potty training?

Question

When is a good time to start potty training a child? my son is 18 months old and i was just wondering when is a good time to start teaching him to use potty.

Answer 1

It depends if he is ready. Is he showing the signs of being ready for the potty?

- Staying dry for a few hours

- Grabbing himself when he is going or has to go

- Telling you that he has to go or he needs a new nappy

- Waking up dry from naps

If he is ready then take him with you when you use the toilet and let him watch. Also if his dad or if you have a male friend that you trust ask him if he will take your son to the bathroom with him and let him watch the other male use the toilet. He might get a hang of it then and start to show interest in potty training.

It depends on weather or not you want him to start out sitting on the potty and first and then later on teaching him how to stand but you could put cereal in the toilet and tell him to aim for them. This way it makes it fun for him and it will also help him with his aim. If you make a game out of it for him he might actually want to do it more. I would say to use the "reward system" but once you start doing that the child will always expect a reward for each time he goes even after he is completely trained. Then he might not want to use the potty if he doesn't get the reward. The best way of "reward" is to praise the child each time he goes on the potty and/or tries to at least go. (Also if you do the reward system it will be just like buy nappies because you will probably be spending the same amount of money on rewards as you probably would on nappies.)

If he is afraid of the "big" potty then try to by him his own potty. If you don't want to do that then you can buy him a little seat that fits over the big toilet. I'm pretty sure that it comes with an attachment that you can put on the little seat so his penis is facing down so the urine won’t go everywhere. If it doesn't come with an attachment it is a good idea to have him hold his penis down into the toilet so the urine won't go everywhere. If you start to hold it down for him, later when you teach him to stand he may want you to hold his penis while he goes and then you will have trouble getting him out of that habit. If you put him in pull-ups he might think that it is just like a nappy and might just go in those. So I suggest not using pull-ups. Make a special trip to the store just for him and let him pick out underwear with his favourite characters on them. (It would be best to buy him boxers. it makes it easier for him to pull them down when he has to go. Also make sure that he is in clothes that he can easily pull down himself to go.)

Ask him every 15 - 20 minutes if he has to go to the potty. If he says "no" then take him anyway and just let him sit on the potty for a little while. That way he will get the idea of it. Make sure that he drinks plenty of water that way he will have to urinate more often and that increases the chance of him going when you put him on the potty. After a while once he gets the hang of it you won't have to keep asking him so often if he has to go. He will just be going himself. Try to stay home for a few days. It will be easier instead of going out and trying to potty train him at the same time and it will be easier on the both of you.

He will have a lot of accidents and you will probably be doing a lot of laundry but it is better to put him in just regular underwear because when he does wet himself he won't like the feeling of being wet and will soon use the toilet.

I wish you guys luck with this. I wish you the best. Good Luck!

Answer 2

Okay people find this weird but I honest started potty training my kids as soon as they could sit on their own. Every time I ran the bath I would sit them on the potty, right before bed time I would sit them there again. I think they have to be able to understand it a good thing not to have a wet diaper. Too many people depend on those pull up things.. First off they are more expensive then diapers and they do not train your child to go to the bathroom in the toilet. Just be patient and I think now is a good time to start off training.. Just do not be pushy or have too high of expectations.

Answer 3

I have found potty training is accomplished much easier if you wait till your child is closer to 2.5 years old. My youngest just trained this past summer - mostly on her own. Make sure your child is old enough to fully understand the concept of a potty and able to talk to you. I left the potty chair in the living room for the first few weeks and my child with easy to pull down pull-ups or even a bare bum. I just made the potty available and the sitting on it easy. She potty trained with very little input from me.

Answer 4

i would say anytime between now and 2 years old. i started my daughter at aprox 18 months just getting her firmilliar with the potty and switched her to underwear right away, because she saw the pullups as diapers, so i would take her potty every 2 hours on the hour till she got use to doing it herself, and would wake her b4 i went to bed to go again to avoid accidents at night, i found it easier to let her have an accident at night and learn that way because she didnt like lying in it, so she got the hang of getting up when she felt the urge instead of just going. sounds kinda mean i guess but it taught her and in a week she was fully trained other than an accident here and there at night which didnt happen often. Good luck! :)

Answer 5

It depends on the child. Usually between 2 and 3. There are no rules, but some guidelines are:
They have to be able to feel when they have to go
They have to know (and be able to say) words for pee and poop
They have to want to use the potty.

It is hard to say when is a good age. They have to be ready. But fear not.....no child starts kindergarden in diapers. He will be ready one of these days. My friend was trying to potty train her 2 and 1/2 year old.......her 18 month daughter thought it looked like fun, so SHE potty trianed then too.........all children vary.
Good Luck!!

Answer 6

When he starts to show an interest in the toilet and is aware of when he needs his diaper changed.

He's probably at the age where he's getting close, if he's not already ready.

I found it helpful to take my kids shopping to pick out their very own potty seat and special big girl or big boy underpants.

Answer 7

Start now. Put them on the crapper when they wake up in the morning, after naps, before bed, etc, and get them used to the idea.

PS We got neighbors with kids FOUR that still wear diapers, you would think she would get tired of changing the damn things.

Answer 8

This might seem too simple, but ask him, brightly, if he would like to learn how to use the toilet. If you're projecting it as a skill, he'll naturally want, in his 18-month-old brain, to show you "he can do it"!

Answer 9

This is when you teach a baby not to **** on the floor or in a nappy and it shits and pisses in its potty:)

Answer 10

i think 18 years is the right time...