Potty Training Advice - 18 Months Old

[cjwn]

Edited.

 

[Marie000]

My daughter is 20 months and I just bought her a potty. I don't think there is any harm in getting one.

I encourage my daughter to sit on it, read with her all sorts of books with kids learning to use the potty. I am now trying to get her to sit on her potty a few times a day. So far, she has only peed in the potty twice, which I assume was by accident. Still I told her that was great and she seemed really proud.
I don't force her to sit on the potty or stay on it when she doesn't want to.

So I think as long as you don't force your son to do anything he's not ready to, there is no harm in getting a potty. I know someone who bought one for her son when he was a year old, left it in the bathroom and eventually her boy potty trained himself (at around 18 months I think) without her having to do anything. (lucky mom!)

 

[sherylb]

Yeah we got a potty at that age too. DD is 2.5 and just started to get the beginning of potty training. We tried cloth training pants and regular panties and it was a nightmare so we are doing pull ups for the time being. You can always put DS on the potty while you are going to the bathroom if you want. It just gets them used to the idea.

Yesterday was our best day and she peed twice and just made it in time to poo once. She still doesn't tell me before she pees but tries before she poops. Half the time she's already pooped though.

 

[cjwn]

Edited.

 

[sherylb]

I'm kind of letting mine potty train herself too. We tried reminding her to tell me when she needed to go and she never did and just had accidents all over the house. She will do it when she's ready.

 

[SarahBear]

With my experience, I'd advice you to start now. We had introduced the potty at a few days old and she had periods where she'd use it frequently and periods when she wouldn't use it. Then at 18 months, things just clicked and she was basically potty trained. Now at 19 months, she's experienced a regression that I feel is due to a "wonder-week" type cognitive leap. Based on her potty-history, I suspect that once this leap is done, she'll be back to the potty. This period of time time though (19 months) seems like it would be a really bad time to start potty training. I can only guess what the other side of the cognitive leap looks like, but it seems like it would be more of a challenge that starting before the leap. That being said, I also don't know what it would be like to start right before the leap, experience the set-backs, and then try to get back to it after the leap! Also, I don't know if your kids time-line for developmental leaps will match my daughters! Basically, if you want to start while your child is more cooperative, start now or wait until they're a lot older. If you start young, expect set-backs but know that they aren't really "regressions" in terms of what the child has learned. They're just "regressions" in terms of what the child is able to do at that specific point in time. Cognitive leaps make pottying hard! But they get over it after the leap.

 

[JASMAK]

My three were totally different, but certain criteria were same for each....language, bladder control, and willing to do it. My kids ages were 2.5, 4, and 2 when FULLY trained. I started with a potty in the bathroom and when she wanted she sat on it while I ran the bath. If she peed, great, if not...ok too. We didn't cheer or reward. We kept it simple and drama free. Soon, peeing was everyday and then other times. There was no 'training'. This was my last child. My first was very easy. I told him about the toilet, showed him how, and that was it, literally. He became a bathroom tourist, which was a bit annoying, but we obliged as he often did go. My middle is severely developmentally delayed and she trained late as she had no language.

 

[sheldonsmommy]

I have no intention of trying to potty train my 18 month old right away, he's definitely not ready, but I need some advice about how and when to start.

He can say wee-wee, poo-poo, winkie, bum and nappy. For the last three weeks or so he's told me every time he's been doing a poo (but not when he's doing a wee). He watches me and his dad use the toilet (not all the time obviously as that would be strange, but we're not shy if he happens to be in the bathroom at the same time). We also tell him if we leave the room to use the toilet that we're going for either a wee-wee or a poo-poo so that he knows what we're doing.

He is my first child and I have absolutely no idea what to do next. Is it too early to buy him a potty? I am worried about doing anything too soon and freaking him out - but on the other hand I have another baby on the way and sooner rather than later would be great.

My son had a very obvious schedule (pooped after lunch every day) a little before 1, so I would sit him on it after lunch for 20 minutes or so and we'd read and sing or whatever. He peed and pooped on the potty during those times and we'd celebrate and I'd say 'Yay pee and poo goes into the potty!! Let's flush!' He was poop trained around 18 months and dry during the day at 2. So the 'introduction' of the potty was very successful for us.

If it's not forced, I say give it a shot If I were you I might even plop his poop into the toilet and put him on the potty after he poops then let him watch it get flushed. If he's telling you when he's pooping it may be a window

 

[cjwn]

Edited.

 

[raisin]

I agree that it's still very young to start potty training but if your LO is showing an interest I don't see any harm in getting a potty to have in the room and get him used to seeing it. That's what we did with DS when he was 19 months. I ordered a potty just to have it ready for when we wanted to start potty training but on the day it arrived he insisted on unpacking it out of the box and I was shocked when he sat on it and did a wee wee

For the next few months after that I let him take the lead and if he wanted to use it I helped him but never insisted. Tried to make it fun with some "potty songs" and lots of praise. He grew out of the potty after a short time and we moved on to a KETER toilet seat. I have heard some people have had a challenge with potty training but I guess we got lucky cause it seemed to just come naturally to DS.

That said, I think my washing machine was running 24/7 for the first few months.

 

[SarahBear]

I think the living room would work just fine, although it would present certain challenges. I'd write more, but I have to go!

 

[RaspberryK]

We keep our potty in the living room and have a kids seat for the loo in the bathroom.
I think it's a great age to start we started about the same time just with amn introduction to it.
Xx