Is it possible to potty train BEFORE age 2?

[AFWife]

We're expecting our second child (It doesn't even seem REAL yet, you know? ) DS is almost 14mo and doing great about the potty. My main goal a few months ago was to get him pooping on the potty. He hates laying still for diaper changes and I hated having to fight him to make sure he got wiped properly.

Well, it worked! For a couple of months I had to "catch" him pooping and put him on the potty. But in the past few weeks he's started coming up to me to get my attention when he needs to poop. He's not verbal yet so he mostly comes up and makes the pooping noise that he does and I say, "Let's go sit on your potty." He sits until he's done.

I would LOVE to have him 80% or more potty trained by the time the new baby gets here. He'll be 21mo or so when that happens. Is it even possible? I know that in mainstream society most people don't even consider STARTING until age 3 or so.

[LadyCatherine185]

i've always heard that more "mainstream" people potty train early, where more "ap" people wait longer when the child is more 'ready'...

anyway-- it is definitely possible! my nephew potty-trained himself by 21 months old. It sounds like you are doing great! I would start with putting on the potty at regular times during the day (wake-up, before nap, after nap, before bed) in addition to the times he poops. Work from there. Maybe come up with a sign for "potty" or for "pee" and "poop" since he isn't very verbal and use it each time he sits on the potty. Summer is a great time too, you can let him run around without a diaper outside so that he becomes more aware of his elimination. Good luck!

[melon]

My 14 mo is in a similar boat. (4/17/09!) Every morning i put him on the potty and he poops. He signs to me when he's peeing, which is too late, lol. Sometimes when he has to poop in the evening he signs to me ahead of time, and we can catch it on the potty. Sometimes he's too busy, and he just goes in his dipe and ignores it.
I took out "Diaper free by 3" and "Diaper free baby" from my library.
They both have some good advice and points.
I think it is possible, and I think both our DSs are well on their way.
good luck!

[Llyra]

My DD2 was almost entirely reliable at about 22 months. But that came mostly from her own initiative-- she watches her older sister, and was motivated to imitate. FWIW, though, she did a lot of backsliding in the year after that, needing to go back to diapers for short periods, having trouble "holding it" when away from home, etc.

My other two resisted training until they were nearly three, and then learned very quickly, with almost no backsliding. DS was my latest potty-er-- he was only a few weeks before his third birthday. But once he started, he never had any accidents at all. It was like an overnight transition with him.

I think the only thing you can do is try it, and be prepared for disappointment if it doesn't work out. I learned that with DD1-- that you can do everything right, and YOU can be as ready as possible, and you can follow all the best books and say all the right things, and still, in the end, it's the child who has to decide it's time.

So that's what I'd do-- don't rule out the possibility, but don't get your heart set on it either. Give your LO every possible opportunity, and be ready to change the plan if it doesn't seem to be working out.

[ellemenope]

Congrats! My sister and I were 21 months apart. We were best buds and worst enemies.

Well, I know it is possible, because my little girl did just that. We have been taking her out in underwear for a couple of weeks now with not a single accident. She is good for naps, and is about 50/50 for nighttime. Our only issue is poops. She won't do them in the potty, but let's us know, and we put on a diaper. So, I think you are doing great.

I think it all has to do with temperament of the child. It sounds like your little guy would make a great candidate for PLing before 2.

With DD, we never ever pressed the issue. Just always had naked time and let her sit on her potty whenever she wanted. In fact, I did not find her first pee until the next day. I was like, 'when did she do this?'

But, she wants this so bad. I even put diapers on her occasionaly when I think we might have issues with potties, and she downright refuses to go in them. She has held her pee for 4 hours. And, whenever I ask her to try to go on the potty, she can always get at least a little out.

My point is, she has excellent control of her peeps, but the key is she wants to do it. And, she does. She also has great control of her poops. (Never have to worry about an accident), but she does not want to do that. And, I am not daring to mess with that right now.

[Artichokie]

my dd potty train/potty learned herself in a week at 20 mo old. We never used another diaper and we had very few accidents. Once she expressed an interest (she informed us she was a big girl and diapers were for babies), we packed the diapers away. We kept her naked from the waist down at home, set up a potty chair in the living room and one in the bedroom, and she had it figured out almost immediately. She wore cloth trainers on errands (green ella bean on hyenacart) and continued to wear wool on her bottom half (we used cloth diapers and wool covers/longies) and she had only one or two accidents when we weren't home. We took her on a 13 hour train trip in underwear/trainers at 24 mo old and she had no accidents at all.

[ellemenope]

Originally Posted by LadyCatherine185

i've always heard that more "mainstream" people potty train early, where more "ap" people wait longer when the child is more 'ready'...

I have felt that way too. But, I had never even heard of EC until I came here. So, I guess a lot of APers are ECers. As well as CDers beings ECers. And, I thought the point of Ecing was to get kids out of diapers early. double

FWIW I am very AP, but we did not use cloth diapers are do any elimination comunication. (Maybe we did, I wouldn't know.)

[ellemenope]

Originally Posted by MoreThanApplesauce

Once she expressed an interest (she informed us she was a big girl and diapers were for babies)

That was big here too, except, DD identifies herself as a little girl, not a big girl or a baby, which makes things so convienient for her sometimes...

[desamom]

I routinely took my DD to the potty starting around 13 months. At 19 months, I took the plunge and she stopped wearing diapers and we never looked back. She is now 26 months. We had some accidents along the way, but so do kids who potty train at 3. Before we stopped using diapers, I made sure my DD had lots of naked time and a potty close by. After a couple days of her telling me she needed to go, or seeing her take herself to the potty, I had the confidence to stop using diapers!

Good luck.

[Proudmom2Teeg]

I have a 14th month old and you guys have inspired me to go buy a potty I think I will just put him on it at set times a day and not make a big deal out of it and see where it goes.

[eclipse]

My DD was out of diapers (except at night) at 20 months - which was great since I was pregnant at the time. We did have a bit of regression when ds was born, though. It wasn't too bad and she got right back on track.

[greenemami]

Dd was "trained" with very rare accidents at 19 months (day and night). We started, very casually, around 9-12 months though and used the "naked all the time" method

I have heard that boys take longer, but I will soon see! (Ds is 3 months)

[Caterina]

My DD is almost 20 months and has been almost diaper-free for a couple of months now. She's mostly naked from the waist down at home (and can use the potty independently), diaper free for naps, but wears a nighttime diaper. She sometimes wears training pants for car rides etc. but not always. We do have accidents, but they're usually because she needs help and I can't get to her right away, so she pees a little before we get to the potty. It's totally possible. My advice is to just stay really positive and not push... but make it super available and talk about it a lot. DD loves it that her dad or I sit and read with her while she goes.

[Rosebud1]

Wish I would have started sooner....

I am currently working to teach my 2.5 year old daughter, and am wishing I started waaaaayyy earlier. It is true the modern idea is that you 'wait until they are ready', but some kids seem to want to wear diapers forever and don't show the motivation. If you are using disposables, this is bad for the environment, your pocketbook, and possibly your child's bum! : ) If you wait until your child is 2, they are in the naturally contrary and oppositional phase and can be more resistant, whereas when they are a bit younger they are just excited to master a task. Read the book "Diaper Free Before Three" - the author goes over the history of potty training, and how most kids were done before 18 months until recent history. And T. Berry Brazelton, a proponent of delayed and more relaxed training, worked with Pampers! If the disposable diaper companies had their way, your child would be in diapers until Kindergarten!

[Dynomite&Destiny]

DD is 25 months, and has been day trained since 17-18 months. We plunged right into the panty thing when we decided we were doing it "for real," but she'd been introduced to the potty at 7 months (it was almost a medical necessity; she had really, really hard poops, and it was easier for her to poop on the potty). We had accidents, and still occasionally do, maybe 1-2 times a month, but that can almost always be traced to parenting error. She's probably ready to be night trained, but I find it rather difficult to help her in and out of bed at 10 months preggo, and DH is a heavier sleeper. So, once I'm waking up to change diapers again, I'll be waking her up to potty, and she'll get to enjoy sleeping nakie during these hot summer months.

[Luke's mama]

what do you do if your child resists/refuses sitting on the potty? this is what my 25 mo old ds does--we started PLing a few weeks ago and he is not really catching on at all. Sometimes he will say pee and go outside in a deliberate manner, but no luck with poops and sometimes will just pee wherever he is. Am I doing something wrong or is he not ready? Also, he has never pulled off his own pants or anything, so how do you get them to pull down underwear?

[spirit4ever]

My ds2 was day trained by 26 months.

Dd is now 23 months old and we've been working on potting training since she was 19 months, she was doing really well then regressed so I had put her back in diapers. But a few weeks ago we got back into the groove of things and now she is diaper free during the day.

I started to kinda bribe her in the beginning, with freezies but it worked! I bought the small ones then i'd cut them in half, and every so often I'd say lets go sit on the potty and try doing a pee pee and we'll have a freezie, let me tell you, that sent her running to the potty pretty darn fast!

Now I can say, lets go read a book, and she'll happily sit on the potty. Its coming along well, we have on avg now 1 - 2 accidents a day, but thats ok.

[hollytheteacher]

YES!

I think it is BEST to start waaay before 2. We gave ds a potty as soon as he started walking! Before and after bath/bed whenever he was naked i'd have him "try" and just see what happened. By 25 months he was 99% potty trained. Never had a poop accident in his life (except for a sharting incident lol)...still occasionally has pee accidents because he's too busy to get there in time. But we never had to deal with the "NO!" stage because it was already the normal thing to do. I think when people wait too long it dosen't work because the kid is starting to assert themselves more on what they do and don't want to do. If you start young it just feels "normal" if that makes sense!

That is what worked for us (not saying it will work for everyone).

[AFWife]

Originally Posted by spirit4ever

Now I can say, lets go read a book, and she'll happily sit on the potty. Its coming along well, we have on avg now 1 - 2 accidents a day, but thats ok.

I think it's funny that when you (collective "you") start talking about potty training early people will say, "Well, they have X amount of accidents so they aren't PT'd" or "Well, they aren't trained at night yet so it's not true." But when you START at age 3 and these things happen no one bats an eye because they're "still learning"...

Or maybe that's just me.

[lemonapple]

YES! My now 17 month old was potty trained at 15 months. We haven't used diapers in two months...in fact, they're completely boxed away, and I've dealt with maybe 4 accidents total over the past two months.

I'd check out the EC forum for help, but yes it's definitely possible!