Is it possible to potty train BEFORE age 2? - Page 2

[fancyoats]

my dd is a little over 2.5 now, and we trained at about this time last year, when she was 18-19 months. i bought her a potty over the wintertime when she was 14 months-ish, but didn't really say anything about it, just put in in the bathroom next to our potty. she just started mimicing me -- when i would go, she would like to sit on it, too, albiet clothed.

then when the weather started to get warm, she wanted to run around naked a bunch (still does hehe), and one day, she walked over to a prefold that was lying on the kitchen floor, peed on it, then walked away. that made me think that she was probably ready for a little more focused "training" so we got a bunch of baby bjorn little potties and put one around in every room. whenever i would catch her in mid-pee, i would sit her on the potty quick quick. we also got some "big girl underwear" but she was mostly naked for maybe two weeks? she caught on pretty quickly, and was 90% accident-free by then.

i found that she would get a little confused with underwear+pants, so we just wore pants for a little while with no underwear while we were out, and underwear with no pants or naked when we were at home. i still put her in a diaper for naps a nighttime for a while, but eventually stopped because she was waking up consistently dry for months and months.

[JessieBird]

DS is 18.5 mos and we're just starting to put more effort into PL. I bought potties for him last summer when a bunch of my friends started getting into EC. We had great success right away but then I let it all slide when I went back to work and DS went to daycare. I left the potties around the house though and he would sit on them often. We'd have the occasional success, usually a coincidence I think, but I didn't put much effort into training and didn't think I would until I'm SAHM again as of this September. However, over the last two weeks, he's started to talk to me about "ca ca" probably because he's learning from the older kids at his daycare. Then last night and the night before, he started saying ca ca and actually pooped when I took him to his potty!!! It was so exciting and I'm thrilled that he made the first move. So we'll now just see where this goes.

[choli]

My younger DD was day trained at 18 months. Wanted to be like her big sister.

I find the idea of leaving it until they "show an interest" at 4 or so really weird. There is just something so gross about the idea of a child that age sitting in a dirty diapler. JMO.

[AFWife]

Originally Posted by choli

My younger DD was day trained at 18 months. Wanted to be like her big sister.

I find the idea of leaving it until they "show an interest" at 4 or so really weird. There is just something so gross about the idea of a child that age sitting in a dirty diapler. JMO.

My MIL was in this camp. She said that "when they start going off in a corner alone to poop that's when it's time." I was like, "Why? Why wait that long?"

I also think it's weird to wait until they're used to going in their pants and then suddenly try to teach them that it's not okay anymore. That's also JMO...

[Justmee]

Rivka was potty trained before 2. Twenty one months is not sooo young. My "older" (like, from the 90s) child care books talk about readiness between 12 - 18 months, and "training" between 18m & 2years. The whole wait to 3 business is pretty new.

[limette]

Both mine were completely out of diapers by 2.

They both started taking their diapers off around 18 months after peeing. So I let them run around naked, only using diapers at night and for going out. They figured it out pretty quickly. At some point they started refusing diapers when going out and then around the time they turned 2 started waking up dry at night and voila completely potty trained.

[nextcommercial]

Originally Posted by AFWife

I know that in mainstream society most people don't even consider STARTING until age 3 or so.

That's funny. I've always thought mainstream society potty trained earlier than more granola parents.

I potty trained my dd at about 20 months. It was easy... lasted about a day, and she only had a few accidents when we were away from home. Her worst habit was running outside to potty in the grass. I had to break that one.

Befor the mid 90s, kids were expected to be potty trained by age two. Not all did of course... but, it was the norm. But, now by age three is the norm. I think it has to do with how comfey the diapers are, then pullups just prolong potty training, because those things are really cushie.

[triscuitsmom]

Toad was out of diapers day and night at 18 months. He still had accidents sometimes but we cleaned up and moved on. I always found it very very odd when someone would make a comment about it being "so much work" for me to clean up pee misses considering they were happening waaaaaaay less frequently than diaper changes would have and I personally think it is way more work to change diapers multiple times a day every single day for an extra 6 months-3 years (assuming toilet training between 2 years and 4.5 years).

I will say that it wasn't my intent to have him out of diapers at that age. That was totally led by him hating diaper changes and resisting them so much.

Now Frog is 16.5 months and he will go on the toilet. We are starting to offer more because now that I've seen how much easier for me not having the diaper changing battle and diaper laundry is I'd love it if he was out of diapers soon too.

Newt is due in another 12 weeks and we are planning on doing way more ECing from earlier on this time

[riverscout]

The most mainstream person I know is currently training her one and a half year old. I think it's just one of those things the far left and the far right have in common, kind of like homeschooling.

[choli]

Originally Posted by nextcommercial

That's funny. I've always thought mainstream society potty trained earlier than more granola parents.

I potty trained my dd at about 20 months. It was easy... lasted about a day, and she only had a few accidents when we were away from home. Her worst habit was running outside to potty in the grass. I had to break that one.

Befor the mid 90s, kids were expected to be potty trained by age two. Not all did of course... but, it was the norm. But, now by age three is the norm. I think it has to do with how comfey the diapers are, then pullups just prolong potty training, because those things are really cushie.

Cushie for Mom too - I'm sure the drudgery of diaper washing made parents more keen to have their kids potty trained.

[crunchy_mommy]

Originally Posted by 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?

I have the same issue, DS is 16mos & has been telling me 'poop' when he needs to go for several months now, but HATES the potty. Well... actually he loves it as long as he doesn't have to sit on it. He will carry it around & play with it but cries if you try to sit him on it... so we let it go, and just last week he decided on his own that he wanted to sit on it twice (with a diaper) so I think we're making some progress.

In the meantime, we're focusing a lot on the 'communication' aspect, talking about poop/pee especially while changing his diaper or going to the bathroom ourselves. We really need to let him go diaper-free more, I think that would help, but I just can't deal with it right now (I wish I could just keep him in diapers indefinitely 'cause it's way easier IMO).

[AKislandgirl]

My DD is 16.5 months old. Just this week she peed and pooped on the potty for the first time. She actually did it twice! Then the last couple of days when i ask her if she wants to sit on the potty she says NO! so I just keep offering in the AM, after nap and during diaper changes. We too are focusing more on the communication of it. She says and signs potty right after she goes or in the case of pooping, just as she's going. We have an open door policy for the bathroom too. I'm being pretty layed back about it and just giving her the chance to go often. If she says no I'm not pushing it. A lot of times she likes to sit on it and make the Psss sound, crack up, and say all done!

[justKate]

Originally Posted by AFWife

My MIL was in this camp. She said that "when they start going off in a corner alone to poop that's when it's time." I was like, "Why? Why wait that long?"

That's funny. DD has started going in to the corner to poop just this month. Actually, she goes to the little concrete area in front of the fireplace to "concentrate." She's 16 mos. Guess it's time for a potty!

[honeybunmom]

My daughter was day trained at 22 mos. I remember reading about a "window of opportunity" between 15-18 mos (maybe this is right before hard core obstinance sets in). We tried somewhere in there and I gave up pretty quickly. After a few mos, I decided to try again and we were good to go! My son is nearing 15 mos and his turn is right around the corner. Definitely not waiting until he shows interest. Maybe I can count his unending willingness to pull toilet paper and put it in the toilet as interest?

[Thing1Thing2]

Originally Posted by AFWife

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.

So true AFwife! My ds is now 24 months and was dry at 22 months (day and night).

Now because of a move to a new home he has regressed and I am basically ECing which leads to 2 pee pee accidents a day - (OOPS I forget sometimes)! But I have had a comment about "putting him back in diapers", because of accidents.

What bothers me most is when people use the number of accidents they have in a day like thats some sort of gage on readiness. I'm dropping him off at grandmas next week for a date night with DH and I'm just hoping ds has no accidents there, otherwise I may hear more comments!

[OkiMom]

My oldest daughter self potty "trained" herself right before her second birthday. My youngest is 18 months and already taking herself to the potty to pee. Ive never forced it or suggested it, she just takes off her diaper, pees in the potty and puts it back on. Now i have odd children who are very independant and physical so it helps. Neither needs my help to pull down their pants or climb on the big potty which also helps.

[hakeber]

DS was out of diapers completely by day just before he turned 2 years old, but still wore them at night for a long time after, but he also slept 12-14 hours at night, so what did I care about one diaper a day, eh?

It started when he asked about the new toilet seat in the bathroom, then we worked in lots of naked time and then watched for cues and kept offering pottytunities. It didn't take long at all.

[ellemenope]

Originally Posted by riverscout

The most mainstream person I know is currently training her one and a half year old. I think it's just one of those things the far left and the far right have in common, kind of like homeschooling.

Yes, I believe it is becoming a huge trend all around.

As it should! I am starting to think there is a huge window from about 12-24 months where a child is capable and willing to go on the potty, and if you sieze this oppourtunity everyone is better for it.

Here's the thing. It requires an entire different gameplan than potty training a 3 year old. This is where I believe the concept of 'potty learning' arose.

There is no bribing, manipulation, or power struggles. There is very little communication about it at all. Just exposure, exposure, exposure. Give little ones oppourtunities but do not press the issue. They want to please.

I had said earlier that DD learned to pee in the potty and not in her pants at about 22 months. We just went on vacation, and I was ready for her to regress.

She was a rockstar. She went everywhere. The only place she would not go was in her diaper and the ocean.

Since the beginning, she would not go poops in the potty and instead asked for a diaper. It freaked her out. We just let her do what she wanted.

She turned 2 last week. When we got back from vacation we had a bad day behaviour-wise with her. Twice that day she looked at me and said, "I am going to go pee pee in my underwear." And, she did just that.

I put her in diapers, and she was perfectly fine with that. A couple of times she went in her diaper. A couple of times she took it off and went in the potty. I tried my best to not freak out. The next day, she was back in underwear with no accidents.

That night, after talking to my DH about DD's attempt to turn peeing in the potty into a power struggle, I casually mentioned to DD that if she went poop on the potty I would take her to the toy store and get her a new toy.

The next day, she went poop in the potty 3 times. Today she has gone once. It still freaks her out a little, but I tell her she has done it before, she can do it again. She looked at me and said, "Now, I get to get a new baby."

I suppose I recognized her changing the rules of the game and instinctively adapted my gameplan to make it fair. I did not want to have to go 'there'. Maybe, I shoudn't have.

My point is, it has gotten much harder now as we are entering those terrible twos. I am truely thankful we are basicaly done. Yeah, there might be some more power struggles, but at least we aren't just now starting from scratch.

[sdbeachy]

I think it really depends on the child, and the important thing is to accept and honor where they are, and realize that in a few months (or weeks!) they may be in a different place.

We did EC with our son, and he was out of diapers day and night by 11 months (relying on timing) and started telling us he needed to go or walking to the potty right around 12 months. He still has accidents (pee, very rarely poop) probably an average of once a day, but it's totally worth it to just clean it up because of all the other times that he goes in the potty. I don't know if I'd consider him PL'd because he can't pull down his pants, so he can't go independently, but lots of 2-3 year olds can't really go independently either.

Incidentally, my mom had never heard of EC, but said I was potty-trained by 15 months. I wouldn't pee at night from the time I was maybe a year, and in the morning there would be a flood the diaper couldn't hold, so she started putting me on the potty in the morning, and things went from there.

But back to the respecting where your child is: even though our son is out of diapers, I realize that some children change their minds about wanting to use the potty when they're 2, so I'm not giving away the diapers yet. I'll try to accept it gracefully if it happens.