What Age Did You Potty Train??

I started potty learning with my kids around 10months. I got potty books, put out the potty seat, and started talking to them about being wet and dry. Both woke dry from naps around 15 months, so I would put them on the potty. By 18 months my daughter was in trainers, and by 19 months, my son started taking himself to the potty. When he poop and night trained at 21 months, I put him in trainers.

It is never too early to teach them about where pee and potty go.

Keep in mind that children show an interest in the potty chair, toilet, and process way before they are actually ready to train.

My son trained at 25 months. We just put him in underwear and took him to the toilet whenever he woke up, after each meal and if we noticed he had not been in 2 hours. He had frequent accidents for about 3 days, then a few more over the rest of a week and maybe two more over the next month. He had absolutely no signs of 'potty readiness' and we did no rewards or excessive praise. We just had the expectation that he was old enough to use the toilet - so he had the same expectation. We did NOT ASK if he needed to go - we TOLD him it was time to go to the bathroom.

Yes - he was in daycare 3 days a week. We started training on a Friday, his next day in daycare was the following Tuesday. Since he pretty much went to daycare and came home in the same (dry) undies - I don't see how the daycare had much to deal with.

We waited until 25 months because we did a lot of traveling in the 3 months before that and didn't see having 1-2 weeks of his regular routine (we anticipated it would take longer than it did). If I had to do it over again, I would start training MUCH younger - likely looking into elimination communication.

To those who are concerned that the parents are the ones 'trained' if you have to remind your child to go to the bathroom after meals and when they wake up - YOU ARE ALREADY TRAINED. You are trained to recognize when your child has already peed or pooped and CHANGE THEIR DIAPER. I would personally rather be trained to remind my son to go to the bathroom.

24 months for both of them. We did it over a long weekend (3-4 days) at home, basically using the 3 day method. We didn't use rewards or anything, just made sure they made it to the potty on time (they were naked from the waist down, too - this is the best time of year to do it, while it's warm outside!). When they'd make it to the potty, we would praise them, and when they didn't make it, we would clean it up but not make a really big deal of it. Also, you can't potty train while the child is wearing diapers or pull-ups. They have to know when they're peeing or the process doesn't work. :)

I firmly believe that anything before age 3, and all you are doing is training mommy and daddy to ask 20 times a day "Do you have to go potty?"
Kids in my experience (IRL, there would be about 20 nieces and nephews) that have been trained at the age of 2-ish have ALL needed Pull-ups at night for months and months, have ALL had issues pooping in the potty, and have all had about 3-5 accidents per week for months. It's too much, IMO, to push it on a child younger than 3.
You will, I'm sure, find parent after parent who "claims" it was easy at 2. My guess is that they don't want to admit that their experience was exactly what I described above, OR their children were in day care all day and they didn't have to deal with it.
Just wait. All kids get there eventually :)

There is no "how to do it right" advice. If there was, then it would not be the most commonly asked question on every parenting forum or in every parenting magazine. Every kid is different. Start by realizing that while you can provide tools and information and encouragement for your kids, you can not make them actually pee or poop on command. So it really isn't potty training but is potty learning.

Typically kids will start to get interested in potty concepts around age 2 and they might start to experiment with it. But for many kids they don't experience enough success at that age to make it worth it for them to keep trying. Especially many boys who as you said are not interested in halting play time.

So my advice. Try methods that people tell you but DO NOT get upset with the child if it doesn't work. Be flexible and tuned in to each kid. There are lots of variables: physical maturity, interest, attention span, attitude

Well, I can answer your title question: at what age did we start? But I can't say if those are the right ages for your kids.

My son (firstborn) was started around age 2. Maybe slightly before. No previous potty training experience for me, and this was in the burgeoning age of internet, so we didn't have it and I had no online resources to look up what to do or take opinion polls. No real peers to ask, either. Closest one, was my SIL who had only girls.

I didn't use any particular method, just suggested he sit on the potty and helped him. Got a small potty chair, and put it in the family room. He never used that. It's been a few years (he's almost 14 now) but he was pretty much trained by 30 months or so.

Our daughter (born when my son was almost 3 yrs old) was potty trained for the most part, by her 2nd birthday. She was eager to learn at a young age. I think she was probably 20-22 months when she started. The only FACT I can share is that ON her 2nd birthday, she was wearing cloth training pants (and no diaper or pull-up) when we went to the store to trade her ziploc baggie full of paci's for some toys. She gave up her paci's on her 2nd birthday.

As far as "how to do it right"? Always be positive, never punish or let your frustrations show if they make a mess with it. It is ok to be sad/disappointed, as long as you do so in a supportive way. ("ohhh, we didn't quite make it to the potty in time... sad face. Well, let's get cleaned up. We can try again next time.") Tons of praise for success. Poopy dances and clapping and cheering. Make a big fool of yourself. Kids love that. :)

Good luck.

I never really "started" until they showed interest because I did try with my first son and it was a stressful headache for both of us so the next 5 kiddos I let them lead. They were all FULLY potty trained by 4 years. (of course someone might have an accident at night here and there and I did have a bed wetter for a span but nothing too big of a deal.)

I learned from my first 2, peeing is easy, #2 a bit more of a challenge BUT the thing I learned was, if they ask for a diaper to do it in, put it on and don't make a big deal of it. My last 4 were a breeze and no one was "afraid" to go #2 on the toilet when the time came that they felt ready.

I say from my experience, show them and then don't stress it as that seems to cause the majority of issues that come up.

I started my son at 2 and we went on and off, back and fourth - I could successfully say he was trained 4months after his 4th birthday. I agree that you should wait for your son to be 3, girls often train earlier better.

I haven't read any responses yet, so I'm sorry if I'm repeating anything.

I think it is different for each child, although from what I've heard from family and friends, it seems that often girls are ready earlier than boys. I have two boys, and potty training was extremely easy. I attribute it to waiting until they were ready, not pushing it when I was ready.

We introduced the idea when they were about 2, but quickly realized they were not anywhere close to being ready. Then we re-introduced the idea from time to time with no results. When they were just over 3, they were ready, and with each of them it only took about 3 days for them to be completely out of diapers, day and night. It was incredibly easy. If we had pushed it earlier, I don't think it would have gone so smoothly, and think it would have been much more stressful for us and for our boys.

I don't think there is a magic age, though. It's different for each child. My boys just happened to both be ready when they were about 3.

Good luck!

My son was 3 1/2 when he was day potty trained.
He went to a commercial day care and I let them take the lead on it.
They had these tiny little toilets for the kids to use, and they took the whole class at the same time every hour - so it was just something everyone did.
Getting use to the mini toilets took away anything scary about the bigger toilets at home.
They were doing this for awhile at day care and next thing I knew he wanted to show me what he learned at school - Ta Da!
It was easy after that - I just had to do at home what they already established at day care.
He had very few accidents, and he wore pullups at night till he woke up dry every day for 2 weeks in a row (he was 7 1/2).

It's different with every kid, but many girls start training shortly after their 2nd birthdays. With boys, it's often better to wait until close to the 3rd birthdays (definitely past 2 1/2).

I do think 23 months is too young, with a boy.

The method I swear by is:

1. Get the child interested: Read potty books, watch the Elmo potty video, etc. Make sure you see some active interest on the child's part.

2. Let the child run around naked. Helps if you don't have carpeting!

3. Once the child can make it to the potty semi-reliably with nothing on, move up to underwear only.

4. Once they've got that down, do the whole shebang -- underwear and pants.

With my son, he was trained in a matter of weeks, but we waited until he clearly understood what was going on and was motivated -- at age 2 3/4.

In child care we don't even start until they are in the 3 year old room. If the parent insist we will take them to the bathroom when they are younger but it's really hit and miss until they are older.

I didn't even have a bathroom in our 2 year old classroom. If we had a child start that was doing well and mom wanted them to continue we just had the cook come and take them to the bathroom in a classroom that had one.

It won't hurt them in any way to start going at 2.

My oldest son was 2.5 and my youngest son was 3.5

Really, really train? She was almost 3.5. We'd tried it earlier and while she got the idea, she didn't have the ability. She's typically slower on physical abilities and potty training was no exception. I would introduce the idea at 2 but don't be upset if you don't have him trained at 2.5. There are kids who train younger - and there are also kids who aren't really trained, just have parents that are and take them to the potty all day long. I think that unless your son is showing signs of wanting to train or understanding training or doing things like being dry through naps, I would hold off til at least 2.5 or even 3. The plus side is when they are ready, they are quicker. My DD, when she was ready, got potty trained (all but night) very quickly, whereas some friends struggled on for months and months. One acquaintance complained that her just turned 2 couldn't reliably even aim his bottom at the potty to sit - so why was she surprised when he peed on the floor?

Tips:

Get easy off pants (no zippers/snaps).
Get LOTS and LOTS of underpants
Pack socks, too, when you pack spares. I also keep a cheap pair of flip flops in the car. And put a few ziplocks in the bag, too.
Get Nature's Miracle for the accidents.
Be patient and willing to come back if it's just not going well or turned into a power struggle.

I didn't attempt it until they were no longer wet when they woke up in the morning. Our son was 2 months shy of 3 and our twin girls (much more difficult to train, BTW) were 3 and 3 1/2 when they were fully trained. Fully trained meaning they were doing both in the potty. No accidents. They didn't get to wear their special underwear/panties until they were keeping their pull up clean for several days in a row. Accident = starting the count over. I was not into letting them run around naked. That just seemed gross to me. I didn't want them wetting and pooping in their underwear either. Yuck!! Pull ups worked for us although others will swear against them. I didn't treat the pull ups like diapers, though. I acted like they were meant to stay clean. I took them to the bathroom at scheduled times (or if I saw any signs they needed to go) and they got Smarties for using the potty. 1 for #1 and 2 for #2. I praised them BIG TIME if they told me they needed to go potty and they got extra Smarties.

What works for one may not work for another. It only took 2 weeks for our son but a couple months for one twin and about 5 or 6 months for the other.

I agree with waiting until they are interested. I tried to start around what I thought was the "right" age of two....it was miserable and she was not fully potty trained until 3 1/2. It was miserable for all of us until that point. With my youngest I waited it out and she was potty trained within a week around 3.

So I always suggest to others not to push it.

I just want to throw in my 2 cents since I struggles with this too! I found that if you encourage it, have a reward that works and don't push them, they will come around. It stresses them out when its too regimented!

I started slowly with my son at 2 and by 2 1/2 he was trained. He would do good and then want nothing to do with it so I wouldn't force the issue. He was my first boy so I wasn't expecting anything till around 3yrs anyways. I used M&Ms for treats-1 if you tried, 2 if you went pee and 3 for poop. I also taught him sitting down and now at 6yrs old, he stands when he wants but his aim is spot on!! My daughter was a different story as I think she was harder but it could have been because she was my first so I had no clue what I was doing! lol She was closer to 3yrs old and was just stubborn about stopping what she was doing to go pee so she had a lot of accidents. What finally got her to stop that was making her change her clothes and clean herself up. She also hated pull ups so I would put pulls ups on over her underwear especially if we were leaving the house.

I think the biggest piece of advice I can offer is don't ask if they have to go pee, tell them it is time to go pee!!!

S.

At 18 mos, my DD got curious about the toilet. So we bought her a little potty and put it next to the big toilet. She used it off and on, mostly right before bath for a year and then we ramped up the tranining just before she turned 3. It helped that her little sister was born and she and we would say things like, 'big sisters don't wear diapers'. Now, she's say-trained and wears a diaper for nap and nightime. She wakes up dry about half the time and when that gets better, we'll try sleeping without a diaper.

Between 2 and 3 is good for most kids. My oldest was trained using the azrin/fox 3 day method at 24 months. My daughter using a more traditional drawn out technique but was trained by 21 months. With my youngest we did a half hearted for of Elimination Communication and I found that by the time he was 15-16 months old we avoided most wet diapers. He himself was able to go using his own cues by 22 months. I don't think there is anything wrong with waiting though. Most 2/12-3 year olds catch on quicker than the younger kids do.