Potty Training & Transitioning to Toddler Bed

Do them all!!!! Yep - 18 months and my daughter jumped out of her crib! if the toddler bed is in her room, currently, try to transition her during her naps. As far as potty training - she may be a little young so introducing her to the potty, seeing her interest will tell you if it is time, regardless of whether she's pulling off her diaper or not. It's good that she is responding to "uncomfortable" diapers - big step! You could get lucky and have an early, easy training and buying her pretty frilly underwear might be her thing to keep her dry. However, see how she responds to the big potty first (with a small toilet seat over it). I'm still guessing she may be a few months away from being totally trained. Good luck.

We actually did both of these at once when our little girl turned two. She wasn't sleeping well anymore where she was (in our bed) and the potty thing, well, she was always telling us when she was peeing and pooping so....

What we did was establish a great bedtime routine and put her to bed in a pull up. After three nights, the pull up stayed dry. During the day, we put her in panties which she picked out herself. She didn't want to have to take them off, so this was encouragement to stay dry. We took her every twenty minutes to the bathroom until she was used to it and started telling us. When things got rocky, we gave her an M&M as a reward for using the toilet. After pottying began to become it's own reward, we started only giving the M&M when she asked for it. Mainly, we gave her a lot of praise for potty usage! Good luck!

I would say go ahead and begin both but put a preference on one of them. I would say the toddler bed since it is a safety issue. With the PT you could just set up a potty in the bathroom and start letting her sit on it before bath time etc. She can begin the process slowly and without pressure while you work more on transitioning to the toddler bed. My son also began PT at around 18 months but we didn't work on it "hard core" until he was around 26 months. He also did great transitioning to the toddler bed too. I guess we worked on both at the same time.

I can't speak too much about potty training as my daughter was stubborn as a mule with it and my son hasn't gotten there yet, but we did just move him to a toddler bed when we noticed his expert climbing skills. It was such an easy transition! The key is to basically make her room a giant crib - babyproof EVERYTHING! We replaced all outlet covers with the ones that swivel if something gets unplugged and of course covered the un-used ones, put locks on the closet doors, put cushion guards on the sharp corners of his dresser, etc. We put a basket of soft toys in his room and tons of books. On the first night, we made sure he was really good & tired before putting him in bed and he went right to sleep and stayed there all night. For about a week he woke up in the morning & after naps and SCREAMED to get out rather than play & look at books, but now he'll do that for a good thirty minutes (just enough time for me to get the coffee flowing!). It was such an easy transition and I'm so glad we did it when we did (at about 17 months). Now I don't have to worry about broken bones from a fall out of the crib, which is a huge relief. Good luck!

Elaine S gave some great suggestions. We also baby proofed the room and made an easy transition out of the crib. Having them go to the store as we picked out the sheets and comforter also made it fun and exciting. Both kids made the change easily. We used a gate initially and then moved the gate to the stairway landing so they could get to the bathroom or my room. I definitely recommend doing the transition asap and before truly potty training.

As for PT - that is great that she is showing interest. Both of mine did around that age, then lost interest for a few months. Both showed interest again (with encouragement!) a couple of months later and were potty trained before 2.5 with focus one weekend. Encourage her and she will let you know how ready she is.