What Age Should I Start Potty Training My Son?

Both my kids were almost 3 when they potty trained. Some kids are ready sooner but I don't think many are ready before the age of 2. What I would say is that the older they are, it is usually faster, and then once they are trained they can manage much more of the process themselves which makes it easier on you and means they feel more independent which they like. Eg my youngest was trained around her 3rd birthday and immediately was able to do everything herself, except I have to wipe her when she has done #2. But each child is different.

Hi C.,
I'm not of the midset of training parents to take their kids to the toilet and do all the pants down/pants up stuff for their babies. I'm of the philosophy of waiting until the child shows some signs of readiness, like discomfort from a wet/dirty diaper, indicating they would like a change, some sign that they are aware of it when they are going or that they have to - plus the verbal ability to express this and the physical maturity needed to deal with their own clothes.
I personally never thought the idea of using the potty was cute or had any interest in an extended period of time "training" like a lot of people I knew who spent 6 months or more on the process. For me, it was much easier to have a kid in diapers than one that was sorta, kinda, a little bit trained but not really and having daily accidents. I waited. With my first, I tried to wait for the magic day that she'd tell me she had to go, but that day never came! I didn't realize at the time that was a late sign of training. So at 3 yrs 1 month, I went cold turkey and she was trained in 4 days. With my son, I waited til the month before he turned 3, used the triple layer cloth training pants with waterproof outer layer and just took him to the toilet (big toilet, neither of my kids ever peed or pooped on a pottie) every hour and a half. It took a few weeks for him to go in the toilet consistently but then he did. It was still another month til he told me he had to use the bathroom, but that was fine, he would just wait til I brought him. Different approaches work for different families.
Good luck

In my opinion its never too early to familiarize your child to the potty/toilet. The more that it is a part of their everyday life the less trouble you'll have when it comes time to remove the diapers.

You'd be surprised at how much he actually understands. We started EC (elimination communication) with my daughter when she was still a newborn and it was clear she understood what the potty was for by the time she was 6-7 months old. She would crawl over to her little potty when she had to pee. Even before that she would pee/poop in the potty when we offered her the chance. But from about the time she was 1-2 weeks old we would hold her over the potty whenever we changed her diaper and say "you can go here if you'd like."

I would suggest starting out by offering him the chance to sit on the potty whenever you change his diaper. Just let him sit there for a little bit and tell him "You can pee in here if you want, then your diaper will stay drier for a little bit longer." Bringing him into the bathroom to sit on the potty when you go is another way he can start learning about the connection with elimination and the potty. He'll hear you go and it might encourage him to go too. If you think your son might have to pee/poo (like if you see him fussing for no reason) ask him if he wants to sit on the potty and take his diaper off and let him try. If it happens great, if not just let him go in the diaper a bit later and remind him the potty is still available if he needs it.

Giving him a chance to use the toilet as well will allow him to be more comfortable on it later on. Sit on it with him (you in the back and him supported between your legs). This will make the adult toilet a comforting experience rather than a scary thing.

Potties are good for quick pottying; independent minded toddlers that can undress themselves can use them for self-pottying (you'll still need to wipe & clean the potty, but they can start themselves); and non-verbal babies can use them as a method of communication (crawling to the potty can mean I'm wet/I'm dirty/I need to pee/poop). Potties can also be used as excellent reminders for both you and your child. Put a potty in a visible place where your child is playing and when you look at it and think "its been a while since B's diaper has been changed" let him try sitting on the potty. Soon he'll start making the connection and when he looks at the potty he may be reminded that he needs to pee.

For now focus on familiarizing your son with the potty and try to become more acquainted with his elimination patterns. (The Diaper Free Baby is a good book to get you started with early GENTLE potty training methods.)

Hi C.,
At about 1.5-2 yrs. he could be introduced to the potty, but I wouldn't start training him until he is over 2. Some kids understand the concept sooner than others. Only you and your son can determine when he is ready. As for the little potties, I bought them and never used them. I used the inserts to put on the toilet and the base as a step stool, but never used them to go potty in. Then you end up having to train them to go potty on the toilet anyway. Some kids are afraid to go on the toilet, that was why I always had it available. I didn't have that problem with my daughters.

I began at that age with my daughters. I would have their potty chair in the bathroom. I would take off their diaper and show then to sit down...then almost every time I had to use the bathroom I would take my child with me and have them sit on their potty chair as the same time I would use the toilet. I would do this for weeks, pretty soon they would follow me into the bathroom and take off their own diaper and sit. On a few occasions they would use their potty chair. Sometimes the PC can be scary for lil kids but if they see that their mommies are comfortable with it then they soon learn to play along...when they get a lil older my girls were 2 when they were completely potty trained. My oldest never made an accident in bed unless daddy forgot to ask her to go to bathroom before bed. The youngest took a while for night time training. I would not rush them but they learn very fast when they watch their parents doing something. he may not be able to talk but i am sure he knows a lil about what is going on around him. good luck...these are the best years.

I haven't heard of a magic age just when your child seems to be ready. Does he tell you when he has to go potty? Is he showing any interest in the potty (other than to flush the remote:) ? My 1st child was 3 when success was found. I had been trying for a while and after about a week of real interest she handed me her diaper and informed me she was not wearing it any more. She was good from then on. I had a VERY easy experience and not counting on it with the 2 1/2 yo. she tells me after she did her stuff in the diaper. We are encouraging her but not pushing in any way. y child is different. A.

Hi C..
Just my 2 cents about the type of potty...I actually found the smaller ones easier to work with in the beginning. My boys were both completely potty trained by 2. When they were that little, sometimes the big potty for them (or maybe it was me just getting them in there, etc) was just too much. And they naturally transitioned to the big potty with no problem...both of them.

Good luck!

Get the baby bjorn potty and start now while there is no pressure (on your or him) to learn quickly.
In Europe and many other parts of the world it is normal to potty train early. I started sitting my son on the potty around 10 months with pretty low expectations and to my surprise, he started going on it every day- even poop, with no prompting from me. He's 13 months now and I sit him on it about 5 times a day and he usually pees or poops on the potty 3 or 4 times a day. I sit him on it first thing in the morning, before and after meals (about 10 or 15 min after eating) and before and after naps/bedtime. These are the times when he is most likely to go. I tell him, lets sit on the potty and go pee pee. Once he is sitting, I say pee pee a few times until he starts going. He usually sits there and goes almost right away if he has to go. If he doesn't have to go, he gets up right away and tries to walk off. I show my son the pee and poop and cheer and clap for him every time he goes. If he does not go, I just say, that's ok. We will try again later. We also have books and a few toys there in the bathroom with the potty so he can look at the books while he goes.
I feel like starting early helps him to understand that this is just part of the routine, like eating and sleeping, rather than something that he has to learn at age 2 or 3 when he have already become accustomed to the idea that it's ok to poop and pee in a diaper.
He is starting to understand the concept because he has stayed dry in the same diaper all morning almost every day for the past few weeks.
This potty is easy to clean- I lift out the bowl, dump the contents into the toilet and then rinse it until there is nothing left in the bowl (I dump the rinse water in the toilet too) and then scrub it out with some dish soap and very hot water. I leave a separate sponge in the bathroom for this purpose only. It takes about 5 minutes.
I would highly recommend starting early, and skipping the pullups.

go for it. they say if you want to get rid of anything with the baby.. like pacifiers, diapers, bottles.. do it before they are 2 and really love these things. I would sit my kids on the toilet every hour or so.. and they would actually go. both my kids started around 16 months.. and were totally trained during the day at 2!!! it really works.. they were trained at night by 2 1/2... when you start the night thing.. i started night training around 26 mo. getting them up around 11 - just sitting them on the toilet, they would go.. i would lay them back down.. and they would just go back to sleep (actually they really weren't awake.. ) good luck.. it really is great to get rid of dirty diapers.. use a seat on top of your toilet.. so they get used to the big toilet and not used to a small seat and then thats another things to get rid of.. good luck any questions ____@____.com

mine were 3 1/2 (both) you can start around 2 yrs old to get tem used to it but dont push it becasue you tend to turn them away form the idea.let them so it when they are ready and dont pressure because at that age they want to be in control and one thing they can control is THAT. so encourage it but dont punish or reward becasueit doesnt work believe me.
all kids are different and some have an easier transistion.
the minute i stopped caring about it was when they both decided they were going to do it.It has to be their idea...
my dr told me ...dont worry -do you see any kids go off to 1st grade with diapers???? they see others doing it especially in preschool and they will do it too.
good luck-

I never put my daughter on a potty chair which I think worked in my favor because she needed my help getting off! I'd put her on as I was getting in the shower and she'd be done by the time I got out. I gave her books to 'read' to keep her entertained.

Before she could talk we used baby signs so she could tell us what she wanted (more, milk, cereal, etc.).

For more info on early potty training:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/nyregion/09diapers.html...