What age was your child *completely* potty trained?

[Neko]

That is the kind of preschool I'm talking about. My son would be just within the limits for the "3 year old" class by their definition, but he'd be 2 when he starts.

My DD is in a 3 year old class this year. Her birthday is 12/30 and the cut off date is 10/1 in New Jersey, so she's on the older side. Her class expects the child goes to the bathroom with normal toilets, pulls up and down all clothes by themselves, flushes toilets and washes hands by self.

Some children might be ready to do all that by themselves, but I wouldn't guarantee it by less than 3. Children in my DD's class do have accidents still and the preschool seems to tolerate it.

 

[hanelei]

Day trained at 2 years 8 months, still needs a pull up for nights a year later. Here most children start preschool the April after their third birthday. Schools prefer they are trained, but don't mind if they aren't quite there and say most kids get the hang of it quickly once they see all the other kids in their class using the toilet successfully.

 

[kayleigh1985]

DD was trained during the day at 2 years 3 months and trained day and night at 2.5. She started pre-school at 2.5 and started to go to the toilet by herself, wipe herself and wash her hands. At first I thought this was asking a bit much of a 2.5 year old but I'm sure they would have helped her if she had asked.

 

[tommyg]

I think it's a lot to expect 3 year olds to be completely independent going to the toilet. DS even using a step cant reach the tap and he needs help to flush and wipe.
But given in the days before disposable nappies and automatic washing machines most babies were trained by 18 mths. I personally see no reason for 3 year olds (excluding children with other problems) to still be in nappies. I forced DS out of nappies at 2&4 mths garden gates were fitted, sunny weekend was forcasted we stayed in the garden all weekend (wet grass is less stressful than wet carpets) and DS couldn't wander off.

It was a guru who was being paid for by pampers who suggested waiting for children to show signs of readiness, what did that do for nappy sales?

 

[leoniebabey]

a month before he turned 3 he started and took about 2 weeks to crack it so i'd say was 100% trained by 3
he's 4.5 and still not night dry

my youngest is 2yrs 3m and just getting the hang of talking never mind potty training

 

[Sarah Lou 80]

I dont know if its just me and my experience of being a mother (and one to a special needs child), but i think preschools expect a hell of a lot. Alex isnt dry at night at 5.5yrs whilst Tori is potty trained day and night, toilets themselves terrify her still. Kids are so different and theres so many reasons why they may not be potty trained, theres so much pressure out there isnt there?

I agree! The pre school I want LO to ho to expects him to be dry at 2.5yrs! No pressure then!!!

 

[pinklightbulb]

I had Eamon trained completely when he reached 4.5 years, however he has recently regressed so back to the rewards chart. He is autistic and has had a lot of life changes recently though so have put it down to this.

 

[SarahBear]

I think it's a lot to expect 3 year olds to be completely independent going to the toilet. DS even using a step cant reach the tap and he needs help to flush and wipe.
But given in the days before disposable nappies and automatic washing machines most babies were trained by 18 mths. I personally see no reason for 3 year olds (excluding children with other problems) to still be in nappies. I forced DS out of nappies at 2&4 mths garden gates were fitted, sunny weekend was forcasted we stayed in the garden all weekend (wet grass is less stressful than wet carpets) and DS couldn't wander off.

It was a guru who was being paid for by pampers who suggested waiting for children to show signs of readiness, what did that do for nappy sales?

I'm not a fan of the "readiness" philosophy either. Babies are born ready. It's only modern diapering practices that train babies out of "potty readiness."

 

[Quartz]

I think it's a lot to expect 3 year olds to be completely independent going to the toilet. DS even using a step cant reach the tap and he needs help to flush and wipe.
But given in the days before disposable nappies and automatic washing machines most babies were trained by 18 mths. I personally see no reason for 3 year olds (excluding children with other problems) to still be in nappies. I forced DS out of nappies at 2&4 mths garden gates were fitted, sunny weekend was forcasted we stayed in the garden all weekend (wet grass is less stressful than wet carpets) and DS couldn't wander off.

It was a guru who was being paid for by pampers who suggested waiting for children to show signs of readiness, what did that do for nappy sales?

I agree to a certain extent but the reason that most were trained so soon was it was not only awkward for parent but uncomfortable for the child.

I disagree with no reason for 3 year olds by your own admission your forced DS out of nappies. That does not work for all parents or children. I personally believe in a more child led approach and for DD that meant she was fully potty trained just before 3. It was not training though just a complete readiness on her part to do so. Before would have broken someone.

Our preschool do not change nappies rather than needing complete potty training. DD started just as she was trained.

 

[jd83]

I think it's a lot to expect 3 year olds to be completely independent going to the toilet. DS even using a step cant reach the tap and he needs help to flush and wipe.
But given in the days before disposable nappies and automatic washing machines most babies were trained by 18 mths. I personally see no reason for 3 year olds (excluding children with other problems) to still be in nappies. I forced DS out of nappies at 2&4 mths garden gates were fitted, sunny weekend was forcasted we stayed in the garden all weekend (wet grass is less stressful than wet carpets) and DS couldn't wander off.

It was a guru who was being paid for by pampers who suggested waiting for children to show signs of readiness, what did that do for nappy sales?

I agree to a certain extent but the reason that most were trained so soon was it was not only awkward for parent but uncomfortable for the child.

I disagree with no reason for 3 year olds by your own admission your forced DS out of nappies. That does not work for all parents or children. I personally believe in a more child led approach and for DD that meant she was fully potty trained just before 3. It was not training though just a complete readiness on her part to do so. Before would have broken someone.

Our preschool do not change nappies rather than needing complete potty training. DD started just as she was trained.

I agree with this. Yes, diaper companies have made it easier for parents to wait longer to train their children. Is that some horrible thing though? NO. The main reason children were pushed to train so young in older times was that diaper quality was awful in the past, leading to horrible rashes, etc, so it was to their benefit to get trained ASAP. Disposable and cloth diapers were awful. I've heard plenty of stories of how crappy diapers used to be. My cousin had a baby last year, and was so anti-Pampers and Luvs because of how awful she had broken out as a baby in them. But they are completely different diapers now, after all these years. She ended up trying them, as multiple bought them for her for baby shower gifts, and now loves them. They absorb well now, they have many years of testing since then to improve the overall diaper.

Obviously this is something with vastly differing opinions by some, but to me, I just don't see why it has to be something a child is forced into. Potty training DS1 has changed my opinion, as it was just such a nightmare with him trying to make him get trained. I think I was too influenced by everyone's opinions that he should be trained already, and the whole thing was just awful. He ended up getting trained when he was finally ready. In hindsight, I just can't believe how much effort was put into it when we could have just waited a bit longer for HIM to actually be ready to do it. Once he was ready, he just did it, and was trained in a few days. It could have been that simple, and we could have avoided all the bribery, forcing him to try to go all the time, etc when he wasn't ready for it yet. I'm being much more relaxed with DS2 in introducing it. He'll do it when he is ready to. It's just not worth the huge battle over something that a few months, or age 2 vs age 3 really makes some huge difference in the grand scheme of things. It doesn't.

 

[Laucu]

It really depends on the child - with my daughter she was dry night and day as soon as I started potty training her at 28 months. With my son, I started training him 4 months ago (at 29 months) and he still has at least one little accident a day (where his pants are wet, no puddles though) and still needs a pull up at night. Today he fell asleep in his buggy and wet himself! Luckily I had a bed mat under his bottom. They're great, they absorb a lot more than I thought they would!

 

[caz_hills]

My son was dry in the day at about 2 years and 2 months and dry at night by three and three months. We only took the nappies off at night when he was dry for a few days and he has never, touch wood, had an accident. We could have done the nights earlier maybe but we waited and didn't rush him and it was fine.

 

[SarahBear]

I think it's a lot to expect 3 year olds to be completely independent going to the toilet. DS even using a step cant reach the tap and he needs help to flush and wipe.
But given in the days before disposable nappies and automatic washing machines most babies were trained by 18 mths. I personally see no reason for 3 year olds (excluding children with other problems) to still be in nappies. I forced DS out of nappies at 2&4 mths garden gates were fitted, sunny weekend was forcasted we stayed in the garden all weekend (wet grass is less stressful than wet carpets) and DS couldn't wander off.

It was a guru who was being paid for by pampers who suggested waiting for children to show signs of readiness, what did that do for nappy sales?

I agree to a certain extent but the reason that most were trained so soon was it was not only awkward for parent but uncomfortable for the child.

I disagree with no reason for 3 year olds by your own admission your forced DS out of nappies. That does not work for all parents or children. I personally believe in a more child led approach and for DD that meant she was fully potty trained just before 3. It was not training though just a complete readiness on her part to do so. Before would have broken someone.

Our preschool do not change nappies rather than needing complete potty training. DD started just as she was trained.

I do want to point out that it doesn't have to be a matter of forcing kids out early versus waiting until they do it on their own. EC is gentle and responds to a baby or toddler's natural cues. Because they never get trained into diaper use, they generally are done with diapers on the earlier side without any coercion.

 

[Quartz]

I think it's a lot to expect 3 year olds to be completely independent going to the toilet. DS even using a step cant reach the tap and he needs help to flush and wipe.
But given in the days before disposable nappies and automatic washing machines most babies were trained by 18 mths. I personally see no reason for 3 year olds (excluding children with other problems) to still be in nappies. I forced DS out of nappies at 2&4 mths garden gates were fitted, sunny weekend was forcasted we stayed in the garden all weekend (wet grass is less stressful than wet carpets) and DS couldn't wander off.

It was a guru who was being paid for by pampers who suggested waiting for children to show signs of readiness, what did that do for nappy sales?

I agree to a certain extent but the reason that most were trained so soon was it was not only awkward for parent but uncomfortable for the child.

I disagree with no reason for 3 year olds by your own admission your forced DS out of nappies. That does not work for all parents or children. I personally believe in a more child led approach and for DD that meant she was fully potty trained just before 3. It was not training though just a complete readiness on her part to do so. Before would have broken someone.

Our preschool do not change nappies rather than needing complete potty training. DD started just as she was trained.

I do want to point out that it doesn't have to be a matter of forcing kids out early versus waiting until they do it on their own. EC is gentle and responds to a baby or toddler's natural cues. Because they never get trained into diaper use, they generally are done with diapers on the earlier side without any coercion.

I agree its more the comment that there is no reason to be in nappies at 3. There are different ways of a child becoming potty trained and each suit different parents and children. For us waiting until DD was ready meant she was literally trained in a day - one day she told me she was ready and that was it knickers on and only a handful of accidents. I could have forced it on us but for what 6 less months of nappies and a lot of stress.

DS is likely to be ready to try soon and I will take my cues fromhim

 

[tristansmum]

I waited until my son was ready... At 2yrs 8 months he asked to wear pants. Training was relatively easy and I'd say he was dry within a few weeks but over a year he'd have periods were accidents happened. This seems to be quite normal as most of my friends have experienced the same. Luckily here in UK our preschools don't require toilet training. It's not Day care but government funded early years learning. They go to school at 4 but again no requirement for them to be toilet trained although most children are. It's actually illegal not to send your child to school once they are 5 so they couldn't impose rules.
I think all children are different. Some are potty trained at 18 months and some have daily accidents at 4. You can't predict. Our children have so many pressures put on them.

 

[SarahBear]

I waited until my son was ready... At 2yrs 8 months he asked to wear pants. Training was relatively easy and I'd say he was dry within a few weeks but over a year he'd have periods were accidents happened. This seems to be quite normal as most of my friends have experienced the same. Luckily here in UK our preschools don't require toilet training. It's not Day care but government funded early years learning. They go to school at 4 but again no requirement for them to be toilet trained although most children are. It's actually illegal not to send your child to school once they are 5 so they couldn't impose rules.
I think all children are different. Some are potty trained at 18 months and some have daily accidents at 4. You can't predict. Our children have so many pressures put on them.

Is homeschooling legal? Here the compulsory age for sending your child to school is 7, bu all you have to do to get around it is to register your child as being a homeschooler.

 

[tommyg]

I waited until my son was ready... At 2yrs 8 months he asked to wear pants. Training was relatively easy and I'd say he was dry within a few weeks but over a year he'd have periods were accidents happened. This seems to be quite normal as most of my friends have experienced the same. Luckily here in UK our preschools don't require toilet training. It's not Day care but government funded early years learning. They go to school at 4 but again no requirement for them to be toilet trained although most children are. It's actually illegal not to send your child to school once they are 5 so they couldn't impose rules.
I think all children are different. Some are potty trained at 18 months and some have daily accidents at 4. You can't predict. Our children have so many pressures put on them.

That isn't strickly true schools can refuse to change nappies. They can't refuse to take the child but they can force a parent to come to school as change the child. I know of a boy who had medical problems that ended up in a special school because the school refused to change nappies/incontinence pants.

 

[minties]

I think all kids are different and it often doesn't matter what the parents do or don't do.

I was toilet trained (day and night) by 18 months. My brother that followed 2 years later was still wetting his pants in the day at 5, and at night until 12. Same parents, same philosophies, same cotton nappies. Mum said I just told her I didn't want nappies and that was that.

I tried to train Thomas from about 18-24 months but he didn't get it and didn't care for it. I didn't listen to relatives nagging me and knew he was ready at 3y 1m. He was dry in 48 hours (day). Some nights he's dry most usually not. I can't force him not to wet the bed.

Sophie is a lot more keen to train but still has yet to pee in the toilet. And I don't care. We are in no rush.