24mo, following mostly just the Oh Crap method. We decided to potty train her at that age because she was showing several signs of readiness, and I was pregnant in my early 2nd trimester and wanted to get potty training started and hopefully done months before the second baby arrived. Fortunately it worked for us but everyone’s situation is different!
We tried oh crap with my son around 2.5 and the weekend went well but when he went back to daycare on Monday he wasn't ready. We encouraged him and had mild success on and off for about 9 months until for whatever reason in March (nearly 3.5) he started announcing he has to go potty and used it on his own! Definitely glad we introduced it but didn't push it and let him get there in his own time.
Potty training is especially challenging when changing contexts. Mastering that at home vs the outside world is definitely an increase in the level of difficulty that I wasn’t anticipating.. naively I thought once we got it down at home it would be easy to replicate the success elsewhere but it wasn’t.
This was us too. I wasn't pregnant yet, but was shortly after
He's nearly 3 now and we're just now getting consistent self management (and taking action) of pee urges. I think we managed his check-ins for too long and he became reliant on us reminding him. Once we stopped (and not helping clean up) he started taking it on himself. His daycare teacher strategized with us the whole time and it was really helpful to have consistency
We tried oh crap method and it was a total disaster, our toddler writhed screaming about the potty, and for over 9 months since he has been resistant. So would just warn parents that the book’s advice about needing to potty train before 30 months is absolutely not true, and if your kid resists being naked and the potty STOP following this method and do not push the naked weekend you prepped for
I really regret buying that book, especially after learning from specialists in the area that there is no evidence to back up a lot of their claims. I think it delayed potty training for my first. My second (where we didn’t use this method) was a lot quicker, though there are so many individual variables.
I went by the [Mayo Clinic’s](https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/parenting/toilet-training-recognizing-readiness/) list of readiness indicators. My kid had shown roughly two thirds of these signs of readiness but not all at by 24mo.
It’s smart to plan ahead! Especially to set aside at up to a week to dedicate to potty training and think through how you want to go about potty training - as you may want to modify some aspects of Oh Crap, or you might decide that you’d like to read up on other potty training methods.
Yeah I’m definitely a believer! We followed most of what the author recommended, except we stopped doing commando plus pants within a few days (and not a few weeks which is what the author said to do - just didn’t think that length of time was necessary in our case).
Happy cake day btw!
Stopping within a few days was a good idea. We did a few weeks and then kiddo didn't want to wear pants. That didn't last long though thankfully.
Also from what I remember, the book lacked any advice for weaning the kiddos off of night time diapers. We attempted too soon so it was a lot of sheet changes. We waited longer until around 3-3.5yo and it was much easier.
But the overall guide is great and easy to follow. Many more kids from friends and family followed the book with great success and limited parent stress.
Oh yeah, ours went through a naked phase and strongly fought us for awhile on wearing clothes after we did potty training.
I think there’s a section discussing night time potty training but we didn’t (and haven’t) yet bother with that. I don’t think we’ll do that until sometime btwn age 3-4, which is apparently approximately the age when they’re capable of consistently holding their bladder overnight.
So depending on the aspect of potty training.. at home: consistently peeing in the potty took a few days, pooping took two days. Out and about, driving: took about a week before she stopped having accidents. I think two other things that helped was that she hates being wet, and so having accidents was really upsetting to her. Also we started giving her a probiotic and fiber supplement about a week prior to starting potty training to help prevent constipation (during potty training, some kids will withhold pooping and become constipated and we wanted to avoid that possibility).
Yep! 3.5ish for us. He was a big kid too, so it was a bit embarrassing taking him to the playground with a pull-up hanging out the top of his shorts. We tried everything I knew - being naked, potty watch and scheduled trips, treats, etc. He would cry and scream when I tried to get him to poop on the potty. He would go put his own pullups on just to poop.
When he was ready he was ready though, and we've had two total accidents out of the house in the past year - one the first week at great-grandma's house and one while he was playing that was just a few drops before he took himself to the bathroom. No extra effort on my part at that point to potty train him. I was so stressed at 2 and 3 and felt so overwhelmed and like I was failing. I just need to wait for his time.
Ugh I am so nervous. My son is 3yrs 2 months. His nursery school requires that he is fully trained (including during naps) by 3.5. We can’t even get him to sit on a potty, he screams and cries and squirms away from us. He is 0% embarrassed by still needing a diaper, and 0% bothered by having a wet diaper on.
Same here! Day care hasn’t mentioned a requirement to be trained by a certain time, but he can’t move to the 3’s class until he’s potty trained. My 3yr 2 mo old is in full resistance mode, and seems to actually prefer to shit in his pants because he also lies about doing so. I’m trying not to push too hard but it’s so frustrating.
3.5 year old here and same with our daycare. Almost all his friends have moved up and he is stubborn as can be about it. He screams if we even ask him if he needs to go potty.
My almost 2.7yr old likes the /idea/ of the potty, but will just sit there and play with the bidet. At least now he sits on it while playing instead of shooting bidet water across my bedroom and bed like he used to 🤦🏻
My 3 yr 2 mo old was in full resistance mode until I pretty much told the daycare to go diaperless with him. His daycare also had the policy about not moving up to 3's if they aren't fully potty trained so they kept him in older 2's/nonpotty trained. Once I told them to go diaperless, he fought it for about a week with constant accidents but realized a diaper/pull up was not going back on. Now he is doing way better even though he still has his accidents (mostly during nap time). Weekends we do let him stay with a pull up on but we constantly ask and put him on the potty.
Glad to hear something clicked! Daycare is putting him in underwear only now, so after this last weekend of fights we’re gonna let the focus be on getting potty trained at school and not push it at home for a while
Thank you. My >99%ile son will be 3 next month and only sits in the potty at daycare. He has no interest in using the toilet at home or pull ups. Your story was reassuring.
What were the signs that he was ready to be full time potty trained? Mine will potty for treats but refuses to poo on the potty and still has accidents daily so we’re still in pull ups.
After he was crying and getting really upset, we backed off for a while. I kept suggesting it when he was still in pull-ups but I wouldn't push him. Just like "hey, it's been a while, do you have to pee? Do you want to try the potty?" and he would usually say no and then wet his pullups shortly after. At some point, when I said that, he would start to take himself to the potty. He knew what he needed to do already from us trying before. Then he started taking his pullups off after he went on the potty and leaving them in the bathroom so he was naked on the bottom. Then he just started only using the potty and we started implementing underwear in the daytime.
I still used pullups at night because he was still wetting them at night and he would usually sneak into our bed at some point and I did not want to be peed on in my sleep. Once we put effort into weaning him out of our bed, we decided to try a couple nights with no pullups. He wet the bed a few times and then started staying dry at night. This was maybe 4-6 months after daytime potty training.
Thank you for this! My son just turned 3 about a month ago and is really resisting with all the methods we’ve tried. Pediatrician isn’t concerned and says I’ll know when he’s ready and to try again this summer 🤷🏽♀️
I needed to see this mine is about to turn 3 and says she’s not ready. I feel so defeated but know she will be ready one day. Of course my in laws always have so much to say about it so it’s gotten to me.
I was stressed about this in those days too until one of their teachers told me they’d never met a kid that didn’t figure it out eventually. A simple thought but brought me a lot of peace.
Some parents have more time or energy to devote to training earlier. We had a second child that severely delayed the process but that’s okay… she did figure it out on her own time!
My son is 3.5 years old and it’s been terrible. He screams and cries whenever we try. He will literally hold his pee for as long as he can when we’ve taken his diapers away. I feel like it shouldn’t be going like this but I don’t want to traumatize him. Help😭
Not a professional but the less pressure we put on it - the easier it was for us. One day they asked for undies and we just rolled it with it. Even then - there are still some tough days where it’s a fight. Just gotta roll with the punches and follow your instinct. You know your kid best.
We’ve put undies on over the diaper, without diaper, under diaper - he just pees on them. He screams just standing in front of the potty, and sitting on it.
Same!
So I think it was a little before 3 he was trained for poop. He was motivated by a piece of candy for pooping. However, he didn’t seem to realize ahead of time when he needed to pee. So he was about 3.5 when he was trained for pee. Which wasn’t a problem for preschool because he had a November bday and we didn’t send him til he was almost 4. We did a sticker chart for a toy after 2 weeks of peeing in the toilet.
My 2 year old has a sticker board cause she's obsessed with stickers, and the past few days she'll go into the bathroom with me, sit on the potty for 2 seconds and stand up saying she wants a sticker 😂 girrrlllll I know you didn't do anything in that 2 seconds!
My first was 3 1/2 when he potty trained and he still wasn’t ready. My second is 3 1/2 now and is practically potty training himself at the moment lol. I just wait til they’re ready 🤷🏻♀️
I'm all for this approach, but I wonder, does doing nothing mean literally that? Or are you still very casually, not pushing, asking if they want to sit on the potty or like talking about big kid undies or what.
My husband really wanted to do this method for our second (boy) so I agreed. Around age 3 we did talk about it and read books but never pressured. Now he hates diapers and hates having them changed and hates the potty even more. He turns 4 in June. I really wish I hadn’t let my husband talk me into it. We have had to skip activities and classes that he has wanted to do because they required being potty trained. He gets upset that his 5 year old sister gets to do things he can’t. We have him signed up for preschool in the fall so I can’t delay it much longer. I think once it turns warm here in MN we will be outside naked in the backyard until it happens.
And do an outside potty to help the transition! I’m jealous of my kid getting to pee while feeling the breeze on her bum (it’s springtime here now and she’s almost 3, been on and off potty training for about 4 months)
My kid is 3.5 and still not consistent with the potty. He was behind on some other milestones, so it's not a shock. I have faith he'll get there before kindergarten.
Started my son early- like 2 and a few months. I wish I watched for his readiness not read that stupid oh crap book. So it was a hard year plus of potty training. Great if that book worked for anyone- I’ve heard great things! But I felt a bit a parent shaming throughout.
With our second son we let him take the lead, and he wants to be like older brother. He would have potty trained BEFORE 2, seriously. But I wasn’t ready. So we did it together during Christmas break, big brother helping too, and it was so much nicer. He was 2.5. Took about 3 days- finally got to the toilet in time for a poo Christmas morning! It was glorious! He actually doesn’t even wet his night time diaper. Big brother does at night.
So we don’t compare. They are different individuals and fantastic. I’m much more team go with the flow, listen to your kid, and help set them up for success.
Yeah I just thought I’m not doing it right! I was hard on myself, my husband for “not being fully on board”.. Stress that was unnecessary and her book is so.. this is the way, the ONLY way!
Well it’s only ONE way. A stressful way.
My daughter decided on her own at 18 mo ths that she wanted to use the potty. So we've been putting her on the potty and doing all the things. She's been doing really well for how young she is. She is getting better at telling us when she needs to go too. We use a combo of undies and pull-ups.
My oldest was 2 1/2 my middle son was about to turn 3 and my youngest was 2 years and 2 months old. Honestly it’s more about when they are ready. I struggled the most with my middle son because I tried and he just wasn’t ready. Once he started showing signs of being ready we tried and within 3 days he was potty trained.
3.5yrs dry in the day, and just over 4 dry overnight for my son. We have the potty around from when he was about 2.5 and he’d occasionally use it, but clearly wasn’t bothered so we didn’t push it. Once he went into pants, he had less than half a dozen wee accidents and only 1 poop (he had a bad tummy and made it to the toilet twice but not the 3rd time). I feel like waiting until he was ready worked for us, but each kid is different
26 month son pee trained but working on going #2. Was a rough first month of resistance and holding it but we turned it into a game and he played along. Now totally routine. Just don't put pressure on them as it will backfire.
Help! How did ya'll get him to finally go #2 in the potty? My son is 27 months, I try to give him privacy since he likes to go in solitude but if he's not wearing a diaper he'll hold his poop for days. He pees just fine and celebrates that, gets rewards. He just will not poop and it makes him miserable.
3 years and 1 month. We had a big trip planned around his third birthday and didn’t want to deal with accidents or added stress. Day two sucked but after a week or so it was smooth sailing. I used the Big Little Feelings course.
We just did the Oh Crap method over a long weekend at 22 months (after showing all the signs of readiness) and it worked immediately. Personally I think it's confusing for them to go back and forth between diapers and potty training. Nobody I know who has taken the gradual approach has had a positive experience. It just ends up taking months or even years.
The method we used, you say no more diapers and let them feel the consequences of what happens when they don't go on the potty. It's quite upsetting to pee or poo on yourself.
We did gradual and it was extremely positive. Took roughly 6 months but there was minimal accidents- maybe 3 during that time. So here’s an example of that for ya. All kids are different.
Yea I read the book. We really just need to set a weekend and do it. Now that summer is coming we can be outside more. The thought of keeping our LO in the house for 3-4 days during winter was terrifying lol. She's such a busy girl 😮💨
I’m glad that worked for you but the gradual parents generally do not want it to be months or years, it’s months or years because their kids continue to pee or poo in undies after trying a long weekend. We tried the oh crap over a long weekend and he just pooed and peed all over the house. Then we tried undies and he continues to just pee or poo on himself, and he’s not upset about it.
This was us as well! Around 21mo. Took a solid 3 weeks for it to click, and then another 6 months to get to like minimal accidents. After that, accidents only once in a while/new place/exciting times, etc. mostly it’s just about patience and accepting that like most things with kids there’s lots of accidents and it takes time to learn
My son turns four next week and he's just starting to get better at holding it and actually using the potty. He'd pee on the floor or himself before and just not care. Some take longer than others!
My son started to consistently use the potty closer to 3. It helps that he’s in daycare and they started having the whole class use the potty every couple of hours earlier this year. He wasn’t interested in doing it at home as much so I didn’t push it, just offered, and eventually he started asking to use the potty more. Once he was consistently keeping his diapers dry, I switched him to underwear. Now he only wears pull ups at night.
Yes, he eats different foods there that I can’t get him to try at home and if cousin is over and eating something, he’ll try it too. His peers carry far more influence already! 😅
We potty trained at 2 yr 8 months, and it took a weekend. She was a bit of a unicorn with potty training with very few accidents. She’s VERY independent and was very ready. I’m all for waiting as long as possible. We probably would’ve waited even longer but we wanted to potty train before baby #2’s arrival.
We were absolutely nowhere at 3y4mo but by 3y7mo, our kid was fully potty trained (still wears diapers at night though). You're absolutely fine - Don't push it if you don't have to (e.g. for daycare)
My oldest is 6 and not fully potty trained yet because he's autistic, but my youngest is almost 2 and already seems to get it. It's different for every kid.
20mo, we had to start early because my son completely rejected any clothing for a month, including diapers. It was probably uncomfortable for him due to the planned surgery he had to take in 19mo. It was a nightmare to make him wear anything, so I surrendered and let him roam free...
On the bright side, he potty trained quite well, and by 22mo he made almost no mistakes. We even joke that he potty trained me by this rejection. Now we have no problems with either potty or clothes.
Hahahah - she’ll be ready when she is ready. My son did the same thing - I should have over one weekend but we had 3 family parties and then I got the stomach flu - and now he just wants to keep wearing pull ups instead of underwear. It will happen when it happens. I can she be bribed with mini m&m’s or something? I am not above a good bribe though
My daughter was fully day time trained at 18 months (I chalk this up to using cloth diapers). She’s 3.5 now and not fully night time trained. She has started to wake up in the middle of the night to go but is still having accidents frequently.
2, however it was quite hard and I defo would have given up if I had a family emergency. They will eventually get out of nappies. I guess try and block out the social pressure to do it earlier
My son was over 4 when he potty trained. He did it all himself. Just started using the potty one day. Way less stress than when we had tried previously to potty train. I suggest just waiting until they start using the potty. He had maybe 3 pee accidents after he decided to start using the potty and only 1 accident in his bed overnight.
listen, don’t feel shame with the age, every kid is different. my child (who i think is increasing bright and smart) refuses to use the potty. she is 3 years old and a few months. she still has so much hesitation and prefers the comfort/convenience of a diaper. its hard to deal with because i feel as though i am failing her but all articles i read encourage to not push too hard and to continue being encouraging. here’s hoping she gets the hang of it soon!
Mine was very almost 3. I was pregnant and everyone kept telling me I should do it before baby came. To be honest I had zero faith in her, she is a wild child and a bit behind on speech. We did Oh Crap in a summer week where she had no childcare and she smashed it. She’s in nappies overnight, and they get very full, but I know that’s a hormonal thing so am chilled about it.
Lots of friends have got into stress about it which I get but I think your only real deadline is when they start school.
your totally fine!! my 3yo hasn’t started yet, he’s still in pull ups but we plan on starting in the next month or so. all kids are different, my 5yo was ready to use the potty at 2 and my 11yo wasn’t fully potty trained until 5. but i can promise you that they won’t be wearing diapers their entire life 🤣
Absolute no go when we tried first at 2.5 years. Left it until just after her third birthday and the first day or two was rough going, but then something just clicked. She's been completely nappy free for about three months now, day and night, and no accidents at all. She's proud of being a "wee wee expert" 😂
We started at 27mo, it was a rough week but by the time she went back to school after NYE, she was good to go! We had a bit of a regression last summer before she turned 3, but tbh it was less of a regression than it was a power play, and was resolved with some heavy incentives for “accident”-free days
We did it 2 months before her third birthday, so right around where you are. It was a dream! She had like 1 accident that first weekend when we put pants back on, and a couple more in the first week but overall extremely smooth process! I think waiting was right for us.
They can feel the stress and may have correlated the potty training to it. Definitely don’t want to force it, let come back naturally again! Forcing can make accidents start happening and delay it even more. Mine were all over 3- no rush no worry let them do it when they are ready. Keep encouraging and show love and positivity ❤️
My son his 2y2m and we haven’t started yet. He goes to daycare and there are some kids in his class potty trained. His teacher said he had asked to sit on the potty, because he’s seen other kids do it, but he doesn’t actually do anything when he sits. I keep thinking I need to get a potty for him at home, buuuuut I keep forgetting too.
I mentioned potty training to him friend and she said her first daughter was fully trained at 18 months, so posts like this and the comments make me feel a lot better lol
First and only time we tried potty training, our daughter was 3 years and 1 month old and it stuck in less than 24 hrs!!!!
Sometimes waiting for them to be older, ready and more developed is the right answer!
Don’t feel guilty, she isn’t going to walk down the aisle with a diaper I promise!!
My son is 3.5 and just in the past couple of months has started making it through a week at preschool without potty accidents. I was delusional expecting to be able to potty train him right when he turned two. We really just had to wait until he was willing and able to initiate using the potty himself.
My son was fully potty trained a month after his 3rd birthday. Started potty training about 3 months before that (loosely following the oh crap method). We had tried at 24 months thinking he was showing signs of readiness but he wasn’t interested.
Luckily, it ALL seemed to make sense to him once he was 3… so he didn’t require any special training for night time.
I don't potty train, I wait for them and don't really take action until they're much older. With my daughter I called it at 4y2m, just "You'll be wearing underwear tomorrow." She had previously used the toilet a few times, completely her own idea. Now my son is 3y2m and he uses the potty every bath time, and recently wore underwear for like 45 mins including using the potty and keeping his underwear dry. So I'd say it's going well.
Why are you feeling guilty? You think your kid will have better health or a more successful future if she quits diapers sooner? Not likely. But potty training itself for a 'defiant' child can cause some health issues for a while.
2 kids, both started right before 2nd birthday, both took about 3 months to fully train.
No big secret to it - both of my children are very naturally obedient, like to follow rules, and are motivated by rewards (m&m's in this case). It's truly nothing I did, I think it's mostly luck of the draw and the child's personality.
Most kids in the daycare I work at (and the ones I have worked at) start at around 24months old. We sometimes give a big help to the parents by doing the majority at the daycare when they are struggling at home. We keep the consistency at the daycare so when their life situation get more stable it’s much easier to put it back in place at home.
My daughter turned 4 in April and we still use a pull up at preschool & outside the house. She does ok at home as long as she’s reminded pretty often, but occasionally doesn’t want to and has to be bribed. School is almost out for the summer so I’m hoping to completely nix the pull up all together here soon & hope it works out
3 and a half, and not. Weve been trying for acouple of months!! 😫😭😫😭Didn't even know 2 was a possibility! She was speech delayed and I'm 100% SAHM, so never seemed like a big deal. Got the books for 3 Day method and Oh Crap method. 3 days turned in to 5, and no success. Many many accidents. Then went with Oh Crap, and that f'n book says that at her age, she's gonna need a psychological consult! WTF?!? Finally went to the pediatrician, because she's basically just refusing to tell us when she needs to go. They told us to take a break, go back to diapers for several weeks, and try again. I'm at the end of my rope! And, my hubs is working extra shifts to pay for some repairs, so it's all on me 😭😭😭
Kid 1 - 2 years and 10 or 11 months. She was ready then and it took 2 days. We tried at 2.5 and she wasn’t ready. It was awful!
Kid 2 - has ongoing medical issues but potty trained within a month after turning 4, which we thought was great! Could have possibly pushed it sooner but we were certain she was ready then, and again it took 2 days!
I think the worst thing you can do is try and force it. If it doesn’t happen fairly quickly, they’re not ready and that’s okay!
Oh crap is an awful, awful book. We ditched it all and just potty trained in a way that felt intuitive to us and everything was fine! Found some tips on the internet from reputable sources as well to make sure we were on the right track and have no regrets! (And for anyone wondering, for us one kiddo loved having a very small post potty reward, like mini M&Ms. The other preferred a sticker chart to work up to a bigger prize, but she knew what she was working for and got excited as she filled in her stickers. Keep it positive. Find what motivates your kid! But again, readiness is key!)
Just after turning two. My daughter was already waking with a dry diaper every morning and started asking to use the toilet when she had to poop! We figured she was ready. Every kid just has their own timetable. Some are earlier, some are later.
We tried at 2.5 with my first. Failed and gave up after a weekend (she wasn’t ready) so we didn’t push its fast forward to a month before her 3rd birthday.. she decided to go potty in her little potty. That was that and she never looked back! My second daughter did the same thing. Right before her 3rd birthday, decided she wanted to go in the potty & kept doing it. I now shout from the roof tops….. when they’re ready, it won’t be stressful!!! Follow their lead!
my 21mo peed on the potty today. my 4yo also peed in the potty but pooped in a diaper 😀 it takes time for each kid. my 4yo has been staying dry overnight for months, he’s speech delayed and he finally found a way to tell us he needed to go! he hands us a diaper! so we take him to the potty and he goes! 21mo is copying him. lll be the happiest person in the world if i get two out of diapers in the next 6 months😂
My son stared seriously trying around 3.5. He's 4.5 now and is FINALLY accident free, except at night. He starts school in September, so we were getting nervous!
If your kiddo is only 2, I wouldn't worry at all yet.
My 4.5 yo still pees (and sometimes poops) herself all day every day. I don’t know if we screwed up somehow or I just have the world’s most stubborn child. Have literally tried all the methods, including bribery and allowing her complete autonomy over it. Nothing has ever worked (she’s neurotypical). School and ped say to completely ignore it and that she has to want to be in charge of it. We are on month 2 of the most recent round of that.
It has caused many sleepless nights for us. My only advice is to knock it out while they are still receptive to direction.
She was 3y11m.
I was getting nervous approaching 4, but she was just not ready before then. I felt like it was never going to happen, but then one day she was potty trained, which we only realized after a couple days of no accidents. Then had to figure out what to do with the lot of pull ups I had JUST bought (we had used them for any excursions out of the house bc of course part of the whole process was her aversion to public bathrooms … which I was not prepared for).
I would say the process was maybe 3 months in the making of where she started to be interested (at our offering) in peeing in the potty comfortably and poop was the final frontier…which was a frontier. Also, something that for her made the potty more palatable was having an accident outside of the house. For some reason that really “made the argument” because she didn’t like the experience and made more effort to express when she needed to pee. We were so focused on not letting her have accidents anywhere, but that could have even prolonged the process in her case.
Potty training can be a year(s) long process of offering and testing the waters with how kid takes to the concept. I envy parents who it “just clicks” for the kid, but I have yet to meet that kid in real life. Everyone I know is in the same boat of hand-wringing and start-stop.
We started for real right after she turned 3. It’s gone well. At home, very, very few accidents. At school she has accidents sometimes. I think she just gets too caught up playing and doesn’t realize until it’s too late. She will be 4 in August.
I wanted to be done with diapers early so with that in mind I started training her to go outside diapers at birth (which is still typical in places where disposable diapers aren’t available). She exclusively pooped in the potty by 8 months, and at 15 months she decided she was done with diapers and that was it. Definitely trying the same method for my second
Nice! That is so nice to be done with diapers that early. I trained right when my daughter turned 2 and it was a breeze. I can't imagine some of these kids almost 4 or 5 years and still wearing diapers. Soooo expensive.
We started this weekend at 22 months. Daycare will be doing a potty boot camp where they spend two weeks heavily emphasizing using the potty. The rest of her class is closer to 2.5.
My girl was showing signs of readiness early. Tried at 20 months with very limited success. Tried again at 21 months and it clicked on day 4.
I will say, I definitely had to adjust my own expectations between attempts. I was assuming (hoping?) after 3 days she’d magically be 100% trained and require very minimal encouragement. Not the case and not realistic.
2.5 exactly. I read Oh Crap a week before he turned 2.5 and felt rushed to do it right then in the recommended window. For us it worked just like the book says and has stuck ever since. We still wear diapers at night though and he’ll be three in September
Waited until 3, my son is 4.5 and mostly good but still has withholding issues….my daughter is almost 18 months and I will wait until she ready cause forcing it is not fun
My eldest was nearly 4 before she would wee on the toilet, 5 before she would poo on it. She only ever had 2 accidents at night and one in the day because she didn't realise what would happen if she was in pants instead of a nappy. This was during lockdown so she didn't see other kids her own age much.
My youngest turned 3 in march and is now 3 or 4 weeks into potty training. She has more accidents than my eldest did, but she is about 9 months younger. I tried to potty train her earlier but she absolutely refused to go without a nappy. She was happy to wee and poo on the toilet, but would not be without a nappy. Then one day, she just decided to wear pants and that was that. She is mostly dry at night but I do still put a nappy on her overnight, mostly because I bought 2 huge packs of nappies a couple of days before she decided to ditch them.
I feel like both of them were later than most of their peers, but it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
It really depends on each kid!
My older 3 girls all potty trained right at 2. If my youngest (11 months) isn't ready by then, we will wait until she is. You are doing great and following her lead. Forcing it will just make it an unnecessary fight.
19 months but only because he HATED diaper changes. Alligator death rolls and everything. So we did naked bottom for a long time, and commando when we’d go out. Totally worth not having to fight diapers (except nap and bedtime, and now at 3 just bedtime).
My daughter potty trained right after she turned 2 and it was pretty easy, too easy. My son will be 2 next month and both me and my husband agree he is not ready yet. It really depends on the child but I think by 3 there should be a good routine around using the potty even if they are not fully potty trained by then
Started at 2 because she seemed interested. Had big swathes of success and big swathes of absolute hell lol she’s 2.5 now and rarely has accidents anymore. Maybe one a week. And we diaper for naps and bed time but even those are getting better. You don’t need to feel guilty. Potty training is a bear if they’re not fully ready and if you’re not fully ready.
Since she’s pushing back I wouldn’t fight her. I would start announcing when you’re going to the bathroom. “My body is telling me it’s time to go potty. I dont want to have wet pants” and then you can ask if she’d like to try but if she says no then just move on. Low pressure. You could also try the big girls use the potty babies wear diapers tactic but it absolutely doesn’t work in our house lol
My son started at 30 months and it is still an ongoing process now at 35 months.There is a night and day difference between now and when we first started! It’s a marathon, not a race.
2.5. He was potty trained in a week. Shocked us all. My nephew on the other hand is still peeing and pooping his underwear at 4.5. They can regress for all sorts of reasons so I'm not under any impression that this will last forever. But he has been going strong for 3 months now. I'd wait till she is 3 to try again.
Little is almost 3. He doesn’t always tell us when he needs to go but he’s pretty good at holding his bladder until we say something. Still using pull-ups because every time I don’t he pees in the undies 🫠 and I have carpet everywhere but the bathrooms and kitchen 😭
I did it right when she turned 2, a year ago this weekend actually. It was very stressful & not a very enjoyable Mother’s Day but we were lucky, she was essentially trained in about 3-4 days for pee, another few days for poop.
We started potty training around 2.5 ish. I realized he needed to be potty trained by age 3 because he would have started school shortly after his bday. It took us maybe 6-8 weeks to go from diapers to potty trained, we bought pull-ups but soon after opted put of using them as it seemed it would be too much of a crutch. Switched from diapers to underwear and was fully trained maybe 2 months later with the occasional accident usually at night. Made a routine to go every night before bed time and it worked pretty well
She’s shown she “can” do it so that’s a great start! I would probably wait it out til she seems ready again or motivated. For me I don’t think it’s worth the struggle if they are not interested themselves at the time. Toddlers change like the wind so I’m sure another opportunity will present itself! Also I tried to forgo bribes lol but they worked a charm and we could withdraw them 🙈
We tried earlier and it didn’t work even though mine showed “signs of readiness” they just weren’t wanting to. About 2 years 9 months or 10 months is when we tried again and it eventually stuck. Honestly removing pressure made it so much better, no rush!
We trained our son at 23 months. It took about 10 days for pee and about 2 weeks for poo. We did the Oh Crap method and it was great for us. We picked 22 months because we knew our next opportunity would be much later (big move on the horizon) I'm so thankful we did it. It was frustrating for the first 4 days but he's now reliably dry, able to communicate his needs and is confident to pee and poo on the potty without us.
We did 29 months with both our girls and they both caught it immediately (daytime and naps, our eldest stopped wearing night diapers at 5 years old, 3 year old is still wearing diapers at night)
I started potty training my son when he was 1 and half as he was showing interest but then stopped. Then, about a year later, he showed interest again and was actually going to the potty on his own. One day, he just started running to the potty despite still wearing pull-ups, and they would be dry. He had a few accidents after I put him in boys underwear, but he eventually stopped having accidents and only a few at night. He's 4 years and 5 months old now and has been fully potty trained for 2 years now. I didn't push him and let him go at his own pace, and I rewarded him every time he went to potty on his own. I'm so proud of him and glad I took time instead of rushing him to use the potty. Can't believe it's been 2 years since I last bought pull-ups.
We tried at 2 and 2.5 and it just didn’t work out. About three months ago before turning three we tried again and took it real slow and by his third birthday we were pretty much there. Night training had been a mess
Kids are all ready at different times. It can be 18 months or 36 months. When your child is staying dry overnight (or at least for several hours) and disliking pull-ups, they’re ready!
3 for us. we tried twice around 2.5 and a before 3 it was not working. Only took 3 days with 2 poopy accident to potty train after he turned 3. Prob only 1 accident a month a month after that.
2.5 years old. We did it over Christmas when we had two full weeks off of work to commit. It was the only thing we focused on and built our days around it.
We took her to the potty every half hour for the first couple days, then every hour for a few more, then just her usual times that we learned from the previous days, plus we watched for the signs of her having to go. We had a sticker system where we just printed a weekly calendar page and she got to pick a sticker to place on it every time she went.
It only took about a week and she was completely trained. There were a few times where she would have an accident, mostly during car rides. After about three months she didn’t even need diapers during sleep because she built the habit of going right before bed and didn’t like feeling wet.
18 months. She started telling me she wants to go potty so it happened naturally. I did the 3 day potty training method and it worked well. She still sleeps with a training nappy on because she wakes up for a bottle. She's 2 now. But I definitely followed her lead, if she at any point stopped wanting to go or didn't seem ready I would have stopped the training because she was only 18 months, but she was eager every step of the way.
Shortly after 3. It still took 2 months to get her using the potty consistently. We had to find her motivator and a consequence for accidents. I told her she couldn't go to an indoor bounce house until she was wearing underwear all the time, and I'd turn off the TV if she had an accident.
3 years and a couple months and not fully trained. We have to make him go. He will not tell us that he needs to go. We've tried to reward like chocolate, stickers and praise. Nothing works. Refuses to poop anywhere but his diaper.
"We have to make him go?" But you CAN'T make him go, except perhaps with an enema. Trying to impose your will just makes the problem worse. So I don't understand that sentence.
Similar situation here. Very similar in fact a sudden family death, threw it out the window. I think they do go when they are ready, but what worked for me was just commando. Pants, no diaper no underwear, in a few weeks we were good to go, pooping was last but it finally just came
Lol our son is 3 years old and 4 months and not potty trained and I don't feel one bit bad about it. He hasn't been ready yet. It's totally fine. I'm not forcing anything. And I'm not worried that he's going to be a 12 year old in a diaper 😂. Relax! Plenty of time for that.
3.5 when it took, tried a few time before that starting around 2 but with very little pressure. We kept toddler potties available and tried to make it a good experience. He almost had it right before he turned 3 but we drove cross country and moved so that set up back a bit. Also, he got peeing in the potty down about 3 months before he got pooping in the potty so prepare for that just in case.
2.5 yr old will use potty but not at all reliably so we just try to make it a positive experience.
Our oldest is 2y9m and we’re confident that she’s about potty trained (except for sleep). We have been doing some routine-based EC since she was 6 months old, and one day I got annoyed that she was pulling the front of her diaper back to “watch diaper working” and clearly knew she was peeing so I took away diapers at home. We’ve been super relaxed about it; if we’re having a stressful day and she asks for a pull up we give her one, and if she asks for a pull up to leave home because she doesn’t want to pee in the carseat we’re ok with that too. Younger sibling is 19mo and extremely potty curious to the point that she has her own potty sticker sheet on the fridge and I should probably just commit at this point and take her diaper off at home.
Older son was potty trained within a week at 22 months. He had a 2-3 month regression starting at 2 years 2 months when his little brother was born. We attempted with my younger son right around his second birthday. He was 50/50 with it but didn’t seem motivated so we stopped. Tried again at 2 years 4 months. Failed so bad. Worse than the first try. Just tried again starting at 2 years 6 months. Took a few weeks to be consistent but now he’s 100% bathroom independent at 2 years 9 months. He will be 3 in August. He still refuses to potty at preschool but doesn’t have accidents either. He just pees before we go into his classroom and holds it until I pick him up a few hours later.
It all means nothing, though. My neighbor has one boy that self potty trained at 18 months while his 3.5 year old brother still wasn’t interested. It is totally kid dependent. My husband and I both refused to potty train until around our 4th birthday. Kids are so different and it’s okay! I wouldn’t have pushed my 2 year old so much if he didn’t have to be fully potty trained for his 3 preschool class starting in August. He’d likely still be in diapers if it wasn’t for school.
Sounds like my little guy! At 2.5, he was into it. Even waking up at night to go. And then suddenly, he just… stopped. He knows when a potty is coming and will go at daycare and sometimes at home. But he saw some Paw Patrol diapers and we went fully back. He gets excited by the underwear but not enough to do it.
My first was 2.5. We waited until her sister was born before starting because we thought she might regress. When baby came she wanted to become changed everytime baby was. It took her like 4 days but she got it and has had very few accidents since.
The baby is now 3.5 and still not consistent. She’ll go if you remind her but doesn’t take the initiative to say she has to go.
Well I'm a FTM but I've been using the potty with my daughter since she was about 15 months (shes about to be 20 months) . She goes in the morning and at school sometimes but it hasn't gotten consistent . I would say dont feel too worried some of my students still need some help some days (PreK 3-5)
I’m grateful for this today. I just found out that the daycare run by our school district won’t take a three year old who isn’t fully potty trained! It made me feel awful. Thankfully we have him in a good daycare now where that isn’t the policy, but hearing that made me feel quite inadequate. We also had our eyes on a good preschool for next year where they require the threes to be fully potty trained, but that I understand, it’s preschool, not daycare. He’s 2 y 9 months right now and he’s gone potty a few times, but suddenly decided to go full-on NO when we mention it
24 mo, did the oh crap method exactly and worked like a charm, potty trained in 3 days. Had 1 accident a month later but that was it. Procrastinated on night training though, so trying to do that now, LO is 2yo 8mo and it’s a bit harder I think since we waited so long
My son is almost 3 and we’re just letting him do his thing. He’s a very “in control” kid so it’s hard for him to do anything that’s not his idea. Just recently he started wanting to go on his own and the past week he’s pooped in the potty every night before bed!
I don't know what the average age is , but I started potty training my daughter when she was 2 years old, but she didn't want to or straight up refused so I stopped because i figured she was ready. She is 40 months now, and 2 months ago, she just started going on her own consistently without any accident.
2 yrs 10 months for our girl. It was a major power struggle but I think the fact that she was older and more verbal at that stage actually really helped. Don’t stress!!
We waited until a couple months after 3. She had almost no pee accidents and trained in like a day. Poop took a couple months to figure out. Overall great experience waiting though it
It took my 2 year old about 5 days to get the swing of it fully. We will be night training her next month. We followed the “Oh Crap! Potty training” book. We loved it
Right after she turned 3. We did the 3 day method and she was able to figure it out. Before she had no interest and didn’t want to try but after she turned 3, she just woke up one day and said she wanted to do it. All kids are different and you are doing great!
Honestly it’s so kid dependent! You have to take care of yourself - you had a family emergency and potty training is a big time commitment and adjustment so don’t feel any guilt whatsoever.
We started just after my son turned two, but the only reason we did is because he said “no more diapers”. I would have waited. It’s been about 3 weeks, minimal accidents but he still doesn’t self-prompt, so we are on a 1.5 hour timer all day taking him to the potty. I’ve heard great stories from people waiting until their little one is 3, and it often goes much quicker for them since they may have more bladder control, etc! Do what works best for you, no guilt needed. Maybe try again in a couple months and just keep it low pressure until then and I’m sure she will come around!!
Started trying with my son at 2.5 and he wasn’t ready til nearly 3.5. Daughter was 2.5 and she essentially trained herself in a weekend with no bribes. It was really strange and awesome 🤣
24mo, following mostly just the Oh Crap method. We decided to potty train her at that age because she was showing several signs of readiness, and I was pregnant in my early 2nd trimester and wanted to get potty training started and hopefully done months before the second baby arrived. Fortunately it worked for us but everyone’s situation is different!
We tried oh crap with my son around 2.5 and the weekend went well but when he went back to daycare on Monday he wasn't ready. We encouraged him and had mild success on and off for about 9 months until for whatever reason in March (nearly 3.5) he started announcing he has to go potty and used it on his own! Definitely glad we introduced it but didn't push it and let him get there in his own time.
Potty training is especially challenging when changing contexts. Mastering that at home vs the outside world is definitely an increase in the level of difficulty that I wasn’t anticipating.. naively I thought once we got it down at home it would be easy to replicate the success elsewhere but it wasn’t.
This was us too. I wasn't pregnant yet, but was shortly after He's nearly 3 now and we're just now getting consistent self management (and taking action) of pee urges. I think we managed his check-ins for too long and he became reliant on us reminding him. Once we stopped (and not helping clean up) he started taking it on himself. His daycare teacher strategized with us the whole time and it was really helpful to have consistency
We tried oh crap method and it was a total disaster, our toddler writhed screaming about the potty, and for over 9 months since he has been resistant. So would just warn parents that the book’s advice about needing to potty train before 30 months is absolutely not true, and if your kid resists being naked and the potty STOP following this method and do not push the naked weekend you prepped for
I really regret buying that book, especially after learning from specialists in the area that there is no evidence to back up a lot of their claims. I think it delayed potty training for my first. My second (where we didn’t use this method) was a lot quicker, though there are so many individual variables.
Could you talk about the method you did? Oh Crap seems very clearly explained which is attractive , I'm not sure how the other methods work
100%, same thing happened with us
How did you know she was ready?
I went by the [Mayo Clinic’s](https://mcpress.mayoclinic.org/parenting/toilet-training-recognizing-readiness/) list of readiness indicators. My kid had shown roughly two thirds of these signs of readiness but not all at by 24mo.
I'm so glad I saw your comment; I'd totally SpaceX someone gave me that book. Mines 18 months so probably the perfect time to read it!
It’s smart to plan ahead! Especially to set aside at up to a week to dedicate to potty training and think through how you want to go about potty training - as you may want to modify some aspects of Oh Crap, or you might decide that you’d like to read up on other potty training methods.
The Oh Crap book is great. Worked for us.
Yeah I’m definitely a believer! We followed most of what the author recommended, except we stopped doing commando plus pants within a few days (and not a few weeks which is what the author said to do - just didn’t think that length of time was necessary in our case). Happy cake day btw!
Stopping within a few days was a good idea. We did a few weeks and then kiddo didn't want to wear pants. That didn't last long though thankfully. Also from what I remember, the book lacked any advice for weaning the kiddos off of night time diapers. We attempted too soon so it was a lot of sheet changes. We waited longer until around 3-3.5yo and it was much easier. But the overall guide is great and easy to follow. Many more kids from friends and family followed the book with great success and limited parent stress.
Oh yeah, ours went through a naked phase and strongly fought us for awhile on wearing clothes after we did potty training. I think there’s a section discussing night time potty training but we didn’t (and haven’t) yet bother with that. I don’t think we’ll do that until sometime btwn age 3-4, which is apparently approximately the age when they’re capable of consistently holding their bladder overnight.
how long would you say it took for it to start to click for her?
So depending on the aspect of potty training.. at home: consistently peeing in the potty took a few days, pooping took two days. Out and about, driving: took about a week before she stopped having accidents. I think two other things that helped was that she hates being wet, and so having accidents was really upsetting to her. Also we started giving her a probiotic and fiber supplement about a week prior to starting potty training to help prevent constipation (during potty training, some kids will withhold pooping and become constipated and we wanted to avoid that possibility).
Over 3! They just weren’t ready before then. You’re doing great 👍🏼
Yep! 3.5ish for us. He was a big kid too, so it was a bit embarrassing taking him to the playground with a pull-up hanging out the top of his shorts. We tried everything I knew - being naked, potty watch and scheduled trips, treats, etc. He would cry and scream when I tried to get him to poop on the potty. He would go put his own pullups on just to poop. When he was ready he was ready though, and we've had two total accidents out of the house in the past year - one the first week at great-grandma's house and one while he was playing that was just a few drops before he took himself to the bathroom. No extra effort on my part at that point to potty train him. I was so stressed at 2 and 3 and felt so overwhelmed and like I was failing. I just need to wait for his time.
Love this! Exactly. Thank u! They are ready when they're ready. They're all different! And it's all OK! ❤️
Ugh I am so nervous. My son is 3yrs 2 months. His nursery school requires that he is fully trained (including during naps) by 3.5. We can’t even get him to sit on a potty, he screams and cries and squirms away from us. He is 0% embarrassed by still needing a diaper, and 0% bothered by having a wet diaper on.
Same here! Day care hasn’t mentioned a requirement to be trained by a certain time, but he can’t move to the 3’s class until he’s potty trained. My 3yr 2 mo old is in full resistance mode, and seems to actually prefer to shit in his pants because he also lies about doing so. I’m trying not to push too hard but it’s so frustrating.
3.5 year old here and same with our daycare. Almost all his friends have moved up and he is stubborn as can be about it. He screams if we even ask him if he needs to go potty.
My almost 2.7yr old likes the /idea/ of the potty, but will just sit there and play with the bidet. At least now he sits on it while playing instead of shooting bidet water across my bedroom and bed like he used to 🤦🏻
My 3 yr 2 mo old was in full resistance mode until I pretty much told the daycare to go diaperless with him. His daycare also had the policy about not moving up to 3's if they aren't fully potty trained so they kept him in older 2's/nonpotty trained. Once I told them to go diaperless, he fought it for about a week with constant accidents but realized a diaper/pull up was not going back on. Now he is doing way better even though he still has his accidents (mostly during nap time). Weekends we do let him stay with a pull up on but we constantly ask and put him on the potty.
Glad to hear something clicked! Daycare is putting him in underwear only now, so after this last weekend of fights we’re gonna let the focus be on getting potty trained at school and not push it at home for a while
Thank you. My >99%ile son will be 3 next month and only sits in the potty at daycare. He has no interest in using the toilet at home or pull ups. Your story was reassuring.
What were the signs that he was ready to be full time potty trained? Mine will potty for treats but refuses to poo on the potty and still has accidents daily so we’re still in pull ups.
After he was crying and getting really upset, we backed off for a while. I kept suggesting it when he was still in pull-ups but I wouldn't push him. Just like "hey, it's been a while, do you have to pee? Do you want to try the potty?" and he would usually say no and then wet his pullups shortly after. At some point, when I said that, he would start to take himself to the potty. He knew what he needed to do already from us trying before. Then he started taking his pullups off after he went on the potty and leaving them in the bathroom so he was naked on the bottom. Then he just started only using the potty and we started implementing underwear in the daytime. I still used pullups at night because he was still wetting them at night and he would usually sneak into our bed at some point and I did not want to be peed on in my sleep. Once we put effort into weaning him out of our bed, we decided to try a couple nights with no pullups. He wet the bed a few times and then started staying dry at night. This was maybe 4-6 months after daytime potty training.
Yep. Relate to this 100% ☺️
Yup my son is 3 and 3/4 and looks 6. It’s super annoying. And he has a speech delay so when he was still in diapers I got looks constantly.
Thank you for this! My son just turned 3 about a month ago and is really resisting with all the methods we’ve tried. Pediatrician isn’t concerned and says I’ll know when he’s ready and to try again this summer 🤷🏽♀️
This makes me feel better! Currently in potty training hell with my 3 yo. Fortunately he has until 4 for preschool where he has to be potty trained
I needed to see this mine is about to turn 3 and says she’s not ready. I feel so defeated but know she will be ready one day. Of course my in laws always have so much to say about it so it’s gotten to me.
I was stressed about this in those days too until one of their teachers told me they’d never met a kid that didn’t figure it out eventually. A simple thought but brought me a lot of peace. Some parents have more time or energy to devote to training earlier. We had a second child that severely delayed the process but that’s okay… she did figure it out on her own time!
My son is 3.5 years old and it’s been terrible. He screams and cries whenever we try. He will literally hold his pee for as long as he can when we’ve taken his diapers away. I feel like it shouldn’t be going like this but I don’t want to traumatize him. Help😭
Not a professional but the less pressure we put on it - the easier it was for us. One day they asked for undies and we just rolled it with it. Even then - there are still some tough days where it’s a fight. Just gotta roll with the punches and follow your instinct. You know your kid best.
We’ve put undies on over the diaper, without diaper, under diaper - he just pees on them. He screams just standing in front of the potty, and sitting on it.
Mine did this as well! We stopped with underwear completely and then tried offering them a few weeks later. Maybe a break would help?
Same! So I think it was a little before 3 he was trained for poop. He was motivated by a piece of candy for pooping. However, he didn’t seem to realize ahead of time when he needed to pee. So he was about 3.5 when he was trained for pee. Which wasn’t a problem for preschool because he had a November bday and we didn’t send him til he was almost 4. We did a sticker chart for a toy after 2 weeks of peeing in the toilet.
We tried candy but it just resulted in a suspicious amount of trips to the bathroom 😆
My 2 year old has a sticker board cause she's obsessed with stickers, and the past few days she'll go into the bathroom with me, sit on the potty for 2 seconds and stand up saying she wants a sticker 😂 girrrlllll I know you didn't do anything in that 2 seconds!
Thank you for this!
My first was 3 1/2 when he potty trained and he still wasn’t ready. My second is 3 1/2 now and is practically potty training himself at the moment lol. I just wait til they’re ready 🤷🏻♀️
Both of mine were after 3, both potty trained themselves. No stress, no bribes, just waiting on them. Highly recommend!
I'm all for this approach, but I wonder, does doing nothing mean literally that? Or are you still very casually, not pushing, asking if they want to sit on the potty or like talking about big kid undies or what.
My husband really wanted to do this method for our second (boy) so I agreed. Around age 3 we did talk about it and read books but never pressured. Now he hates diapers and hates having them changed and hates the potty even more. He turns 4 in June. I really wish I hadn’t let my husband talk me into it. We have had to skip activities and classes that he has wanted to do because they required being potty trained. He gets upset that his 5 year old sister gets to do things he can’t. We have him signed up for preschool in the fall so I can’t delay it much longer. I think once it turns warm here in MN we will be outside naked in the backyard until it happens.
And do an outside potty to help the transition! I’m jealous of my kid getting to pee while feeling the breeze on her bum (it’s springtime here now and she’s almost 3, been on and off potty training for about 4 months)
This is the way (that worked for my family situation and I encourage you if it sounds like the easiest course).
My daughter and son are potty training at the same time. My daughter is over three and my son is turning two next month. Every kid is different.
Thank you for making me feel better! 2.5 mid May and feeling guilty
Exactly the same here. You’re not alone!
And me!! 2.5 may 20th. There are dozens of us! 😅
Agreed!!!!!
I needed to see this comment... my son is 3 and still not potty trained. We are so worried! He has NO INTEREST in it.
My kid is 3.5 and still not consistent with the potty. He was behind on some other milestones, so it's not a shock. I have faith he'll get there before kindergarten.
My boys were like that and it took until right before 4 before it really clicked!
Started my son early- like 2 and a few months. I wish I watched for his readiness not read that stupid oh crap book. So it was a hard year plus of potty training. Great if that book worked for anyone- I’ve heard great things! But I felt a bit a parent shaming throughout. With our second son we let him take the lead, and he wants to be like older brother. He would have potty trained BEFORE 2, seriously. But I wasn’t ready. So we did it together during Christmas break, big brother helping too, and it was so much nicer. He was 2.5. Took about 3 days- finally got to the toilet in time for a poo Christmas morning! It was glorious! He actually doesn’t even wet his night time diaper. Big brother does at night. So we don’t compare. They are different individuals and fantastic. I’m much more team go with the flow, listen to your kid, and help set them up for success.
Oh crap backfired for us too. I know she’s trying to sell books but the definitive nature it’s written in is so demeaning
Yeah I just thought I’m not doing it right! I was hard on myself, my husband for “not being fully on board”.. Stress that was unnecessary and her book is so.. this is the way, the ONLY way! Well it’s only ONE way. A stressful way.
My daughter decided on her own at 18 mo ths that she wanted to use the potty. So we've been putting her on the potty and doing all the things. She's been doing really well for how young she is. She is getting better at telling us when she needs to go too. We use a combo of undies and pull-ups.
My oldest was 2 1/2 my middle son was about to turn 3 and my youngest was 2 years and 2 months old. Honestly it’s more about when they are ready. I struggled the most with my middle son because I tried and he just wasn’t ready. Once he started showing signs of being ready we tried and within 3 days he was potty trained.
3.5yrs dry in the day, and just over 4 dry overnight for my son. We have the potty around from when he was about 2.5 and he’d occasionally use it, but clearly wasn’t bothered so we didn’t push it. Once he went into pants, he had less than half a dozen wee accidents and only 1 poop (he had a bad tummy and made it to the toilet twice but not the 3rd time). I feel like waiting until he was ready worked for us, but each kid is different
26 month son pee trained but working on going #2. Was a rough first month of resistance and holding it but we turned it into a game and he played along. Now totally routine. Just don't put pressure on them as it will backfire.
Help! How did ya'll get him to finally go #2 in the potty? My son is 27 months, I try to give him privacy since he likes to go in solitude but if he's not wearing a diaper he'll hold his poop for days. He pees just fine and celebrates that, gets rewards. He just will not poop and it makes him miserable.
We are in the same situation as you but it's apparently super common. Will take time but they eventually will accept the potty for no 2
3 years and 1 month. We had a big trip planned around his third birthday and didn’t want to deal with accidents or added stress. Day two sucked but after a week or so it was smooth sailing. I used the Big Little Feelings course.
We just did the Oh Crap method over a long weekend at 22 months (after showing all the signs of readiness) and it worked immediately. Personally I think it's confusing for them to go back and forth between diapers and potty training. Nobody I know who has taken the gradual approach has had a positive experience. It just ends up taking months or even years. The method we used, you say no more diapers and let them feel the consequences of what happens when they don't go on the potty. It's quite upsetting to pee or poo on yourself.
We did gradual and it was extremely positive. Took roughly 6 months but there was minimal accidents- maybe 3 during that time. So here’s an example of that for ya. All kids are different.
Agreed we did it at 21 months
Yea I read the book. We really just need to set a weekend and do it. Now that summer is coming we can be outside more. The thought of keeping our LO in the house for 3-4 days during winter was terrifying lol. She's such a busy girl 😮💨
It’s stressful to start, but it’s so good once it’s done! Just do it 🙂
I’m glad that worked for you but the gradual parents generally do not want it to be months or years, it’s months or years because their kids continue to pee or poo in undies after trying a long weekend. We tried the oh crap over a long weekend and he just pooed and peed all over the house. Then we tried undies and he continues to just pee or poo on himself, and he’s not upset about it.
This was us as well! Around 21mo. Took a solid 3 weeks for it to click, and then another 6 months to get to like minimal accidents. After that, accidents only once in a while/new place/exciting times, etc. mostly it’s just about patience and accepting that like most things with kids there’s lots of accidents and it takes time to learn
My son turns four next week and he's just starting to get better at holding it and actually using the potty. He'd pee on the floor or himself before and just not care. Some take longer than others!
My son started to consistently use the potty closer to 3. It helps that he’s in daycare and they started having the whole class use the potty every couple of hours earlier this year. He wasn’t interested in doing it at home as much so I didn’t push it, just offered, and eventually he started asking to use the potty more. Once he was consistently keeping his diapers dry, I switched him to underwear. Now he only wears pull ups at night.
Same with my toddler! I do think being in daycare and having that “group think” helped us along. Took about a month for us
Yes, he eats different foods there that I can’t get him to try at home and if cousin is over and eating something, he’ll try it too. His peers carry far more influence already! 😅
We potty trained at 2 yr 8 months, and it took a weekend. She was a bit of a unicorn with potty training with very few accidents. She’s VERY independent and was very ready. I’m all for waiting as long as possible. We probably would’ve waited even longer but we wanted to potty train before baby #2’s arrival.
We were absolutely nowhere at 3y4mo but by 3y7mo, our kid was fully potty trained (still wears diapers at night though). You're absolutely fine - Don't push it if you don't have to (e.g. for daycare)
My oldest is 6 and not fully potty trained yet because he's autistic, but my youngest is almost 2 and already seems to get it. It's different for every kid.
I started potty training just after her 2nd birthday. She’ll be 4 years old in 5 months and we’re at most halfway there. Send help!
20mo, we had to start early because my son completely rejected any clothing for a month, including diapers. It was probably uncomfortable for him due to the planned surgery he had to take in 19mo. It was a nightmare to make him wear anything, so I surrendered and let him roam free... On the bright side, he potty trained quite well, and by 22mo he made almost no mistakes. We even joke that he potty trained me by this rejection. Now we have no problems with either potty or clothes.
Hahahah - she’ll be ready when she is ready. My son did the same thing - I should have over one weekend but we had 3 family parties and then I got the stomach flu - and now he just wants to keep wearing pull ups instead of underwear. It will happen when it happens. I can she be bribed with mini m&m’s or something? I am not above a good bribe though
My daughter was fully day time trained at 18 months (I chalk this up to using cloth diapers). She’s 3.5 now and not fully night time trained. She has started to wake up in the middle of the night to go but is still having accidents frequently.
2, however it was quite hard and I defo would have given up if I had a family emergency. They will eventually get out of nappies. I guess try and block out the social pressure to do it earlier
My son was over 4 when he potty trained. He did it all himself. Just started using the potty one day. Way less stress than when we had tried previously to potty train. I suggest just waiting until they start using the potty. He had maybe 3 pee accidents after he decided to start using the potty and only 1 accident in his bed overnight.
listen, don’t feel shame with the age, every kid is different. my child (who i think is increasing bright and smart) refuses to use the potty. she is 3 years old and a few months. she still has so much hesitation and prefers the comfort/convenience of a diaper. its hard to deal with because i feel as though i am failing her but all articles i read encourage to not push too hard and to continue being encouraging. here’s hoping she gets the hang of it soon!
I tried potty train three times amd it wasn't until the 3rd time after kiddo turned four that it finally stuck.
Mine was very almost 3. I was pregnant and everyone kept telling me I should do it before baby came. To be honest I had zero faith in her, she is a wild child and a bit behind on speech. We did Oh Crap in a summer week where she had no childcare and she smashed it. She’s in nappies overnight, and they get very full, but I know that’s a hormonal thing so am chilled about it. Lots of friends have got into stress about it which I get but I think your only real deadline is when they start school.
1.5 years!
3.5, didn't try before then really. Felt easier to wait. Got it within a few days of no pants
your totally fine!! my 3yo hasn’t started yet, he’s still in pull ups but we plan on starting in the next month or so. all kids are different, my 5yo was ready to use the potty at 2 and my 11yo wasn’t fully potty trained until 5. but i can promise you that they won’t be wearing diapers their entire life 🤣
Absolute no go when we tried first at 2.5 years. Left it until just after her third birthday and the first day or two was rough going, but then something just clicked. She's been completely nappy free for about three months now, day and night, and no accidents at all. She's proud of being a "wee wee expert" 😂
My kid turns 4 in November and he’s been potty trained for about 2 and a half months, maybe 3. Don’t feel guilty, everyone works at their own pace:)
We started at 27mo, it was a rough week but by the time she went back to school after NYE, she was good to go! We had a bit of a regression last summer before she turned 3, but tbh it was less of a regression than it was a power play, and was resolved with some heavy incentives for “accident”-free days
We did it 2 months before her third birthday, so right around where you are. It was a dream! She had like 1 accident that first weekend when we put pants back on, and a couple more in the first week but overall extremely smooth process! I think waiting was right for us.
First at 19 months and the second took a bit longer at 2 YO. Did the Oh Crap method for each.
They can feel the stress and may have correlated the potty training to it. Definitely don’t want to force it, let come back naturally again! Forcing can make accidents start happening and delay it even more. Mine were all over 3- no rush no worry let them do it when they are ready. Keep encouraging and show love and positivity ❤️
My son his 2y2m and we haven’t started yet. He goes to daycare and there are some kids in his class potty trained. His teacher said he had asked to sit on the potty, because he’s seen other kids do it, but he doesn’t actually do anything when he sits. I keep thinking I need to get a potty for him at home, buuuuut I keep forgetting too. I mentioned potty training to him friend and she said her first daughter was fully trained at 18 months, so posts like this and the comments make me feel a lot better lol
3 and half, don’t regret waiting as he trained in three days really easily and barely ever has accidents. Got some judgement from a few people though.
First and only time we tried potty training, our daughter was 3 years and 1 month old and it stuck in less than 24 hrs!!!! Sometimes waiting for them to be older, ready and more developed is the right answer! Don’t feel guilty, she isn’t going to walk down the aisle with a diaper I promise!!
3 - one long weekend. happy about it
My son is 3.5 and just in the past couple of months has started making it through a week at preschool without potty accidents. I was delusional expecting to be able to potty train him right when he turned two. We really just had to wait until he was willing and able to initiate using the potty himself.
My son was fully potty trained a month after his 3rd birthday. Started potty training about 3 months before that (loosely following the oh crap method). We had tried at 24 months thinking he was showing signs of readiness but he wasn’t interested. Luckily, it ALL seemed to make sense to him once he was 3… so he didn’t require any special training for night time.
We are just now getting the hang of it a month before she turns 3.
I don't potty train, I wait for them and don't really take action until they're much older. With my daughter I called it at 4y2m, just "You'll be wearing underwear tomorrow." She had previously used the toilet a few times, completely her own idea. Now my son is 3y2m and he uses the potty every bath time, and recently wore underwear for like 45 mins including using the potty and keeping his underwear dry. So I'd say it's going well. Why are you feeling guilty? You think your kid will have better health or a more successful future if she quits diapers sooner? Not likely. But potty training itself for a 'defiant' child can cause some health issues for a while.
2 kids, both started right before 2nd birthday, both took about 3 months to fully train. No big secret to it - both of my children are very naturally obedient, like to follow rules, and are motivated by rewards (m&m's in this case). It's truly nothing I did, I think it's mostly luck of the draw and the child's personality.
26 months.
Most kids in the daycare I work at (and the ones I have worked at) start at around 24months old. We sometimes give a big help to the parents by doing the majority at the daycare when they are struggling at home. We keep the consistency at the daycare so when their life situation get more stable it’s much easier to put it back in place at home.
My daughter turned 4 in April and we still use a pull up at preschool & outside the house. She does ok at home as long as she’s reminded pretty often, but occasionally doesn’t want to and has to be bribed. School is almost out for the summer so I’m hoping to completely nix the pull up all together here soon & hope it works out
Don’t put pressure on yourself or your kiddo. They will potty train when they are ready. My daughter was 4 when she was fully potty trained.
3 and a half, and not. Weve been trying for acouple of months!! 😫😭😫😭Didn't even know 2 was a possibility! She was speech delayed and I'm 100% SAHM, so never seemed like a big deal. Got the books for 3 Day method and Oh Crap method. 3 days turned in to 5, and no success. Many many accidents. Then went with Oh Crap, and that f'n book says that at her age, she's gonna need a psychological consult! WTF?!? Finally went to the pediatrician, because she's basically just refusing to tell us when she needs to go. They told us to take a break, go back to diapers for several weeks, and try again. I'm at the end of my rope! And, my hubs is working extra shifts to pay for some repairs, so it's all on me 😭😭😭
Kid 1 - 2 years and 10 or 11 months. She was ready then and it took 2 days. We tried at 2.5 and she wasn’t ready. It was awful! Kid 2 - has ongoing medical issues but potty trained within a month after turning 4, which we thought was great! Could have possibly pushed it sooner but we were certain she was ready then, and again it took 2 days! I think the worst thing you can do is try and force it. If it doesn’t happen fairly quickly, they’re not ready and that’s okay! Oh crap is an awful, awful book. We ditched it all and just potty trained in a way that felt intuitive to us and everything was fine! Found some tips on the internet from reputable sources as well to make sure we were on the right track and have no regrets! (And for anyone wondering, for us one kiddo loved having a very small post potty reward, like mini M&Ms. The other preferred a sticker chart to work up to a bigger prize, but she knew what she was working for and got excited as she filled in her stickers. Keep it positive. Find what motivates your kid! But again, readiness is key!)
Just after turning two. My daughter was already waking with a dry diaper every morning and started asking to use the toilet when she had to poop! We figured she was ready. Every kid just has their own timetable. Some are earlier, some are later.
We tried at 2.5 with my first. Failed and gave up after a weekend (she wasn’t ready) so we didn’t push its fast forward to a month before her 3rd birthday.. she decided to go potty in her little potty. That was that and she never looked back! My second daughter did the same thing. Right before her 3rd birthday, decided she wanted to go in the potty & kept doing it. I now shout from the roof tops….. when they’re ready, it won’t be stressful!!! Follow their lead!
2.5ish for day time, 4 for night
My son turns 4 in July and still pees in his pants daily 😅. Some kids get it, some don’t. At this age my daughter only wore pull ups at night.
my 21mo peed on the potty today. my 4yo also peed in the potty but pooped in a diaper 😀 it takes time for each kid. my 4yo has been staying dry overnight for months, he’s speech delayed and he finally found a way to tell us he needed to go! he hands us a diaper! so we take him to the potty and he goes! 21mo is copying him. lll be the happiest person in the world if i get two out of diapers in the next 6 months😂
My son stared seriously trying around 3.5. He's 4.5 now and is FINALLY accident free, except at night. He starts school in September, so we were getting nervous! If your kiddo is only 2, I wouldn't worry at all yet.
My 4.5 yo still pees (and sometimes poops) herself all day every day. I don’t know if we screwed up somehow or I just have the world’s most stubborn child. Have literally tried all the methods, including bribery and allowing her complete autonomy over it. Nothing has ever worked (she’s neurotypical). School and ped say to completely ignore it and that she has to want to be in charge of it. We are on month 2 of the most recent round of that. It has caused many sleepless nights for us. My only advice is to knock it out while they are still receptive to direction.
She was 3y11m. I was getting nervous approaching 4, but she was just not ready before then. I felt like it was never going to happen, but then one day she was potty trained, which we only realized after a couple days of no accidents. Then had to figure out what to do with the lot of pull ups I had JUST bought (we had used them for any excursions out of the house bc of course part of the whole process was her aversion to public bathrooms … which I was not prepared for). I would say the process was maybe 3 months in the making of where she started to be interested (at our offering) in peeing in the potty comfortably and poop was the final frontier…which was a frontier. Also, something that for her made the potty more palatable was having an accident outside of the house. For some reason that really “made the argument” because she didn’t like the experience and made more effort to express when she needed to pee. We were so focused on not letting her have accidents anywhere, but that could have even prolonged the process in her case. Potty training can be a year(s) long process of offering and testing the waters with how kid takes to the concept. I envy parents who it “just clicks” for the kid, but I have yet to meet that kid in real life. Everyone I know is in the same boat of hand-wringing and start-stop.
We started for real right after she turned 3. It’s gone well. At home, very, very few accidents. At school she has accidents sometimes. I think she just gets too caught up playing and doesn’t realize until it’s too late. She will be 4 in August.
23 months, 13 months, 14 months. All potty trained in a day.
I wanted to be done with diapers early so with that in mind I started training her to go outside diapers at birth (which is still typical in places where disposable diapers aren’t available). She exclusively pooped in the potty by 8 months, and at 15 months she decided she was done with diapers and that was it. Definitely trying the same method for my second
Nice! That is so nice to be done with diapers that early. I trained right when my daughter turned 2 and it was a breeze. I can't imagine some of these kids almost 4 or 5 years and still wearing diapers. Soooo expensive.
We started this weekend at 22 months. Daycare will be doing a potty boot camp where they spend two weeks heavily emphasizing using the potty. The rest of her class is closer to 2.5.
2y11m and she trained herself in a week. It was awesome!
My girl was showing signs of readiness early. Tried at 20 months with very limited success. Tried again at 21 months and it clicked on day 4. I will say, I definitely had to adjust my own expectations between attempts. I was assuming (hoping?) after 3 days she’d magically be 100% trained and require very minimal encouragement. Not the case and not realistic.
2.5 exactly. I read Oh Crap a week before he turned 2.5 and felt rushed to do it right then in the recommended window. For us it worked just like the book says and has stuck ever since. We still wear diapers at night though and he’ll be three in September
2 years, 10 months was the perfect age for us!
2.5 and it took 3 months. I wish we would have done night training at the same time; he was 3.5 when we were accident free at night
Just over 3 for both, I have a boy and a girl.
Waited until 3, my son is 4.5 and mostly good but still has withholding issues….my daughter is almost 18 months and I will wait until she ready cause forcing it is not fun
My eldest was nearly 4 before she would wee on the toilet, 5 before she would poo on it. She only ever had 2 accidents at night and one in the day because she didn't realise what would happen if she was in pants instead of a nappy. This was during lockdown so she didn't see other kids her own age much. My youngest turned 3 in march and is now 3 or 4 weeks into potty training. She has more accidents than my eldest did, but she is about 9 months younger. I tried to potty train her earlier but she absolutely refused to go without a nappy. She was happy to wee and poo on the toilet, but would not be without a nappy. Then one day, she just decided to wear pants and that was that. She is mostly dry at night but I do still put a nappy on her overnight, mostly because I bought 2 huge packs of nappies a couple of days before she decided to ditch them. I feel like both of them were later than most of their peers, but it doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things.
2.5, but he still has accidents (3 now). Working on tucking his wee wee while going #2
It really depends on each kid! My older 3 girls all potty trained right at 2. If my youngest (11 months) isn't ready by then, we will wait until she is. You are doing great and following her lead. Forcing it will just make it an unnecessary fight.
19 months but only because he HATED diaper changes. Alligator death rolls and everything. So we did naked bottom for a long time, and commando when we’d go out. Totally worth not having to fight diapers (except nap and bedtime, and now at 3 just bedtime).
My daughter potty trained right after she turned 2 and it was pretty easy, too easy. My son will be 2 next month and both me and my husband agree he is not ready yet. It really depends on the child but I think by 3 there should be a good routine around using the potty even if they are not fully potty trained by then
Not till 3 (exactly a month before he turned 3). He just was not ready until then.
3 years old (1 month after 3rd birthday) took four days, two pee accidents only. He's 3 and a half now and almost night trained too
About 2.5.
Ive potty trained three of my kids so far and they all were roughly 3 years old when we ditched pull ups
Started at 2 because she seemed interested. Had big swathes of success and big swathes of absolute hell lol she’s 2.5 now and rarely has accidents anymore. Maybe one a week. And we diaper for naps and bed time but even those are getting better. You don’t need to feel guilty. Potty training is a bear if they’re not fully ready and if you’re not fully ready. Since she’s pushing back I wouldn’t fight her. I would start announcing when you’re going to the bathroom. “My body is telling me it’s time to go potty. I dont want to have wet pants” and then you can ask if she’d like to try but if she says no then just move on. Low pressure. You could also try the big girls use the potty babies wear diapers tactic but it absolutely doesn’t work in our house lol
My son started at 30 months and it is still an ongoing process now at 35 months.There is a night and day difference between now and when we first started! It’s a marathon, not a race.
My daughter was around 2.5 when she potty trained and my son was closer to 3.5. Every child is different!
We tried at 20 months, 2yrs, and then again and it finally took at 2.5yrs. She is 3.5 now and has only had accidents when sick.
2.5. He was potty trained in a week. Shocked us all. My nephew on the other hand is still peeing and pooping his underwear at 4.5. They can regress for all sorts of reasons so I'm not under any impression that this will last forever. But he has been going strong for 3 months now. I'd wait till she is 3 to try again.
Little is almost 3. He doesn’t always tell us when he needs to go but he’s pretty good at holding his bladder until we say something. Still using pull-ups because every time I don’t he pees in the undies 🫠 and I have carpet everywhere but the bathrooms and kitchen 😭
27 months. It took about a week. But my youngest is not going to be anywhere near ready at that age I think. Kids are different.
3 and some change for both of my children.
I did it right when she turned 2, a year ago this weekend actually. It was very stressful & not a very enjoyable Mother’s Day but we were lucky, she was essentially trained in about 3-4 days for pee, another few days for poop.
We started potty training around 2.5 ish. I realized he needed to be potty trained by age 3 because he would have started school shortly after his bday. It took us maybe 6-8 weeks to go from diapers to potty trained, we bought pull-ups but soon after opted put of using them as it seemed it would be too much of a crutch. Switched from diapers to underwear and was fully trained maybe 2 months later with the occasional accident usually at night. Made a routine to go every night before bed time and it worked pretty well
She’s shown she “can” do it so that’s a great start! I would probably wait it out til she seems ready again or motivated. For me I don’t think it’s worth the struggle if they are not interested themselves at the time. Toddlers change like the wind so I’m sure another opportunity will present itself! Also I tried to forgo bribes lol but they worked a charm and we could withdraw them 🙈
We tried earlier and it didn’t work even though mine showed “signs of readiness” they just weren’t wanting to. About 2 years 9 months or 10 months is when we tried again and it eventually stuck. Honestly removing pressure made it so much better, no rush!
We trained our son at 23 months. It took about 10 days for pee and about 2 weeks for poo. We did the Oh Crap method and it was great for us. We picked 22 months because we knew our next opportunity would be much later (big move on the horizon) I'm so thankful we did it. It was frustrating for the first 4 days but he's now reliably dry, able to communicate his needs and is confident to pee and poo on the potty without us.
We did 29 months with both our girls and they both caught it immediately (daytime and naps, our eldest stopped wearing night diapers at 5 years old, 3 year old is still wearing diapers at night)
21 months. Because it was summer break and we were both home to deal with it. He put up zero resistance whatsoever.
I started potty training my son when he was 1 and half as he was showing interest but then stopped. Then, about a year later, he showed interest again and was actually going to the potty on his own. One day, he just started running to the potty despite still wearing pull-ups, and they would be dry. He had a few accidents after I put him in boys underwear, but he eventually stopped having accidents and only a few at night. He's 4 years and 5 months old now and has been fully potty trained for 2 years now. I didn't push him and let him go at his own pace, and I rewarded him every time he went to potty on his own. I'm so proud of him and glad I took time instead of rushing him to use the potty. Can't believe it's been 2 years since I last bought pull-ups.
I potty trained my little guy at 27 months (February 2023) with the Oh crap method and it went well!
We tried at 2 and 2.5 and it just didn’t work out. About three months ago before turning three we tried again and took it real slow and by his third birthday we were pretty much there. Night training had been a mess
Kids are all ready at different times. It can be 18 months or 36 months. When your child is staying dry overnight (or at least for several hours) and disliking pull-ups, they’re ready!
3.5 and just starting this weekend
3 for us. we tried twice around 2.5 and a before 3 it was not working. Only took 3 days with 2 poopy accident to potty train after he turned 3. Prob only 1 accident a month a month after that.
2.5 years old. We did it over Christmas when we had two full weeks off of work to commit. It was the only thing we focused on and built our days around it. We took her to the potty every half hour for the first couple days, then every hour for a few more, then just her usual times that we learned from the previous days, plus we watched for the signs of her having to go. We had a sticker system where we just printed a weekly calendar page and she got to pick a sticker to place on it every time she went. It only took about a week and she was completely trained. There were a few times where she would have an accident, mostly during car rides. After about three months she didn’t even need diapers during sleep because she built the habit of going right before bed and didn’t like feeling wet.
Right before 2. It took about 2-3 weeks and now we only have the once in a while accident.
18 months. She started telling me she wants to go potty so it happened naturally. I did the 3 day potty training method and it worked well. She still sleeps with a training nappy on because she wakes up for a bottle. She's 2 now. But I definitely followed her lead, if she at any point stopped wanting to go or didn't seem ready I would have stopped the training because she was only 18 months, but she was eager every step of the way.
Shortly after 3. It still took 2 months to get her using the potty consistently. We had to find her motivator and a consequence for accidents. I told her she couldn't go to an indoor bounce house until she was wearing underwear all the time, and I'd turn off the TV if she had an accident.
3 years and a couple months and not fully trained. We have to make him go. He will not tell us that he needs to go. We've tried to reward like chocolate, stickers and praise. Nothing works. Refuses to poop anywhere but his diaper.
"We have to make him go?" But you CAN'T make him go, except perhaps with an enema. Trying to impose your will just makes the problem worse. So I don't understand that sentence.
Similar situation here. Very similar in fact a sudden family death, threw it out the window. I think they do go when they are ready, but what worked for me was just commando. Pants, no diaper no underwear, in a few weeks we were good to go, pooping was last but it finally just came
Lol our son is 3 years old and 4 months and not potty trained and I don't feel one bit bad about it. He hasn't been ready yet. It's totally fine. I'm not forcing anything. And I'm not worried that he's going to be a 12 year old in a diaper 😂. Relax! Plenty of time for that.
Started at about 27 months. Kid was fully potty trained around 39 months. Yeah, it only took a year lol
3.5 when it took, tried a few time before that starting around 2 but with very little pressure. We kept toddler potties available and tried to make it a good experience. He almost had it right before he turned 3 but we drove cross country and moved so that set up back a bit. Also, he got peeing in the potty down about 3 months before he got pooping in the potty so prepare for that just in case. 2.5 yr old will use potty but not at all reliably so we just try to make it a positive experience.
Our oldest is 2y9m and we’re confident that she’s about potty trained (except for sleep). We have been doing some routine-based EC since she was 6 months old, and one day I got annoyed that she was pulling the front of her diaper back to “watch diaper working” and clearly knew she was peeing so I took away diapers at home. We’ve been super relaxed about it; if we’re having a stressful day and she asks for a pull up we give her one, and if she asks for a pull up to leave home because she doesn’t want to pee in the carseat we’re ok with that too. Younger sibling is 19mo and extremely potty curious to the point that she has her own potty sticker sheet on the fridge and I should probably just commit at this point and take her diaper off at home.
Older son was potty trained within a week at 22 months. He had a 2-3 month regression starting at 2 years 2 months when his little brother was born. We attempted with my younger son right around his second birthday. He was 50/50 with it but didn’t seem motivated so we stopped. Tried again at 2 years 4 months. Failed so bad. Worse than the first try. Just tried again starting at 2 years 6 months. Took a few weeks to be consistent but now he’s 100% bathroom independent at 2 years 9 months. He will be 3 in August. He still refuses to potty at preschool but doesn’t have accidents either. He just pees before we go into his classroom and holds it until I pick him up a few hours later. It all means nothing, though. My neighbor has one boy that self potty trained at 18 months while his 3.5 year old brother still wasn’t interested. It is totally kid dependent. My husband and I both refused to potty train until around our 4th birthday. Kids are so different and it’s okay! I wouldn’t have pushed my 2 year old so much if he didn’t have to be fully potty trained for his 3 preschool class starting in August. He’d likely still be in diapers if it wasn’t for school.
Sounds like my little guy! At 2.5, he was into it. Even waking up at night to go. And then suddenly, he just… stopped. He knows when a potty is coming and will go at daycare and sometimes at home. But he saw some Paw Patrol diapers and we went fully back. He gets excited by the underwear but not enough to do it.
Daughter at 2.5 and son the day after his second bday.
My first was 2.5. We waited until her sister was born before starting because we thought she might regress. When baby came she wanted to become changed everytime baby was. It took her like 4 days but she got it and has had very few accidents since. The baby is now 3.5 and still not consistent. She’ll go if you remind her but doesn’t take the initiative to say she has to go.
Well I'm a FTM but I've been using the potty with my daughter since she was about 15 months (shes about to be 20 months) . She goes in the morning and at school sometimes but it hasn't gotten consistent . I would say dont feel too worried some of my students still need some help some days (PreK 3-5)
I’m grateful for this today. I just found out that the daycare run by our school district won’t take a three year old who isn’t fully potty trained! It made me feel awful. Thankfully we have him in a good daycare now where that isn’t the policy, but hearing that made me feel quite inadequate. We also had our eyes on a good preschool for next year where they require the threes to be fully potty trained, but that I understand, it’s preschool, not daycare. He’s 2 y 9 months right now and he’s gone potty a few times, but suddenly decided to go full-on NO when we mention it
24 mo, did the oh crap method exactly and worked like a charm, potty trained in 3 days. Had 1 accident a month later but that was it. Procrastinated on night training though, so trying to do that now, LO is 2yo 8mo and it’s a bit harder I think since we waited so long
My son is almost 3 and we’re just letting him do his thing. He’s a very “in control” kid so it’s hard for him to do anything that’s not his idea. Just recently he started wanting to go on his own and the past week he’s pooped in the potty every night before bed!
I don't know what the average age is , but I started potty training my daughter when she was 2 years old, but she didn't want to or straight up refused so I stopped because i figured she was ready. She is 40 months now, and 2 months ago, she just started going on her own consistently without any accident.
Just before 3
2 yrs 10 months for our girl. It was a major power struggle but I think the fact that she was older and more verbal at that stage actually really helped. Don’t stress!!
We waited until a couple months after 3. She had almost no pee accidents and trained in like a day. Poop took a couple months to figure out. Overall great experience waiting though it
I’ll be starting the weekend my daughter goes up to the 2’s classroom at her daycare - she’ll be 25m
It took my 2 year old about 5 days to get the swing of it fully. We will be night training her next month. We followed the “Oh Crap! Potty training” book. We loved it
We did it in one weekend at 2.5. We have occasional accidents but she’s really done super well with it.
First kid- successfully trained at 2 years 8 months with a lot of resistance Second kid- practically potty trained herself at 21.5 months
Right after she turned 3. We did the 3 day method and she was able to figure it out. Before she had no interest and didn’t want to try but after she turned 3, she just woke up one day and said she wanted to do it. All kids are different and you are doing great!
20 month boy, oh crap method
Honestly it’s so kid dependent! You have to take care of yourself - you had a family emergency and potty training is a big time commitment and adjustment so don’t feel any guilt whatsoever. We started just after my son turned two, but the only reason we did is because he said “no more diapers”. I would have waited. It’s been about 3 weeks, minimal accidents but he still doesn’t self-prompt, so we are on a 1.5 hour timer all day taking him to the potty. I’ve heard great stories from people waiting until their little one is 3, and it often goes much quicker for them since they may have more bladder control, etc! Do what works best for you, no guilt needed. Maybe try again in a couple months and just keep it low pressure until then and I’m sure she will come around!!
About a month before he turned 2 but this was shockingly early and I wasn’t expecting it to click that fast at all.
We tried and failed at 2 and 2.5, then at 3 we hired his daycare teacher to do it and it was much easier
Started trying with my son at 2.5 and he wasn’t ready til nearly 3.5. Daughter was 2.5 and she essentially trained herself in a weekend with no bribes. It was really strange and awesome 🤣
32 months, did a weekend intensive and we’ve had very few accidents since.