We've had a potty sitting in our bathroom for a while, but my 16-month-old hasn't expressed a ton of interest in it thus far. So I was quite surprised when last night, before her bath, she sat on it and peed! I had always read that the minimum age of readiness was 18 months, so I don't know much on how to proceed!
I'd love to hear other bees' experiences on how you potty trained your young toddler and any other tips you might have. Thanks in advance!
cantaloupe / 6669 posts
My LO showed interest around 16 months too. By 18-19 months I was starting to wonder if she was "ready." We ended up moving so we waited until everything calmed down to potty train. She was 22 months and it was really easy all things considered. We followed Oh Crap Potty Training.
persimmon / 1467 posts
If your into Montessori, they say 12-18 months is a time when they are interested and ready. I tried around then but didn't try too hard or have much luck cause my DS wasn't talking. However we just potty trained at 22 months using the three day method and it was pretty easy after the first day. We still have accidents but I'm not expecting much for a while cause he's still young. If your kid is interested and you don't expect perfection it can be a good time to try.
honeydew / 7230 posts
My LOs are 20 months now and pee on their little potties several times a day now. They occasionally poop there too, but it's hit or miss. They've been using the pottied since this summer (15 or so months?) when DD was taking off her diaper a lot (although DS was the one who really took to using the potty better!). I haven't read anything about potty training so I have no idea if this is right or wrong or whatever, but I'm just trying to capitalize on their interest. As they approach 2 we may try to do more "training", but maybe not (potty training twins sounds like a nightmare to me so I'm not eager to get too serious about it!). They seem to have a good grasp of what to do on the potty and DS seems to be able to pee "on command" as he always pees when he sits down, by it's not like he's holding it other times of day (I think). And on the flip side, DD peed mid-diaper change today and then asked for an M&M so it's not like they TOTALLY get it, haha!
cantaloupe / 6017 posts
At 18 months we began putting her on the potty at regular times, usually before and after meals, naps, and before leaving the house. We read lots of books and played games, sang songs, etc. If she didn't want to I didn't make her. She consistently pooped on the potty from about 22 months on, and was fully trained (except for night) from about 28 months on (as in, would tell us when she needed to go. we went months before that without any wet accidents, but I had to remind her frequently or else we would have had more accidents). We never did any "training" program. I later learned that we were basically following the Montessori method of "potty learning." We didn't push it. It took a really long time, but I was happy with how it all went. No battles, no crying, no stress. But it definitely wasn't a 3-day method or anything of that sort.
My husband is in residency to be a pediatrician and one of the doctors that he works with jokes that if you "start potty training at 2, you'll be done by 3. Start potty training at 3 you'll be done by 3."
pomegranate / 3331 posts
LO was peeing on the potty quite a bit at that age - a few days a week. i think if we had wanted to, there was probably a window of opportunity for her to train early. however, i wasn't ready - she was too small to ever use a potty in public and i didn't want to worry about her relapsing as she got older. so, we just let her continue to use it whenever she wants, which she still does at 2 years. she pees in the potty a few days a week still, but tells us before she needs to go, rather than just being put on the potty randomly.
she has recently started asking to transition to big girl undies, so i'm taking that as a sign she might actually be ready soon. I'm not sure if i am yet 
grapefruit / 4291 posts
I don't think I'd potty train at an early age but I definitely think you can start potty "learning"!
pomelo / 5866 posts
I put LO on every 2-3 hours. 
We also made a sound ssssstttt whenever she peed super early on so she associated it with the sound. Then we put her on and made the sound she would just go! She did awesome!! Not perfect but awesome and without diapers at about a year. We also used Potty Patty cloth trainer underwear. I could kind of tell when or feel it in my bones when she had to go so I would just put her on. At parties, my sixth sense didn't work so well I later discovered!
cherry / 126 posts
@daniellemybelle: @brownepiano: @Pirouette: @Silva: @Kemma: @808love: Thank you so much for your thoughts and recs! They've also been super helpful in giving me a sense of what PT looks like for a younger toddler and how it progresses. I think I will just take my time with it and set low expectations and see how it goes!
@twodoghouse: Lol! 'I peed, now give me my M&M!' I totally am with you on capitalizing on their interest thing. I can't imagine trying to PT two at the same time, it's you who deserves the M&Ms! Thanks for sharing your experience.
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