My 15Mo Old Boy Is Ready to Pottie Train, I Think, How Can I Do This?

I used to watch my girl for the signs that it was time to go and then sit her on the pot. If they are willing and ready then just make a big deal out of success and remind him constantly to go. I think he understands what you tell him even if he can't say all the words yet. He will catch on very quickly... I never used a potty chair, I bought the toliet ring to train my daughter. The transition was easy and there was no mess to clean up. For a boy you will need a little splash guard on the front. There are all kinds of ways to reward a child for the success on the potty, I would avoid any negative attention for accidents and just make a statement and move on to next time. After an accident dump the poo in the potty (if you can) and say that is where it should go. Even after they are fully potty trained some children get so involved in playing that they forget to go so keep reminding. Good Luck!

My children all showed an early interest. I didn't push it, but I just talked about the potty and "pushing out the potty." My oldest started at 17 months by telling me "I potty" meaning "I have to go potty". My 2nd child, also a son, started saying "potty" and trying to go standing at the toilet like my hubby and older son when he was 16 months old. My daughter crawled up to the toilet and touched it saying "up" that she wanted to get up on the toilet at 11 months. I used a bit of sign language with my children so they were diaper aware from an early age (started signing it to me about 6-7 months letting me know they were needing a new one). When I would change the diaper I would talk about what it was ei wet, poopy, which it sounds like your son also has a concept of what it is...he at least identifies that poop is stinky. This is when it became handy to know body parts. I would tell them when they feel the poop coming out of their butt then they need to go to the toilet. They fully understood me because they were completely able to demonstrate it. My daughter is now 21 months old and she occasionally will still poop in her pull up. I was quite slow to move her along because I honestly didn't think she would stick with it. If you stick with encouraging and being consistant, then it will happen faster. Set up a potty schedule. Our rule is that all children much go potty before nap, bed, first thing in the morning, first thing after nap, and anytime we get ready to walk out the door to go somewhere. Then we are in control of when to go. Otherwise they get caught up in the adventures of wanting to see every potty everywhere you go and basically hang out there. Our rules got instituted after my son would say he needed to go potty as soon as we got to the store, then we would finish there and then after shopping for another 10 minutes my son would either have to go again or the other one would decide he had to go too. Going to tiny public restrooms with 2 small kids (at the time 2 and 3 yrs old) while very pregnant and then after my daughter was born going in there again with all 3...it was beyond unpleasant. So we told them the potty rules, they followed them and they automatically know and abide by them. We only occasionally have to stop at a bathroom in public and just once is about all that is necessary. Thankfully!

Bottom line, definitly encourage but you will also need to set rules. One thing I would not let my children do is remove a diaper. When they know you are their authority and serious about what you say, you can get them to mind without brut force. When they know they don't have to take you seriously that is when they continue to do stuff like that. You just have to be kind, consistant and firm. The last thing you want is for him to start taking off poopy diapers. I have a friend that had a HUGE mess because of that. YUCK! Set a schedule and watch for patterns too. If you notice his bowel movements are always at a certain time put him on the toilet and tell him to push out the poop (or use whatever words he would understand that you have used previously for him to understand what you are talking about.) Boys love to stand and pee like dad, so maybe you should let dad show him that one or you can do it yourself by telling him to aim at a square of toilet paper. He can put the lid up on his own and at that age should be very compliant to put the lid down, flush and wash his own hands. Don't get discouraged. There can be setbacks. I know for my kids our setbacks always went along with teething, colds as well as right before I had the next subsequent child. My kids are all about 1.5 yrs apart (20 months between 1&2 and 18 months between 2&3). I know some say they aren't ready until they are dry at night too. I think that is only marginally true. My oldest still will rarely have an accident at night and he is almost 5. My middle guy hasn't had an accident at night for 7 months at least and my daughter who is 21 months still has a slightly wet diaper 1 or 2 nights a week. Good luck!

B. :)

Well... my daughter didn't potty train until she was 3 years old (like the week after her 3rd b-day). She showed very smilar signs as your son is showing now when she was around 20 months old so we bought her a potty. We sat her on it every night before her bath. If she pottied we would make a big fuss over it. She knew what the potty was and knew what was suppose to go in it- actually the first time she sat on it she pooped so I thought she would be trained by 2. She also did not like having a wet bum. However, that didn't speed up the process any. If you really think he's ready then just start taking him to the potty every hour or so. Point to his potty seat and say "potty" often. Good luck!

My little brother was potty trained when he was one year old. Regardless of what people say there is no standard age, it all depends on the child. Sounds to me like he is ready, maybe try starting a little and not going full force and see how he does, if he does well then go for it! That will save you some money on diapers :)

Just start with having him try to go right when he gets up and maybe every hour after that or 2 if every hour is too much. Then you will start to figure out when he is usually going and you can stick with those times. The trick is to make it fun, make a big deal out of it when he does go in there. I used a sticker chart with my kids a sticker for every time he goes in the potty and then after so many stickers he gets something whatever that may be, some candy, a small toy, out for ice cream, etc. I also have friends who used to give their little ones an m&m or a skittle earch time they used to potty chair.

Good luck to you!! :)

Hi K.,
I am a new memeber so I am just now reading your message. I have two boys and what I found was the easiest for me was this. I had these little foam fish that they would get when they had to go potty. They would come and tell me or I would see the "potty dance" and then I would say do you need some fish? Because potty or poopy was too scary for them so I would ask them if they need some fish instead. They would say yes, so I would get the foam fish and drop them in the toliet. I would then place them on the toliet backwards where they were facing the toliet tank and they basically would go potty aiming at the fish in the toliet. The fish were biodigradable so they were safe for the toliet and could be flushed. They actually sold these foam fish for this purpose. I never had one problem potty training them. The whole thing is to get them to not be scared of the toliet and that going potty isn't a bad thing. Hope this helps.