Has anyone on here potty trained their child between the ages of 12-18months

[K4515]

It’s not that I’m planning to do so, I’ve toilet trained all my children at the age of 2 once they have shown me clear signs they are ready. I just finished training my 2 1/2 year old 3 weeks ago and it’s been a success. It’s just a debate me and my sister inlaw have, she believes you can start training as young as 6month which I personally think is ridiculous. Her daughter my niece who is just 17months, she’s gona start potty training. (That’s her first child) she shows no sign of readiness, she shows no sign when she is peeing. The thing she does do is starts screaming when she needs a poo out of discomfort as she’s really constipated (breaks my heart when she gets like that) but my sis inlaw thinks she’s giving her a sign she needs a poo. And thinks she can also control her bowel movement as she’s not pooing in one go. It drives me crazy, I keep telling her that’s not a sign for potty training that’s her in extreme discomfort, she’s on meds for her constipation too. So if anything that’s the worst time to train a toddler. I’m quite against trying to potty train a child who isn’t physically, emotionally, cognitively ready for that yet. I don’t think putting a 6 month old over the toilet every so many minutes is called potty training it’s luck if you catch it in there in time. She’s tried to change my opinion about this so much. I just feel why put yourself and your child through so much stress and anxiety when their body isn’t ready or developed enough for that yet. Plus no negative comments I just want to know what others opinions are that’s all. Has anyone managed to train their child between 12-18months and how long did it take? And how was the experience

I think doing it before 18 months is called elimination communication which really is training the parent to notice child's signs, rather than training the child. I agree with you that starting PT a child who is constipated is a very bad idea. ERIC the children's bladder and bowel charity has a lot of good advice and is what I followed recently and they say 18 months is the earliest. Maybe you could send her the info?
https://eric.org.uk/potty-training/

All mine were trained by 16 to 18 months, (have 4)I only worked as a dinner lady when they were babies, but got them used to sitting on a potty when they were 9months and would make a big deal if they peed etc. Potty was always in view, and wasn't stressful at all.

DS potty trained at 18 months. Started sitting him on the potty to brush his teeth at bedtime from 12 months.

Elimination communication is what it’s called with babies. It’s not potty training and it’s a lot of hassle as it’s you trying to read their signs them aim it into a potty. It can make potty training easier as you’re already in tune with their schedule and they’re used to the potty. Personally I’m not convinced the trade off is worth it. Unsurprisingly it was popular before the advent of disposable nappies as washing cloth nappies without a modern washing machine and tumble dryer was probably more of PITA than trying to read the baby’s signs.

Control of toileting muscles is linked to upright walking so whilst 12 months is probably too young, 18 months isn’t. The biggest other sign of readiness is being able to follow an instruction e.g. get your shoes and communicate a need such as asking for a snack if hungry. A 12MO probably can’t do that but lots of 18MOs can. Being aware of weeing isn’t a sign of readiness at all- modern disposable nappies are so good you get 3YOs that aren’t that aware.

Anyway as to your original question, I trained my youngest at 20MOs so slightly older than your age range but we could have done it at 18 I reckon, but it wasn’t good timing for me due to holidays. It was actually easier than training his sister at almost 3 as there was zero stubbornness or fight back!

I did it when my DS was 18 months. A intense session over a long weekend and that was pretty much it. He never used a potty as he preferred a child’s seat on top of a full sized toilet.

He’s never had an accident since he was trained although I still used training pants over night for quite a while just in case but they were always dry.

Hearing what others say I think I was just very lucky.

Elimination communication is not potty training, sounds like she's mistaken it for that though?!

My 17m old tells me when that they're doing a wee/BM and also regularly hears big sib say "I need a wee, come on let's have a wee chat!" at which littlest one toddlers off after big sib, big sib on the loo littlest on the potty opposite looking directly at each other singing songs and babbling 😂

Littlest has done a few potty wees but only when it's taken them by surprise on the potty, not because they've been in control. They know when it's happening to tell me, not before.

I really don't think 12-18m is a ready age to properly potty train.

@JumpstartMondays I think so too, many months ago we had that discussion when my daughter was about 18months, she kept questioning why I’m not potty training my daughter yet if she’s telling me when she’s pooing (she would also say poo even when she was having a pee at that point) I did explain this is just the start of her readiness but she’s not quite there yet, she needs to be ready in other ways too. Where as my niece isn’t verbally saying anything when she pees or poos, we only know she is having a poo because of the discomfort she’s in. I watch her few days a week and she never has a dry nappy in an hour, as in she’s still peeing small amount very often. One of the signs she’s not physically ready as her bladder hasn’t developed enough to hold a larger amount of urine. I just feel so bad for my niece especially with her constipation too I feel as though potty training her right now would cause a lot of anxiety.

I introduced the potty at 18 months where she would use it when she wanted and started potty training at 2 with no luck. She would refused to use potty on day 2 so didn’t want to force it and have her scared of using it stopped and let her do her thing. I’ve waited a couple of months and now started again yesturday and she’s 2y4m. Going well so far and only an odd accident with the bare bottom. She has asked for her nappy’s but have told her the nappy fairy took them to some little girls who needed them so she now has to use the big girl potty as she’s a big girl. Going for a walk later so she will wear tights and see how it goes x

It's totally possible, just more difficult nowadays with most kids in childcare and wearing modern nappies. We did EC from 6 months and my DC walked to the potty to poop at 12 months. For us it was because she had sensitive skin and nappy rash - not an issue with the potty.

I don't buy the "readiness" thing at all, it just requires a different approach depending what age they are and what they're capable of. Some people never use nappies at all from birth.

Your SIL starting with a toddler suffering from constipation sounds like a bad idea though.