Starting to Potty Train Before/around Frist Birthday

My doc told us it is once they are walking to go for it with the potty training, so if he is walking go for it. He told us once they can walk they have the muscles to control their bladder. Good Luck!

A.

Now I am not trying to insult your mom or grandma - BUT I know from first hand experience, over the years, children's triumphs tend to get exaggerated. According to my MIL my husband weighed 12 lbs at birth... yet we found on the birth certificate he was only 9.5 - well I guess that shouldn't be considered ONLY but you get the gist. I am just trying to point out I have heard way too many moms and grandmas from that generation say the same thing, that their children were potty trained by 1 year, 14 mths, 18 mths etc. I think with girls 18 mths might be possible but I think overall it is a very unreasonable expectation to put on a baby. Let him be a baby - little 2 year olds running around in diapers are just so cute lol. But I also sympathize with the cost... my five year old is still in pullups at night - we tried to go without but found it was costing more to keep up with the laundry than it did for the diapers. I am going on a tangent... anyway - potty training is also a big stresser for kids, another reason you might want to think twice. Don't let your mom and gma bug you about him being still in diapers at any age - you are the mom and it's your choice and your choice only (well besides the child's and dad's of course). Well good luck!

DOn't listen to your family members... Any pediatrician worth their weight will tell you to start at around the age of 3, especially in a boy as they seem to mature more slowly in that area. Otherwise you are just asking for a whole lot of frustration and mess! Good luck!

I say do what you feel is right for you and him... You know him better than anyone... I have a son who i started training at 18 months and it was a disaster so i stopped till he was 2 and it worked out great but at the same time i was traing him at 2 my daughter was one and just about trained herself.. She wanted to go potty cause he was going potty and by the time she was 18 months old she was fully trained and by that time my sone was 24 months and fully trained to during the day.. The best way to train at night is to have them go b4 bed then every night when you go to bed get them up and to the potty.. It takes time but be consistant on that part. If they get in the habbit of going in the middle of the night it sticks.. My son now almost 10 still gets up to go in the middle of the night but he does it sleep walking.. He is such a heavy sleeper that he will just get up and sometimes wonder around till we point out the bathroom and then he goes back to bed. When he was about 2 1/2 to 3 he would wake up and just sit there and cry.. Ask him whats wrong and he would just cry.. He was asleep but take him to the potty and he would go then stop crying and go back to sleep.. Even though he was never really awake..lol.. I still say do what you think is right... And be patient with you being patient and posotive about it they he will do fine.. Good luck and best wishes... Sorry for rambling on... K.

i relly dont suggest you push your child to potty train..if you push it he or she could become afrad to poop and get very constipated. You need to introduce a potty seat and se what happens, and no offense but 12 months is too early!

Hey M.,
I'm not sure what method your mom/grandma used, but I can tell you that it can be done. It's not really potty training your child, it's more like training you to be aware of your child's rhythms and cues, and it's called Elimination Communication. Essentially, you try to predict when your child will go, and bring him to the toilet. You can stand him on the big toilet seat (he needs pressure on his feet to bear down, so he can squat with you holding him there). If he pees, you tell him "you're peeing!" and make a pssss noise. Each time you do this, he's associating that sound with peeing. The next time you stand him there, say "go pee...psss pss" and it can trigger him to pee. Same with poop. You just need to be close by and able to help him predict when it will happen. And in some time, he'll wait until you've brought him to the pot to go. Again, it takes some dedication on your part since he won't really be able to tell you when he has to go yet. Another thought- disposable diapers make it harder to train because baby has no idea he's wet. Going cloth can help, and cloth dipes are way cooler now than they used to be! Good luck!

Your mother and grandmother will try to tell you that you and their other children were potty trained at a very early age, usually by 18 months, as that was standard practice back then. However, be extremely aware that children back then were not potty trained, their parents were. What I mean is that the mother's were trained to know when to put the kids on the toilet. Every 2 hours most likely lol. I would wait. If you try to train your child too early it will be overly frustrating for you and your child. Diapers are expensive, but it's only another year.

I see that I am the minority on this request but, I must tell you that I think its a huge mistake, namely because I potty trained my daughter at 14 months and it was a disaster. If you push your children too early, they could have a bad experience and equate that experience with the potty itself. And I am going to tell you something else from experience, you can take a kid to the potty but, you can't make him pee. I am totally against EC (not that I think it is mean or anything, I just think the time and effort that go into it aren't worth the reward. I perosnally don't have the time to be thinking about when my baby is going to pee next. . . constantly.) If you can do it, go for it!!! I hope it works for you. But, I am just letting you know that it will work if your son wants it to work, and if he dosen't, it will be like nailing Jell-o to a tree.

I was going to offer pretty much the same suggestions as Heidi has already. Just understand that at this age, it's really not within his ability to hold or control it. With EC, you are the one who must know when he needs to go and walk him through it. It's not the same as "potty training". It does work great for some families but it's not for everyone.

I think it really depends on the child to determine when they are ready. My son is 15 months and starting to be interested in the potty (he's gone twice now!), because he sees the bigger kids at daycare go. However I am not pressuring him. Since he can't even verbalize when he needs to go, it's just a matter of whether he's ready to go when we put him on the pot. I figure the introduction to it can't hurt, but it will be a while before he's really "trained". Good luck!

I agree, starting too early will just cause more frustration than anything else.... We started my daughter at 18 months, just as having the potty available if she felt like using it. It took until this month (now 28 months) before she was actually trained and only during waking hours. Night time training is a whole other ball game! Kids all learn when they are ready and just having the potty available and giving them the choice to use it will work when the time is right. We all did it didn't we? :) Good luck!

lots of schools of thought here.. I truly believe that a child will not do it unless they are ready to.. so you can start at 11months, but if they aren't willing and verbally able to tell you when they have to go, then it won't work for you.. and our parents and grandparents who say they trained their kids by 1 yr (my mom is one of these people) , don't get it, but they were the ones trained, not us.. they watched and knew the cues, and put us on the potty and yes we went.. but I seriously doubt that a 1 yr old child can feel it and do it all on their own.. If you put your child on the pot every 1/2 hr or at some interval, yes you will get lucky and they will pee or poo on the pot.. if you keep it up, you will have success, but it's YOU being trained to put the kid there, it's not them knowing it.. eventually, they figure it out and it all blends together. Don't rush it, because if they don't want to do it, then they will be resistant and won't want to do it. and it will take forever to get them trained. My mom swears she trained us all by 1 , I Think she has selective memory! good luck..

I started my son at a year and he's three and completely potty trained now. I tried putting him in training underwear. Also make it a routine. Wake up...potty...eat breakfast...potty. After drinking anything, or even when ever you use the potty ask him to try. As a mom teaching a boy I put fruitloops in the toilet for aim since I had no way to show him myself. Sart him sitting first. I'll tell you a secret... it is very frustrating. If they are not ready they won't do it. They will hold it no matter how long you make them sit there and then do it as soon as you let them up. My daughter is 19 monthes and she where's pull ups to bed but she wants to be like her brother so it's easier. My friends son would not use the potty no matter what she did, we tried getting my son to show him, but nothing, then one day he got up and went to the potty all by himself. I wish you the best of luck. If you're lucky he is ready and it goes smoothly, but don't push him too hard I heard somewhere it could cause anxiety. You should ask your Dr. he/she might be asble to help you tell if he is ready.

I myself can not stand the phrase potty training kids will let you know when they are ready to go potty. Dont push them it will make the process go even slower and just fustrate you and your child so relax enjoy the baby years.