at all consistently and it was hard work. After a couple of days we stopped to try again another time and he seemed ok with that. DD was born and it all went on the back burner.

Just after 3 we tried again and this time there was pretty much no training involved. He immediately started using the toilet (no potty) and was dry overnight. He's probably had about 5 accidents since then. It was incredibly easy.

I would recommend waiting a lot longer, 19m is extremely young. My DD is now 23 months and not at all ready. After my first experience I'm happy to wait until she is totally ready and hopefully do it quickly again.

A lot of people do think you should potty train quite young and I was a bit panicky about waiting until 3+ but it was right for us. Anecdotally, my friends who potty trained their little ones earlier had loads and loads of accidents over the first year and were in nappies overnight (some still are at 4/5). We were lucky and DS was just day and night trained simultaneously.

Thanks for your help everyone. Will defo wait until he's a lot older then xxx