When to Start Potty Training

With this issue I have potty trained my three wonderful neices and one of my nephews as my brother raised them by himself and had no idea how to do it..lol! anyway you said you little one is 7 months and walking? If so start introducing the potty seat and letting him use it as a seat for a while till he gets acustomed to it. then when he knows it's not scary you start to show him what should be done in it. Move t he potty seat to the bathroom by the big boy potty and it may actually take you or your husband doing the deed first and actually showing him physically what is in the potty when you are done going so he starts t o get the picture. It only took me a month to train my nephew and 2 to train my neices.
Hope it works for you!
Sincerly,
K.

Well J., as you know every child is different. If your son is already walking then as soon as he shows the least bit of interest in his diaper being off of him , take him to the toilet. Put some cherrios in the toilet and make a game out of it. Once he can understand the concept of trying to sink the cherrios it will be easy. That is how I trained my son. He was 11 mon.

My daughter is 15 months old. She's also ahead for her age. She also was walking at 7-8 months but with the walls, couches and our fingers nearby. She has shown sincere interest in the potty. She follows my husband and I in there all the time and wants to close the lid and flush the toliet when we are done. I know it sounds dorky but she really knows what is going on. I am going to start her with her own potty in our bathroom with a trainer seat with its own flusher noise maker. She may not go but at least she'll have her place to sit, like mommy and daddy do, and have some books nearby as well. I won't force it but at least let her become familiar with her seat and etc. I have had friends tell me 3-4 years old. Some preschool programs require kids to be trained before they start.

J., I would say closer to two years old. My first daughter was almost 3, then my twins started at 2 because they saw their sister. You have time but I think between 2 and 3 is a good age. Enjoy your baby we always want them to get big so fast.

C.
Mom to Danielle, Nicole, Amanda & Joe-Joe
Helping moms work from home
http://colleend.stayinhomeandlovinit.com

J.,

I knew my son was ready when he obviously new he had to go number '2' and woke up most mornings dry. He was about 26 months at the time, he used to make sure we all knew he was going to a corner to go number '2'. This is a big help, I had tried to potty train before this and he wasn't ready, he will definately let you know when it is time. The biggest thing to get boys started, let them go to the bathroom with dad when he has to go, it was a big jump start to our training.

The WHEN part has to be when HE is ready, regardless of age. Talk to your pediatrician for signs, but basically dry diapers and then lets you know when he needs to pee or poop (or even if he doesn't specifially let you know, he may have some signs that you pick up on where you find yourself going "oh, he's peeing right now") His body has to be physically ready to be aware that he has to pee, be able to stop the stream of pee before it comes out, and be able to make it to the potty. As for the HOW part of it... I personally think the little potty seats are gross and not a nessesary part of potty training. In fact, I think they are extra work because you have to clean them out and you have to then re-train them to go on the big toilet. I used those coushins that fit on the regular toilet, and a stool so my kids could climb up (with help at first) to the big toilet. I taught my son to pee sitting down first and when he was ready he transitioned into standing (again, with the stool on the big toilet). We always brought a book along, especially for pooping, and we used stickers and MnMs for rewards. I also don't believe Pull UPs are necessary-- they are expensive and I think it hinders the process because the kids really do think of them as diapers. You have to be ready to clean up messes, and you have to have lots and lots of pairs of underwear. Once you feel your child is really, really ready (usually around age 2 1/2 on average), be consistant-- DO NOT flip flop back and forth between diapers and undies. I went cold turkey off of diapers except at night.

J.,

I read in a book from a famous pediatrician, Dr. Berry (I don't have right now the complete name) graduated from Harvard University, who had a program in the Discovery Home&Health channel. And he says that the best age is from years old and up. Because their brains are so busy with many other things (they must learn to walk, crawl, eat, etc.) that is kind of confusing for them if you start earlier. Even if your baby is already picking it up you should wait, since at 24 months old they are already prepaired to pay the whole attention to start the potty training because they already walk, talk, eat by themselves, etc. I would say to you follow the expert's suggestion.

I hope this is helpful. If you are really interested in what this pediatrician recommends let me know and I would send it to you in the next message.

Best regards,

C.