When Is Too Young to Get a Potty Seat

My daughter wanted to go potty the same way we did - not in a separate place. So it could be a waste of money to buy a chair.

Buying one and getting him to use it is two differnt things. Sometimes having one ready may help so later on he can use it when he is ready (when he asks or when you see his diaper stays dry for a long while - like he may be holding it). I teacher child welfare classes and I tell parents that sometimes buying it early, with the mind set that he is not ready to potty train yet, take the preasure off everyone. So many parents buy one expecting there child to be potty trained that day. If you get it early and it becomes part of the bathroom then when the time is right it is there.

WHEN THE TIME COMES - the easiest way to show a boy how to potty in the potty is to put a cherrio in the toilet and tell him to "hit" the cherrio. It really teaches them how to aim.

J., I agree it is not too young to introduce and talk about it as I have done with my daughter. We don't push her and are letting her potty train as she is ready and she is doing great! She is 20 months and I feel she will be completely done by 2. I don't push her and this is the right thing for her personality, so if your son likes to talk about it and flush etc. get him a chair. Let him carry it around, we would go and sit and read books on our potty well before I ever let her sit w/o her diaper on it. Do what feels right for you. Best wishes.

Hi J.!

I think it's never too young to get a potty seat!! You could even see if he was interested in sitting on it once a day or so...before bath is always good. My son thought it was pretty cool and wanted to sit on it and read books. I'm a firm believer in the earlier you start the better (contrary to what many others will say). I started potty training him when he turned 2 five weeks ago, and he's doing really well. He still has a couple of accidents a day, but it is a learning process after all!

When my daughter was little, I had another mom tell me that there was a window between 2 & 2 1/2, and if you didn't get them potty trained during that window, then it wouldn't happen until after they were three. The main reason behind that is that around 2, they are still wanting to please you for the most part. Once they get to 2 1/2 and older, their little brains are wanting to be more independent and they will want to fight you and your ideas.

It worked for my daughter..I started training her a month before she turned 2 and she was fully accident free in 2 months.

When you get ready to start, spend a couple of nights on the internet. There's tons of info out there about this method and that. Pick a method and go with it. There's no "Right" method. It just really depends on your lifestyle, how much time and energy you want to spend, and your son's abilities.

Good luck! You're already ahead of the game!

:-) H.

I would recommend getting him a seat. We got our 2 YO boy one right before he was 1 1/2 because he started bringing us a diaper and wipes when he was wet or dirty. We got the one that looks like a toilet, sing, has a pretent TP roll, and it flushes. We put it in his bathroom, but friends who have already gone through the potty training stages with boys said to put it in our bathroom. When we need to go, we take him in there and let him try and go. Our pedi told us that boys won't be potty trained unitl 3, but to start working when they show interest. When our son has a poopie that is solid enough to dump in the big toilet, we get his diaper changed, take the poopie diaper to the big toilet, let him lift the lid, dump the poopie, he flushes and waves bye-bye to his poopie, then he shuts the lid. Friends and Family laugh at us for doing that, but now he gets a diaper and wipes, comes and gets us and takes us to the bathroom where he has put the diaper and wipes on the toilet. We change his diaper in there when he does that.

It isn't too young!! Just make it available, but don't push it.

My 2nd son was just barely over 1 when he started sitting on the potty and was about 18 months when he started pee peeing in it. He just turned 2 and will use it regularly at home, even though he is not potty trained. I figure he will be trained in the next 6 months or so, but I'm not pushing it.

You can get him his own potty chair to have in the restroom. He gets used to it. In a few months when you sit, have him sit...clothed. In a couple of month after that...start with the pull ups and have him pull down when you do. My son was easy to train. Also had my brother show him to aim when I tried
to tell him about stand and aim. If your still a family *father there...have him help too*.

We started putting our girls on the toilet (sort of sitting between our legs) when they were old enough to sit. They weren't fully potty trained until 2, but I didn't change a poopy diaper after about 4 months. I could tell when they had to go (just made facial expressions indicating they were getting ready!), and would put them on the toilet. Maybe it sped the process along, maybe it didn't, but I liked the idea of the poo going straight in the toilet (to be blunt). My Mom is from England and she encouraged it. They (Europeans) tend to train earlier there, so we humored her and gave it a shot. Worked well for us.

I got my son a cushy Blues Clues one when he was 12 months. I didn't use it to potty train, but as a handy tool when he wanted to try it out. He would want to sit on the seat and give it a try because Mommy and Daddy did it. I think that if it wasn't available then he may be afraid to try for fear of falling in. Mom would have to hold him as he was practicing and that might lead him to be scared if Mommy didn't hold him. I still don't say we are potty training yet although he uses it all the time. Now that he is over 2.5 we will start "training" soon (like next week) such as at the store or while we are out, not just at home. He also uses a stool to stand on for Pee Pee time.

So anyway, its never to soon to help him be excited about it and provide an option.

Good luck,
T. Lee

I have a 16 month old daughter and have just introduced the potty chair to her. Since day one she has been going on the potty chair one to two times a day. I am not putting any pressure on her, just following her interest and reinforcing it. I read a book called Diaper Free Before Age 3 and I would recomend it! It goes through the history of potty training in the US and why the current recommendations are what they are....I too thought it was way to early but apparently in the 70's the average child was potty trained by 18 months (today it is something like 36 months). Good Luck....

I dont want to sound discouraging,but after potty training 2 of my own and countless other "borrowed" children in my day care, I have figured out that for the most part, the earlier you start the longer you are having to deal with it. It is a great idea to make sure that he is comfortable with the idea of the bathroom, but all too often too much talking about an idea with a toddler leads to a complete lack of interest. I started my 1st child at 20 months, but she still was not completely potty trained for another year. My second one would use the potty before her bath usually, but I let it go until I knew she had decided for her self to do it, and she was also almost 3. The only difference is the lack of worry the 2nd time around. Its not that she didnt go sometimes, and we did buy her a little Dora seat when she was a little over 2, but overall we were just more relaxed about it, and it was MUCH better!!! As 1st time moms we want our kids to do it all, we encourage them to walk earlier, we cant wait for them to start talking, but now that I am on number three, I just cant stop wishing that he wouldnt grow up so fast (hes only 4 months) So I guess my best advice is to enjoy the milestones he will overcome when he is ready for it. Keep it open like you have been, but dont do like I did, and waste a year worrying about potty training. It really will happen:) Best of luck to you at this great time in your life. Toddlers help you remember why everything is exciting again! Have fun.

I have 3 children and introduced the potty chair to my oldest when she was a little over a year old. We didn't keep it in the bathroom just let her play with it when she wanted untill she was 2 and really started using it. I kept the same routine with the boys and my middle son didn't potty train till after he was 3. Every child is different, and no matter how long it takes they will do it when the time is right for them.

Hi J.! :) You've already gotten some great advice, but I wanted to add my 2 cents in too. :)

I have a 2 1/2 yr old boy who is fully potty trained, and has been for about 3 months. We did set the potty in the bathroom a couple of months before we officially "introduced" it to him, and I also let him watch me pee-pee on the potty. Of course we made a big deal of it, and even more so when HE went on the potty. We also used bribes. My son loves peppermints, so we bought the individually wrapped kind at the store and put them in a jar in the bathroom -- you might call it incentive too. :) We would also say things to him like "wet clothes feel yucky, we don't want to wet our clothes", and he would repeat that to us. I think that helped, but it's hard to tell for sure when you're talking about a 2-yr-old! And he sits, in case you were wondering. The reason we decided to have him sit was b/c we didn't want to confuse him or for him to be uncomfortable when he had to poo. Pooing on the potty is often much harder to train them to do than peeing. So I say go ahead and get the potty. Your little man may not be interested in it for another year, but you never know. They suprise us everyday, don't they? :)

Best of luck to you!