My 18-month old has taken a serious interest in the potty. Frequently, she says "I potty." or "I poo poo!" and points at the toilet. So several weeks ago, we got out the potty seats and she has been using the potty. (#1 successes, but only gas with attempts for #2)I realize that she is extremely young to be potty trained. But I do know of babies being potty trained this early. So my question to you friends is: How would you handle this situation?
I do not want to push her to be potty trained (I'm not trying to win any awards here). Nor do I want to ignore her interest. However, it is a lot of maintenance (taking off all the diapers, clothes, sitting there with her several times a day.) She could just be messing with me. (She's smart. I wouldn't put it past her.)
Any thoughts or opinions are very appreciated.
13 comments:
lilly was fully trained at 20 months and it was great! i say go for it :) some kids are just easier than others.
I would follow her lead. Just think..no diapers when summer comes:)
my son was potty trained at 18 months...he went on the potty one day and never wore a diaper again, not even at night...some are even younger than that..if she is initiating it I say go for it.
Go with it! My little girl (now 21 mo) started being interested in the potty a few months ago, and now she's completely trained. I've been told that most kids have a small window of opportunity around 18 months, and it's up to the parent to notice and capitalize on it. This has got to be especially true for younger siblings, wouldn't you think? Good luck!
I agree with the others. If they are showing interest go for it and be done with diapers! I have heard girls are usually earlier than boys.
Abbey started showing interest at that age, but it wasn't consistant since we worked and she had different sitters during the day. We set the potty out and when she wanted to go we did, but she lost interest and we didn't push. Since she has been at day care she has shown interest again and they are willing to work with her there and we can work with her at home so it is slow going right now, but we are working on it. I say go for it especially since you are at home to direct her and help.
i have been VERY unprepared for this, so I'm trying to make a decision quickly. My ped. says not to push it. Just let her go at times, but don't make a big deal. However I have a friend (Hi Amanda) who just switched to undies & really worked on it & was off diapers in 2 days (once her daughter initiated interest).
I'm just trying to make a decision. There was a time when E was interested, but I didn't encourage it, and then it passed until he was 3. So I don't want to miss an opportunity.
For those who did potty train early...did you move to underwear? I don't even think they would stay on her little frame! She can still fit in an infant carrier!!!
Also for those with kids trained early...Did you just let them go when they wanted? Or did you toss the diapers, not leave the house, and really focus on the training?
My son's preschool teacher is a big believer in striking when the iron is hot, even if you're not quite ready. But don't get your hopes up that this is definitely it.
When training Luke, we were strictly no diapers at home (easier in warm weather). But I still did diapers when we went out. I wasn't up for that stress. He was totally trained in 2 weeks.
When Jane started showing interest, I just kinda followed her lead for about a month, letting her sit on the potty whenever she initiated - definitely still in diapers. Then, we decided to dedicate a weekend to the potty training effort (at 20 mo). Basically, we stayed in the house for a whole wknd, letting her run around naked under a very watchful eye. She had 2 pee accidents on the floor, and that's all it took for her to get the hang of it. After that wknd, we went to underwear. Diapers still for sleeping though. She might've had 1 accident every other day for a week or so, but now Jane actually has a better track record than our 3 yr old!
In hindsight, I think we could've done the "naked wknd" sooner - but we balked b/c, like you, I wasn't prepared for it so soon.
Let me know if you want more specifics. :)
Some pullups might make your life a lot easier if you're going to give it a try. I feel like we passed up the chance with Chloe the summer we moved. I thought it was too much with moving twice, so I didn't encourage it. She wasn't potty trained until the summer after she turned three. If I were you, I would give it a try, even though I know it's time consuming.
One more thought (you can tell I'm in the throes of potty-related issues these days!) ... We have so many friends here in NYC from other countries / cultures. It seems that the entire rest of the world potty trains much earlier than we do in the US. Only in the US do we have such a convenience-driven, disposable culture (with such nifty inventions as disposable diapers), which causes us to keep our kids in diapers longer than everyone else. Just something to think about ...
We went directly to undies. Grace still needed a diaper at night for a few weeks. We never used pull ups. You could take in the smallest underwear. I know there is a website where they make really small underwear for children who potty train early, but I don't know the name,
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