20 months old and fascinated by the toilet but not showing signs he’s ready to potty train

[Cashmeresocksandpjs]

My boy is 20 months and is obsessed with the toilet but isn’t showing any of the signs about being ready to potty train.

Just wondered if anyone has any advice on if there is anything I should be doing whilst he is so fascinated by it ?

I don’t want to miss the boat but I really don’t think he is anywhere near ready yet. He’s only told me once or twice that he’s done a poo, never before he’s done one and occasionally will pat his nappy when he’s doing a wee but hasn’t done that for a good few weeks now.

'Showing signs' is a bit of a myth, you just pick a good time and get started.
Start just putting him on the potty regularly at changes, after meals, before the bath, after naps etc

Sit him on it at bathtime, no need to really attempt any training at his age but there's no harm.

I agree re showing signs, you get people on here saying their 4yo isn't "showing signs" yet which is bonkers (excepting additional needs etc). If now's a good time for you then have a go, nothing to lose.

It can be easier to wait until they're closer to 4. It depends on the child. I used to work in a nursery, at 4 they only take a few days to get the concept.

Some maybe but generally I've found the kids who leave it to 3.5+ have a much harder time as there's so much more emotional stuff going on for them by then.

Pop him on fhe toilet and make a big fuss if he does anything. If you wait for signs and omens you may be waiting a while.

What are “the signs”?! Just start doing it and see what happens? My children showed no signs at 26 months but got it within a few days of starting.

I highly recommend the Oh Crap Potty Training Book…. I would read that before you make any decisions.

However I would say that fascination with the toilet is totally unrelated, it’s just because it’s a mysterious thing that other people use and he doesn’t, so it’s very interesting.

My personal take is that while it might be possible to potty train at 20 months, you will be making it harder for yourself…. It’s not just the week or two of active training, it’s the following months where they’re not wearing a nappy, are technically potty trained but you need to be constantly vigilant. I think that would be harder with a younger child who can’t communicate or understand as much.

Those first months are waaayy harder than having a child in nappies where you can just pop out, do car journeys, anything, and not have to plan around your DC bowel movements. I’m 2 weeks into potty training my 2nd DS so I’m quite aware of it. 😅

The Oh Crap book recommends between 22-30 months (I think, from memory). I did mine at 26 and 27 months successfully with no signs of readiness.

We trained at 19 months and it took weeks but she’s now mostly dry at 21 months and can communicate her needs. It worth a go!

The idea of potty training taking “weeks” is utterly mad and still being “mostly dry” after a couple of months is wild.

Leave it a bit longer, when they’re ready it won’t take weeks, they’ll get it in a day or two.

"Readiness" was made up by Pampers. It has no basis in reality. If he's interested, start letting him try. It isn't over and done with in a few days so the earlier you start the earlier he'll be reliably trained.

There really is absolutely no need and there's multiple reasons why it's not ok to wait until 4 to potty train a child!

Showing signs is bullshit. Go for it. Mine could pee on command by 17 months, but he's not dry yet because we haven't tried.

ETA: he's 18 months now. We've not got rid of nappies so no nonsense about repeated accidents, but regularly using the potty and normalising it seems a sensible first step. When he can talk we'll move on to encouraging him to tell us when. He already sometimes takes us to the potty so I don't think it will be a big deal, and much less stressful than the one week off annual leave, throw the nappies away, don't leave the house rigmarole promised here.

This.

Yes this. Humans didn't just evolve to use the toilet they need to be taught.

Thanks for the response but I disagree. Accidents are all part of potty training. My child may sometimes have an accident when really distracted or unable to get to somewhere private when out. It took weeks because we couldn’t book the time off work to nail it in a few days. They expressed significant interest in the potty so it felt ‘mad’ to ignore