Potty Training: What are the signs they are ready?

[frontierpsych]

DS is 16.5 months old. We haven't started potty training (we did EC from 2-4 months, but his eczema got so bad we had to keep him in sleepers so he wouldn't scratch, which made EC all but impossible). So for those who have potty trained a toddler, how did you know your child was ready? How did you begin the process?

[kirstenb]

He told us he was ready. I wasn't even thinking about potty training him because I thought he wasn't ready at all, but one day he started staying dry in his diaper and letting us know when he had to go. We bought training underwear right away and didn't look back. First week or so we had a number of accidents and misses, but he got the hang of it pretty quickly. We did give him a treat in the beginning to encourage him to go. We rarely have a pee accident anymore (two months later).

[JudiAU]

Our 25m toddler had stopped peeing at night but then had a big flood about ten minutes after he woke up. And then had his daily poop ten minutes after. He took out his crib four days in a row and we bought a potty. As soon as he woke up he was wisked to the potty for a huge pee, four stories, and a huge poop. We did kind of a scheduled approach and put him on the potty ever two hours until he figured it out. We read a LOT of stories. We went right right from diapers to isme visme training pants which have a PUL liner. We have a bjorn about a foot from his play mat.

He still can't reliably say that he has to go and he isn't very good at anticipating. But we only have wet underpants once every two weeks or so and poop once or twice a week. We LOVE not changing toddlers. Even if it took him another or so to signal etc. I wouldn't care.

We had a four week old and it was still less hassle.

[tankgirl73]

Since you already are familiar with EC, just kind of go back to that mentality. At this point, you're still going to be 'leading the way' for the most part -- reading his signals rather than waiting for him to consciously tell you (although he may, sometimes). You would need to anticipate when he might need to go, either by patterns (often pees 30min after eating, for instance) or by schedule (try pottying every 2 hours signal or no) or cues (wiggling his butt means he has to pee, maybe).

The more pees and poos that YOU catch, the more he'll start to make the connections himself. Then it's a gradual progression of him taking over more and more of the process.

Go for trim trainers, like imse vimse or hot bots or continuum family's. Or just straight to underwear if you're confident. With lots of naked time too. The point at first isn't necessarily to catch everything in the potty, but to OBSERVE. When does he pee? Does he have signals? Then start acting on what you've learned from observing. Trainers, designed to catch one pee without leaking too much, help with this part of the process.

Try different ways of pottying too. You can still do the "classic hold" over a sink or a toilet or the bathtub, at that age. He might like sitting on a little potty, or on a toilet seat reducer, or sitting backwards on the toilet, or -- always a favourite -- standing up in the bathtub. When things go awry (and they will) and it seems nothing will convince him to cooperate, the stand-up pee very often saves the day (it did for us!). Peeing outside is also a big favourite when the weather cooperates.

Anyway... look into "late-start EC" for more tips. It's pretty similar to regular EC except you do have some diaper-training to deal with, rather than working with a 'clean slate'. But the principals of how to go about it are pretty much the same.

And I gotta agree with JudiAU... even though DD wasn't 100% reliable for a good while, I much preferred cleaning up the occasional pee puddle than changing a poopy diaper on a squirmy, active toddler with a mind of her own. SOOOOO much easier (and I've done it both ways. We'll never go back!)

[Freud]

One sign of readiness is when they want to be clean. They want their hands washed all the time, can't stand food on their face, etc. When they begin to value cleanliness, they're probably ready to start potty learning.

[segrau]

Dry Overnight

My mom potty trained 5 kids and she said it was really easy if she just waited until we were dry overnight. I just potty trained my son this week using a book called "Toilet Training in Less than a Day." It worked in 2 1/2 days, actually, but my son has only had one accident and he's been very good about leaving his toys or whatever activity he's involved with to go poop or pee in the toilet. He even gives me plenty of notice when we're driving that he needs to go to the toilet. I'm pretty pleased with it.

[buttercups.nest]

Originally Posted by Freud

One sign of readiness is when they want to be clean. They want their hands washed all the time, can't stand food on their face, etc. When they begin to value cleanliness, they're probably ready to start potty learning.

mmm my daughter has started requesting her hands be cleaned after she's done snack/meal...'wash hands? wash hands?' lol she's 2.5, we have a potty in the bathroom but i'm not too sure how to go about potty training. she doesn't seem to me like she's ready so i'm not going with it. i'm kind of keen to wait until its warmer out...changing of clothes will be easier

[Fluga]

I didnt wait for any signs. I started putting her on the potty after naps and meals and at diaper changes. Once she started pissing consistently I would put her in undies for half an hour afterwards as a reward. She started liking being diaper free and started to sign and ask for potty (she is still non verbal).

[prothyraia]

We got a potty, showed him how it works, explained the concept, and then left it out for months and months and periodically gave him nakey-butt time. (he sat on it, used it as a hat, dumped toys in it, etc.).

Then when he was 2 1/2 (on mother's day, even!) he decided that it would be neat to use it. We gave him candy for doing so for like the first week or so, and then ran out (hah). And he's been potty trained ever since.

[waiting2bemommy]

Haha.....I decided *I* was ready when he started spraying me with pee at every diaper change because he wouldn't hold still anymore. lol. That was at about 9 months, and I started sitting him on the potty once or twice a day as part of our routine, with no expectations whatsoever. At first he only peed occasionally. At a year I ditched cloth diapers during the daytime and went to training pants at home and pullups when out. he was fully potty trained at about 16 months, but he still has poop accidents probably 1-2x a week. It's extremely rare that he has a pee accident. I can't even think of the last time he peed himself unless it was during a nap.

Just be prepared to take him potty. Make it part of your routine just like toothbrushing and hand washing. When I got "serious" with ds about potty training I started out by sitting him on the potty every 30-45 minutes all day long. Within a week we were down to once every hour and a half, and now he knows when he has to go, and I just remind him to go before we leave the house or if it seems like it's been a reallllly long time or something.

But at first, you have to remember if they have been in diapers, they aren't used to the feeling of holding it. It takes time to be able to hold it for any length of time, so if they aren't pottied frequently enough in the beginning there will be lots more accidents because their body needs time to get used to that feeling. Every two hours, or even every hour, just isn't often enough in the beginning.

[frontierpsych]

Originally Posted by segrau

My mom potty trained 5 kids and she said it was really easy if she just waited until we were dry overnight. I just potty trained my son this week using a book called "Toilet Training in Less than a Day." It worked in 2 1/2 days, actually, but my son has only had one accident and he's been very good about leaving his toys or whatever activity he's involved with to go poop or pee in the toilet. He even gives me plenty of notice when we're driving that he needs to go to the toilet. I'm pretty pleased with it.

What are the techniques recommended by this book?