What Potty Is Best?

The ring that sits on top of the toliet worked the best for me.

Since he is still young, hold on to him.

The Graco Soft Seat Trainer. It's about $20.00. It's not only a potty chair, it's also a step stool and has a removable seat that fits on a real toilet so you can take it with you. I highly recommend it. I started mine at 10 months and she was completely trained by 18 months. Good luck. PS. pull ups aren't any good because if they happen to poo in one you smear it all the way down their legs taking them off.

You asked for advice on potty chairs and you are getting a little more. I have 3 boys and I allowed them to potty train on their own time and it saved me alot of stress. If you get your hopes up that he will be potty trained early and then he isn't 'trained' until he is 3 years old, you will be terribly frustrated. You might try checking his interest every few months and wait for a cue from him. Number one thing to remember is that every child is different.
Also, down the road remember that some children don't have control over-night until they are much older. Don't be frustrated with your child if he has to wear pull-up-type pants at night for a long time. Pull-ups come in large sizes now just for this purpose. Ask your doctor if you have questions but don't allow yourself or your son to be stressed over it - it is just not worth it. Best of Luck!

just don't buy any of those musical potty chairs that play music when they go potty. I bought one of those and it scared them and made them quit going when they got scared and would have to sit there longer until they relaxed to finish going potty. Needless to say they are more expensive, seemed like a fun idea to reward them but ended up taking the batteries out of it and using it like a basic one so should have bought the cheaper one to begin with and probably would have been easier to keep clean. I didn't even like the convert it to a toilet later option as it didn't fit the toilet very well and ended up buying one of those toddler cusion seats that fit on the toilet anyway instead of using the potty chair one when they were ready to move up from the potty chair. I would get a basic potty chair and buy one of the cusion seats for the toilet and a little stool to help them get on the toilet.

I bought 3 different types of potty chairs, one was a seat that converted to a booster chair, step stool, had a removable seat that fit on the toilet that even folded to fit in the diaper bag to take with you but I didn't like that potty chair either.

Had the musical one and didn't like it as it seemed to leak all over the floor with boys even with the shield. Finally just bought a basic one that I think was 10-15.00 and it was the best one and didn't seem to leak on the floor with boys and wasn't complicated with other options to use it for and it was a lot easier to keep clean.

Good luck on the potty training. We started with Elimination Communication when Ali was about 6-7 months old and had a lot of success with it when I stayed home with her. Now she's 18 months old and VERY interested in the potty and we are in the process of potty training.

We bought the Baby Bjorn potty chair (target.com). It was a bit pricier than some of the others, but had heard great things about it for smaller children. She had no issues sitting on the potty even at 6 months because the back curves around a bit and helps stabilize the child. Even now that she's 18 months old, she will still sit on that potty chair, but is slowly wanting to start using the "big potty".

I personally think it's great that you are trying to watch for signs that your child is needing to go. To me, having a child in diapers for 3+ years is ridiculous, but I know a lot of families do it and it's no big deal to them. The information I read was to watch for signs of the child starting to poo and to put them on the potty....even if they were in the middle of finishing. They learn to associate the potty with going poo and you will soon see him straining when you put him on the potty (even if he wasn't prior to sitting down).

Really 8 months is kind of early for potty training. They really need to be able to have some control such as being able to walk and they need some ability to comprehend what is going on. At eight months putting that urge and a potty together is not usually in their grasp. At this age they are usually not developmental ready for potty training. But if you can do it more power to ya!!

So, I'm not taking the "8 months is too young to potty train" approach. There are people that start [potty training at birth. It can be done at 8 months but is typically a little more difficult.
My friends started potty training their kids at 3 months. No special potty, just hold them over the toilet and let him do his business.
When we start our potty training, we're either going for teaching him to face the toilet and hold onto the tank or going with a solid one piece toilet so we don't have to worry about him spraying out between the bowl and the seat.
Best of luck with your potty training experience... and frankly... more power to you!

I used a potty seat that fits over the regular potty and held my daughter up. She was about 10 or 11 months old when we started. If your son is straining to have a bowel movement, it will help him if you take his pants all the way off and sit him in a squatting position on the potty. That was one of my key motivations for using the seat on the regular potty - the potty chairs don't give you enough room to get their feet up on the seat so they can squat. My daughter quickly learned to inform me before she pooped so that we had plenty of time to get her on the potty. She hated poopy diaper changes and I think that it was easier for her to go in that position. In other words, I think that it is a great idea to put your son on the potty. He may potty train and he may not, but at least you'll have a few less poopy diapers to deal with. Good luck. I hope it goes smoothly for you.

Since he is still very small, you might consider just holding him yourself. I bet most of your responses will be to "wait until he's older" but I know others who have started very young and had much success. Many other cultures besides the USA begin teaching infants at a very young age (i.e. China or India). Good luck!

my son is only 20 months and has not really started potty training yet, but he vocalizes when he's going "poo poo" and he does occasionally show interest in using the potty...so we went with el cheapo - and that's what it is - cheap! i don't know the brand but it's blue and white and boasts that the bottom can be made into a stepstool. eh. the pieces don't fit together that well and i'm afraid he'll pinch his little bottom. then there's the whole issue of my son having NO ability to sit still for two seconds, much less a minute or two, to try to go potty. so he hops up at will, so he never really has a chance to "try". i'm thinking of going with the ring for the big potty, since he'd have to actually pay a bit of attention, or fall off. just my two cents, what i've found out so far! good luck!

PS, as far as putting him on the potty when he starts straining, i don't know about your son but by the time my son makes motions like he's getting ready to go (straining, going off by himself, ect) he's actually in the middle of going...*sigh*...because of this, and because i really think most times "potty" comes first, not "poo poo" (as far as training), i haven't rushed him to the potty when he was going #2. i did tonight and just had to clean up his lil bum, fight him to try and sit on the potty for a few seconds (which was pointless since i knew he'd just gone), then redress him. i don't see it working, but it might just be my kid! good luck though!

If he's 8 mo old and straining then he needs more fiber in his diet, not a potty seat. Give him more fiber during the day and he'll quit straining. Apples and prunes are great. Hold off on the potty seat until he's old enough to walk and sit for long periods of time. Then you can work with him on a potty seat. Good luck and God Bless.

We bought the Elmo potty, and it is great. The Elmo potty is cute, and he can kick his leg and Elmo says encouraging things to him, like, "Elmo is so proud of you." Also, when he gets bigger, the top comes off to go over the regular toilet seat, and the base becomes a step-stool so that he can get on the potty himself.
It's good that you're starting early. When my son was about a year old, I noticed that he was waking up dry, so I started putting him on the potty, and now he uses it regularly.

I really like our baby bjorns. I started my older daughter at 8 months (she strained too, and I tried everything, felt like I was feeding her only prunes and breastmilk!) and by 9 months I never changed another poopy diaper. She basically potty trained (daytime, night took MUCH longer) herself before 19 months. I guess I'm saying all this to brag and say, go for it! She still prefers her little potty to big ones (but she will go on a big one). He's lucky to have a mom who is so intuned with her baby.

K.

I personally would not even think about trying to potty training an 8 month old child. Their bodies are not ready to gain control over that function yet. If you get him a potty chair that sits seperate from the big toliet he might just use it as a toy. If you have any futher questions about it I would suggest speaking to his doctor. I started introducing my son to the potty when he was about 16 months old. He was totally potty trained right before he turned 3 and he did the whole thing pretty much on his own. You just have to make sure that they remember to wash their hands, don't clog up the toliet when they do #2 and put the seat back down.
Goodluck
N.

My kids always liked having the traditional type potty (wooden with a back), but my grandkids have resisted this type and the current trainee is using one of those soft seats that sit on the big toilet. The drawback is if you only have one bathroom you don't have the "extra" toilet. We also had a van when our kids were small and found it convenient to bring the potty chair on all day trips so we weren't always looking for a clean place to use the bathroom. Just a few thoughts!

With an 8month old you are going to have to hold him up anyways, so I would just hold him up on the regular toilet. Then he will be used to it when he gets older. I took the potty seat away from my daughter when I saw my niece using the toilet with no special seat. She just sat and leaned forward. My daughter holds herself up on it just fine, of course she is 2.5years. =)