When did you start to toilet and potty train your child?
My son is 15 months and Im wondering when to start trying and what I need to get?
Is it best to use a potty? i didnt i learnt with those crazy toilet stairs.
We started around that age, he has to know when he has been or needs to go iykwim... It was unsuccessful until he was almost 2, then he went to hospital, and things didn't pick up til around 2yr2mth then we moved, backtracked again, 2yr4.5mth started again all by himself. He's 2 and a half now and the only real "issue" he has is he's not quite on the ball with poo. He can tell you as he's doing it, just not before yet. He's also dry at night, so no nappies here at all now
wrt training pants, we bought 2nd hand undies from garage sales/ op shops and a few new ones from best and less/kmart and put him straight in them.
We have a Fisher Price talking potty toilet thing. It sings and has a flusher and a roll of "toilet paper" that make noise. Prefers this one over any other potty! Also he has toilet inserts and a wee man. Depending on if he's just waken, or it's the middle of the night then he'll use the insert, but he normally is starting to use the wee man (it's like a urinal for little boys)
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It really depends on the child. 15 months does sound a bit young to me, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who will say different. During my child care training they drummed it into our heads that a child doesn't have much (if any!) bladder and bowel control until about 18 months of age. Also they need to be able to clearly express to you they need to use the potty or toilet.
I started training DD 2 months before her 2nd birthday, but I then got terrible ms with this one, so put it on hold until Dec, after a couple of weeks with little success I was ready to stop for a few weeks (try again come Jan) when I just let her run around bare bummed one night and she just took herself to the potty several times, so for the next 2 weeks or so we staid close to home (only going out for short periods with pull ups on), I kept her pants off and she just trained herself pretty much. By Christmas she was in underwear with very little accdents. She is still in a night nappy, but only wets some nights, not a lot at all.
They also say after 2 weeks if you haven't got very far then it's best to stop completely and try again later as for some children if they're not ready they may feel pushed and get scared or go backwards.
As I say, all children are different, so maybe your little one is getting ready. Maybe google TT readiness checklists as there are such things! That will give you a good heads up if your DS is showing signs of being ready.
Good luck with it all, when ever you do start training.
We started DS1 at 2.5yrs as I wanted him TT before DS2 came along. We had great success and used a potty first then onto the toilet.
DS2 is almost a totally new thread!!
He is 3.5yrs and point blankly refuses to TT at all. Tried him various times. We are going to do just the toilet with one of those cushy seats. My DH made a small graduated step for the boys to use, it is stable for them to stand on when they need to learn to wee standing up.
There is a really good Toilet Training tips thread on here somewhere to help you with knowing if your DS is ready. I just can't find it right now..
Usally they need to be able to tell you when they have done a wee or poo or disappear when they are doing poo. Some kids will ask or just start taking their own nappies off themselves.
We started just over 2 weeks ago. DS is 29 months old. He first showed interest at 18 months, but I was pregnant with DS2 and was told not to start TT. He sat on the toilet a few times but lost interest. We waited until after DS2 was born and had started sleeping through the night, then went for it. We've gone 'cold turkey', no nappies at all and pull-ups only at night. During the day I let him run around bare bummed, but when we go out I put him in undies and shorts. He took a few days to learn when he was peeing or pooing (looked so surprised!). He didn't like the toilet at first (I think he felt unstable) but took to his Fisher Price singing potty (handy too because if I wasn't in the room I often hear the potty and know he's been). After one week (when I was about to give up and had stopped nagging him to 'go potty') he used the potty by himself and took it to the toilet to empty it. After two weeks he's now interested in sitting on the toilet (he did his first poo on the toilet today at a friend's house) and is telling me when he needs to go. There's still quite a few accidents, but he wants to keep doing it (no nappy Mum!) and I'm think he's getting there so we won't go back to nappies. I also got a reward chart from the Australian pottytraining website that I saw mentioned in the potty training thread and I think that's helped keep him interested.
Good luck! I don't think 15 months is too young if he's interested. The website I used said from 14 months and has lots of good tips.
DD1 was just over 3 when she toilet trained, she's still in a night nappy at night time though, just cant seem to get her to stay dry over night, or get up to go to the loo!
We tried earlier but she just wasnt ready!
We used a fisher price potty that plays a tune when they wee in the toilet. funny because i havent taken the batteries out of it and occasionally it goes off randomly in the laundry cupboard!
each child is different. It's really no good asking when other people did it because it's not about teaching them as such, it's about when they are ready.
My oldest I tried and tried from 18 months. He did not tt until he was 3 years and 2 months old. It's like a switch went off and he just got it.
Chase was 2 years and 2 weeks. I did him and Jaidan at the same time, day and night. Chase got it straight away. He was ready. We had almost no accidents from either at those ages.
Ashton has started going on his own. He started taking his nappies off at home and running around nudie. So I pulled the potty out and put it in the lounge. Everytime he peed on the floor I would say "do yuckies (what he calls them) on the potty hunni" and point. For the last month and a bit he's been using it at home most of the time. I am in no rush to tt when we are out. At home he still yells "YUCKY MUMMY YUCKEEEEE" at me when he's about to do a poo so we have to do a quick dash. I usually have about 30 seconds to get him to a potty when he says that lol there is no way I can waddle that fast to find a toilet if we were out!
My DD turned 2 last week and is still not really showing any signs of being ready to TT so I'm not pushing it. I also work full-time which makes it hard to be persistant. I do try sitting her on the toilet occasionally on weekends. I will start trying to be more persistant, but in the end if the child isn't ready then it's not going to happen.
Brendan is 3 and only showing a few signs of wanting to be able to toilet train, he is limited in his speech which makes things like TT difficult, but we are slowly getting there
Both mine were started at about 18 months, when they started showing a great deal of interest in the goings-on in the toilet. DD was fully TT within a couple of weeks and rarely had accidents. DS was great with wee, but took a bit longer with poo! He was all done and reliably TT within... hmm.. about 6 weeks. Both of mine decided that if they didn't wear a nappy during the day, then they didn't wear one at night either! We were fortunate to only have a few accidents.
I would recommend that you wait until your DS shows signs of being ready. Like others have said, he needs to show an indication that he understands the impulse to empty his bladder or bowels. If you don't wait for him to be ready, you will both end up frustrated! We had an 'open door' policy for the toilet and yes, we did let the kids look at what we had done and help to flush it away. How else will they learn what goes on in there?? Following on from that theory, we never used a potty. After all, we had taught the kids that wee and poos go in the toilet, I think it would have confused them to then try to teach them that it ALSO goes in a potty. (And I didn't really want to clean out a potty if I didn't have to!) We used a cushy tushie seat and a step and it worked for us. When we were out I held them securely on the toilet and we had no problems, but obviously every family (and every child!) is different.
BTW, you might already be aware (I wasn't, having only experienced a daughter and nieces) boys learn to wee sitting down! My DS didn't start standing up until he was about 3. I think most people start boys sitting down???
We didn't use training pants, straight into regular underwear. I did try to stay home for a week or so while the kids got the hang of it. When I HAD to go out I took a bag with an old hand towel and disinfectant spray to clean up any accidents. Try finding someone with a mop in a supermarket with a toddler in wet pants and worrying about someone slipping over in the puddle you left on the lino!! Nightmare!! I only remember using the 'clean up kit' a couple of times.
Maybe try putting your DS on the loo (or potty if you're using one) prior to bathtime when he's nudie and check out whether he 'gets' it?? Good luck!!
Last edited by nickle730; March 13th, 2010 at 11:06 AM.
We're currently in the process but i'm thinking it's going to be a long one. DS was 3 in Jan and we've been talking about and sitting on the toilet for a few months but only in the last month or so have we managed to get a wee or a poo on the toilet. It's very exciting when he does and we make a big deal about it but still not really showing a huge amount of interest. We talk about it HEAPS and we're making progress. I've been told by many to just keep doing what we're doing and all of a sudden he'll 'click' and it'll happen.
I was loaned a good book about going to the toliet and toilet training and we would read it when he sat on the toilet and when going to bed at night. That seemed to really help with the understanding of it all for us.
If it works for you this early that is great but if you find it is a little too early just begin with regular discussion and then try to progress from there.
DD is 20 months old. We have started about a week ago, it is all very relaxed, and just going through the motions of making her aware of when she wee's and poo's
Each morning when she awakes and in the evening before her shower put pop her on the potty, we have had great sucess in the morning, with some huge Pee's she would fight a bit to sit, but then as soon as she does a huge wee arrives, she also like toilet paper and "wipes" as well
We have had two poo's as well, but as she is mostly doing them in the middle of the day we aren't "catching them" at the moment
We aren't in a rush to get her TT, but seeing as she showed interest at a friends house and she wee'd on their potty, we thought we'd give it a go, the best thing was I could buy the cheapest potty @ Target for $7.99 because it had three ducks on the front and she LOVES ducks
So I would say if the interest is there give it a shot, if not then leave it for a while, I don't believe there is a postive effect if forcing a toddler to TT if they aren't ready.
When did you start to toilet and potty train your child?
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He was all done and reliably TT within... hmm.. about 6 weeks. Both of mine decided that if they didn't wear a nappy during the day, then they didn't wear one at night either! We were fortunate to only have a few accidents.
Following on from that theory, we never used a potty. After all, we had taught the kids that wee and poos go in the toilet, I think it would have confused them to then try to teach them that it ALSO goes in a potty. 
(And I didn't really want to clean out a potty if I didn't have to!) We used a cushy tushie seat and a step and it worked for us. When we were out I held them securely on the toilet and we had no problems, but obviously every family (and every child!) is different.
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