How Do I Know When My Daughter Is Ready to Start Potty Training?

Hello, I would say so. I potty trained my cousin by the time she was 16 months. She use to always copy me in the bathroom too. It is so much easier that way. She seems to want to just like my cousin I used to watch. You are lucky that she wants to most kids don't. But my little cousin learned in only a few months, her mom didn't have to do anything. I think you'll be fine and she shouldn't make that much of a mess if she is sitting down on the toliet. And you should discerage her if she wants to go because the longer you don't let her she could change her mind. Good luck you should be fine. I would start getting pull ups as soon as she starts acctulay peeing in the toliet, she feel like such a big girl. And besides I don't think she could be to young if it is something she wants to do, most kids don't.

(FYI- i studied child development in college) Sounds like she's "mentally" ready. You can't know for sure if she's physically ready- the voluntary muscles may not be strong enough to "hold it" You can always try with those pull-up or trainig pants. I think its great that you've had her watch you, but she could also be just immitating you and not really understand what you are doing.

Has she gone dry through naps or nighttime? That's a good way to know if they are physically up to the task.

It won't hurt to take her diaper off and see what she does. She may surprise you, may lose interest...who knows?

M. S.

You know it wouldnt hurt to try..she has an intrest so thats a big key thing. I tried w/ my daughter before she really wanted to try and she said no Im a baby....so that didnt work. My daughter prefered the big potty b/c thats what I used and Im glad b/c when you are out then they dont have a problem if there little potty isint there. For awhile she wanted to use the on the top of the potty lid thing for kids but that only lasted about a week (so I wouldnt invest in that...they learn fast how to hold themselves up). I always make a bog deal about going potty saying I want to hear it like you can hear mommy pee-pee and she gets excited. Well Id just give it a try and if its not working give her a few weeks of abreak so she will foreget that she dosent want to and maybe she will then deciede that its a neat thing to do.

Yes you should start.
take her diaper off and make the shhh....sound she will pee in due course.
My daughter is 14months and has been using her potty for the past 3-4 months
saves lots of diapers and lots of cleaning...
See www.diaperfreebaby.org for more details
hope this helps goodluck
S.

She may not be ready to "potty train" in the traditional sense of being able to HOLD her bladder. However, you are doing to right thing to encourage her interest by allowing her to sit on her own potty. My baby is 13 months old and has her own potty that she actually pees in a few times a day but she is by no means "potty trained". Rather, I take her to the bathroom with me at times that I think she will need to release her bladder like in the morning upon waking and about 5-10 minutes after waking from a nap.
We have practicing "elimination communication" with her since she was 5 months-which basically means that we watch her and when we think she needs to "go" we offer her the potty. There is no "training" or scolding/reward system involved. You can read more about this at www.diaperfree.org.

Good Luck :)

I've heard it's best to wait until the child is at least two years old, probably so they are more physically and mentally ready. Starting too early can just mean a longer training time.

My son who is 7 now was rather difficult to potty train and I have a 4 month old daughter that I am really hoping will be much easier. My mom swears that both me and my sister were completely potty trained by 17 months old which I would imagine she would have started working on it around your daughters age. You might as well resign to the fact that potty training is at times going to be messy, but keep in mind with the price of diapers I would rather clean up a few messes and get it done as soon as you can.

Hi P.,

Yes, by all means start the process to training. My daughter is also 14 months and we have been potty training her for about a month now. i found this little $1.00 store in Grand Prairie that sold these little infant cotton diaper covers that look just like panties. My daughter also imitates me and like to go into the bathroom with me as well, rather its to use it or to take a shower/bath ( which she now tries to wash her own body during a bath, too cute ). she loves to walk around in her little panties and pulls the diaper off herself now. There have been accidents, but that is apart of the both of our learning process. Its messy, but its a milestone that you will remeber forever. Good Luck and God Bless you and you Beautiful daughter.

I.

P.,
I just wanted to say you are doing great by letting her do what you do. I do agree with the other moms about her not being physically ready to hold her blatter. Just keep doing what you are doing and when she totally ready it might be easier for you. They are usually ready about 2 1/2 when they can hold their pee for awhile and they stay dry during the night and nap time.
Good Luck!

Pam, Your daughter is showing all the signs. I would remove her diaper when she wants to sit on the potty but then just put it back on her after. And keep calling her a big girl etc. Most likely she will eventually go on her own. My daughter did this for a few months at the same age and then one day she ran to me that she needed to go potty and we ran in to the bathroom and she went and we were both thrilled! After that, we went right to Target to pick out some fun panties (Dora, Care Bears etc.) We kept her in diapers at night until her diapers began being dry in the morning. Once that happened we purchased one of those hospital mats (the kind you had under you most likely in the Labor & Delivery room) and placed on top of the mattress pad. So if she had any accidents we could just change the sheets and not worry about the mattress getting ruined. She only had a few accidents. The other thing many of my friends used is a potty chart. When she goes on the potty for the first time, place a sticker on that day. After she goes lets say 5 times in a row, you can give her a little treat (cookie, lollipop, inexpensive toy). This will build up her confidence. I know this is down the road but a reward system like that is always good to. A lot of big hugs and excitement also worked in our house. But it's all about the level of interest. If she's interested then go for it!

My daughter did the same thing. From our experience, I can say that her interest is GREAT, but she's not ready to potty train. You can check online sites like babycenter.com or just Google for potty training readiness to get a list of "signs of readiness." Her interest alone is a good start, but it's not enough. Potty control is a large motor skill, so some of the signs of readiness have to do with other large motor development (dressing herself, etc.)
We kept encouraging our daughter's interest until she was 18 months. We bought a potty chair for her then and started asking her to sit on it at bath time (after you take her clothes off, just before getting in the tub). We kept up with that routine for a couple months. Sometimes she'd go in the potty, but most of the time not. Whether she went ot not, we'd say, "Good job, now it's time to take a bath." If she DID go, we might add something like, "I see there's tee-tee in the potty" before saying "good job...." Any other time she wanted to sit on it, we let her (clothed or not).
At 20 months is when we focused on her ability to dress and undress herself independently (another sign of readiness). Let her practice with shorts and underwear that are a couple sizes too big.
Just before she turned 2, we moved out of pull-ups and into panties (when she was consistently dry at nap time). The process was complete and accident-free, including night-time dryness, at age 2 1/2.
Yes, this took a long time, but our progress was interrupted by a new baby. However, sans new baby, you could probably condense all the steps into a 3 to 6 month period.

I think it's waaaay too early for your daughter. It is good that she is imitating you, but she doesn't quite understand yet what's going on once you do sit down. My daughter was not fully potty trained until she was almost 3. When she turned 2, she mostly just sat on the toilet when she wanted to, which is a start. Good luck!!

Yes Ma'am! Start her ASAP. Go for it! She has already told you that she is ready.

My daughter potty trained early. What I did was stop giving her drinks about an hr. before nap & bedtime. Make sure to take her to the potty before she goes to sleep & after she wakes up. Also, in my opnion, pull-ups don't work. All my children thought they were still in diapers-& used them like diapers. All of my children, except for one, only had a few accidents in panties once they started wearing them. They just didn't like the way it felt. If you're worried about her peeing all over the place, those plastic pants that you put over cloth diapers work well-over the panties.