Just read something interesting about toilet training

During one of my google searches related to nappies, I came across an assertion that prior to disposables and the marketing campaigns associated with disposables, toilet training occurred at 1-1.5 years of age. It was only when the production/marketing of disposables and the making of disposable nappies in toddler sizes started (in the '70's) that people stopped toilet training their children at 1/1+ years of age. It went on to say "ask your parents" when you were toilet trained which I will do as now I'm really curious.

My baby is still 2 months away so I have zero experience with this, but I found it really interesting.

Anyone here tried to toilet train at 1-1.5 years of age - how did you find it?

No experience with TT, but read a lot about what's now called Elimination Communication in the West and in most other countries is just the normal way children learn to go. Most of those kids are TT by 18 months.

We were all TT by 18-24 months. Mum used terry flats and wool pilchers on us.

im a 70's baby (late 70's :lol: ) and i was trained by 2! mainly because i had older siblings and didnt want to wear nappies anymore

Very interesting! Because they are able to actually feel when they're wet easier?

My mum used cloth on me and I was toilet trained day and night at 18 months! We use cloth on DD and she knows when she needs to go and tells us. In the last couple of weeks she's been telling us when she needs to use the toilet and then actually doing it when we put her on there. She's 20 months.

doh just lost my post...

DD1 is 18 months and does morning pee and poo on the toilet, she also tells us when she is doing her pees and poos in her nappy, and occasionally she will take off her nappy and pee on the floor, pretending she is on the toilet. We are going to try the three day TT course once we have moved into the new house.

HTH, PX

Id love to let anyone who would generalise that ALL kids could be toilet trained by 18mths come and have a crack at my Ds2 who is 3 in 6wks and STILL wont train no matter what we do!

I think that there are always children who will train when they are ready no matter the age. I know of some kids who have been fully trained by 14mths! Others who are still in the process of being day and night time trained at 5. My kids are a classic example of that; my Ds1 was 3y3m when he was fully toilet trained practically overnight when I gave up on harrassing him and just waited for him to be ready, Ds2 is just under 3y and nowhere near willing or ready, Ds3 is 20mths and very willing to give the potty a crack and very happy to come and let me know he's going to do a poo or wee. I will be surprised if he isnt toilet trained by 2.5 AND trained before Ds2.

I think sometimes parents place waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay to much emphasis on rushing their kids to do stuff, especially toilet training. Every kid is different and will do different things in their own time. No wonder there is such a competitive mentality in society these days.

lol freya dnt feel too bad DD1 is 4 yrs and 3 months old and still wears a night nappy to bed!
interesting findings though

Also most mums were home all day with the kids so they could do intensive TT. I was trained day by 2.5 and night by 3. DD1 was almost identical and we used cloth on her. She let me know when she was ready and she virtually TT overnight with hardly any accidents ever! DD2 is also in cloth and tells me when she is doing something in her nappy but won't use the potty.

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Id love to let anyone who would generalise that ALL kids could be toilet trained by 18mths come and have a crack at my Ds2 who is 3 in 6wks and STILL wont train no matter what we do!

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That's still well within normal ranges. Let go of the angst! It will happen.

In answer to your original post, buliej, I have definitely noticed, over 10 years and hundreds of kids I have seen through childcare (so, yes, a generalisation, but based on a far wider sample size than one little family) that kids who use cloth do generally TT a lot earlier and faster. There are always outliers, but as a rule, it's often true.

What I read wasn't saying that those who use cloth nappies tt earlier - it was saying that the marketing campaigns driven by the disposable nappy companies resulted in a change in mentality in terms of when TT should take place.

Really interesting and I bet it is also because the kids feel wetter with cloth nappies than in sposies. Both my sister and I were toilet trained by 18mths or so (not night time I don't think) so now that J is 2 mum thinks it is time! I've nodded and said "yep" and will do it over summer when I can pull up the rug as he is asking for the potty at times and telling us when he is doing something. Each to their own, we all do what is best for our kids and what suits our kids. My DD trained herself in 2 days. Literally. DS will probably take 2 years. :rofl: Whatever.

My mum was telling me a few weeks ago that her and her 5 siblings were all TT by 1-1.5. Me and my siblings were all TT by 2. I know nappy sizes have steadily been increasing the last few years.

I think it used to be normal to use potties/toilets etc much younger - like 3-6 months and onwards - so by the time toddlers were walking they were often out of nappies in the day time at least. Now we have all sorts of different nappies marketed for different life stages (up to pullups and disposable pjs, for eg), which certainly help to prolong nappy use, so maybe there's some truth to it. It's about lifestyle factors as much as anything. If mum's a SAHM and sick of boiling nappies (as they used to do) they're probably a bit more motivated to get their babies out of nappies earlier.

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My DD trained herself in 2 days. Literally. DS will probably take 2 years. :rofl: Whatever.

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My thoughts exactly :rofl:

I have read a similar thing, and it put it down to a) convenience (when babies were in full time terry square cloth all being washed there was more inspirational to get onto TT earlier as opposed to the change and toss convenience of disposables) and b) cloth nappies making it easier for littlies to tell when they are wet. I hadn't heard anyone relating it to marketing of nappies but it does sound like a valid point, if people see images of older children in nappies it begins to seem more normal.

I think it has more to do with the kids than the nappies - I read a similar article that said that it was actually disposables that meant TT happened later. Problem is that I put my kids in undies or let them run nudie in the backyard and DD1 still didn't get TT until she was 2.5 (and only started doing her poos in the toilet in the last 2 weeks).

DS runs around and looks on with some mystical bewilderment when pee comes out of him. He can see it coming out but still seems to have no concept that it is coming from him. He doesn't recognise the sensations of needing to pee and even with no nappy on, seems completely clueless about this function. He is 2.5 years and I don't think he is ready to TT.

TT is something that I have chosen not to stress about because in my experience, people say their kids are TT but seem to be cleaning up puddles and dirty undies left right and centre. I have had mum's of 18 month old 'TT' babies come and visit or I have gone places with them and some of them pee through their clothes everytime I see them without fail but their mums would say they are TT. I could put my kids in undies when we go places and say they are toilet trained too even if they seem to have frequent accidents, but to me that is not being toilet trained. I guess much like the definition of 'sleeping through' the definition of 'TT' is so different for everyone because the criteria for when this happens is different for everyone. Some people say TT happens when they are fully independent, other says when they are no longer wearing nappies and using the toilet some of the time but still having accidents.

I agree about not stressing about it - if it's not working, it's not working.
That said, I reckon there's a difference between TT after 12-18 months and using potty/toilet at a younger age. It's like a different process entirely. so when they're little you can be doing EC, or just toilet timing till they get the hang of it and they can be nappy free at a much younger age. Whereas older toddlers go through a different process with learning to not use their nappies and use a toilet or potty and relearning the signs of needing to go - and that can take quite a while.

I don't think it is just about advertising by disposible companies. Our whole lifestyles have changed. Mums are at work and don't have time to TT as early (it can be hard and messy work). Nappies (including MCNs) are more pleasant for babies to wear for longer as they don't feel as wet. And I think we are much happier as a society to let kids do things in their own time and do whatever causes the least stress for us. If that means being in nappies longer then so be it.

I used cloth with DS1 and he was still in day nappies til 2 1/2. We thought he was TT at night too, but winter rolled around and he stopped getting out of bed to go to the toilet. He went back into cloth night nappies until 3 days ago when he decided that he wanted to just wear jocks at night, and 3 days in a row I have washed his sheets. My life was easier when he was wearing the night nappies.

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lol freya dnt feel too bad DD1 is 4 yrs and 3 months old and still wears a night nappy to bed!
interesting findings though

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Yeah, my 6 year old niece still needs a night nappy but was fully TT by 2.5 during the day. My sister has done a lot of research into it and there are a lot of factors that come into it from hormones to physiology. Some kids simply don't get a strong enough sensation to wake them up. So I definately support the theory that all kids are different.

My DS is 16 months and I can't even imagine broaching it at the moment, I think (but don't really know for sure) that he is blissfully unaware of weeing... Poos are another matter, but again I don't think his language is well enough developed to express the need iykwim?

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Yeah, my 6 year old niece still needs a night nappy but was fully TT by 2.5 during the day. My sister has done a lot of research into it and there are a lot of factors that come into it from hormones to physiology. Some kids simply don't get a strong enough sensation to wake them up. So I definately support the theory that all kids are different.

My DS is 16 months and I can't even imagine broaching it at the moment, I think (but don't really know for sure) that he is blissfully unaware of weeing... Poos are another matter, but again I don't think his language is well enough developed to express the need iykwim?

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I wet the bed until I was 9 years old - and I didn't have a night nappy. Sleeping in a wet bed didn't wake me up either. My brother also wet the bed until he was 15. My mum did until she was 10 so I wonder if there are genetic factors involved there. I think kids have been wetting the bed until they are quite old for a long time. My mum tried lots of different things with us to help us stop and nothing worked. Honestly, I think night nappies are a great invention because I hated waking up in a wet bed every morning when I was growing up - it is a horrible feeling. It made going to school camps and slumber parties really difficult and a night nappy would have made so much difference to me.

My DD1 has been wearing pull ups to bed at night (she has only just started staying dry during her day time naps) and last night, DH and I were up really late and we heard her door open and her going to the toilet and she walked straight back to bed pulling up her pull up as she went :o We had no idea that she did that and we haven't taught her. Her pull up was still wet this morning so she must have still needed to wee in the middle of the night and not woken up for it but I was amazed that she could do it. Needing to wee never woke me up in the night as a child. So I agree, there are a lot of other factors at play. I don't think being able to feel wetness in a wet bed teaches anything and I don't think that having a night nappy makes it okay to wet the bed ... but I would have dearly loved to wake up in a dry bed when I was growing up and the handful of mornings that I did were bliss :)

I think I come from a family that resists TT.

I've heard many stories about how stubborn my sister was in relation to TT... and I know her son was even more stubborn. I recall him being over 4 and pretty much just flat out refusing to use the toilet. He knew when he needed to go, but wouldn't tell anyone. I recall one shopping trip with them where he ran away because he needed to poo. We eventually found him and he could tell us that he did it because he was scared.

As for my son... He can even tell us when he's done a poo, let alone that he needs to go. If he's running around without a nappy after bath time, we'll often see him grab his penis just before he starts to pee... but I don't think he gets enough warning to be able to use that as a cue for us to get him to toilet/potty. I'm in no particular hurry. When his language skills develop a bit more we may start to pursue it a bit more, but not now.

Honestly - I think back in the days where terry cloth squares were the norm, it was probably more about timing and watching the child's cues as to know when to get them to a toilet rather than the child knowing they needed to go and being able to take themselves or communicate the need to be taken.

BW

I also discovered today that I couldn't find any undies small enough for my DD! They started in size 2-3 which looks a bit big for her yet.

This is all so interesting to me...I can't get much info from my mother because she says that she sent me to my grandmothers for 3 days and I came back TT ... same with my sister...don't know what age we were though...need to ask. My mom still has no idea how my grandmother did it and my grandmother hasn't been with us for years and years (she passed away way before I thought about TT anyone!)

Heaven - I bought size 2 training undies from Best n Less (Indooroo) and the fit DD1 really well at 18 months. They were on special for $2 each.

HTH, PX

Thanks for that PX, i'll try there!

I think kids will only be fully TT once they are fully ready personally. No matter whether they wear cloth or disposable. You hear so many different things.

DD started weeing in her potty around 15mths of age when she showed a real interest in it and by 17mths was wanting to use the toilet for wee's. The last few months, about 4mths she's been telling us when she's wee'd or poo'd and either takes her nappy off or we put her on the toilet and she goes if she hasn't already. Sometimes she doesn't. We never push her....I think that's the key. There is no rush.

She wears training pants alot and is naked alot around the house now (her choice LOL!) and either wee's on the grass outside, takes herself outside to do it when she's ready OR in the toilet by asking us.

She won't use the potty now, only toilets! But I take it with me in the car just incase she's interested in sitting on it in the back hehe

Hoping by May next year she will be fully TT, day and night :pray: and if not, that's okay too.

I also wonder too how much they were chasing these 1-1.5 yr olds around putting them on potty. yes I've heard the stories how their kids were TT by this age but then I hear added bits like MIL had trays that used to sit over the potties so she'd put them on so they couldn't get up therefore eventually doing something. And Nana putting the kids on the potty every half hour or so.

Mum says I was toilet trained during the summer after I turned 2 (i was a late Sept. baby, so I would have been around 2.3 - 2.6yo). She just let me run free, commando, and let me work it out.

Jazz is toilet trained, except at bedtimes (nap and night). She's also a cloth kid. We just let her go for it. Two days before she 'clicked' she flat out refused to sit on the potty (to the point of trying to throw the potty in the garbage bin). Two days later she started sitting on a potty, hasn't worn a nappy during the day since Wednesday October 27, and has had about 4 accidents since. That was less than a month ago. We did the same thing my parents my parents did: as soon as the weather was warming up we let her run around with no nappy or pants on, and she figured it out.

My daughter turned 2 on Halloween and we bagan toilet training that week. reason being, he best friend is 6 month older and has just toilet trained. Her friend was well and truelly ready to let go of her nappies right on her 2nd birthday but her parents lost there baby at 18 weeks gestation the week before and it was all just too much for Mum. this in mind I gave it a go with Lulu and low and behond not even a month later we are weeing in the parents room at David Jones!! It has been one tough slog Ill admit it but its so great given i also have a 3 month old to deal with. My daughter has always been in cloth and began holding therefore the wee's she was doing the nappy couldn't cope with.
I say to everyone GIVE IT A RED HOT GO!! No such thing as too early and it is really tough regardless of age and regardless of child

X
Sarah

I understand what you are saying about individual children being ready at different times, but there are other influences. For example in some European countries it is 'the norm' for TT to occur at 18 months also. So while there are always individual variances from child to child, the 'across the board' average in much more likely to be influenced but things like convenience and cultural 'norms'.