Our 14 month old tells us before she poops. Should we toilet train her?

Question

A few days ago, we realized our our 14 month old was saying "poop" a few minutes before doing so in her diaper. We bought a toddler toilet (potty) and sat her on it yesterday with her diaper on when she said "poop" a few times the next day. She pooped in the diaper while sitting on the potty three times that day. This morning, she said it and we put her on the potty with no diaper and she pooped in the potty. Wow. So, this seems great, but I don't think she has a clue about peeing. Should we continue this or is this all too early? How do we deal with the peeing?

Thank you,

Alyssa
NYC

Answer 1

I agree that you should at least begin with the foundations of toilet training. Some children actually do #2 potty train before they #1 potty train. I would get a little potty chair for her and talk to her about doing #2 in there. Don't get too frustrated if she doesn't respond, because she is so young. You can try a sticker reward chart for her if she goes, as long as she's not one to put stickers in her mouth. (I actually have a friend whose child was under 2 and ate a sticker, which became lodged in his throat and required surgery - no kidding).

As far as #1 potty training, medical studies say the earliest a child's bladder can develop for potty training is at 18 months, so no surprise that she's not understanding that right now. Just keep talking to her about it, reward her with positive praise and maybe swing by the library and book store and pick up a couple potty books.

Good luck to you and your sweet girl.

Answer 2

You've done well so far! She is showing interest in the potty. Constantly remind her about going to the potty, make a big deal out of it, maybe pick her up and fly her to the potty. When she uses it have a "potty party" where she gets a lot of attention and giggles and dont do this same kind of reaction when just changing a diper soon she will realize that when she goes to the potty special rewards happen. buy her "pretty panties" and try a pull up only at bed time. Good luck and don't give up on her its your job to teach her so have patients. Try reading her potty books or letting her flush the toilet. PS. My husband and I got our little girl a princess potty that made music when she went in the potty, well she figured it out and started dropping random objects into her potty to activate the songs. Eventually we just got her her own potty Dora seat that you just place over the regular seat. It was still special to her though. Again good luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 3

Actually, she's showing an interest, so this would be the perfect time to start with potty training. Reward her with stickers on the calendar, and when she says "poop" ask her if she has to go potty too. She may start doing it on her own.