My youngest is 20 months old. For the last month or so, he has been informing me when he soils his diaper (stinkies, we call it ). He won't let me put a new diaper on him until he gets to "wipe" himself. He watches his brothers go to the bathroom, so I'm sure he's mimicking them, especially when he tells me he has to pee-pee but shys away at the last minute. I doubt he is ready to begin potty training, but I am encouraged that he will be trained earlier than any of his brothers (the youngest any of them was trained was 3 1/2).

I have heard of kids being trained by the time they were 2, but I always figured that was the minimum age and it's usually the girls that train earlier. Am I getting my hopes up for nothing? LOL I'm not going to push him to train any earlier than he's ready, but it would be great to be done with diapers before his third birthday!

By Melanie on Tuesday, April 6, 2004 - 05:02 pm:

I don't think you are getting your hopes up for nothing at all. Some are able to figure it out sooner than others, no doubt about that!! Peyton did it the earliest for me and she just turned three. The other two were 3.5.

I will keep my fingers crossed that he is an early trainer!!

By Amecmom on Tuesday, April 6, 2004 - 07:38 pm:

You can always start introducing him to the potty and asking him if he'd like to do stinkies on the potty like his older siblings. Try that approach, or try sitting him there the same time every day for a few minutes.
I've been doing that with my son off and on - something always interferes with the training - visitors, holidays, illness - but I've had some success. He knows what the potty is for, and has had some BMs and pees there, but I'm not sure he has the muscle control to be trained in earnest. I keep telling him to tell me when he has to do poopies and we'll go use the potty, but he usually tells me after the fact.
You have nothing to loose by trying. If it's not successful, you can always stop and try again in a few weeks.
Good luck!
Ame

By Melana on Tuesday, April 6, 2004 - 10:15 pm:

I've talked to a couple of mother's who had their DD's potty trained by 1 1/2 years, they just take the baby into the bathroom with them while they're going and let them sit on their potty chair while the mother's going to the bathroom. I've heard it works well because at that age they're wanting to copy every thing that mommy does. I'm going to TRY that with my daughter so I'm not changing two diapers at a time when the new baby is born. I REALLY hope it works!

By Marcia on Tuesday, April 6, 2004 - 10:26 pm:

My oldest was trained at 16 months. At the time I was running a daycare, and had several a bit older who were training. She thought it was great, so joined the bandwagon.
My next daughter was well over 2. I didn't have anyone else training, so the novelty wasn't there.
My third was in between.
I didn't push any of them. I learned in years of daycare that they're all different, and no matter how hard they're pushed, they'll do it in their own sweet time.

By Mommyathome on Tuesday, April 6, 2004 - 10:52 pm:

The youngest any of mine have trained is 2 years just about on the nose. That was my oldest DD.
My middle child trained at 2 years and 5 months. My DS is getting excited about training and he is 2 years and 3 months.

I think it just depends on the child I was always told to start the process at about age 2 and see how it goes. If it goes well, keep up with it. If not, wait a while and try again.

By Kaye on Tuesday, April 6, 2004 - 11:14 pm:

My oldest were right at 2, the baby was about 3. I started young though, we bought a potty for their first bday and we let them sit on it while filling up the tub, often they went, we praised etc. My daughter was very ready at 18 months, my doc talked me out of it. I was very pg. So we wore panties at home and diapers out, and a few months later I realized that the diapers were always dry....lol. If they are young and interested i say go for it!

By Mommyduncan on Tuesday, April 6, 2004 - 11:45 pm:

My oldest was trained right around the time she turned 2. I was pregnant w/ #2 and didn't want 2 kids in diapers. The daycare she went was training two other girls at the same time, so they just included her in it. She was very easy to potty train. She was completely trained - night and day - in about 2 months. She's never had a problem w/ bed wetting either.

I wish I was so lucky w/ my son!

By Dawnk777 on Tuesday, April 6, 2004 - 11:48 pm:

I don't even want to say. The older one was 3 and 10 months and the younger one was 3-1/2. I didn't push and they didn't care until they were three. Older one was so paranoid about pee running down her legs. Argh. Also, Pullups were too much like a diaper and didn't really help much. Once we finally did push the issue, she was trained in a matter of weeks.

By Ladypeacek on Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - 02:24 am:

I think that they can start using the potty at any age, my son loves to sit on it and go too and he is only 19 months BUT I will not try for undies for quite some time. There is a difference in knowing HOW to use the potty and having the bodily control to do it. When they come through the night dry and go when they get up is a good way to tell if they are ready. Once they can tell you before they do stinkies! My ds is very good about letting me know when he did it but not before yet. He has used the potty but mostly when it is bath time and he is sitting there waiting for the bath to be ready and we get lucky, lol.
But the good news is that when his body is ready you should have an easy time training. He knows the concept and seems to be okay with it, thats a good sign!

By Babysitbarb on Wednesday, April 7, 2004 - 10:06 am:

My oldest was completly trained at 19 months. She went to a sitter at the time who said she wanted to be like the big kids so we tried and it worked. My youngest was another story. I started trying at 2 and I was doing daycare by this time. She was very hard to train. She still had accidents up until she was 3 or 4 and still bed wetted off and on until probably 7 or 8. We talked to the doctor about it many times and he said some kids just do this. She also spit up a lot when she was on a bottle and she has many allergies.The doctor thinks all of this kinda went together.

By Momaroze on Saturday, April 10, 2004 - 06:01 pm:

My oldest was trained by 21 months. The middle ds not until 31/2 ugh.... I hope my last ds takes after his eldest brother when it comes time to potty train!