Don't get me wrong, I don't think DS (14 mo) is ready yet. But, when he poops he does "stinky nose" (what DH and I do) and pats his diaper.
I want to be sure I'm encouraging him and "following his lead" whatever that means. I SAH and am totally willing to put in effort if this is the beginning of potty learning. I don't even know where to begin.
Honestly, I'm just not really sure if this is a precurser or just what kids do?
I started potty learning with DD early on since she was showing many of the signs of readiness.
She has always been a big talker and as early as 15-16 months said, "pee pee potty", etc. She would ask to sit on the potty & I'd read her books and we'd sing songs. She went pee pee several times and poop once.
We really weren't having any progress though and I heard that the younger they are the longer it takes, so I decided to back off. That was about 2months ago. Now at 21 months I think DD is ready. She either brings me her CD or tells me poop when she has a dirty diaper.
I personally would rather wait to PL than have it take a long time.
I have a friend that started early and it took a year until her child was out of dipes. All children are different though and you have to do what works for you.
I say give it a go and see how works out. Worst case, you do what I did and stop after trying it out.
Candy & Martin married 11/16/02
Maya Kaitlyn 2/15/05
We bought a potty and put it inthe bathroom when DD was about 14 months. I wanted her to get used to seeing it in the bathroom. She would play with it which I thought was great so that she had positive memories of her potty when it was time to PL.
Candy & Martin married 11/16/02
Maya Kaitlyn 2/15/05
I think you may want to do what I call pre-training.
1. Get a potty and let DS play with it. Explain what it is. Start with sitting on it with clothes on. Later ask if he wanted to go bare butt. (I recommend the little bojn (sp? - same as the baby carrier thing). It is very short so it is easy for the little guys to sit on, is is very portable, it takes of little space in the bathroom and it is easy to clean.)
2. Let DS join you and DH in that bathroom so that he sees what potties are all about.
3. Get some potty books, DVDs and/or video and watch them with DS. Talk casually about how big boys use the potty and that when DS is ready he will to.
4. Over time occassionally ask if DS would like to try the potty. Make it very clear you don't really care if he does or does not, that you are just letting him know it is an option.
Be warned that boys often have issues with pooping on potty for some reason. He may train early for pee and still take forever to use it for pooping. Or not. Each child is different.
My DD showed several signs of readiness at 18 months so we followed her lead and let her decide what she wanted to do. She would use her words and ask to pee/poop in the toilet several times a week, but for a long time she also had no problem going in her diaper. So in our case, it was true that "the younger they are, the longer it takes." My DD will be 3 in December and already has night time control (she stays dry all night and/or wakes up to go potty in the middle of the night about 95% of the time). HOWEVER, it took about 1 year from the time she first started expressing strong interest and readiness in PT to the point where I felt comfortable saying "Yes, she is potty-trained." Until then, I would only say that she was semi-trained.
And I want to stress that we didn't push her....we were in no hurry to get her out of diapers. If she told us she had to go potty/poop, we'd ask her if she wanted to use the toilet. If she said yes, we took her to the bathroom. If she went in her diaper or just sat on the toilet without going, it was no big deal. If she said she wanted to wear her big girl underpants, we would allow that but would also remind her that big girls go potty in the toilet so if she wanted to wear her big girl underpants, we wanted her to be a big girl and remember to tell us if/when she had to go potty/poop. (If she had an accident in her big girl pants, we tried not to make a big deal about it and just told her it was OK and accidents happen, but next time try to remember to tell us so we can get to the toilet, etc.)
This is basically how we allowed DD to "lead" the process. (The fact that she is in daycare made a big difference too - there's lots of peer pressure once they see their friends using the toilet around age 2.5).
1) has words for urine and BM.
2) show insterst in immitating adults or older children using the toilet.
3) has sensory awareness. This comes in stages - first awareness that he/she has a dirty diaper, second awareness that he/she is peeing or pooping as it is happening and finally awareness that he or she is about to pee or poop - thus allowing time to get to a potty and do it there.
4) has control over bowel and bladder. This also comes in stages, usually in this order - night time bowel control, daytime bowel control, daytime urine control and night time urine control.
5) has an interest in cleaniness and neatness. Want to be clean and want to put things in their place.
6) is not in a stage of negativity.
7) no stresses going on in the childs life.
8) can help in dressing and undressing self.
9) Wants his/her diaper changed.
10) ? can't remember at the moment.
One of the important things to remember is that unless/until a child is showing several signs of readiness, he/she likely isn't developmentally ready to master PTing. I think it's great that your DS is making "stinky nose" (cute ) but unless he is also showing several other signs too, he may not be ready. Having said all that, I do agree with the PP advice tobuy a potty or potty seat so DS can get used to it, read books and talk about it, ask him if he'd like to sit on the potty, but don't make a big deal about it if he isn't interested yet, etc.
Early potty learning/ info wanted
Reply With Quote
) but unless he is also showing several other signs too, he may not be ready. Having said all that, I do agree with the PP advice tobuy a potty or potty seat so DS can get used to it, read books and talk about it, ask him if he'd like to sit on the potty, but don't make a big deal about it if he isn't interested yet, etc.
