Potty Training Twins
If you have twins or children of a similar age you may feel that potty training them together may seem like a time-saver, but it doesn’t always work out that way, as your children may approach readiness at different times.
A key point to remember is that not all children are ready at the same time [...]
Opinions On Early Potty Training?
My friend just started potty training her 13 month old son. Basically she puts him on the potty before and after every nap and every meal, and waits until he goes. After only one day of doing this and she had “such great success” getting him to go in the potty, she started putting him in pull ups. She said that way if he went in his underwear he would feel it, and help make him learn to potty train faster. In my opinion it just seems like a lot of pressure and work when he probably isn’t ready to learn quite yet. Just curious what other mommies thought… Do you think 13 months is too early to start potty training? Anyone have any success stories?
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Our son, (15 months old) for the past 2 weeks has started taking off dirty diapers as soon as he pees/poos in them. Also, he’ll go to one spot to go #2, after talking to his pediatrician, he said that these are signs to start potty training. So, I have been slowly introducing the potty. I am not forcing anything, when he is ready to get up and go play…he gets up and walks to his room.
ReplyDo I think she is crazy for potty training a 13 month old? No…I do think it is a little too soon yet, but some ppl would say, so is 15 months. But he seems to comprehend very well. When I call for him to come take a bath, after he is undressed, he goes and sits on his potty out of habit. I wish her luck.
actually, statistics have shown that since the use of disposables has become prevalent children are being toilet trained later and later and that when cloth was the only option children where often toilet trained as early as age one. I have heard stories from older relatives of children that were toilet trained by six months of age!
Replyshe’s not potty training him, she’s potty training herself. my youngest sister was potty trained at 18mo but that was the day she pulled her diaper off, threw it on the floor, then screamed she was a big girl not a baby.
ReplyI think if a kid shows signs of being ready at 18 months it is not too early but if mom and dad are trying to force it, then it is too early.
ReplyI have observed lots of parents trying to potty train too early and all it does is cause headaches for them and the child. I think in most cases, the child will sow you when they are ready, you just have to watch for the signs. When they start noticing that they are peeing- that is a good time to start. If a child is not potty trained by 3, it is time for the parents to force the issue. The pediatrician can tell you the best way to do this.
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I misread that, 13 Months is probably way too young. Unless the child directs it, I would not try it.
We potty trained early, but not that early. My son was 21 months when he fully potty trained, and my daughter was 18 months. We went by their cues. It is a waste of time (and pure luck) if you get a child to “potty train” before they can actually tell you BEFORE they go to the bathroom. A lot of people think the child is ready if they can tell you AFTER they go, but that is not the case. And if you potty train before the child is actually ready, than often times it works for a few months, and then after that, it is all downhill. Usually these kids go back into diapers because they were pressured too soon and weren’t ready, and associate it with a negative thing, and don’t actually potty train until they are closer to 3 or 3.5 years old in the end! I say, let him be a baby! Let him do it in his own time, or it was have the opposite effect.
ReplyWe did infant potty training with my son, and it does work. After a few days, I just knew when he needed to go the same as I knew when he was hungry. I guess if you want to call me “trained,” then I was just as “trained” to feed him as I was to take him to the potty.
ReplyPeople who object to infant potty training don’t really understand what it’s about. It is NOT about forcing a child to sit on a potty until he goes or putting “pressure” on him (whatever that means). Potty trips are just an opportunity, not a requirement. We changed very few diapers after my son was about 5 months old, but if he went in his diaper, we just changed the diaper. No big deal.
Regarding your friend’s son - thirteen months is not too early, but I wouldn’t put him in pull-ups. They’re just really expensive diapers. If your friend wants to do this and thinks her son is ready, I’d recommend using regular Gerber training pants. Not the plastic pants - the regular cotton trainers.
Keep in mind that the only “wrong” way to do potty training is to set an arbitrary time limit for when it has to be done and then punish them when they don’t perform. This is just another skill that they need to practice in order to learn, and that practice needs to take place in a completely non-coercive environment. Age is much less relevant than the parent’s attitude about the process.
There is a train of thought called elimination communication where parents begin potty “training” at even earlier ages, like weeks or months old. I don’t know tons about it but there is a link below you could read if you want to know more. And, my old dentist, who is from another country, I can’t remember where, maybe one of the Russian satellite ones?, and I had a long conversation about potty training once and she was baffled by how it’s done in the US. She said kids were trained by one where she was from.
ReplyThat being said, my son is a little over 2 1/2 and he’s still not trained. In fact, we’re not even actively training right now because he’s just not ready. We’ll do it for a few days here or there and then he starts resisting like crazy, crying and screaming when I mention the word potty etc., so away it goes for a few weeks until next time. I’m trying hard not to force it on him because everything I’ve read said if they’re not ready, they’re not ready and to wait. He’ll be ready soon, hopefully.
I’m with JenP on the subject. Giving the child the opportunity to use the potty at their interest is not forcing or pressuring them; it is responding to their interests, a great parenting skill in general!
Going with the flow is crucial. Especially with Early Potty Training, which is what is generally considered the approach after 12 months. Before then it is considered EC as the baby’s natural instincts can be nurtured. Though depending on the amount of disposables used and the baby’s personality, these instincts are often rapidly fading by 6 months or so.
It’s all good so long as it is relaxed, and consistent!
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