My 3 kids were all out of diapers during the day by their second birthdays (middle child wore a diaper at night until 6!).

It was super easy for us. We had them sitting on the portable potty multiple times a day and when they pooped or peed we would cheer them and make a funny dance. All trained in less than a week with minimal accidents.

I am not sure what OP means with the kids being ready (emotionally ready for potty training sounds ridiculous to me). I have no idea if my kids were ready when we did it. It’s a simple process in my experience.

Anonymous wrote:My daughter just turned three, and I'm waiting for her to be ready to start potty training. The doctor at her 3-year checkup said it's totally fine to wait, but daycare isn't pushing the issue yet.

I'm curious if anyone else has waited until their child was a bit older to start potty training? When did you start potty training your little one?

I'm asking because my in-laws are always talking about it and making us feel like we're holding our daughter back. I'd love to hear some advice or reassurance that we're doing what's best for our child

Ludicrous for a three year old to be in diapers.

My step grandson is in diapers at age 4, with no sign of a concerted effort to potty train. I keep my mouth shut but I can vent here...

Anonymous wrote:The advice here is not great, listen to your paediatrician.

Kids will be ready when they're ready and there's no need to force them early. What's the difference if she takes until closer to 4, unless you've got necessary deadlines leave it until you know it's correct

You do NOT want your 4-year old, or your close-to-4-year old, in diapers.

It’s time now.

Anonymous wrote:MY 3 year old was still in diapers too but that was because I was busy with the other child and couldn't train her properly.
She's going to UVA in a month. A most pleasant child, hard working and high achieving.

Oh my...

Anonymous wrote:Unless your DD has developmental delays or some other special need, 3 is not too young to potty train!!! You need to introduce the idea and teach her how to use the potty.

You need to push at this point. We struggled due to delays but tried. Some kids will not tell you and need a push.

You are not late - daughter is 3 and refuses to use the potty although she does in daycare where there is peer support and little toilet but even there they thought she was ready to start using underwear a few months ago but she is back in full time pull-ups (based on the quantity they are using.) I've had a potty insert since before two and a little elmo potty since 2.5. She's a stubborn as hell and I'm not going to physically force her on the potty (which would be the only way to get her there.) Instead I'm waiting until she's "ready." at least some child development specialists think that's advisable. https://visiblechild.com/2015/09/20/toilet-training-in-one-simple-step/

Also some kids will start withholding if you force them too much and then you have problems with consitipation which can lead to problems with accidents.

People on DCUM are advocates for early potty training and pretty dismissive of those who "train" late just so you are aware of the bias.

MY 3 year old was still in diapers too but that was because I was busy with the other child and couldn't train her properly.
She's going to UVA in a month. A most pleasant child, hard working and high achieving.

We were later to training our kid because she was in treatment for brain cancer from 20 months to age 4. I honestly don’t remember exactly when we did it, but sometime after her third birthday we did it with a very chill approach. We didn’t have a chamber pot, we just had a ring on our regular toilet. We never did some intense three day nakedness thing. We just started taking her to the bathroom regularly and asking her if she needed to go a lot.

She still wore a pull up on chemo days because I was nervous about making it to the bathroom quickly enough while she was attached to an IV. I definitely remember that she wore a pull up around Disney on her make a wish trip that year. She didn’t have any accidents at chemo or Disney, but it just made life simpler not to worry about it. It was all fine and she basically potty trained just fine.

There are many ways to potty train, and they are all fine. Assuming your kid is neurotypical they will figure it out. That said, you do have to decide to do it. They aren’t going to magically decide to do it themselves.

Our daughter was potty trained at 22 months. Some tears but no more tears than when we did tummy time or when learning to walk (she arguably hated that more but we still had to do it). We read Oh Crap - i found the process to be really helpful but more importantly the parenting advice to be really important. Unless your LO has developmental delays or some other medical issue i dont know why you wouldnt try.

Will say my daughter has a late bday (August) and started PreK3 so I was motivated to get it done by then

At some point, maybe when all her peers are using the potty, she will decide only losers sit in poop at daycare or school.

The advice here is not great, listen to your paediatrician.

Kids will be ready when they're ready and there's no need to force them early. What's the difference if she takes until closer to 4, unless you've got necessary deadlines leave it until you know it's correct

Op here - apologies I'm not dismissing the advice, I'm sharing reasons why we are where we are. We will give it a try soon, but we're not going to get stuck into weeks of battles, if it doesn't happen over a couple of long weekends we'd pause for a month.

I did think 3 was about the middle age, so I am surprised and will give it a serious try

It is definitely fine to not be potty trained at 3. The push to start training at 2 is wild to me. Every kid is different. I also recommend the Big Little Feelings potty training videos as guidance, I liked them way more than any books I looked at. And in the end, you can follow a "method" but you'll find ways that work for you. Our son refused to go naked on the bottom so we had to take a slightly slower approach. There's a sweet spot of your kid being ready to do it and you being ready to be consistent with the training. Don't worry about what your in-laws say, when is the last time the potty trained someone? You know your kid best. They'll get there.

Why wouldn’t you start potty training? Unless there are special needs, 3 is definitely old enough.