Toilet Training... is it too early??

My daughter is now 16 months old, but ive been getting her used to sitting on the potty (with a nappy on) and teaching her the words like 'pee' and 'poo' since she was about 13/14 months. everyone tells me that this is too early, but i dont feel like im pushing her into it. please tell me your thoughts on this... when is the 'right' age? she is starting to let me know when she has to use the potty, so im slowly changing from nappies to knickers a few hours a day. just wondering if there are any tips anyone can give me?

My honest opinion is that every child is ready at different times hun. Some (as your dd seems to be) are ready by 16-18mths and others aren't ready until 3 or beyond! It sounds to me like you are doing everything right and not pushing your daughter into anything. If she is showing you signs that she wants to use the potty that is great 😀 whatever her age. I would just take things one step at a time and don't get disheartened if she takes a few steps backwards every now and again, as this is perfectly normal. Especially if she is engrossed in something else. My dd is almost completely dry now and she will be 3 in Jan. We still have the odd 'accident' and as i can't drive she wears pullups if we are out as i didn't want her to pee all over the bus seat. As the others already know it wasn't an easy ride getting her to train as she is quite stubborn 😉 Don't know where she gets tha from? 😇 ) lol. But after a couple of weeks of very wet carpets we got there! 😀 . My fiends ds is also toilet training now and she is just 19mths. She is doing great and like you my friend is just taking things slowly and letting her lead the way! Sounds like you are doing a great job hun, follow your own instincts. After all you know your daughter better than anyone! 😘 Xx

They are all so different. When my girl turned 2 I decided to potty train and she just did it straight away no problem, I'm sure I could have done it sooner really I just didn't think to. Now my little boy is 2 years 5 months and he doesn't want to yet. He gets very distressed if we try and force the potty or toilet on him. If your child understands and is willing to try then that's great, but they also have to be physically ready as some children don't actually have the control over their bladders as early as others. Just give it a try. If it's not going well after a few days maybe wait and try in a couple of months again.

It is whenever they are ready, we have to hold Pip on her potty when she does a poo otherwise she cries if she has to do it in her nappy.
Mikey and Jamie were both ready just before they were two, so because they were ready it only took a new days.
Give it a go and see what happens, if it doesn't work, it doesn't, but if it does, big girl pants all day.

I think 16 months might be a bit young, but it still doesn't hurt to do what you're doing and get her used to it. Just don't be too disapointed if she doesn't take to the potty perfectly just yet. My daughter was over 2 when she got trained (about 2 1/2) and she was really ready at that point so she was pretty much trained the first weekend I put her in underpants... she regressed a bit but then got right back on track again.

Good luck with it hun and welcome to JP!

my daughter was dry by day at 18 months, i see noo reason why you shouldnt start preparing her now

My youngest brother was dry at 18 months.

All children are different, my daughter was trained and dry during the night before 2 1/2. My son knows the feelings and will even wake up dry in the mornings but he's frightened of the potty so we are havng to wait until he's ready to use it.

If your not pushing her to speed up potty training then I don't think your doing anything wrong. It sounds like your just teaching her about the washroom and what toilets are for.

If you feel she is ready then go for it.

Only thing I would say is either go for it or leave her. Dont confuse her by using pants for a bit of the day and then putting a nappy back on (she wont know what to do) And if you think it isnt working dont worry and leave her a while and try again. When I did my son he was 25mths old and I stayed home and left him running about naked, on day 3 we went out to my mums for a few days and he had it sorted. I then start4ed moving the potty (which was in the living room) closer and closer to the toilet, upstairs, so he had to hold on that bit longer before getting there.

Good luck

According to some books this is a little early but as my health visitor says that only you know your child best. So good look although roughly girls r from 18months and boys from 26month. All to do with the muscles, the wright stuff covered it the other morning and the advisor said that it is normal thepoo training takes longer.

Potty training in a week book has some very useful ideas and suggestions in, i got this free with another book months ago and was reading a bit each night when i went to bed, Rich is part way through it now and then we are hoping to pass it onto his mum so we can all follow the same pattern, so that we dont confuse Crystal.
She knows when she wants a poo but isn't confident on the potty unless we sit with her, so at the moment it's rare she sits on her potty but she does know what it is for.

I remember when my neice was potty training, she successfully had a wee and was so excited she was walking around showing us all what she ad done, she almost tripped over the rug and if she had done this the contents of the potty would of gone over my dad haha, Shame eh!

I started pre potty training my little Ysabella when I signed up for thepottytrainer free mini course. she was just 15 months old. I got her a really nice musical potty chair and also a potty insert which we put in the bathroom upstairs. Her potty chair stays in the living room where we frequently stay. When she was about 2 i got the main course and started training her. By then I knew Ysabella was ready since she started showing signs. After a week of following through the whole program we are dry during the day. Now on our 6th day we are trying to learn to stay dry at nights. Oh by the way she also poos in her potty chair now.

I believe that when our childs sphincters muscles is fully developed they are ready to be potty trained. It just takes alot of guidance and patience from us parents.

All I can say is that I am a proud momma! yay!! were diaper free finally during the day...
😀

thanks for all your help. I will definately take what each of you has said into consideration. She was getting the hang of it and she had done a few wees in the potty, but we went away for the whole of last week, so she didnt really get her knicker time. we were in the heated pool (we were staying at the gold coast in a friend's condo) and she hopped out of the pool to do a pee on the tiles! I thought it was so cute, and i was glad no staff were around to see it. also we have a new motorbike which she loves to ride with Mark, and just after their ride, she hopped off and did a pee. It's like she is trying to hold it, but she just doesnt know what to do when we dont have the potty around. Not that i care where she does it, but she is just getting confused, so i will have to bring the potty outside when we are out their. We haven't planned any trips in the near future, so i think we have a clear run from now on to get her back into her routine.

Thanks for the help, and please let me know if you have any further advice.

do what you like but if she is wetting her knickers alot i would say wait she obviously isnt ready yet. she will do it when she is ready. you just cant push these things.

to be honest hun, i think that if your little one is already telling you when she needs to go then maybe they are readyto be potty trained, my sons 3 and only just being trained, hes in pants all day until he goes to bed, thats the only time he wears a nappy. even when we go out he wears pants, if he has an accident i always make sure i take out spare clothes, but i dont tell him off if he does wet himself coz it isnt his fault, i think if you think your little ones ready then try potty training. only your going to know, or ask your health visitor, that what i did lol. x

Any age your child feels is ready. This is a step to independent decision making as well. Alot of parents get anxieties when school is approaching or even day care time. To their dismay it usually doesn't work and will set back the tots potty comfort level. A step back is common though, even when pressure is not added. My daughter was fully potty trained 2 months before she started school.
Just remember that their are things you just can't force a child at any age to do. Eating and going to the washroom.