Is It Ok to Go into Potty Training Gradually?

Get a book on training babies and young toddlers. Most other countries start much earlier than we do and it works just fine:)

L.,

I think I'd go with it as he's ready. Don't make it BOOTCAMP! I wouldn't do the timer system that totally rules your day for weeks on end. He sounds like a bright kid. If he's showing interest... take him to the potty. I'd start doing regular times. When he wakes up, after breakfast, before and after naps, and before bed. Aside from that... don't beat him over the head. He'll start telling you when he's ready after you put him in the routine of doing it. Don't beat yourself... and him up over it. You don't need that, especially with new baby in October just around the corner. GOOD LUCK!

If your son is peeing every time you set him on the potty, then start training and it won't take very long. My daughter (I know boys and girls are very different when it comes to this) was trained at 23 months and it only took a couple of days when I used the right method. I left her naked for three days and every time she started to pee, I put her on the potty. Three days and she had it down. Yes there are occasional accidents and she wears pull ups at night. Also, I didn't use any rewards.

I started out asking if they need to go potty every couple of hours, if I was told yes I put them on the potty.If they said no I would enourage them to go try.All kids are different but I found boys are the hardest, they see daddy standing and Mommy sitting.It can be confusing for them.19 months is a bit early in my opinion but if he is interested go for it.He will probably have several accidents so don't loose your cool.And after the baby comes he may go back to not wanting to use it cause sister is in diapers.It is a hard choice to make.Usually the child will start telling you they need a clean diaper this is one of the first signs that they are about ready to learn. Good luck.Potty can be scarey to some children.

I would commit to it!! My kids are 14 mos apart and I waited till my son was two and a half to start potty training - which I was lucky and he picked up within a week and no more diapers or pull ups after that. Well - my daughter who was only 18 mos at the time saw him wearing "undies" and so she kept following her brother around watching him and she decided (I thought she was too young) she wanted to sit on the potty too. So, we would put her on up there and did that for a week. A week later both my kids were potty trained (I was sooo not planning on training my daughter that young - but shew as willing to pee on the potty so I decided just to go with it and it was well worth the effort to see if she would be trained or not). With my kids so close and both being in diapers at the same time it was just a nice change to have both potty trained at the ages they potty trained at. My suggestion would be if he is willing to pee on the potty then go for it!! Good luck!

If he's showing interest, go for it! Just don't get frustrated if he doesn't get it every time. People say it's harder to train boys and takes longer or whatever but my son started around 18 months too and was completely trained by 2! The best thing I can recommend is to put him on the potty every 2 hrs. max so he gets used to it and when he starts staying dry you can extend the time between! He just has to understand that he is in control of it...when it clicks, it clicks!! Good luck.

In my opinion, gradually is the best way to do it. Mt daughter starting showing interest at about the same age. She started pooing on the potty at about that time. She is now 32 months and dry all the time during the day. Yes, it took about 1-1 1/2 years, but there was no fighting, no bargaining, no power struggles. Follow his cues. You may even have some backsliding for awhile, we did. But, they do get there.

If he's showing interest, and he's actually "doing the job", then roll with it. I'd only use the "typical motivators" if it turns out that you need to, but for right now, "GOOD JOB!" should do it.

Be prepared though - he may have a relapse when #2 is born, and then not show any interest in it for a while.

The one thing that always worked best for us was: Potty first. Our oldest could do whatever she wanted, or have whatever she wanted, as long as she went potty first. Typically when they go to change activities or ask for something new (like something to drink) it's to put themselves in a different position so as to not have as much pressure on the bladder. Then 5 minutes later, there's an accident. SO - then it became, "potty first".

For what it's worth - and good luck!

If I were you I would start now and start hard. My daughter started being interested right before her first birthday. I bought her a potty and she was fully trained three or four months later during the day. About 6 or 9 months later she became interested in wearing underpants at night. We have had three accidents in a couple of months.

I think part of the problem parents have is that they expect their kids to be ready on the parent's schedule rather than the child's schedule. Once you are more ready, you may have lost that window of interest with your child. I would think that you are in a perfect position to train him now and maybe not so ideal once your second child is born. I would go for it now.

Also, I don't think you need any enticements. If he is willing to do it without, then do it without. If he needs some help later, introduce the enticements. That gives you a tool for later.

Good luck.

Wow, lucky! I would go with it! He's a little young to be fully trained, but that just means that if he back slides, you don't really have to worry about it. It takes the pressure off! Good luck!

I would approach it gradually. My son started showing interest in the potty around 18 months. We started the training heavy and it was just too much pressure for both of us. We started out the same as what you have said above...he showed interest, he would pee when we would initiate it, my son would even poop almost everyday on the potty after dinner, but it took us until he was 3 to be fully potty trained. It was 18 months of frustration on my part where I think if we would have taken it slower from the beginning that it would not have been so stressful for both of us. Even though my child showed interest, I don't think he was ready to go to the potty every time he had the urge. He would sometimes go in the toilet and then sometimes have an accident where ever he was standing. He knew how to go in the toilet and that is what would make me so frustrated, but in hind sight I think he was just not ready to be responsbile for going to the bathroom every time. It sounds funny to me typing this now because i was so high strung during the actual process. I am happy to report my son is 3.5 years old and has had maybe 1 accident/month for the past 6 months and those accidents have been when he was out of his normal environment and really excited (ie fourth of july fireworks). I hope this helps. Have a good day.

Well lets, see he's young, he's happy and you're happy so it sounds like you're right where you need to be. incentives are great but if you don't need them then why bother if he's happy just being told how great it is then that's enough. as for trying harder well, the harder you push the less likely he is to want to do it. something else to keep in mind you are due soon, it's likely he could regress and want to or need to go back in diapers even if he's fully trained when baby comes and then you'll have to do it all over again.
good luck, don't stress it, you have plenty of time to get him potty trained and right now you're both doing a wonderful job exploring this new concept.