For 2 days we have been taking Millie out for the day and not even using pull-ups. She is 17 months old and has officially gradutated to full-time big-kids underwear. She uses the toilet in restaurants, malls, shops or wherever we are.
I am still working on keeping her dry through the nights (between 11pm and 5am there are still sometimes accidents), but will keep posting on the progress.
When we are out of the house, it is interesting to see people discover that she is not wearing diapers...they look at me accusingly - "Isn't she a bit young not to be wearing diapers?"
It is as if I'm a bad parent for "pushing" her too young. Are you kidding me? Isn't it worse to mislead your child to beleive that they should do their pees and poos in chemical filled pants?
She is capable of learning, she is proud to have learned and is very turned off by the idea of having an accident.
Many people have been asking how we did it, so I thought I would just write out our story. If it works for someone else - great. If not, maybe there are parts of it that will work for you.
When I first decided to try early potty training, I found lots of material on potty training infants (yes, google it) and lots on potty training 2-3 year olds. There wasn't much on how to explain the concept to a 14-18 month old. So, we took a pratical approach - and it worked!
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This story is wonderful! I stumbled on this blod whilst searching for information on training a 17 month old (you are right, very little out there, and I was not into the infant thing). You have given me inspiration to really start this. My son is 17 months and tells me when he has been, so a good place to start. I do not want to miss this window! Just waiting for amazon to deliver the potty....
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you apreciated the reading and I wish you good luck during your potty-journey! Please let me know if there are any tips you find that I should add here. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI really like your article. I have had a lot of comments about training my daughter too early. (She is 18 months) We tried today to let her run around mostly naked with jut a shirt and she held it for 3 hours and then when she was acting like she really had to go she kept going and sitting on the potty and then she would cry and not go and then get back up. Finally I gave in a put a pull up on her because she just wouldn't go and she went the second the pull up was on. I have no idea where to go from here. Any advice?
ReplyDeleteHi Amber, the positive part is that you are so close! You know that she needs to go. That is really your chance to catch one. Just keep putting her on the potty every 5 minutes, for 1 minute at a time. Regardless of if she wants to or not. Don't give in with the pull-ups! You have just explained to her that pees go in the potty, not in her pants. Don't confuse her by giving her a chance to go in her pants! Once she sees how exciting it is to do her pees in the potty, she will want to do it again. Just catch a couple and you are really on your way to being diaper free. After a couple of weeks of potty training, Millie was easily about to hold her pee for 4-5 hours at 18 months. Don't worry that you are hurting her by her not peeing. You can also try giving her more juice/water, so she really, really just can't hold it any more. Another good thing- You now know how well she can hold it!
ReplyDeleteThank you for posting this article! It was nearly impossible to find helpful information on potty training at this age. We've been working on potty training our 18 month old for about 1 month now. She is at a point where she wears no diapers except at nap or bedtime. She goes pee in the potty at regular intervals and poops in the potty if we "catch her" in time. She still isn't telling us when she needs to go pee or poop, but we are very happy with the progress and know she will fully "get it" when she's a little older. In the meantime we are doing a lot less washing of our cloth diapers and are overall... thrilled. Thank you so much!!
ReplyDeleteI found your article when I was looking for information on toilet training our daughter (now 18 months). We started properly, ie no nappies, just undies, this morning, and despite going through 13 underpants, I'm encouraged enough to keep going. If you give a kid enough apple juice with water and sit her on the potty, you get some success! My only concern is that she has very few words (just mum/dad/nose/duck) and can't tell me when she needs to go. Any suggestions?
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if you still get on here, but I wanted to say I LOVE your method and have a couple questions. I started my daughter about 1-1/2 weeks ago, but we didn't go through much of the prep that you had. We did switch to underwear and demonstration time, and we talk about it all time. I constantly explain to her where pee and poop go. But we didn't do the naked day (we only have carpet), so I've never SHOWN her pee except when she's gone in the toilet. Also, we never did wet vs. dry or the "yucky" comments for accidents. My question is do you think I need to "start over" or can I just work it into what we do now? When we go out, we do panties, not pullups. I am planning on doing more playdates, etc., but would it confuse her to do pullups now while we're out? Also, we only do a toilet topper on the big toilet. Do you recommend getting a couple small toilets for her play area and room? Would this confuse her as well? I am not sure how to catch her while she starts to pee her pants. Did you say "No, hold it" after you noticed the accident?
ReplyDeleteI liked that with Millie, though you continued to have accidents, she showed real progress in understanding what was happening. I haven't noticed progress like that with Bianca, and I'm wondering why you think that is. What can I do to promote her understanding?
Thanks so much!
It has been a while since I've been back here, but just wanted to follow up on a couple of the questions! (I'm currently potty training kid two, who is 14 months, so will post the story when it is finished :-). I'd say the most important part of all, for everyone is patience. Just when you feel it will never work, keep going. It does work! It just takes them time to understand. For the quetions:
ReplyDelete1) Words aren't needed! For my son, we use a hand signal. He is 14 months, and doesn't talk, but we get him to open/close his fist when he needs potty. He has been doing the hand signal for potty since he was 11 months old.
2) Pullups when out are fine. Just keep up the same routine as home (check if it is dry, change often if accidents, potty time, etc). Millie did not appear to notice any difference at all between her pullup or panties. (although I prefered the panties since then I was sure when it was wet and could show her "wet"!)
3) I think for the potty, the best is just to pick one and stick to it. My son does best when his potty is next to the toilet. He seems to "get" that he is there to do his pees.
4) To help her understand, I think just patience, keep repeating, show her the pees, poos (on the floor really does help for "examining" what happened). But even if you can't, with consistant potty time, and being sad about wet pants, they do get it! Since my son is quiet a bit younger, it is taking much longer for him to fully understand. Yet, everyday (even over 3 months) we are seeing him improving and understanding. No matter what age, it is a process!
This article has filled me with hope that was all but diminished, my son is 18mths next week and has been coming and telling me when he has been to the toilet for a few months now. He has started to refuse to wear nappies or pull-ups so decided to start toilet training 2 days ago. People have been saying to me it cant be done at a young age but your story proves them wrong. It is very hard but after reading your story i will keep at the training and hope for similar results. Thanks you.
ReplyDeletei really need potty advice for my son. he's 17 months old, and cries and screams when hes on the potty. he doesn't like being in his own filth, but he won't let me know when he's gotta go. i've tried reading to him, making a game out of it, even putting target rings in there ( using gloves to remove them). his pediatrition is even stumped. we don't know what to do! help!
ReplyDeleteTry the towel potty training method.
ReplyDeleteif she still pees at night I'd love her to sleep with me and pee all over me,
ReplyDeletelove my hand in her pull up too touching her little pussy
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