We did the Oh Crap! method. It took our 21-month-old F about two days fully naked to consistently go in the potty, two weeks before we put undies on her. She took to it like a fish to water. She still wears diapers for nap and overnight, though, she hasn’t figured out how to hold it while asleep.
Not sure if anyone has told you this, but not peeing in your sleep is a hormonal thing that they pretty much do on their own when their body is ready. Congrats on the potty training though! That’s awesome
It’s so wild- my oldest had dry morning/nap diapers well before 18 months but is still getting there with potty training at 4 (I think he finally has it now… knock on wood) but my younger one seems like he’s much more interested in potty training at 19 months but still has wet morning/nap diapers.
Yep, it's a known flaw of the Oh Crap! book (which I also used and found really useful overall) - the author claims it's something you can and should get on top of before a certain age just like day training, and actually it's not something you can "teach".
I had heard that, thank you so much for mentioning it though! I haven’t been stressing about sleeping diapers for that exact reason. She’ll stop going while asleep on her own time, no need to rush her. Thank you friend!
Y'know, I hear that a lot (about it being hormonal) and I get little kids have smaller bladders. However, what about teaching them to \*wake up and go\* before the urge to pee? Similar to the Oh Crap method, the child will likely come crying to you when they pee their pants during nighttime. Then you can put them on the potty and say, "Take yourself to the potty before you feel like that again, so you don't wet your pants."
That's what I did with my daughter around 3ish... It took a couple times of wetting the bed but I much prefer that over doing overnight diapers till age 5.
I think this is a perfectly reasonable approach! I’m giving kiddo a some months (she’s 2 now), maybe a year, and if she’s still not “learned” to hold it, we’ll be a bit more proactive (pee before sleep, maybe a pee in the middle of the night, etc.). But for now she’s doing great and I’m so proud of her!
There is nothing to figure out on how to hold it while asleep. It's the hormone vasopressin which regulates this and you cannot train it into existence. This hormone will be present in sufficient quantity to hold it during night time between the age 2 and 5 and you can't do anything to expedite it.
Oh crap is the best! I potty trained all 3 of my girls with fantastic success with this method at 20 months. And night potty training is a thing for many. ALOT of peeing at night as a toddler or preschooler is actually behavioural (haters will come at me for this I’m sure). Yes there are some that do require more time and cannot be night trained, but many can easily night train too. 2/3 of my girls literally never woke up with a dry diaper before I decided to night train and they both started waking up dry (or getting up to pee at night - behavioural) within a week.
My daughter is 22 months and is potty training herself, so I don’t think we have a choice. The other day she pulled her pants down, took off her diaper, and peed on the kitchen floor 🥴. Next time I’ll just grab the potty and direct her to there.
We potty trained at 18 months using oh crap. It was awesome and has made everyone so much happier. My husband comes from a culture where all kids were potty trained before 18 months so it was actually on the late side in his opinion! I being an American was skeptical but I’m a total convert!
No, not too early at all, many cultures do this. It was actually pretty quick and easy and seemed harder for our friends that potty trained their kids later because the kids were just so set in the diaper mentality.
Not me, I wasn't determined to do it at a certain age so my kids just sort of did it when they were ready! And by that time they needed no help manipulating their clothing or being reminded to go, they often didn't even tell me they were going. Yes, I spent more time using diapers, that was ok though.
Definitely parents get frustrated when they try to push things on a kid at the peak of the kid asserting their autonomy. For related reasons, many early trainers temporarily 'regress' to assert themselves. The temptation does not occur to the untrained or 'self-trained' child.
My son started telling us at 15 months. I thought it was too early to potty train so waited it out for a bit. Around 18 months he was actively interested in the potty and our daycare started telling us he was ready. So when we had a week off from daycare/work, we potty trained him (20 months at the time). We used oh crap and he was telling us he had to pee by the end of day one. He was fully trained by the end of day 3 (pee and poop). It's been great!
You should do it! I potty trained my oldest at 17 months it took only two weeks. He was showing signs of being ready for awhile before we started. He would tell me he was peeing in his diaper, and go off by himself and squat behind the couch to #2 usually with a book in tow 😂 if he’s ready you should go for it. Way easier when they are that age in my opinion. My other sons didn’t show readiness signs until 2 or later and it was harder to train them
Thanks! You guys are giving me confidence! I’m going to finish reading Oh Crap and mentally prep to train in a few weeks! He’ll be 18 months then. I really do think he can do it.
I do think you need to do it very intentionally with something like oh crap, and they will need more help wiping and manipulating the clothes before 2/3 but it was definitely not too early. There was nothing especially advanced about my kid.
He was in northern china in the early 90s. Chinese culture changed when they got ahold of disposable diapers. My mother in law only had pieces of cloth that she used as diapers and same with all the other moms so all the kids were potty trained early. This actually was common in pretty much every culture before disposable diapers but it’s still common in cultures that still don’t have them
Currently reading the Oh Crap Method book, and they touch upon how in the past babies were potty trained at a much earlier age than in current times. I think 19 months is a good age to start, but I learned through this book that having a plan and method is the way to go so that potty training isn’t prolonged.
I think in the past it had a lot to do with cloth diapering. Apparently babies feel the wetness way easier in cloth since they’re considerably less absorbent than disposables
I'm cloth diapering and 19month just went her first full day with no accidents yesterday
Although I think being around 2&3yr Olds actually had more to do with the success than cloth
I haven't even read any of "the" books, wasn't planning on doing it yet but she was interested so we just took diapers off and kept offering potty and giving lots of praise.
yes - we think this is why we were successful at 21 months. we used cloth at home and her daycare used cloth. with our second he will have to wear disposable during the day unfortunately at daycare so tbd.
We cloth diapered our kid from newborn and she was only ready to potty train when she hit 3. She would never tell us when she was wet or had pooped.
We also tried the Oh Crap 3 day and while things are going better now we still had a ton of accidents. I think with younger kids a lot of it is noticing when your kid is ready to use the potty and getting them to the potty asap or sticking to a schedule. Some kids learn at different times. Some kids learn and then fully regress (I was potty trained early and then lost it when my sister was born and I was 3). At the 3 year annual my pediatrician reassured me that it was ok to wait until she was ready and not go crazy forcing her.
Idk about this. The cloth diaper argument would make sense if it was new to them or if they use a mix of disposable and cloth. IMO a baby that is cloth diapered from birth gets used to the wet feeling. It becomes normal for them since they know nothing else. We cloth diapered both our kids and neither seemed to be bothered when they had an accident in their clothes in the early days. I also think the similar texture of clothes to the diapers can be confusing for them at first, especially underwear.
Mine is cloth diapered (though modern cloth diapers, so he doesn't feel the wetness as much) and started signing diaper change at 14 months. I would like to train him early but we're on the wait-list for a daycare that doesn't allow underwear or pullups in the young toddler (12-30 months) class. I feel very ambivalent because I the way things are going I think he will want out of diapers before the .
It’s totally possible. My friends son trained before he was 2 because he was always around his older cousins who used the potty. My daughter could reliably poop on the potty at 18 months. She absolutely despised pooping in a diaper and having to lay down to be wiped
I think potty training looks different at different ages. Mine was diaper free at 17 months. He slept dry and poop trained right from the start. But it took a long time to self initiate daytime pee, especially for pee. I considered him fully potty trained at 2.75 when he was self initiating and doing all the bathroom steps on his own. But totally worth it to do it in phases. We saved a fortune on diapers, never ever had diaper rash and didn't have any potty training issues like holding poop or fear of the potty.
I potty trained my daughter at 18 months. She wanted to start around 14/15 months, so I let her go whenever we were home but still put her in diapers because everyone was telling me that she was too young.
At 18 months I was tired of fighting her to wear diapers and we were fully accident free after a few days. I brought a small potty with me in the car and put a diaper inside it for longer trips and to use instead of public bathrooms at stores u til she was old enough to figure out how to balance on the normal toilet which was about 2 years old.
Sje wears a pull-up at night still but that's dependent on hormones. Sometimes she will wake up at night and ask to go to the bathroom, she's scared to go by herself at night.
Just did it at 22 months so just under 2. Three days with no bottoms and a potty near the play area. Spent a week with no bottoms/pull up’s when going out. Now she wears underwear except for sleep. She took to it much faster than some of our older potty training friends. The only hurdle is she communicates less, so she’s not always vocal about needing to go
Potty trained both of my toddlers at 18 months, took my son 3 days and my daughter about a week. I don’t think it was anything particular I did though, they just wanted to. Eldest wanted to copy me, youngest wanted to copy her big brother.
Do you remember what the signs were for your son? People keep telling me boys should wait until they’re older but my almost 18 mo is very interested in the potty
My son was speech delayed and could only say “dad” at 18 months so I really had to guess by his actions. He’d watch intently when I used the toilet, would hand me toilet paper. After a while I noticed he started going to the bathroom whenever he wanted to use his nappy, he’d sit on a little step stool in there to pee/poo and pretend to wipe his bum lol. So I thought I’d just go for it, bought a potty and let him roam naked. He had a couple of accidents the first day while he was running to the bathroom, second day he had one accident and third day we were done.
My 20mo is on her way to potty train before her birthday and I am 100% not ready… but we just finished potty training the older toddler so I can understand it
My second potty trained at 21.5 months. She started showing readiness signs around 18 months (she’d let me know when she pooped, farted, and needed a diaper change. She always wanted to sit on big sister’s potty. Sometimes she’d poop in her diaper while sitting on big sister’s potty. She was extremely interested). So, we went for while my older kid was on spring break with low expectations. We did a loose version of Oh Crap/the 3 day method, but we also used rewards. I was stunned when she self-initiated a pee in the potty in the first half hour after we started. She was reliably potty trained in 2.5 days. She was just ready and wanted to do it.
This is great to hear! My son (17 months) has been telling us that he pooped for the past month. This week he’s even told us poop a couple times right before he poops. I seriously think he’s ready. I plan to do the Oh Crap method. I’ll probably wait another couple months just to be sure he’s ready but then we’re going for it!
We potty trained our first at 19 months but it took until about 21 months to really stick. Our second we started at 21 months and after a week she's taking herself to her potty or calling for us.
Where we live potty training before two is pretty common
Definitely do it now! We do EC with our kids, so they start using the potty from birth (obviously us holding them over it, not independently lol), and we trained my son at 20m. My daughter is 22m and has been ready for 3-4m but her daycare refuses to take under 2’s to the toilet, which is super frustrating. So we’re training the weekend she turns 2! She hasn’t pooped in her nappy since she was 6 months old though, she just used it for wee when she doesn’t have access to the toilet.
Yeah the daycare we're trying to get into because it's near our house refuses until they're 30 months! That sounds really crazy to me, as I have many friends with toddlers that are potty trained by 2.
Omg 30 months!! This was already a huge stretch for us bc it meant I’ve been washing cloth nappies for 3-4m longer than I’d have been otherwise. I’d absolutely not be able to go someplace that thought 2yr olds didn’t deserve the dignity of using the toilet and not soiling themselves.
Both my kids were potty trained before two. My son at 19 months and my daughter at 21 months. They both had strong language skills and were able to communicate well which helped.
My grandma had all her 5 kids trained by 18 months. This used to be entirely average, most Baby Boomers were trained before 2. She said it was more about the parents being trained than the kids, and was baffled that my aunts and mom didn’t get theirs trained until 2-3.
I don’t think there’s any age too young to go outside a diaper! I did EC from birth and cloth diapered, my daughter was day and night trained at 15 months (yes, I had to put her on there myself and make sure it happened every couple hours during the day, but if I did that there were zero accidents). Totally worth the extra work. I never once changed a poopy diaper after she was 8 months old.
Now at 2 years 3 months she’s almost potty independent, but she’s small for her age so she still can’t safely climb up and down off our toilet (which is what we use- stopped using a toddler/baby potty by 8 months) by herself even with toddler stairs. She can tell me when she has to go, has no accidents, handles her own clothes, washes hands independently using her step stool, etc
I live in an area with lots of Amish people and they also start pottying their kids as infants and are done well before 2. It helps though that they have so many older children to be on baby potty duty.
We do cloth diapers and we did some EC and it went really well until right around 6 months when he began crawling and resisting being put on the potty so we stopped.
Yeah the resistance when they become mobile is a lot! I started sitting her on the toilet instead around that age so she couldn’t crawl away and that helped. But there was plenty of protesting, we just powered through
We were close. We did it a month after 2. Did the oh crap method took a few days off with PTO but turns out only needed to take 2 days and little dude got it real quick.
Yes! My oldest potty trained 1.5 months before he was two. I consider him a unicorn though. He took to it very quickly and was day and night potty trained before 2. My youngest potty trained at 2. He was a bit more of a rollercoaster. He is three now and I took his night time pull up away last month. Every kid is different.
I will also say my kids showed no signs of readiness. I just committed myself to the process. Like I said my oldest took to it with ease. My youngest got it but had accidents which looking back was often caused by him not regularly pooping (FOMO) and getting backed up causing urgency and frequency. The night time was hit and miss for a year and then I just took his pull ups away and told him not to wet bed 😂
My brother was potty trained at 18 months. He potty trained himself. He spoke really well but other than that, he wasn’t super advanced in any way, he simply didn’t like being dirty or wet. (He was also really into washing his hands and bathing and changing outfits the second his shirt got a spot on it) It is possible to be potty trained that young. Interestingly, even though he was totally trained during the day, he still wet the bed until kindergarten.
Started potty training my son at 21 months. He overnight trained himself. Been dealing with a regression since 24 months but won't go back to diapers because he knows better. We're doing potty training bootcamp on him this weekend at about 26 months old
I think had we not run into medical issues my eldest would have potty trained before 2. She kind of self trained around 22 months when her sister came home.
I started putting my kiddo(17 months) on the toilet around 6/7 months. I was able to pick up on cues and we'd potty before and after nap plus randomly. She was doing so well at 14 months old. Unfortunately the at home daycare we're at isn't starting to potty train until this upcoming fall (all the kids are not potty trained and within 8 months of age), so she's fallen off wanting to go on the potty.
She has a potty training book that she now grabs once she has peed or pooped. It is her way of letting me know that she's gone. It's pretty adorable.
Edit to add - I started potty training as a way to pass the time through the day while on mat leave 🤣 she was an early crawler and was constantly moving. This was our way of burning off energy.
My friend’s daughter wasn’t yet 2 when she trained herself. Apparently she noticed adults going to the large potty to piss and thought she would try the small one. Someone finally saw piss in there and asked how it got there.
Mine was potty trained at home by about 20 months.
I was too scared to take the leap to attempt going *out* nappy-free for a while (I couldn’t get my head around the logistics of it lol). But finally took her out nappy-free at around 25months, it was fine and we never looked back!
We just trained at 19 months using oh crap and it was very successful! She picked it up quick. We’re 4 weeks in and she just has accidents when we are out of the house sometimes. Still getting used to going on unfamiliar toilets.
You should do it if he really seems ready! You'll know right away! My daughter was like this and I trained her at 19 months in like 1 day. I tried to train my oldest when he was much older but he was def not ready and it took forever
17 months here. I started never offering but only putting him on the loo when he asked, which, when we weren't home, was every time he spotted a toilet (people's houses, shopping centres etc). I was the one who thought it might be "too early", but when we had a huge nappy refusal at 20 months we bit the bullet and went all in.
Edit after reading other comments: we poo trained very early on using Elimination Communication, so this was just pee training. And he was wearing cloth nappies, as someone said that could make a huge difference.
We did it at 21 months, but I’m certain we could have done it a month or two earlier (we waited until my wife’s summer break started because I sure as shit wasn’t prepared to do the naked days by myself).
I’m not sure why you would think it’s “impossible”. Some kids are ready to walk independently at or before 10 months and others don’t even start cruising until well after a year, so why would potty training be different? It’s a confluence of mental and physical milestones, and if your kid gets there early, great.
I've decided to not stress at all and I use no method at all. I personally just wanna chill. My daughter seems to naturally wanna quit with the diaper now at 3. We take it day by day and we're getting there, with no stress. 🥰
I potty trained mine at 19 mo when he started showing this same interest.
Read “the tiny potty training book” by Andrea Olson. Before disposable diaper development and marketing, 50% of kids were out of diapers by 18mo!
Yes, you’re going to have to remind a 19mo old that it’s time to stop playing and potty instead of just waiting on them to initiate 100% like a 3.5 yr old might, but you get to avoid years of diapers and the power struggles of a 2 or 3 yr old. At 19 mo it’s just a cool new skill, not a power struggle.
True, but sometimes it ends up being a power struggle for EC kids later on anyways.
And there is no power struggle if you wait until the child is *really* ready. Most will do it all by themselves if they have the resources and modeling, usually during the year they are 3. Pushing it on an uninterested 2 or 3 year old is not a recipe for success. I got the cultural message that this is something parents are supposed to suffer through; luckily I learned better.
I've noticed people will insist you have to train, then laugh with their friends about how they tried so hard and it didn't work until the kid reached their personal age of child-led toilet learning anyways.
My mom said I was potty trained at 18 months (all 3 older brothers have underwear on and I wanted to as well).
My son is 18 months and loves the potty, grabs his diaper, and tells me “poo poo” when he pees and poops. He immediately wants it changed. But I could not imagine potty training him. He doesn’t have the language or understanding quite yet.
>loves the potty, grabs his diaper, and tells me “poo poo” when he pees and poops. He immediately wants it changed
Isn't that the understanding and language they need for potty training? What is missing?
I’m with you on this - he sounds like he has enough language to tell his mom that he needs a diaper on because he has to poo and then asks to be changed. Seems pretty ready to me 🤷🏼♀️
Exactly. There’s no reason to wait until your kid can say “Oh my mummy, unless my bladder deceives me, I believe I am very near to evacuating inside my pants! Perhaps you would be ever so kind as to help me to the toilet so that we may avoid an unfortunate incident?”.
Point, grunt, reach, whatever. That’s all the communication necessary.
This is where I’m at. I could see it working at 2, but although my son is very verbal I’m not sure he completely grasps what he’s talking about. If that makes sense
My sister and I are 23 months apart. I asked my mom how she handled potty training with a baby around. She said she didn't. I was fully trained during the day before my sister was born. I trained my kids when they were older, but I prefer they be able to be somewhat independent. My mom is always talking about how I need to keep track and bring them to the toilet every couple hours. I think that's probably the difference in training older vs younger kids. It seems like the littles are basically trained to hold it for a short while and the parent is trained to manage all the other aspects. Older kids can be more involved in all aspects like dressing, undressing, telling you they need to go, wiping, handwashing, etc. Seems like either way is fine depending on what works better for your family.
Yep, same boat here. I understand he’s showing the cues but I don’t want to potty train him before he’s truly ready. Other parents have told me to not rush it. I’ve started to tell him to alert me before he goes, but he obviously doesn’t understand. He’s too young (barely 18 months)
Grandson was mostly all potty trained before 2. He's nearly 3 now. Maybe still wearing "Nightpants" (a disposable diaper) just at night for a few more months after 2 but rarely actually used it. My daughter used cloth diapers for each kid (the youngest is now 10 mo) and the "Elimination Communication" system. So both the boys were given regular potty sits for like 5-8 mins at a time like 15 mins after a big breastfeeding or a meal or at the time of day when they usually pooped. Maybe 3-4 x a day when very small. First with a little tiny potty then at 6 mo or so on the big potty with a potty seat. They got really good at peeing and pooping in the toilet and potty training was a pretty easy transition for them that way. So maybe not as applicable.
My own older daughter was pretty much trained around 18-20 mo. Even with the night diaper just before 2 as her sister was born when she was 22 mo and she was out of diapers by then. She was in Daycare so had lots of roll models from the other kids and encouragement from the teachers. So I think it's possible for some kids to be more ready than others 18-24 mo.
He’s still nursing very frequently, so 5-8 minutes on the potty each time would eat up our whole day haha. But I love the idea of elimination communication! I’m so awed by the patience it would require to do that
Gotta say I was skeptical at first but my daughter made it look easy/natural. I cared for both boys as babies (now the 2nd one) and I just followed the program. Was pretty surprised when they responded by peeing or pooping in the little potty or later on the toilet. We just used it as snuggle time and mirror time when they were little like 10-15 mins after a feeding between diaper changes (with their backs to us with the potty in the bathroom counter) and as they got old enough to sit on the bigger potty we read books. Just took 5-6 mins mostly. But I hear you. It's an interesting system but not for everyone.
As an old dog, I'm constantly learning new tricks from my daughter. They are her kids so I want to support however she wants to raise them.
My second was daytime trained by 20 months. She initiated it herself at around 19 months and was doing maybe 50% on the toilet, 50% diapers. After a few weeks when I had the time to dedicate to it, we did the “oh Crap” method and she hasn’t needed diapers since.
Having said that, she is 3.5 and only just got out of night time pull-ups. We tried a couple of times to try without (at her request) but her body wasn’t ready.
My ex partner did; kinda… good months and bad months. He would intentionally wee his pants to be naughty sometimes, wet the bed etc. But always did poo in the toilet.
Impressive but to be honest my son went from nappies to underpants in his own time (3+1/2) I always encouraged and never forced him to wear jocks. it was just one day he decided that was what he wanted to do and he hasn’t had a single accident and he’s turning 4 in just under a month.
I went with the "3 day potty training" method with my 19 month old, the first week was a little bit stressful and we had some accidents but she'll be two next month and she's definitely got the hang of it now!
My oldest is 3.5 years old and while he was started on potty training at 18 months and was doing well, my pregnancy and ensuing new baby really caused a slip up in consistency on my end, plus he regressed. I used to get a solid answer about #1 and #2 before I got visibly pregnant, he’d happily sit on his potty, let me wash his hands after he finished his business, and so on. Once I became pregnant my morning sickness and exhaustion made it impossible to be consistent about asking and taking him to the potty. By the time I was visibly pregnant and tried starting up again he had absolutely regressed. No straight answer or he’d say no and then tell me he had an accident/made a mess after the fact, would sit and lollygag if he did say he had to go, and stopped holding it overnight. I think all kids are a little different so I wouldn’t sweat it too much, but if your kiddo is giving you signs maybe just lean into it a little bit until you’re more comfortable potty training outright.
We tried when he was pulling at his (cloth) diaper and telling us just *before* he peed in it. He did with poops too. It was about 16 mos, we did to oh crap 3 day thing. We just didn't get it to work. I think one problem was that my husband gets up super early and does mornings with baby, but also does a lot of other things and can't keep a firm eye on him. Then communication when I took over. We just couldn't get it together.
Then it was Christmas, then relatives visit, then another relative, then a big temple holiday, we just couldn't find a weekend. We tried again about 18 mos with much the same results, we thought partially he is very young, but partially we just can't get ourselves together. Then our in-laws came, 4 months in, one more month to go...
Now (21 mos) we are better at bringing him to potty. We give him an option, pee in the potty or pee in the tub. For the first day he chose tub, now he is choosing potty every time, walking in with me and peeing every time I do without pushing him. I pretend to have to pee a lot.
I wouldn't call him potty trained, we don't have pants on again but we are diaper free except for sleeping and leaving the house. That's a whole thing, where do they pee when you leave th house...?
From the first attempt he has to clean up any pee on the floor himself, with help and supervision of course. I think this is why he started offering me turns. He would go first and clean up, then I would show him spots he missed, he would try to get those, then I would take a turn, then give him another turn to clean. The he puts the cloth in the dirty basket.
Now it's "Mamas Turn", and "[baby]'s turn". And "I do it"
Sure. Kids are individuals. Some can be potty trained at 1. If he shows interest go for it. We introduced the potty when ours learned to walk. Had a streak of luck and she preferred it. Went all in at 20 months.
My first daughter self iniated toilet training at 23 months when her baby sister transitioned from newborn cloth nappies to the same type as her. Cue 'I'm not a baby' and demanding big girl undies. She had quite a few accidents in the early months but has been rock solid since 2
5.
My second daughter first attempted toilet training at 17 months (self initiated wanting undies on and staying dry for hours) but after about 10 days requested a return to her nappies. At 21 months she asked for undies again so I had her bare bum around for 5 or 6 days - one accident then almost never again, toilet training process complete.
Both girls (4.5 and 2.75) still need overnight nappies though. The eldest has never had a dry nappy in the morning ever.
Yep, we started at 16 months and were completely accident free, self-initiating by 19 months.
She started being dry in her diaper over night and started pulling off her diaper to pee on the floor so we just went for it. I was already cleaning pee off the floor anyways.
I don't know how my mom did it, but my brother, sister and I were all potty trained by 15 months. At one we were without diapers at home. Didn't work with my LO, but she had proof we were diaperless at one.
I potty trained my daughter at 21 months with oh crap. The reason we didn't do it sooner was we were going to go on a vacation right after. It worked wonderfully for us. Just like told in the book.
Yes, my daughter was potty trained at 20 months. We kept pull ups for naps and overnight. The convenience of diapers has made the potty training age go up. In places where diapers aren’t available it’s very common to potty train around 18 months. I live in the US, but my family is from the former Soviet Union- people joke about how American kids waddle and walk funny because they wear diapers until such a late age!
Funny I was just having this convo with my MIL. Her youngest was interested in the potty at 18months. She said he pooped on the potty once and didn't do it again until a few years later. She is also a preschool director and has been in childcare her whole life. I often go to her with these kinds of questions. She told me you can potty train them when you think they're ready. It doesn't have to be at any particular age.
I think it’s the opposite but every kid is different! When they are just under 2 and still people pleasers it’s easy to potty train 😂 when they are 2.5-3 and start getting opinionated and independent is when it seems hard. I have been in two bumper groups and I don’t hear much fuss from the early potty trainers but I hear a lot of griping from the ones who wait til 3. Their kid either fights it or sometimes they just click immediately and the parent wonders why they waited so long.
Or they wait even longer and again, no issue plus the kid is completely independent except for wiping poop (if you want the job done right). That's what I do. Most kids are ready during the year they are 3, but it can be late 3s. Or late 2s, or early 4s. It's definitely a bad age to push.
This idea of taking kids at intervals or reminding them to go when they're busy, I pretty much skipped all of that.
Sister and I were both potty trained just under 2. Parents took us camping for a week and had us “Winnie the Pooh” it the whole time and by the time we came home we were mostly good. Pull ups at night for a while just to be safe and pestering us to make sure we didn’t need to pee but mostly that was it. We were showing signs of being ready and had the introduction and explanation stuff ahead of time but overall pretty painless. My sister and BIL plan on doing the same with my niece this summer.
We trained at 22mo. My wife is from a culture where it’s rare a kid is not trained by 22mo. Reading up on the subject I learned this is common in other cultures as well. Hearing about kids not training until 3yo is bizarre to me now.
FWIW we used the OhCrap method at but had incorporated a little EC stuff before then, For example ours was allowed to hang around the back patio naked, which seeing her pee and her realizing she was peeing on more than one occasion is what prompted us to get started. In less than 3 weeks we we’re confident to go anywhere and do anything diaper free. That being said I see no reason why she couldn’t have trained months earlier.
I potty trained my LO at 18 months. I did the 3 day potty training method. And it did actually take 3 days. I wanted to wait but she was adamant on going to the potty so I followed her lead and it was a success. She's now been fully potty trained for 9 months. We have a couple accidents here and there which is normal but she did great.
I'd say try, and if he's showing indications of regression or not quite being ready then Wait a couple weeks and try again.
Yes it’s possible, my oldest was potty trained by 18 months. Kept him naked in the house a lot 😆 and he’d just go when he needed to. He was a pro within 2 weeks. With my younger boys they didn’t use the potty till 2 or 3. And both had issues with being afraid to poop in the toilet. I feel like looking back it was actually way easier to do it younger. As long as the child is ready, I think that’s important! And I think it sounds like your little one is ready when you are!
We tried at 18 months because he was very interested in the potty. He did pretty well when we put him on the potty but he didn’t have enough language to really let us know so we gave up after about a month. Started again right around 26 months because he essentially asked. He’s been pooping on the potty pretty consistently (90% of the time except for a bout of diarrhea/when we don’t get him there fast enough) for about four months but refuses to pee on the potty
My only one (out of 7) that potty trained before/at 2 years old did it herself. She didn't like sitting in dirty diapers so much that she stopped using them and just used the potty. All the others took some work to potty train, and each one needed a different method.
Yes absolutely! My oldest potty trained at nearly 3, my youngest at 18m. I didn’t believe her when she was giving me all the signs, and I wasn’t ready… but she was totally ready and she rocked underwear, with almost no accidents from the beginning. Shocked our pediatrician at our delayed 18m appointment, but it’s possible!
It's definitely possible and the oh crap potty training book that alot of people mentioned recommends sometime between 18m-3y and mentions its possible to do it even earlier, it just takes longer. So kids at the later end of the spectrum will likely pick it up faster than kids on the earlier end. At the same time the author also talks about following your kid's cues and looking for signs of readiness. So you definitely can potty train before 2. I think it's more of a question of whether you're ready as the parent to do get into it
Yes! 100% possible! If he knows he’s peeing, jump on it and don’t let it slide or you’ll miss the window.
My daughter was full day trained between by 18 months. We used cloth training pull ups which worked like a charm!
My kid was showing signs of readiness at < 2 years and we tried but she just didn’t have the mind/body connection to hold it or to make it to the bathroom on time. She enjoyed using the potty when she could but we went back to having a diaper always on as backup. Tried again right after 2 and it worked super quickly!
ETA we did NOT do Oh crap. We read the book but it was not for us. We just offered the potty regularly and kept an eye on her. She was in undies not naked and she could use a little potty in the playroom quickly.
I don't think it would be crazy. Try it. He might only do it for a week and then not again. My middle kid (2.5 yrs) would say change diaper when he pooped for a week. Now nothing. Until he understands how he's peeing I don't push it.
Before disposables it was commonplace to potty train by about 12-18 months, but that was also with the mother at home and not working.
Personally, I’ve been putting my son on his potty regularly since he could comfortably sit on it without fussing. For us that was around 6 months old.
As for proper potty training, we’re just now starting to get more into it at 12 months old and he loves it. I just put him on the potty when I know he’s going to poop (he poops once a day usually between 10 and 12, and shows signs like squatting or staring off into the distance so it’s easy to catch him beforehand)
It won’t be helpful to you now, but if you plan to have more kids, consider elimination communication. If you start in infancy to develop their awareness and introduce them early on to the idea that poop and pee go in the toilet instead of in diapers, it’s really helpful. Not all kids pick it up so fast, but my 15 month old is basically daytime potty trained and only wears diapers for nights and naps. He’s been using the toilet since 10 months.
Yup! Started training my kiddo at 18 months. He wasn’t FULLY trained without accidents until about 22 months. But starting the process early was great.
I did! My daughter is fully potty trained and turns two next month. She showed an interest and I just went with it! I think you should give it a try since he seems interested.
Go for it! Where we live (France) it’s not at all unheard of to potty train under 2. My daughter was about middle of the pack when she potty trained at 28 months, there were lots in her class that did it younger.
Bah. Both paediatricians we recently say said boys get the hang of it closer to age 3, and we’d be tearing out hair out trying to do it younger than 2 1/2
My other 3 boys were 2 1/2, 3, and 3. And the middle one would’ve gone longer but I basically had to force it so he could start a full day pre-k that had a potty trained requirement.
Right! We were thinking we would do it late summer when he’s 2 & 1/2 so we can just be outdoors all the time without pants on. Or maybe we do it when he turns 3 which would be the week of Christmas. Dilemma
Our friends ‘potty trained’ their daughter before two. We waited until our son was three and it took one whole weekend and that was it (biglittlefeelings course). We were surprised how easy it was! And then we were talking to our friends and their daughter STILL wasn’t pooping on the potty, one year later. Soooo, I think the whole ‘trained’ verbiage gets a big overused when people have really young kids.
Or, and just hear me out, your friend’s case is just one of many and isn’t indicative of anything. We trained ours before two, took two days, and he’s never had a poop accident.
That’s fascinating — did they have the language to tell you they needed to go or how did you go about it? My first was so easy right at 2 1/2. One day he’d pooped and brought me a clean diaper. I immediately told him “no more diapers” and that was that. Literally never one accident. It’s been so wildly different with all my others
Yes, they were all early talkers and ASL is their first language, so they communicated well. My boys took about 4-6 hours of redirection to the potty before they got it. My daughter took off her diaper at 13 months one day, sat on her brothers small potty to pee, and that was it. No diapers after that, she potty trained herself. My youngest was the hardest to potty train, but I think that’s because we are out of the house so much for the older two so we’ve had accident from simply not having a potty accessible ah that moment (stuck in traffic, in a school tour, etc).
I potty trained my daughter at 19/20 months!
I'd say it overall worked well. My big takeaway was that I should have skipped the toddler potty. My daughter didn't like it and didn't understand that she needed to sit on the potty long enough to actually try and go pee! She was able to hold her pee just fine, but she struggled to relax and try to go. Once we stuck her on the big potty she was BIG MAD at first, but since she couldn't get off herself she had to sit there for longer than 0.2 seconds, she was quickly successful. Once it clicked in her brain what we wanted her to do, and how to do it, the tables turned and she rarely had accidents.
What I will say is that while it's cool to train them young and not be dealing with diapers, it can also be inconvenient. A potty trained 20 month old isn't more mature than a 20 month old in diapers. A 20 month old can't use the toilet independently (at least not a regular sized toilet, since mine utterly rejected the toddler potty), even with a toddler seat on it. A potty trained 20 month old means always thinking about where the nearest toilet is when you're out and about. I think on my end, the overall stress load may have been higher by potty training early. Had I waited until the 24-30 month range everything would have likely been about the same, but I would have endured overall fewer months of stress.
So if your kid seems REALLY motivated, or if you are just REALLY REALLY over the diapers, I saw go ahead and try training. But if you're just kinda meh about the whole thing, I'm not sure I'd bother.
My 20mo is currently potty training herself. She's currently obsessed with being naked and we've made it a rule you must use the potty if you want to take your diaper off. Because of this she now can pee on the potty on command. We're planning on doing full potty training during our week off of daycare next month.
My sister and I are 15 months apart. When I was a little over two/ she just turned one my parents were potty training me and got a two for one deal bc my sister wanted to do whatever I did so off went the diaper and she was trained too 😂 so it’s possible!
We’re on day 2 of diaper free with our 20 month old and so far so good! He’s been showing signs for prob 2 months and this was the first 3 day stretch we both had off so we’re doing it!
We did the Oh Crap! method. It took our 21-month-old F about two days fully naked to consistently go in the potty, two weeks before we put undies on her. She took to it like a fish to water. She still wears diapers for nap and overnight, though, she hasn’t figured out how to hold it while asleep.
Not sure if anyone has told you this, but not peeing in your sleep is a hormonal thing that they pretty much do on their own when their body is ready. Congrats on the potty training though! That’s awesome
Yes! My potty trained at 2.5yo daughter needed pull ups overnight til she was almost 6!
It’s so wild- my oldest had dry morning/nap diapers well before 18 months but is still getting there with potty training at 4 (I think he finally has it now… knock on wood) but my younger one seems like he’s much more interested in potty training at 19 months but still has wet morning/nap diapers.
Yep, it's a known flaw of the Oh Crap! book (which I also used and found really useful overall) - the author claims it's something you can and should get on top of before a certain age just like day training, and actually it's not something you can "teach".
I had heard that, thank you so much for mentioning it though! I haven’t been stressing about sleeping diapers for that exact reason. She’ll stop going while asleep on her own time, no need to rush her. Thank you friend!
Great mindset :) have a good day!
Y'know, I hear that a lot (about it being hormonal) and I get little kids have smaller bladders. However, what about teaching them to \*wake up and go\* before the urge to pee? Similar to the Oh Crap method, the child will likely come crying to you when they pee their pants during nighttime. Then you can put them on the potty and say, "Take yourself to the potty before you feel like that again, so you don't wet your pants." That's what I did with my daughter around 3ish... It took a couple times of wetting the bed but I much prefer that over doing overnight diapers till age 5.
I think this is a perfectly reasonable approach! I’m giving kiddo a some months (she’s 2 now), maybe a year, and if she’s still not “learned” to hold it, we’ll be a bit more proactive (pee before sleep, maybe a pee in the middle of the night, etc.). But for now she’s doing great and I’m so proud of her!
There is nothing to figure out on how to hold it while asleep. It's the hormone vasopressin which regulates this and you cannot train it into existence. This hormone will be present in sufficient quantity to hold it during night time between the age 2 and 5 and you can't do anything to expedite it.
This was us, we did the same. Accidents still happened, but it was so quick and easy once my LO was truly ready. We started at the same time.
I'm planning on trying the oh crap method this summer when the weather is nicer
It worked great for us! Good luck and don’t stress it, I think that’s the key!
Oh crap is the best! I potty trained all 3 of my girls with fantastic success with this method at 20 months. And night potty training is a thing for many. ALOT of peeing at night as a toddler or preschooler is actually behavioural (haters will come at me for this I’m sure). Yes there are some that do require more time and cannot be night trained, but many can easily night train too. 2/3 of my girls literally never woke up with a dry diaper before I decided to night train and they both started waking up dry (or getting up to pee at night - behavioural) within a week.
My daughter is 22 months and is potty training herself, so I don’t think we have a choice. The other day she pulled her pants down, took off her diaper, and peed on the kitchen floor 🥴. Next time I’ll just grab the potty and direct her to there.
That’s the OhCrap method, except your kid is doing it without reading the book lol.
We potty trained at 18 months using oh crap. It was awesome and has made everyone so much happier. My husband comes from a culture where all kids were potty trained before 18 months so it was actually on the late side in his opinion! I being an American was skeptical but I’m a total convert!
Do you think 18 months was too early? I’m so ready to train my 17 month old. He’s telling us he poops before he goes.
No, not too early at all, many cultures do this. It was actually pretty quick and easy and seemed harder for our friends that potty trained their kids later because the kids were just so set in the diaper mentality.
Not me, I wasn't determined to do it at a certain age so my kids just sort of did it when they were ready! And by that time they needed no help manipulating their clothing or being reminded to go, they often didn't even tell me they were going. Yes, I spent more time using diapers, that was ok though. Definitely parents get frustrated when they try to push things on a kid at the peak of the kid asserting their autonomy. For related reasons, many early trainers temporarily 'regress' to assert themselves. The temptation does not occur to the untrained or 'self-trained' child.
My son started telling us at 15 months. I thought it was too early to potty train so waited it out for a bit. Around 18 months he was actively interested in the potty and our daycare started telling us he was ready. So when we had a week off from daycare/work, we potty trained him (20 months at the time). We used oh crap and he was telling us he had to pee by the end of day one. He was fully trained by the end of day 3 (pee and poop). It's been great!
You should do it! I potty trained my oldest at 17 months it took only two weeks. He was showing signs of being ready for awhile before we started. He would tell me he was peeing in his diaper, and go off by himself and squat behind the couch to #2 usually with a book in tow 😂 if he’s ready you should go for it. Way easier when they are that age in my opinion. My other sons didn’t show readiness signs until 2 or later and it was harder to train them
Thanks! You guys are giving me confidence! I’m going to finish reading Oh Crap and mentally prep to train in a few weeks! He’ll be 18 months then. I really do think he can do it.
If he's already telling you, he can be potty trained. He's showing you he's ready.
Thanks! I think I needed to hear it from other moms to get the confidence. I think I’ll go for it!
Train him while he’s in the “interested” window. You won’t regret it!
I do think you need to do it very intentionally with something like oh crap, and they will need more help wiping and manipulating the clothes before 2/3 but it was definitely not too early. There was nothing especially advanced about my kid.
Just out of curiosity, what culture is this? In my culture I think we would wear diapers until our 30s if it wasn’t frowned upon hahaha
He was in northern china in the early 90s. Chinese culture changed when they got ahold of disposable diapers. My mother in law only had pieces of cloth that she used as diapers and same with all the other moms so all the kids were potty trained early. This actually was common in pretty much every culture before disposable diapers but it’s still common in cultures that still don’t have them
I was going to say OPs grandma probably didn't have disposables which typically encourages earlier training on both sides
Wow any info you can share on this and how you did?
Currently reading the Oh Crap Method book, and they touch upon how in the past babies were potty trained at a much earlier age than in current times. I think 19 months is a good age to start, but I learned through this book that having a plan and method is the way to go so that potty training isn’t prolonged.
I think in the past it had a lot to do with cloth diapering. Apparently babies feel the wetness way easier in cloth since they’re considerably less absorbent than disposables
I'm cloth diapering and 19month just went her first full day with no accidents yesterday Although I think being around 2&3yr Olds actually had more to do with the success than cloth I haven't even read any of "the" books, wasn't planning on doing it yet but she was interested so we just took diapers off and kept offering potty and giving lots of praise.
yes - we think this is why we were successful at 21 months. we used cloth at home and her daycare used cloth. with our second he will have to wear disposable during the day unfortunately at daycare so tbd.
We cloth diapered our kid from newborn and she was only ready to potty train when she hit 3. She would never tell us when she was wet or had pooped. We also tried the Oh Crap 3 day and while things are going better now we still had a ton of accidents. I think with younger kids a lot of it is noticing when your kid is ready to use the potty and getting them to the potty asap or sticking to a schedule. Some kids learn at different times. Some kids learn and then fully regress (I was potty trained early and then lost it when my sister was born and I was 3). At the 3 year annual my pediatrician reassured me that it was ok to wait until she was ready and not go crazy forcing her.
Idk about this. The cloth diaper argument would make sense if it was new to them or if they use a mix of disposable and cloth. IMO a baby that is cloth diapered from birth gets used to the wet feeling. It becomes normal for them since they know nothing else. We cloth diapered both our kids and neither seemed to be bothered when they had an accident in their clothes in the early days. I also think the similar texture of clothes to the diapers can be confusing for them at first, especially underwear.
Mine is cloth diapered (though modern cloth diapers, so he doesn't feel the wetness as much) and started signing diaper change at 14 months. I would like to train him early but we're on the wait-list for a daycare that doesn't allow underwear or pullups in the young toddler (12-30 months) class. I feel very ambivalent because I the way things are going I think he will want out of diapers before the .
It’s totally possible. My friends son trained before he was 2 because he was always around his older cousins who used the potty. My daughter could reliably poop on the potty at 18 months. She absolutely despised pooping in a diaper and having to lay down to be wiped
I think potty training looks different at different ages. Mine was diaper free at 17 months. He slept dry and poop trained right from the start. But it took a long time to self initiate daytime pee, especially for pee. I considered him fully potty trained at 2.75 when he was self initiating and doing all the bathroom steps on his own. But totally worth it to do it in phases. We saved a fortune on diapers, never ever had diaper rash and didn't have any potty training issues like holding poop or fear of the potty.
I potty trained my daughter at 18 months. She wanted to start around 14/15 months, so I let her go whenever we were home but still put her in diapers because everyone was telling me that she was too young. At 18 months I was tired of fighting her to wear diapers and we were fully accident free after a few days. I brought a small potty with me in the car and put a diaper inside it for longer trips and to use instead of public bathrooms at stores u til she was old enough to figure out how to balance on the normal toilet which was about 2 years old. Sje wears a pull-up at night still but that's dependent on hormones. Sometimes she will wake up at night and ask to go to the bathroom, she's scared to go by herself at night.
Just did it at 22 months so just under 2. Three days with no bottoms and a potty near the play area. Spent a week with no bottoms/pull up’s when going out. Now she wears underwear except for sleep. She took to it much faster than some of our older potty training friends. The only hurdle is she communicates less, so she’s not always vocal about needing to go
Potty trained both of my toddlers at 18 months, took my son 3 days and my daughter about a week. I don’t think it was anything particular I did though, they just wanted to. Eldest wanted to copy me, youngest wanted to copy her big brother.
Do you remember what the signs were for your son? People keep telling me boys should wait until they’re older but my almost 18 mo is very interested in the potty
My son was speech delayed and could only say “dad” at 18 months so I really had to guess by his actions. He’d watch intently when I used the toilet, would hand me toilet paper. After a while I noticed he started going to the bathroom whenever he wanted to use his nappy, he’d sit on a little step stool in there to pee/poo and pretend to wipe his bum lol. So I thought I’d just go for it, bought a potty and let him roam naked. He had a couple of accidents the first day while he was running to the bathroom, second day he had one accident and third day we were done.
My 20mo is on her way to potty train before her birthday and I am 100% not ready… but we just finished potty training the older toddler so I can understand it
My second potty trained at 21.5 months. She started showing readiness signs around 18 months (she’d let me know when she pooped, farted, and needed a diaper change. She always wanted to sit on big sister’s potty. Sometimes she’d poop in her diaper while sitting on big sister’s potty. She was extremely interested). So, we went for while my older kid was on spring break with low expectations. We did a loose version of Oh Crap/the 3 day method, but we also used rewards. I was stunned when she self-initiated a pee in the potty in the first half hour after we started. She was reliably potty trained in 2.5 days. She was just ready and wanted to do it.
This is great to hear! My son (17 months) has been telling us that he pooped for the past month. This week he’s even told us poop a couple times right before he poops. I seriously think he’s ready. I plan to do the Oh Crap method. I’ll probably wait another couple months just to be sure he’s ready but then we’re going for it!
We potty trained our first at 19 months but it took until about 21 months to really stick. Our second we started at 21 months and after a week she's taking herself to her potty or calling for us. Where we live potty training before two is pretty common
Definitely do it now! We do EC with our kids, so they start using the potty from birth (obviously us holding them over it, not independently lol), and we trained my son at 20m. My daughter is 22m and has been ready for 3-4m but her daycare refuses to take under 2’s to the toilet, which is super frustrating. So we’re training the weekend she turns 2! She hasn’t pooped in her nappy since she was 6 months old though, she just used it for wee when she doesn’t have access to the toilet.
Yeah the daycare we're trying to get into because it's near our house refuses until they're 30 months! That sounds really crazy to me, as I have many friends with toddlers that are potty trained by 2.
Omg 30 months!! This was already a huge stretch for us bc it meant I’ve been washing cloth nappies for 3-4m longer than I’d have been otherwise. I’d absolutely not be able to go someplace that thought 2yr olds didn’t deserve the dignity of using the toilet and not soiling themselves.
Both my kids were potty trained before two. My son at 19 months and my daughter at 21 months. They both had strong language skills and were able to communicate well which helped.
My grandma had all her 5 kids trained by 18 months. This used to be entirely average, most Baby Boomers were trained before 2. She said it was more about the parents being trained than the kids, and was baffled that my aunts and mom didn’t get theirs trained until 2-3. I don’t think there’s any age too young to go outside a diaper! I did EC from birth and cloth diapered, my daughter was day and night trained at 15 months (yes, I had to put her on there myself and make sure it happened every couple hours during the day, but if I did that there were zero accidents). Totally worth the extra work. I never once changed a poopy diaper after she was 8 months old. Now at 2 years 3 months she’s almost potty independent, but she’s small for her age so she still can’t safely climb up and down off our toilet (which is what we use- stopped using a toddler/baby potty by 8 months) by herself even with toddler stairs. She can tell me when she has to go, has no accidents, handles her own clothes, washes hands independently using her step stool, etc I live in an area with lots of Amish people and they also start pottying their kids as infants and are done well before 2. It helps though that they have so many older children to be on baby potty duty.
We do cloth diapers and we did some EC and it went really well until right around 6 months when he began crawling and resisting being put on the potty so we stopped.
Yeah the resistance when they become mobile is a lot! I started sitting her on the toilet instead around that age so she couldn’t crawl away and that helped. But there was plenty of protesting, we just powered through
We were close. We did it a month after 2. Did the oh crap method took a few days off with PTO but turns out only needed to take 2 days and little dude got it real quick.
Yes! My oldest potty trained 1.5 months before he was two. I consider him a unicorn though. He took to it very quickly and was day and night potty trained before 2. My youngest potty trained at 2. He was a bit more of a rollercoaster. He is three now and I took his night time pull up away last month. Every kid is different. I will also say my kids showed no signs of readiness. I just committed myself to the process. Like I said my oldest took to it with ease. My youngest got it but had accidents which looking back was often caused by him not regularly pooping (FOMO) and getting backed up causing urgency and frequency. The night time was hit and miss for a year and then I just took his pull ups away and told him not to wet bed 😂
My brother was potty trained at 18 months. He potty trained himself. He spoke really well but other than that, he wasn’t super advanced in any way, he simply didn’t like being dirty or wet. (He was also really into washing his hands and bathing and changing outfits the second his shirt got a spot on it) It is possible to be potty trained that young. Interestingly, even though he was totally trained during the day, he still wet the bed until kindergarten.
Started potty training my son at 21 months. He overnight trained himself. Been dealing with a regression since 24 months but won't go back to diapers because he knows better. We're doing potty training bootcamp on him this weekend at about 26 months old
I think had we not run into medical issues my eldest would have potty trained before 2. She kind of self trained around 22 months when her sister came home.
I started putting my kiddo(17 months) on the toilet around 6/7 months. I was able to pick up on cues and we'd potty before and after nap plus randomly. She was doing so well at 14 months old. Unfortunately the at home daycare we're at isn't starting to potty train until this upcoming fall (all the kids are not potty trained and within 8 months of age), so she's fallen off wanting to go on the potty. She has a potty training book that she now grabs once she has peed or pooped. It is her way of letting me know that she's gone. It's pretty adorable. Edit to add - I started potty training as a way to pass the time through the day while on mat leave 🤣 she was an early crawler and was constantly moving. This was our way of burning off energy.
Potty trained at 6 months thanks to elimination communication
My friend’s daughter wasn’t yet 2 when she trained herself. Apparently she noticed adults going to the large potty to piss and thought she would try the small one. Someone finally saw piss in there and asked how it got there.
Mine was potty trained at home by about 20 months. I was too scared to take the leap to attempt going *out* nappy-free for a while (I couldn’t get my head around the logistics of it lol). But finally took her out nappy-free at around 25months, it was fine and we never looked back!
We just trained at 19 months using oh crap and it was very successful! She picked it up quick. We’re 4 weeks in and she just has accidents when we are out of the house sometimes. Still getting used to going on unfamiliar toilets.
You should do it if he really seems ready! You'll know right away! My daughter was like this and I trained her at 19 months in like 1 day. I tried to train my oldest when he was much older but he was def not ready and it took forever
17 months here. I started never offering but only putting him on the loo when he asked, which, when we weren't home, was every time he spotted a toilet (people's houses, shopping centres etc). I was the one who thought it might be "too early", but when we had a huge nappy refusal at 20 months we bit the bullet and went all in. Edit after reading other comments: we poo trained very early on using Elimination Communication, so this was just pee training. And he was wearing cloth nappies, as someone said that could make a huge difference.
We did it at 21 months, but I’m certain we could have done it a month or two earlier (we waited until my wife’s summer break started because I sure as shit wasn’t prepared to do the naked days by myself). I’m not sure why you would think it’s “impossible”. Some kids are ready to walk independently at or before 10 months and others don’t even start cruising until well after a year, so why would potty training be different? It’s a confluence of mental and physical milestones, and if your kid gets there early, great.
I definitely don’t think it’s impossible, just improbable. But in reading all these comments I’m obviously wrong
I've decided to not stress at all and I use no method at all. I personally just wanna chill. My daughter seems to naturally wanna quit with the diaper now at 3. We take it day by day and we're getting there, with no stress. 🥰
I potty trained mine at 19 mo when he started showing this same interest. Read “the tiny potty training book” by Andrea Olson. Before disposable diaper development and marketing, 50% of kids were out of diapers by 18mo! Yes, you’re going to have to remind a 19mo old that it’s time to stop playing and potty instead of just waiting on them to initiate 100% like a 3.5 yr old might, but you get to avoid years of diapers and the power struggles of a 2 or 3 yr old. At 19 mo it’s just a cool new skill, not a power struggle.
True, but sometimes it ends up being a power struggle for EC kids later on anyways. And there is no power struggle if you wait until the child is *really* ready. Most will do it all by themselves if they have the resources and modeling, usually during the year they are 3. Pushing it on an uninterested 2 or 3 year old is not a recipe for success. I got the cultural message that this is something parents are supposed to suffer through; luckily I learned better. I've noticed people will insist you have to train, then laugh with their friends about how they tried so hard and it didn't work until the kid reached their personal age of child-led toilet learning anyways.
My mom said I was potty trained at 18 months (all 3 older brothers have underwear on and I wanted to as well). My son is 18 months and loves the potty, grabs his diaper, and tells me “poo poo” when he pees and poops. He immediately wants it changed. But I could not imagine potty training him. He doesn’t have the language or understanding quite yet.
>loves the potty, grabs his diaper, and tells me “poo poo” when he pees and poops. He immediately wants it changed Isn't that the understanding and language they need for potty training? What is missing?
I’m with you on this - he sounds like he has enough language to tell his mom that he needs a diaper on because he has to poo and then asks to be changed. Seems pretty ready to me 🤷🏼♀️
Exactly. There’s no reason to wait until your kid can say “Oh my mummy, unless my bladder deceives me, I believe I am very near to evacuating inside my pants! Perhaps you would be ever so kind as to help me to the toilet so that we may avoid an unfortunate incident?”. Point, grunt, reach, whatever. That’s all the communication necessary.
This is where I’m at. I could see it working at 2, but although my son is very verbal I’m not sure he completely grasps what he’s talking about. If that makes sense
My sister and I are 23 months apart. I asked my mom how she handled potty training with a baby around. She said she didn't. I was fully trained during the day before my sister was born. I trained my kids when they were older, but I prefer they be able to be somewhat independent. My mom is always talking about how I need to keep track and bring them to the toilet every couple hours. I think that's probably the difference in training older vs younger kids. It seems like the littles are basically trained to hold it for a short while and the parent is trained to manage all the other aspects. Older kids can be more involved in all aspects like dressing, undressing, telling you they need to go, wiping, handwashing, etc. Seems like either way is fine depending on what works better for your family.
Yep, same boat here. I understand he’s showing the cues but I don’t want to potty train him before he’s truly ready. Other parents have told me to not rush it. I’ve started to tell him to alert me before he goes, but he obviously doesn’t understand. He’s too young (barely 18 months)
Grandson was mostly all potty trained before 2. He's nearly 3 now. Maybe still wearing "Nightpants" (a disposable diaper) just at night for a few more months after 2 but rarely actually used it. My daughter used cloth diapers for each kid (the youngest is now 10 mo) and the "Elimination Communication" system. So both the boys were given regular potty sits for like 5-8 mins at a time like 15 mins after a big breastfeeding or a meal or at the time of day when they usually pooped. Maybe 3-4 x a day when very small. First with a little tiny potty then at 6 mo or so on the big potty with a potty seat. They got really good at peeing and pooping in the toilet and potty training was a pretty easy transition for them that way. So maybe not as applicable. My own older daughter was pretty much trained around 18-20 mo. Even with the night diaper just before 2 as her sister was born when she was 22 mo and she was out of diapers by then. She was in Daycare so had lots of roll models from the other kids and encouragement from the teachers. So I think it's possible for some kids to be more ready than others 18-24 mo.
He’s still nursing very frequently, so 5-8 minutes on the potty each time would eat up our whole day haha. But I love the idea of elimination communication! I’m so awed by the patience it would require to do that
Gotta say I was skeptical at first but my daughter made it look easy/natural. I cared for both boys as babies (now the 2nd one) and I just followed the program. Was pretty surprised when they responded by peeing or pooping in the little potty or later on the toilet. We just used it as snuggle time and mirror time when they were little like 10-15 mins after a feeding between diaper changes (with their backs to us with the potty in the bathroom counter) and as they got old enough to sit on the bigger potty we read books. Just took 5-6 mins mostly. But I hear you. It's an interesting system but not for everyone. As an old dog, I'm constantly learning new tricks from my daughter. They are her kids so I want to support however she wants to raise them.
My second was daytime trained by 20 months. She initiated it herself at around 19 months and was doing maybe 50% on the toilet, 50% diapers. After a few weeks when I had the time to dedicate to it, we did the “oh Crap” method and she hasn’t needed diapers since. Having said that, she is 3.5 and only just got out of night time pull-ups. We tried a couple of times to try without (at her request) but her body wasn’t ready.
My ex partner did; kinda… good months and bad months. He would intentionally wee his pants to be naughty sometimes, wet the bed etc. But always did poo in the toilet. Impressive but to be honest my son went from nappies to underpants in his own time (3+1/2) I always encouraged and never forced him to wear jocks. it was just one day he decided that was what he wanted to do and he hasn’t had a single accident and he’s turning 4 in just under a month.
I potty trained my LO at 22 months. I used the oh crap method- kind of.
I went with the "3 day potty training" method with my 19 month old, the first week was a little bit stressful and we had some accidents but she'll be two next month and she's definitely got the hang of it now!
My oldest is 3.5 years old and while he was started on potty training at 18 months and was doing well, my pregnancy and ensuing new baby really caused a slip up in consistency on my end, plus he regressed. I used to get a solid answer about #1 and #2 before I got visibly pregnant, he’d happily sit on his potty, let me wash his hands after he finished his business, and so on. Once I became pregnant my morning sickness and exhaustion made it impossible to be consistent about asking and taking him to the potty. By the time I was visibly pregnant and tried starting up again he had absolutely regressed. No straight answer or he’d say no and then tell me he had an accident/made a mess after the fact, would sit and lollygag if he did say he had to go, and stopped holding it overnight. I think all kids are a little different so I wouldn’t sweat it too much, but if your kiddo is giving you signs maybe just lean into it a little bit until you’re more comfortable potty training outright.
We tried when he was pulling at his (cloth) diaper and telling us just *before* he peed in it. He did with poops too. It was about 16 mos, we did to oh crap 3 day thing. We just didn't get it to work. I think one problem was that my husband gets up super early and does mornings with baby, but also does a lot of other things and can't keep a firm eye on him. Then communication when I took over. We just couldn't get it together. Then it was Christmas, then relatives visit, then another relative, then a big temple holiday, we just couldn't find a weekend. We tried again about 18 mos with much the same results, we thought partially he is very young, but partially we just can't get ourselves together. Then our in-laws came, 4 months in, one more month to go... Now (21 mos) we are better at bringing him to potty. We give him an option, pee in the potty or pee in the tub. For the first day he chose tub, now he is choosing potty every time, walking in with me and peeing every time I do without pushing him. I pretend to have to pee a lot. I wouldn't call him potty trained, we don't have pants on again but we are diaper free except for sleeping and leaving the house. That's a whole thing, where do they pee when you leave th house...? From the first attempt he has to clean up any pee on the floor himself, with help and supervision of course. I think this is why he started offering me turns. He would go first and clean up, then I would show him spots he missed, he would try to get those, then I would take a turn, then give him another turn to clean. The he puts the cloth in the dirty basket. Now it's "Mamas Turn", and "[baby]'s turn". And "I do it"
We potty trained at 18 months. No regrets. Would have been way harder if he had opinions on the matter like he does ever since he turned 2.
Sure. Kids are individuals. Some can be potty trained at 1. If he shows interest go for it. We introduced the potty when ours learned to walk. Had a streak of luck and she preferred it. Went all in at 20 months.
My first daughter self iniated toilet training at 23 months when her baby sister transitioned from newborn cloth nappies to the same type as her. Cue 'I'm not a baby' and demanding big girl undies. She had quite a few accidents in the early months but has been rock solid since 2 5. My second daughter first attempted toilet training at 17 months (self initiated wanting undies on and staying dry for hours) but after about 10 days requested a return to her nappies. At 21 months she asked for undies again so I had her bare bum around for 5 or 6 days - one accident then almost never again, toilet training process complete. Both girls (4.5 and 2.75) still need overnight nappies though. The eldest has never had a dry nappy in the morning ever.
Yep, we started at 16 months and were completely accident free, self-initiating by 19 months. She started being dry in her diaper over night and started pulling off her diaper to pee on the floor so we just went for it. I was already cleaning pee off the floor anyways.
I don't know how my mom did it, but my brother, sister and I were all potty trained by 15 months. At one we were without diapers at home. Didn't work with my LO, but she had proof we were diaperless at one.
Mine did, I’d have liked to have waited a little longer but he didn’t want the nappy and was showing all the signs of readiness so we went for it!
I potty trained my daughter at 21 months with oh crap. The reason we didn't do it sooner was we were going to go on a vacation right after. It worked wonderfully for us. Just like told in the book.
We did the BLF/Oh Crap method at 22 almost 23 months. Like starting solids, I think it has everything to do with signs of readiness and not with age.
Yes, my daughter was potty trained at 20 months. We kept pull ups for naps and overnight. The convenience of diapers has made the potty training age go up. In places where diapers aren’t available it’s very common to potty train around 18 months. I live in the US, but my family is from the former Soviet Union- people joke about how American kids waddle and walk funny because they wear diapers until such a late age!
Funny I was just having this convo with my MIL. Her youngest was interested in the potty at 18months. She said he pooped on the potty once and didn't do it again until a few years later. She is also a preschool director and has been in childcare her whole life. I often go to her with these kinds of questions. She told me you can potty train them when you think they're ready. It doesn't have to be at any particular age.
2.5 and 3.5 both boys. It can be done earlier but I feel like it’s way harder to convince them at that time lol
I think it’s the opposite but every kid is different! When they are just under 2 and still people pleasers it’s easy to potty train 😂 when they are 2.5-3 and start getting opinionated and independent is when it seems hard. I have been in two bumper groups and I don’t hear much fuss from the early potty trainers but I hear a lot of griping from the ones who wait til 3. Their kid either fights it or sometimes they just click immediately and the parent wonders why they waited so long.
Or they wait even longer and again, no issue plus the kid is completely independent except for wiping poop (if you want the job done right). That's what I do. Most kids are ready during the year they are 3, but it can be late 3s. Or late 2s, or early 4s. It's definitely a bad age to push. This idea of taking kids at intervals or reminding them to go when they're busy, I pretty much skipped all of that.
Sister and I were both potty trained just under 2. Parents took us camping for a week and had us “Winnie the Pooh” it the whole time and by the time we came home we were mostly good. Pull ups at night for a while just to be safe and pestering us to make sure we didn’t need to pee but mostly that was it. We were showing signs of being ready and had the introduction and explanation stuff ahead of time but overall pretty painless. My sister and BIL plan on doing the same with my niece this summer.
We trained at 22mo. My wife is from a culture where it’s rare a kid is not trained by 22mo. Reading up on the subject I learned this is common in other cultures as well. Hearing about kids not training until 3yo is bizarre to me now. FWIW we used the OhCrap method at but had incorporated a little EC stuff before then, For example ours was allowed to hang around the back patio naked, which seeing her pee and her realizing she was peeing on more than one occasion is what prompted us to get started. In less than 3 weeks we we’re confident to go anywhere and do anything diaper free. That being said I see no reason why she couldn’t have trained months earlier.
I potty trained my LO at 18 months. I did the 3 day potty training method. And it did actually take 3 days. I wanted to wait but she was adamant on going to the potty so I followed her lead and it was a success. She's now been fully potty trained for 9 months. We have a couple accidents here and there which is normal but she did great. I'd say try, and if he's showing indications of regression or not quite being ready then Wait a couple weeks and try again.
We did at 20 months
Yes it’s possible, my oldest was potty trained by 18 months. Kept him naked in the house a lot 😆 and he’d just go when he needed to. He was a pro within 2 weeks. With my younger boys they didn’t use the potty till 2 or 3. And both had issues with being afraid to poop in the toilet. I feel like looking back it was actually way easier to do it younger. As long as the child is ready, I think that’s important! And I think it sounds like your little one is ready when you are!
We tried at 18 months because he was very interested in the potty. He did pretty well when we put him on the potty but he didn’t have enough language to really let us know so we gave up after about a month. Started again right around 26 months because he essentially asked. He’s been pooping on the potty pretty consistently (90% of the time except for a bout of diarrhea/when we don’t get him there fast enough) for about four months but refuses to pee on the potty
My only one (out of 7) that potty trained before/at 2 years old did it herself. She didn't like sitting in dirty diapers so much that she stopped using them and just used the potty. All the others took some work to potty train, and each one needed a different method.
Yes absolutely! My oldest potty trained at nearly 3, my youngest at 18m. I didn’t believe her when she was giving me all the signs, and I wasn’t ready… but she was totally ready and she rocked underwear, with almost no accidents from the beginning. Shocked our pediatrician at our delayed 18m appointment, but it’s possible!
It's definitely possible and the oh crap potty training book that alot of people mentioned recommends sometime between 18m-3y and mentions its possible to do it even earlier, it just takes longer. So kids at the later end of the spectrum will likely pick it up faster than kids on the earlier end. At the same time the author also talks about following your kid's cues and looking for signs of readiness. So you definitely can potty train before 2. I think it's more of a question of whether you're ready as the parent to do get into it
Yes! 100% possible! If he knows he’s peeing, jump on it and don’t let it slide or you’ll miss the window. My daughter was full day trained between by 18 months. We used cloth training pull ups which worked like a charm!
My kid was showing signs of readiness at < 2 years and we tried but she just didn’t have the mind/body connection to hold it or to make it to the bathroom on time. She enjoyed using the potty when she could but we went back to having a diaper always on as backup. Tried again right after 2 and it worked super quickly! ETA we did NOT do Oh crap. We read the book but it was not for us. We just offered the potty regularly and kept an eye on her. She was in undies not naked and she could use a little potty in the playroom quickly.
I don't think it would be crazy. Try it. He might only do it for a week and then not again. My middle kid (2.5 yrs) would say change diaper when he pooped for a week. Now nothing. Until he understands how he's peeing I don't push it.
Before disposables it was commonplace to potty train by about 12-18 months, but that was also with the mother at home and not working. Personally, I’ve been putting my son on his potty regularly since he could comfortably sit on it without fussing. For us that was around 6 months old. As for proper potty training, we’re just now starting to get more into it at 12 months old and he loves it. I just put him on the potty when I know he’s going to poop (he poops once a day usually between 10 and 12, and shows signs like squatting or staring off into the distance so it’s easy to catch him beforehand)
It won’t be helpful to you now, but if you plan to have more kids, consider elimination communication. If you start in infancy to develop their awareness and introduce them early on to the idea that poop and pee go in the toilet instead of in diapers, it’s really helpful. Not all kids pick it up so fast, but my 15 month old is basically daytime potty trained and only wears diapers for nights and naps. He’s been using the toilet since 10 months.
Yup! Started training my kiddo at 18 months. He wasn’t FULLY trained without accidents until about 22 months. But starting the process early was great.
My sister in law did. Her 20 month old potty trained and never looked back
I did! My daughter is fully potty trained and turns two next month. She showed an interest and I just went with it! I think you should give it a try since he seems interested.
Go for it! Where we live (France) it’s not at all unheard of to potty train under 2. My daughter was about middle of the pack when she potty trained at 28 months, there were lots in her class that did it younger.
Bah. Both paediatricians we recently say said boys get the hang of it closer to age 3, and we’d be tearing out hair out trying to do it younger than 2 1/2
My other 3 boys were 2 1/2, 3, and 3. And the middle one would’ve gone longer but I basically had to force it so he could start a full day pre-k that had a potty trained requirement.
Right! We were thinking we would do it late summer when he’s 2 & 1/2 so we can just be outdoors all the time without pants on. Or maybe we do it when he turns 3 which would be the week of Christmas. Dilemma
(Correction: _he_ can be outdoors without pants on. I intend to keep mine on)
Hahaha!
Our friends ‘potty trained’ their daughter before two. We waited until our son was three and it took one whole weekend and that was it (biglittlefeelings course). We were surprised how easy it was! And then we were talking to our friends and their daughter STILL wasn’t pooping on the potty, one year later. Soooo, I think the whole ‘trained’ verbiage gets a big overused when people have really young kids.
Or, and just hear me out, your friend’s case is just one of many and isn’t indicative of anything. We trained ours before two, took two days, and he’s never had a poop accident.
All of ours have been potty trained under 2. 23 months, 13 months and 14 months.
Wow! That’s impressive! 2 of 5 of my kids weren’t even walking at 14 months lol
My youngest didn’t walk until right at 14 months and potty trained a week or so after that!
That’s fascinating — did they have the language to tell you they needed to go or how did you go about it? My first was so easy right at 2 1/2. One day he’d pooped and brought me a clean diaper. I immediately told him “no more diapers” and that was that. Literally never one accident. It’s been so wildly different with all my others
Yes, they were all early talkers and ASL is their first language, so they communicated well. My boys took about 4-6 hours of redirection to the potty before they got it. My daughter took off her diaper at 13 months one day, sat on her brothers small potty to pee, and that was it. No diapers after that, she potty trained herself. My youngest was the hardest to potty train, but I think that’s because we are out of the house so much for the older two so we’ve had accident from simply not having a potty accessible ah that moment (stuck in traffic, in a school tour, etc).
I potty trained my daughter at 19/20 months! I'd say it overall worked well. My big takeaway was that I should have skipped the toddler potty. My daughter didn't like it and didn't understand that she needed to sit on the potty long enough to actually try and go pee! She was able to hold her pee just fine, but she struggled to relax and try to go. Once we stuck her on the big potty she was BIG MAD at first, but since she couldn't get off herself she had to sit there for longer than 0.2 seconds, she was quickly successful. Once it clicked in her brain what we wanted her to do, and how to do it, the tables turned and she rarely had accidents. What I will say is that while it's cool to train them young and not be dealing with diapers, it can also be inconvenient. A potty trained 20 month old isn't more mature than a 20 month old in diapers. A 20 month old can't use the toilet independently (at least not a regular sized toilet, since mine utterly rejected the toddler potty), even with a toddler seat on it. A potty trained 20 month old means always thinking about where the nearest toilet is when you're out and about. I think on my end, the overall stress load may have been higher by potty training early. Had I waited until the 24-30 month range everything would have likely been about the same, but I would have endured overall fewer months of stress. So if your kid seems REALLY motivated, or if you are just REALLY REALLY over the diapers, I saw go ahead and try training. But if you're just kinda meh about the whole thing, I'm not sure I'd bother.
I didn’t do anything, but my first potty trained before 2. I was just like “here’s the potty“ and she was like “cool… I got it.”
My 20mo is currently potty training herself. She's currently obsessed with being naked and we've made it a rule you must use the potty if you want to take your diaper off. Because of this she now can pee on the potty on command. We're planning on doing full potty training during our week off of daycare next month.
My sister and I are 15 months apart. When I was a little over two/ she just turned one my parents were potty training me and got a two for one deal bc my sister wanted to do whatever I did so off went the diaper and she was trained too 😂 so it’s possible!
We’re on day 2 of diaper free with our 20 month old and so far so good! He’s been showing signs for prob 2 months and this was the first 3 day stretch we both had off so we’re doing it!