At What Age Did You Start Potty Training?

I started with my daughter at 18 months, and she finished, including night, at 22.

I have two friends that started with their boys at 21months, and they both finished by 25 months.

Motivation of mom is a big determent in when they train. They won't show interest if you don't show interest or begin teaching them the general concepts (wet/dry, pee/poop go in potty, etc.). As an aside, the rest of the world children are fully trained by 2. It's all a matter of how you go about teaching them, and potty training is very much a physical skill they have to learn. You can either let them learn it by themselves, and wait till they are 3, or you can help them along and finish around 2. It's up to you, really.

My son wanted to start on his own when he was 2.5. I swear he woke up on a thursday and decided that he didn't want to wear diapers anymore. It sounds funny, but that whole day he wanted to go to our stand up shower and go pee there...i thought it was strange and gross, but went along with it. the next day i got him to sit on his potty and by sunday (3 days later) he was actually on the toilet. I think when your child is "ready" it doesn't take much time at all to train/coach them. Now, it's tough to get him to wear pull ups at night, because he doesn't like the "feel" of them (i don't blame him- they are pretty uncomfortable). so, i have to change him while he's sleeping into the pull up and also change him in the middle of the night when he does wet himself.

good luck!

My daughter was full potty by age 2. I think I started around18- 20 months. She got the peeing down but had poo issues, lol. However, she didn't stop having night time accidents until about 7 months ago and she is almost 8.

Hi Mandy, most parents today wait til a child shows interest, and most wait til 2 or after. I DON"T AGREE WITH THIS! I can almost guarantee that no one out there has my experience. I decided when my husband and I started talking about starting a family That I would not have 2 year olds in diapers. We started our first son at 20 months, by 21 months he was potty trained. At 19 months our second son decided he wanted to wear big boy under wear like his brother, so we told him well you have to use the bathroom like your brother if you want to wear big boy underwear , so he went fast, I started our daughter at 20 months, then we got orders for overseas, so we were so busy with all that, I decided to wait til we got over there, so at 22 months I trained her on a regular toilet in just a couple days. I am a daycare provider and I have been potty training other peoples children succesfully before the age of 2 for 13 years, I found that successful pottry training has more to do with the trainer than the child. J.

My son is 15 mos and I am trying to get him used to the idea. I see where when he is out of diapers he pees, and is sort of curious as to what is happening. Second, when I change him and he does #2, I always acknowlege that he did booboo..so now he knows when he does #2 and actually tells me when he does (which really surprised me he did do it), so I start to monitor the times he does and try to let him sit on it(the potty, not the poop that is, lol). For now, it's just about getting used to the idea. My older son encourages it too. With him, it took longer but I also was a first time M., didn't recognize the signs he was ready, and then waited too long to start (it was around 2.5-3 that I started then) So to answer your question, your child is ready when he begins to show signs. When he actually learns is another question. Boys are harder.

My son is 32 months old and just starting to show interest in the potty. He has been asking to see his pee and poop when I change his diaper. I show it to him so he will know what it is. Wednesday night he peed in the potty and yesterday he did a little poop. I'm not pushing him as he seems to be doing it on his terms.

I did try when he was around 2 and then a few months later and he showed no interest and wouldn't even get on the potty.

Honestly I am not sure of exactly how old they were. Son was first child. I started encouraging him by setting out a potty chair, etc when he was around 2 yrs I think. Maybe 20 months? not sure. Anyway... I didn't push anything but encouraged him to try it out, etc. He didn't have much interest past the initial curiosity at first... but then I started encouraging him more, and got a seat attachment for the regular toilet. He was more interested in that. He was pretty much trained by at least 28 months. At 32 months I KNOW he was fully trained, b/c by then he had already transitioned to standing up. I KNOW that age, b/c I was 6 months pregnant and he dropped the lid on himself and I had to carry him (I was HUGE) NAKED from the waist down through the house and hold him to console him. THEN put shorts on him to drive him to the ER to check everything out! (Will NEVER forget that... USE a STEP STOOL so no seats get dropped!!)

With daughter, she was very interested early on in everything I did in the potty myself. She was the child that was IN the bathroom with me... wanting to flush MY stuff. lol
She was transitioning from wearing cotton training undies to regular little girl panties when she celebrated her 2nd birthday (by the way, also the day she voluntarily traded ALL her paci's for some toys at the bakery). She was amazing! Rarely had accidents (NEVER at night) and LOVED to visit every public restroom she could con me into! lol

So, yes, I think generally speaking girls are easier. But I also think that part of that is because there is NO confusion for them about standing or sitting. I never worried about standing for our son, until he had fully mastered the entire process. Then, my husband said "it's time" ha ha....
I also found that with my son, he would wait until THE LAST SECOND to try to "make it in time" to go pee... he would get very involved in whatever he was doing and didn't want to stop to go use the potty. My daughter never really went through that "putting it off" stage. SHE used using the potty as an excuse to get out of bed after she went to bed for the night... lol.

Oh, and if I had waited until my son woke up dry most mornings, he would have still been in diapers at about age 7. He is a VERY deep sleeper. There are plenty of posts on this site from moms trying to figure out how to help their older child (6, 7, 8 yr olds) get through the night dry... some kids (maybe a LOT of kids) sleep so heavily that they do not feel the "urge" sensations that wake them up when their bladder is too full. And everyone's bladder matures at a different rate also... I think my son had a small bladder and it needed to catch up..add to that that he slept too heavily to notice... voila... not many dry nights unless I woke him up and took him potty at 11 pm before I went to bed myself. So I would be cautious about using waking up dry as a marker for readiness. If you notice that he is doing that, Great. Use it as a marker. If you don't see this happening, don't use it as a reason to wait, either. just my opinion.

I started my son at 2 years old but didnt push. I gave him m&ms every time he got on the potty even if he didnt go. But once he started going pee or number 2 thats when I only gave them to him and praisehim for going. By 2 1/2 he was fully potty trained going number 1 and number 2..

We waited until my son was a little past 3. He knew what was going on, but threw a fit every time we tried to put him on the potty. Once he turned 3, we told him no more and he was completely trained within 2 weeks, and we stopped nighttime pull-ups about a month later (we could have stopped them earlier, but I was too nervous).

On the flip side, we have a friend who started working with her son who showed an interest when he was only about 2 years 4 months old. It was ridiculous how much longer it took him, and I believe 100% it was because it was not as "ready" as she thought. We both started in September, and her son still needed pull-ups on a regular basis in February. He still wears them to bed because he always wakes up wet too.

I was told that one of the major signs is if they can get through the night most nights without wetting themselves, they are probably ready. I would wait until you notice that before you think about it anymore (because this poor woman is still dealing with pull-ups 9 months later)! Good luck...you will know when he is ready!

P.S. Had another friend wait...her son at 2 years 11 months told HER he was ready, and was completely trained in 2 weeks as well!

I started when my daughter showed genuine interest and asked to try. She was around 2.5. She was completely trained within a week or so.

My grandson started a few months later, approaching 3, as I recall. He was "sort of" ready; perhaps not quite as enthusiastic as his mom was. It took maybe three weeks or so, with a chart and some prizes.

My son started wearing training unders when he turned 2. Truth told, the montessori toddler teacher Mary trained me and him. I really love the ones made by HannaAndersen. It gives him the sensation of wetness, and honestly, the "accidents" are no big deal. I do not recommend those disposable pull-ups, unless you want the potty-training to go on indefinitely.

It took him several months to be accident-free, but I just took extra clothing along.

Mary always used the same phrase, "PeePee in the potty and your pants stay clean." She said that whenever he went...." He made the connection.

Good luck,
T.