Will early potty training backfire?

[Anonymous]

My 15 mo. old DD is very verbal and already can say "pee-pee", "poop", and "potty". I don't know if she quite has the awareness about when she needs to go, though. I've also heard that starting too early can make the whole process last longer than when a child shows more signs of readiness. So, I'm conflicted about starting potty training because while it'd be awesome to have her out of diapers sooner rather than later, I don't want to start at a point where it takes a solid year to potty train her if I could wait awhile and get the process done in a few weeks.

So, when would you all say is the earliest I should introduce potty training to her? Can anyone share their success/failure stories with early potty training?

[Anonymous]

Typical age to start potty training is 2 yrs 6 months to 2 years 9 months. My daughter was saying poopie when she was 15 months as well. She said it if she had to go or had a tummy ache (she said it before she barfed) but I thought it was too early. Since then I have seen friends with kids who were not ready and it is not a good thing.

It can be bad to start to early and 15 months is way too early. Even at 2 yers 6 months some kids are not ready and it is not good to have a lot of accidents because it is frustrating for parents and child--not to mention messy. You are supposed to have a positive attitude and can be hard when there are tons and tons of accidents. If a child isn't ready, accidents are common.

[Anonymous]

You can always try, but I think you will be making your life harder, not easier. She's not going to get it quickly, if at all, so you are looking at months and months of accidents. Why not wait and get it done in a weekend or week?

[Anonymous]

My kids were both potty trained by two years and I considered that early. I never encountered any regression but I think 15 months is too early. Your child needs to be able to pull their pants up and down on their own. They need to be able to safely climb a step stool to get to the sink and wash their hands. I think 15 months is too early for this. You might be excited about the prospect of no diapers but I can tell you that eventually you will be sick of racing your child to the bathroom because they've held it until the last minute. You will get tired of turning the bathroom light on, setting up the potty seat, and getting their pants off all before they wet themselves. Don't try to rush it. Life doesn't get that much easier with potty training.

[Anonymous]

Ours was potty-trained at 18MO -- not fully potty-trained (he still used diapers for naps and overnight), but he was fine otherwise.

[Anonymous]

My daughter asked to and successfully used the potty at 15 months (older brother was 3 and she wanted to keep up). She was very verbal. After about 3 months of her regualrly telling us that she needed a diaper change, we took her out of diapers. She did great..at school..car trips..beach Some regression around maybe 2.5 when other kids started using the potty so she was no longer such a star but I still consider it successful. I might read some books to her on teh subject and see where that leads. Since I was working on another kid at the time, I didn;t really need to do anything.

[Anonymous]

DD potty trained overnight at 18 months. We introduced it and it took immediately. By her second birthday potty training was a distant memory. We had been completely diaper free for awhile.

The only problem we had was some plight poop withholding, but it was resolved over the source of a few weeks.

It went so well because it was all her. It was the easiest parenting thing thus far. (She is 4.5.)

[Anonymous]

I would take this opportunity to help her gain familiarity with her body functions, but not start full-out training yet. Disposable diapers are so good at their job that a lot of kids don't have much awareness of when they are going, which makes potty training happen later and with more difficulty. What we did is point out to our son when he was going- saying "you're going poop/pee" and putting him on the potty if it was obvious he was trying to poop. (It was also sometimes made it easier for him to poop seated on a little potty.) If she tells you that she has gone, change her right away so she is used to not having it against her. We fully trained at 20 months because he was showing signs of readiness, and because diaper changes were a struggle. It was a lot of work for a few weeks but now six months later he's totally trained, and has been for a while. I think in some ways it's easier earlier, before the full toddler stubbornness and defiance hit.

[Anonymous]

My oldest was day time potty trained by 18 months. No regressions, no regrets for either one of us. My youngest took much longer. It totally depends on the kid. If you think yours is ready I don't think it would hurt to gradually & gently begin to potty train.

[Anonymous]

Do it early 15M is fine or late as in after 2 1/2. Every kid is different but the ages in between that is most challenging if you think about it. Once DS started walking at 15M we started reg putting him on the toilet w/o officially "training" him ie putting stress on him. Just naturally he associated potty and toilet. He was totally done w no regressin at appx age 27M.

[Anonymous]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-hodges-md/potty-training_b_1424826.html