what age to start?

[livingthehighlife]

My little boy is 23 mo and is in a creche 3 days per week. There are 3/4 in his class that are bing potty trained at the moment. They range from 23mo to about 28mo. The supervisor has suggested that DS should start soon and that they will be very supportive.

So i spotted a potty last night in asda for £1 and i thought i'd bring it home to see how he reacts to it. Now he will happily sit on it with a nappy on, but when i took his nappy off he was terrified to sit on it and when i lifted him and set him on it, he was screaming to get off.

Now i'm not one for putting my child through unnecessary stress, but i was wondering if this is a normal reaction and should i continue to keep the potty in the living room and encourage him to sit from time to time. My mum recounts stories of running after piddling babies with the potty. I can imagine that to be pretty messy lol!!!

[livingthehighlife]

or am i thnking about this far too early and wait another 6 months or so?

[MoonFaceMama]

Hi living,

I'm afraid i have no personal experience of this, sorry! however i did see a thread on here about this a week or two ago that was interesting reading to me. Some peeps were suggesting that you can start really early,and that people did this in the war and still do in other cultures. Makes sense for a world without disposables... Who wouldn't train asap!? In fact there was some speculation on said thread that waiting as long as we do is all a big conspiracy by the nappy companies!
My sister in law's dd is virtually trained at 18m, but i have no idea how she did this but will be picking her brains when the time comes for my ds. Think it varys between dcs.
I'm pretty new to mn but think you can search threads somewhere. Will be keeping an eye out for tips on this head...fingers crossed.

Good luck!

[jafina]

IMHO after potty training my 3 children you can either try to do it now and have at least a few very hard weeks ahead with lots of washing, tears and wet floors or you can wait at least 6 months and do it in a few days with much less aggro and much less laundry .

Just my 2p

[MoonFaceMama]

Hi living,

No personal experience i'm afraid but i gather from a thread i saw on here last week that it varies greatly between dcs. The thread suggested that you can start quite early and that people did this during the war (12m) and that they still do this in other cultures. Makes sense. With no disposables who wouldn't train asap?!
I also recall seeing a documentary on telly a while back where people had trained lo's, V V young, to wee on cue so they would empty their bladder at convenient opportunities. Remember woman blowing on head of small baby and it promptly weeing in to the drain below!
SIL's dd is virtually trained at 18m. I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts and experiences for when i start with my ds. Sorry to hijack!
I hope someone with something helpful to say is along soon! good luck!

[MoonFaceMama]

Hi living,

No personal experience i'm afraid but i gather from a thread i saw on here last week that it varies greatly between dcs. The thread suggested that you can start quite early and that people did this during the war (12m) and that they still do this in other cultures. Makes sense. With no disposables who wouldn't train asap?!
I also recall seeing a documentary on telly a while back where people had trained lo's, V V young, to wee on cue so they would empty their bladder at convenient opportunities. Remember woman blowing on head of small baby and it promptly weeing in to the drain below!
SIL's dd is virtually trained at 18m. I'd be interested to hear peoples thoughts and experiences for when i start with my ds. Sorry to hijack!
I hope someone with something helpful to say is along soon! good luck!

[MoonFaceMama]

argh! Trying to do this on bloody phone. Sorry!xxx

[senseofhumourfailure]

my DD is 22 months and I no she's no way ready to pull her trousers or tights up and down easily enough herself to potty train yet even though she does generally know when she is doing a wee. So planning on waiting till about 2 and a half and seeing what stage we're at then, and encouraging use of potty in morning/evening when no nappy on until then.

Like the idea that its easier and less accidents the later you leave it, although a friend has a DS who didn't potty train until after age 3 and he still won't poo unless he has a nappy put on which sounds like its going to be hard to change.