Signs of being ready??

[Fivebyfive2]

Hi all, sorry if this is a really daft question, but what would people class as 'showing signs' of being ready??

My ds is 20 months, he doesn't have too many words but is good at letting us know what he wants (signs for milk, takes our hand to lead us where he wants to go etc) He sometimes 'helps' pulling his trousers up and down, can take his nappy off (eek!) and will take a cotton pad and go 'dab dab' when we change him. Also, I'm sure this is a coincidence but yesterday he farted, said 'more' then did a poo (was wearing a nappy thank god!) He used to go behind the sofa to poo but ages ago, like when he was about 14 months old, we figured that was wayyyy to young to start and he doesn't 'retreat' any more.

Any advice for a slightly confused ftm??

Really there are no prerequisites but you need to be prepared for the process, trained our boy from 19months and after 3 weeks its been very easy we haven't had regressions people talk about when being young and he had no signs of being 'ready' it is just about giving them very clear instructions. It will take more than 3 days but after a couple of weeks of what will be watching them intensely its a very easy thing to at least take them to bathroom every couple of hours and then as you destress you prompt less & they start asking to go themselves. I used the the information on this website below of how to go about it in preparation using the "long way" before starting because it was detailed I could just listen on my headphones and its free and seemed very up to date plus they also have written notes too. Note the guidance is on an autism website but the slides are actually potty training for everyone and my child is developmentally normal. If it works for them why wouldn't it work for anyone! Also get some reusable underwear (training pants) so you don't feel stressed & you do need some bouts of naked time for a couple of weeks so they can figure things out consolidate there wee & you can hopefully get some wee on the potty if you spot them in time :) . Overall if you can get them accident free for a good few weeks you will have no troubles going forward. Goodluck www.actcommunity.ca/education/videos/toilet-training-for-everyone-revised-and-expanded

Oh one other thing we didn't stay at home for more than a few hours to keep him naked we used nappies when going out for the first week and in naps but made sure he went before leaving house and would try him on the potty at the relevant interval if still out still. After that week we switched totally to training pants. Our reinforcement was a short clip of peppa pig (you need to reduce TV if this is what you'll use) and if he was ever resistant and a book wasn't enough we'd just say peppa to get him to sit wait for it to happen & then press play.