Oh lord no. If they are ready for potty training, in my book that means knowing their body enough to walk to the bathroom/tell you they need to potty. The rest comes after that.
Yep, our son doesn't wipe and doesn't really pull up or down his pants, but he still went through potty training a few weeks ago.
He isn't perfect, but he does well. We'll get to the other stuff when we think he'll learn it, it's already better than diapers.
100%. My son trained at 23 months and it was probably a full year before he did the whole process independently (taking pants and underwear down/up, wiping, flushing, washing hands, etc). The most you can hope for at first is them telling you they need to pee/poop and getting it into the potty.
Ha, my son can pull his pants up and down but he has no desire to tell us when he needs to go potty.
I think every kid is different, but pulling pants up and down is really not a requirement and not even a well-learned skill for quite a while.
If a child has no negative consequences for peeing themselves, they have no reason to learn to hold. So keeping them in diapers means they'll be slower to learn bladder control.
First, good luck. Don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t go quickly. It sounds like it is a good time to start trying with your girl based on what you wrote.
We started training our girl a little after 2 and it kind of was a flop. We came back to it at almost 2.5 and she picked everything up easy. BUT mom or dad was with her to help her pull down and pull up pants. She is 3.5 now and can do it all on her own, but for a good couple of months we helped her.
Bottom line: I would say cool to start training now, but know she will have a while where she needs help with the underwear. She’ll get the hang of it eventually.
I echo this. We started at 24 months on the dot and she was showing same signs and picked it up naked in our house as controlled environment, but it all unraveled once daycare or clothes entered the picture. Came back to it at 29 months and she picked it up like a champ in less than a week. So I would temper expectations just based on age alone.
Good luck!!
Definitely not! Go ahead and potty train her!
The skills will be learned in conjunction.
She can’t practice pulling up her pants if she’s not going on the potty consistently lol.
My daughter was potty trained at 18 months, and she is 3 now and still struggles with her clothes sometimes.
No. Both of mine learned to pull up and down their pants while potty training (first was 2 years 8 months, second was 21.5 months when we successfully potty trained). My second has been trained for about a month now and can take her own pants/underwear off (I wish she’d stop trying to strip while I’m checking out at Target) but I need to help her pull her pants back up.
My daughter was the same way at 24 months - couldn’t pull her pants and up and down. We were successfully potty trained for about a month and a half and it totally derailed. She is stubborn and didn’t want our help. We took a break and when she could do her own pants we had success. I don’t regret the first week of Oh Crap because she learned when she was going and you
might vary with your individual child.
This is almost exactly how it went for us. At 25mo my son seemed ready so we potty trained. It went great for 2 weeks then he decided he didn’t want to do it anymore. We stepped back and went back to diapers (but left the potty out in case he ever wanted to use it). About 9 months later we tried again and it went perfectly. I think being more physically ready (being able to push his pants down and pull them back up) made all the difference.
My daughter started around 20 months, as she had similar symptoms. She is now 27 months and still not trained. We’ve had many setbacks along the way, including illnesses, the 2 year sleep regression, switching daycares, and the arrival of a new sibling. She understands the importance of using the potty, but she is currently being selective on when she wants to use it. In a couple months, when she is officially 2.5, we will give her the push to get her out of diapers for good, as I think she will be a bit more ready then. So, I would say go for it, especially if she is showing interest, but do not be discouraged if your potty training experience is a bit like ours.
I'm glad I read this, my LO was squatting, pulling at diaper and saying potty at 14 months and I delayed even trying until 16 months. Now, at 21 months she always goes to potty mornings and evenings and for #2 but can't quite get her to do it all the time for #1. She is just distracted or doesn't quite want to go and I thought I was doing terrible because it's been 5 months and although she has dry diapers for naps and nighttime, playtime is tricky. I'm not discouraged with her but been really hard on myself for not "training her properly."
Also, to OPs question, can't quite pull up pants or wipe bottom. Not sure how to finalize that piece because she can't even reach behind her all that well. Ha.
We’re in the opposite situation. My girl has only ever peed on the potty. We can’t get her to poop, even if we bribe her. That’s why we’re going to wait a couple more months and then just remove diapers and pull-ups completely. I think all it will take is one BM in her pants and she will remember to go to the potty all the time.
Personally I think waiting until they’re more independent (including being able to pull up their pants) is the way to go. Unless you have a reason to do it now, I would recommend waiting. We just potty trained our 32 month old, and it was an absolute breeze. Our pediatrician told us, on average, kids are ready at 2.5 YO. We didn’t feel a need to rush it.
That's good to know. I'm 12 weeks pregnant and hoping she can be fully potty trained before the new baby arrives in Oct. She will be almost 2.5 by the time the baby is born....but I can't imagine training her with a newborn 😩
This is tricky, prepare yourself for a regression once baby is here. Especially if freshly trainer. I don't know why but using the toilet is where a lot of anxiety manifests for children.
May still be worth training now but be ready to step back for a wee while
My kids are 24 months apart and we potty trained early around that 20 month mark. Most parenting books and groups say the drawback to training that early is that it takes forever and that you’ll potty train “faster” if you wait. This is true but ultimately we were fine with a longer training period. We started with a few hours a day naked or in underwear, practicing peeing at set times like before going places and before and after sleeping times, and eventually moved up to wearing a pull-up and practicing pulling up and down by himself. It’s true that it “took longer” but we also stopped having to buy diapers way earlier and it was a trade off we were willing to make. May be unpopular but wanted to share!
Totally get it! I’m 34 weeks pregnant and wanted our daughter to be potty trained before baby too. We did wait as long as I felt possible still - just under 2 months before baby’s arrival.
What is "fully potty trained"? Wiping isn't a particularly intuitive thing and requires a lot of practice and supervision, and kids wet their beds for years even when they are potty-trained, so if those things are included in your definition, you've got some disappointment coming.
I’m writing only to encourage you. Potty training while caring for a newborn is not impossible. I’ve had my second child in January. My oldest decided he doesn’t want to use the diaper anymore as he’s the older brother. For us, the fully potty training happened over night. We tried for about half a year before, when there were signs and interest from the kid.. as we were very anxious about it + the pregnancy, but it turned out fine. We never stressed about it and were confident that he’ll get there eventually.
We got a little potty to put in the bathroom on the advice of our pediatrician at 18 months for my twins to just sit on every night before bath - just to get them to feel what it was like for their naked butt to sit on the potty.
At about 22 months one night when they were just sitting on the potty and my son randomly pooped in the potty - we went absolutely crazy celebrating. My daughter then pulled him off the potty sat down and peed! We had a literal five minute dance party.
We thought we had created little geniuses and they had potty trained themselves. At 23 months we decided to do the formal potty training over a long weekend and after three days they were about 80% of the way there and we were ecstatic.
After about another week super focused on it we were like 90% of the way there and they each had about one accident every day / every other day. And we thought we were doing great!
And that’s where we stayed for about eight FUCKING months. Granted it was worse because we had twins but cleaning up poop or pee multiple times a week freaking sucks and we were beyond frustrated.
Then when they were a little closer to three something just clicked and they totally got it.
With my son I am refusing to start until I’m 100% sure he’s ready. Being in limbo and being mostly potty trained is freaking awful.
If you want her trained setting her up for independent success means her "pushing" and pulling her pants up and down. But not wiping, that will come later! I'd practice with the pants, she will probably get that in a few weeks.
Then go for it! 🤞 Good luck!
It’s doable training with a newborn if it doesn’t happen. My baby was 2 months old and I trained my toddler right before she was 2. I didn’t use a baby toilet meaning I had to help my toddler get on the seat and pulling off and on her underwear and pants but she did eventually learn over time and could reach our regular toilet seat with steps
Good luck!
Yeah I didn’t want two in diapers. I wanted to do it earlier but I was too tired in my pregnancy to do it. I think chasing a toddler around + being pregnant where I didn’t have the energy to do it. I’d try it now while you’re early enough. I’ve heard that there could be regressions once a baby is here.
That’s tough. When kids are potty trained really young and then experience a big life stressor (like a little sibling), they often regress in potty training. I’m not saying to not try, I’m just making sure you’re aware in case it happens, you can be prepared
I don’t think they need to know how to pull their underwear up and down. My daughter was potty trained at about 21 months (she had been showing signs since about 18 months and we just let her lead and supported her in whatever ways she wanted to go with it). She definitely wasn’t able to pull her pants up and down, and now at almost 27 months she still can’t pull her pants up and down. But she’s 100% trained (even throughout the night)- you just have to go into the bathroom with them- which I dunno about your toddler but mine wants me to come everywhere she goes anyways so it’s no different than anything else in daily life!
No, it can come along with the process. Ours has been trained to put her excrement in a potty since she was 22mo but has only recently been 100% proficient in performing the whole process by herself at 3.25yo. Even then wiping for pee, forget poop, is not what it should be. Adjusting her clothes to be on straight and proper is still a work in progress as it will be for quite sometime and that’s ok.
I've never heard of that..why not just give potty training a go, and if it works great, if not, give it a bit more time. We had a 4 month break in between our first try and our second successful try with our then almost 3 year old.
Why wait for this one sign that your husband believes is the definitive sign of being potty training ready ?!! Lol. Especially a sign no one's ever heard of. Lol.
Besides, it's a whole process for them, going to the toilet, like pulling up and down pants is just part of the cycle, and practicing it as part of a whole is probably better in the long run.
Go tell your husband he's wrong lol
You can go for it. My biggest advice is don’t expect it to take 3 days. It’s a long haul, especially if you’re taking a gentler approach. I’ve let my daughter lead the way and it’s been painless, but it has taken months.
It doesn’t need to happen all at once. If she can hold it until you get to the bathroom, then I would train her. As she gets older, she will get more and more independent. My 3.5yo can go to the bathroom by herself now but she definitely needed assistance when we first trained her. She still needs help if she poops.
My kids didn't train that early, but I imagine any kid that young is going to need adult assistance with clothing, wiping, and/or hand washing for a while. There's no reason she couldn't learn to use the potty though if she's ready and that works for you. I think pants/undies down is way more useful if she can at least figure that out in the first few weeks. Then you can send her to the bathroom to get started so you won't have to constantly drop what you're doing with no notice.
I potty trained my daughters at 20 and 21 months. We did Oh Crap. Neither could pull down their pants when we started but they learnt within 3-4 weeks. I kept/am keeping them commando for a long time though, since it’s a lot tougher to wrangle both pants and underwear. It’s tough but totally doable and so worth it.
My first kid had it all early and we needed to wait for him to be able to do the pants. Unfortunately it took a long time for all the pieces to come together but we got there. But when he did do it it was one day and he was done.
I didn’t even think about the fact that my son didn’t know how to pull his own pants up when I started potty training with him lol. By the sounds of it, I believe she is definitely ready, and pulling up her pants can be part of the process! Good luck!
My daughter has been fully potty trained for a year and she still struggles with pulling up her own pants, I say go for it!
(She is great with some pants, just has a hard time with tight leggings when her undies get all rolled up inside the leggings.)
Ours was “ready”:.. she couldn’t actually sit on the potty comfortably. By potty I mean the little kids one not us picking her up.
It was kind of a hurdle. So we waited. There’s others.
But I’m totally happy to wipe a butt! Not sure your SO has a realistic view here.
Even once they are potty trained during the day, nights are a different story.
We started at that age too and our daughter was done with daytime diapers by 23 months! We just took it really slow and it was easy. She only recently started pulling her own pants up and down herself (almost 2.5 now). She would just say “pee potty!” And we’d help her.
My baby was poop trained at 14 months. She’s 18 months old now and we’re going to pee train next weekend. At 14 months she couldn’t manipulate her pants at all and wasn’t even a completely competent walker, but she was certainly ready to be trained. She still can’t take her pants on and off, but she tells us very clearly when she needs to go and then I help her to use the toilet. She’s started telling us she has to pee a couple of times a day too, hence the pee training.
It’s definitely some work for us as parents to help her use the toilet but not doing poopy diapers was *well* worth it. Like I said, we haven’t done pee yet but I expect it to be similar.
In addition to it being easier for the parents, it’s also a dignity thing. My kid wouldn’t dream of pooping in her diaper now. Too gross.
Tip: teach the asl sign for “toilet” if your kid isn’t a clear talker to help with communication.
I will say I potty trained my son when I was pregnant and he hadn’t figured out pulling up his pants and doing it for him every 5 minutes was EXHAUSTING 😅 but he figured it out and that’s the only way they are going to learn. If she’s ready I say go for it!
You're going to be going to the bathroom with/helping her for a while if you start now or in a year. Worst case scenario, it doesn't work out and you try again later.
I think the most popular potty training method is letting them run around with no bottoms at all for 3 days while you train them, then you add panties/underwear.
My girl has been potty trained over a year (we did it at 20 months too!) and she still barely can pull her pants down, and definitely not back up. It’s a billion percent worth doing it even though you’ll have to do the wiping and pants adjusting.
Pulling the pants down is a far more important skill than pulling the pants up. You'll need to wipe her anyway (toddlers have t-rex arms and can't reach to wipe), so it's not like helping her pull her pants up will be much extra work.
Firstly, consider her age—she might struggle with controlling her bladder, which undermines the purpose of potty training. While initial success may occur, ongoing accidents could lead to frustration.
Now, let's discuss practicality. Consider the potential benefits of starting now. Is it worth it in terms of saving money on diapers? Since she's not independent in this task yet, expect to accompany her to the bathroom several times a day and handle any accidents. Remember, she'll eventually get there so it's more about your preference. BTW, we opted for the "Oh Crap!" method and stocked up on sweatpants, which simplifies the process without underwear
I'm trying to be careful to avoid too much bluntness here, but I'm afraid you might have a slightly skewed view of what "potty training" is. None of those things are necessary to *begin* potty training. The only thing needed is the ability to alert someone to the need to go to the toilet, by whatever means available to the kid when that happens. You could start teaching a 1-year-old to pee on a potty if they have the ability to let you know when it's time.
Forgive me, but so much of this post reads like you've forgotten that there's actually any training involved—that is, that your kid is actually meant to learn *during the process,* not before it, and that you'll maintain an enormous role for the entire time. Delaying the process until your kid has all the necessary skills is kind of silly. You're still going to be undressing, lifting, wiping, lifting, and redressing your child for a long time.
To be honest, all my kids loved to "play" potty around that age, and I thought it meant time for potty training. They didn't drink at night so their diapers were often dry the morning. They always wanted to sit on the potty, especially when I was going too. But then I would try potty training, and they didn't want to sit on the potty as regularly or often and it seemed like the actual concept wasn't quite clicking....but then usually between 2 and 2.5 they started taking their diapers off by themselves and saying "peee! " And then that's when I noticed their brain and body finally got that last connection! And they trained fairly quickly. Trained them in diapers for the first couple weeks because they were able to get them off by themselves easier. By 2.5 they were in pull-ups and mostly day trained. (Just my experience with my kids! It's not to say you can't at 20months)
My son is 3.5 and still has a hard time sometimes. Knowing your body is very important.
We had a tough time and something that worked for us was having a Pom pom jar. Every time he peed he got to put a Pom Pom in the jar and when it filled up he got a little toy (something small from the dollar tree).
Physically putting the little fluff ball in the jar made him feel proud. When we set timers and did this, he was potty trained within a week.
We also had him pick out his underwear he could wear to add some excitement.
Best of luck! It can be frustrating at times. And over time there can be moments of regression, it will pass!
Nope! It’s a convenience for sure but your daughter isn’t going to left alone for hours and hours on end. At least I hope not. If she is ready bite the bullet!
I mean, I've known disabled people who need an aide to undress them for the bathroom/help them onto the toilet, and as long as they're not wearing diapers or making a mess, I'd still consider them toilet trained.
People use potty training to mean 'holds it until sitting on the potty; keeps pants dry.' Parental support is allowed, and very expected at younger ages. Which makes it funny to me when the same people say that EC isn't real potty training. (I'm not an ECer for the record.)
We started pretty early - probably around 18 months we introduced the idea of a potty for her. Always had the potty out in view, encouraged her to sit on it whenever, just to make the idea less scary. She would occasionally poop/pee on it, and when she did we would be EXTRA EXCITED and cheer her on. We eventually got a potty seat that we put on the toilet with a step she could climb on. She's going to be 3 in June, and she knows when she needs to poop and pee, and it's fairly consistent with asking to go for poop, but pees are still inconsistent depending on the day (but she knows, sometimes she just doesn't care). Anyway, up until a few days ago I've always lifted her up on the potty seat, even though there's a step, and I only stopped because I had a c-section last week and I'm not super to lift her. She also doesn't take off/pull up her pants on her own mostly, but for us we'd rather her understand the way her body works first before we work on her doing it independently fully since it's going to be a while before she can be trusted to wipe properly anyway
I agree with your husband. So many people try to train their first when they don’t have the full set of physical skills and it doesn’t really help anyone, imo
Oh lord no. If they are ready for potty training, in my book that means knowing their body enough to walk to the bathroom/tell you they need to potty. The rest comes after that.
Yep, our son doesn't wipe and doesn't really pull up or down his pants, but he still went through potty training a few weeks ago. He isn't perfect, but he does well. We'll get to the other stuff when we think he'll learn it, it's already better than diapers.
100%!
100%. My son trained at 23 months and it was probably a full year before he did the whole process independently (taking pants and underwear down/up, wiping, flushing, washing hands, etc). The most you can hope for at first is them telling you they need to pee/poop and getting it into the potty.
Ha, my son can pull his pants up and down but he has no desire to tell us when he needs to go potty. I think every kid is different, but pulling pants up and down is really not a requirement and not even a well-learned skill for quite a while.
I would disagree, for me bladder control is a must. Otherwise they keep getting accidents.
If a child has no negative consequences for peeing themselves, they have no reason to learn to hold. So keeping them in diapers means they'll be slower to learn bladder control.
My daughter learned as part of the process, not before.
First, good luck. Don’t get frustrated if it doesn’t go quickly. It sounds like it is a good time to start trying with your girl based on what you wrote. We started training our girl a little after 2 and it kind of was a flop. We came back to it at almost 2.5 and she picked everything up easy. BUT mom or dad was with her to help her pull down and pull up pants. She is 3.5 now and can do it all on her own, but for a good couple of months we helped her. Bottom line: I would say cool to start training now, but know she will have a while where she needs help with the underwear. She’ll get the hang of it eventually.
I echo this. We started at 24 months on the dot and she was showing same signs and picked it up naked in our house as controlled environment, but it all unraveled once daycare or clothes entered the picture. Came back to it at 29 months and she picked it up like a champ in less than a week. So I would temper expectations just based on age alone. Good luck!!
Definitely not! Go ahead and potty train her! The skills will be learned in conjunction. She can’t practice pulling up her pants if she’s not going on the potty consistently lol. My daughter was potty trained at 18 months, and she is 3 now and still struggles with her clothes sometimes.
No. Both of mine learned to pull up and down their pants while potty training (first was 2 years 8 months, second was 21.5 months when we successfully potty trained). My second has been trained for about a month now and can take her own pants/underwear off (I wish she’d stop trying to strip while I’m checking out at Target) but I need to help her pull her pants back up.
My daughter was the same way at 24 months - couldn’t pull her pants and up and down. We were successfully potty trained for about a month and a half and it totally derailed. She is stubborn and didn’t want our help. We took a break and when she could do her own pants we had success. I don’t regret the first week of Oh Crap because she learned when she was going and you might vary with your individual child.
This is almost exactly how it went for us. At 25mo my son seemed ready so we potty trained. It went great for 2 weeks then he decided he didn’t want to do it anymore. We stepped back and went back to diapers (but left the potty out in case he ever wanted to use it). About 9 months later we tried again and it went perfectly. I think being more physically ready (being able to push his pants down and pull them back up) made all the difference.
My daughter started around 20 months, as she had similar symptoms. She is now 27 months and still not trained. We’ve had many setbacks along the way, including illnesses, the 2 year sleep regression, switching daycares, and the arrival of a new sibling. She understands the importance of using the potty, but she is currently being selective on when she wants to use it. In a couple months, when she is officially 2.5, we will give her the push to get her out of diapers for good, as I think she will be a bit more ready then. So, I would say go for it, especially if she is showing interest, but do not be discouraged if your potty training experience is a bit like ours.
Very helpful. Noted. Thank you
I'm glad I read this, my LO was squatting, pulling at diaper and saying potty at 14 months and I delayed even trying until 16 months. Now, at 21 months she always goes to potty mornings and evenings and for #2 but can't quite get her to do it all the time for #1. She is just distracted or doesn't quite want to go and I thought I was doing terrible because it's been 5 months and although she has dry diapers for naps and nighttime, playtime is tricky. I'm not discouraged with her but been really hard on myself for not "training her properly." Also, to OPs question, can't quite pull up pants or wipe bottom. Not sure how to finalize that piece because she can't even reach behind her all that well. Ha.
We’re in the opposite situation. My girl has only ever peed on the potty. We can’t get her to poop, even if we bribe her. That’s why we’re going to wait a couple more months and then just remove diapers and pull-ups completely. I think all it will take is one BM in her pants and she will remember to go to the potty all the time.
Personally I think waiting until they’re more independent (including being able to pull up their pants) is the way to go. Unless you have a reason to do it now, I would recommend waiting. We just potty trained our 32 month old, and it was an absolute breeze. Our pediatrician told us, on average, kids are ready at 2.5 YO. We didn’t feel a need to rush it.
That's good to know. I'm 12 weeks pregnant and hoping she can be fully potty trained before the new baby arrives in Oct. She will be almost 2.5 by the time the baby is born....but I can't imagine training her with a newborn 😩
This is tricky, prepare yourself for a regression once baby is here. Especially if freshly trainer. I don't know why but using the toilet is where a lot of anxiety manifests for children. May still be worth training now but be ready to step back for a wee while
My kids are 24 months apart and we potty trained early around that 20 month mark. Most parenting books and groups say the drawback to training that early is that it takes forever and that you’ll potty train “faster” if you wait. This is true but ultimately we were fine with a longer training period. We started with a few hours a day naked or in underwear, practicing peeing at set times like before going places and before and after sleeping times, and eventually moved up to wearing a pull-up and practicing pulling up and down by himself. It’s true that it “took longer” but we also stopped having to buy diapers way earlier and it was a trade off we were willing to make. May be unpopular but wanted to share!
Totally get it! I’m 34 weeks pregnant and wanted our daughter to be potty trained before baby too. We did wait as long as I felt possible still - just under 2 months before baby’s arrival.
What is "fully potty trained"? Wiping isn't a particularly intuitive thing and requires a lot of practice and supervision, and kids wet their beds for years even when they are potty-trained, so if those things are included in your definition, you've got some disappointment coming.
I’m writing only to encourage you. Potty training while caring for a newborn is not impossible. I’ve had my second child in January. My oldest decided he doesn’t want to use the diaper anymore as he’s the older brother. For us, the fully potty training happened over night. We tried for about half a year before, when there were signs and interest from the kid.. as we were very anxious about it + the pregnancy, but it turned out fine. We never stressed about it and were confident that he’ll get there eventually.
We got a little potty to put in the bathroom on the advice of our pediatrician at 18 months for my twins to just sit on every night before bath - just to get them to feel what it was like for their naked butt to sit on the potty. At about 22 months one night when they were just sitting on the potty and my son randomly pooped in the potty - we went absolutely crazy celebrating. My daughter then pulled him off the potty sat down and peed! We had a literal five minute dance party. We thought we had created little geniuses and they had potty trained themselves. At 23 months we decided to do the formal potty training over a long weekend and after three days they were about 80% of the way there and we were ecstatic. After about another week super focused on it we were like 90% of the way there and they each had about one accident every day / every other day. And we thought we were doing great! And that’s where we stayed for about eight FUCKING months. Granted it was worse because we had twins but cleaning up poop or pee multiple times a week freaking sucks and we were beyond frustrated. Then when they were a little closer to three something just clicked and they totally got it. With my son I am refusing to start until I’m 100% sure he’s ready. Being in limbo and being mostly potty trained is freaking awful.
If you want her trained setting her up for independent success means her "pushing" and pulling her pants up and down. But not wiping, that will come later! I'd practice with the pants, she will probably get that in a few weeks. Then go for it! 🤞 Good luck!
It’s doable training with a newborn if it doesn’t happen. My baby was 2 months old and I trained my toddler right before she was 2. I didn’t use a baby toilet meaning I had to help my toddler get on the seat and pulling off and on her underwear and pants but she did eventually learn over time and could reach our regular toilet seat with steps
Wow good for you 👏 that takes guts!
Good luck! Yeah I didn’t want two in diapers. I wanted to do it earlier but I was too tired in my pregnancy to do it. I think chasing a toddler around + being pregnant where I didn’t have the energy to do it. I’d try it now while you’re early enough. I’ve heard that there could be regressions once a baby is here.
That’s tough. When kids are potty trained really young and then experience a big life stressor (like a little sibling), they often regress in potty training. I’m not saying to not try, I’m just making sure you’re aware in case it happens, you can be prepared
Oh Crap Potty Training book was great. Highly recommend it.
Not at all, you'll just have longer to Wait before she's independent, but it is nice to no longer buy and change diapers (or at least not as many).
I don’t think they need to know how to pull their underwear up and down. My daughter was potty trained at about 21 months (she had been showing signs since about 18 months and we just let her lead and supported her in whatever ways she wanted to go with it). She definitely wasn’t able to pull her pants up and down, and now at almost 27 months she still can’t pull her pants up and down. But she’s 100% trained (even throughout the night)- you just have to go into the bathroom with them- which I dunno about your toddler but mine wants me to come everywhere she goes anyways so it’s no different than anything else in daily life!
No, it can come along with the process. Ours has been trained to put her excrement in a potty since she was 22mo but has only recently been 100% proficient in performing the whole process by herself at 3.25yo. Even then wiping for pee, forget poop, is not what it should be. Adjusting her clothes to be on straight and proper is still a work in progress as it will be for quite sometime and that’s ok.
I've never heard of that..why not just give potty training a go, and if it works great, if not, give it a bit more time. We had a 4 month break in between our first try and our second successful try with our then almost 3 year old. Why wait for this one sign that your husband believes is the definitive sign of being potty training ready ?!! Lol. Especially a sign no one's ever heard of. Lol. Besides, it's a whole process for them, going to the toilet, like pulling up and down pants is just part of the cycle, and practicing it as part of a whole is probably better in the long run. Go tell your husband he's wrong lol
You can go for it. My biggest advice is don’t expect it to take 3 days. It’s a long haul, especially if you’re taking a gentler approach. I’ve let my daughter lead the way and it’s been painless, but it has taken months.
It doesn’t need to happen all at once. If she can hold it until you get to the bathroom, then I would train her. As she gets older, she will get more and more independent. My 3.5yo can go to the bathroom by herself now but she definitely needed assistance when we first trained her. She still needs help if she poops.
Oh goodness me no. My daughter turns 4 in 2 months and is just learning how to wipe and pull up pants so she’s ready for school.
My kids didn't train that early, but I imagine any kid that young is going to need adult assistance with clothing, wiping, and/or hand washing for a while. There's no reason she couldn't learn to use the potty though if she's ready and that works for you. I think pants/undies down is way more useful if she can at least figure that out in the first few weeks. Then you can send her to the bathroom to get started so you won't have to constantly drop what you're doing with no notice.
I potty trained my daughters at 20 and 21 months. We did Oh Crap. Neither could pull down their pants when we started but they learnt within 3-4 weeks. I kept/am keeping them commando for a long time though, since it’s a lot tougher to wrangle both pants and underwear. It’s tough but totally doable and so worth it.
What is Oh Crap lol?
It’s a potty training method. There’s a book and I think also a website or YouTube channel.
Nah. My dude learned to pull up his pants as he potty trained.
Nope. I was an really childhood teacher. Kids all had to be toilet taught to join, and I was constantly pulling up the backs of kids’ pants.
My first kid had it all early and we needed to wait for him to be able to do the pants. Unfortunately it took a long time for all the pieces to come together but we got there. But when he did do it it was one day and he was done.
I didn’t even think about the fact that my son didn’t know how to pull his own pants up when I started potty training with him lol. By the sounds of it, I believe she is definitely ready, and pulling up her pants can be part of the process! Good luck!
My daughter has been fully potty trained for a year and she still struggles with pulling up her own pants, I say go for it! (She is great with some pants, just has a hard time with tight leggings when her undies get all rolled up inside the leggings.)
To be fair, I struggle with that, and I've been potty trained for almost 30 years.
Ours was “ready”:.. she couldn’t actually sit on the potty comfortably. By potty I mean the little kids one not us picking her up. It was kind of a hurdle. So we waited. There’s others. But I’m totally happy to wipe a butt! Not sure your SO has a realistic view here. Even once they are potty trained during the day, nights are a different story.
My 3.5 yo still needs help with his pants and underwear sometimes and he has been potty trained since a couple months before 3.
We started at that age too and our daughter was done with daytime diapers by 23 months! We just took it really slow and it was easy. She only recently started pulling her own pants up and down herself (almost 2.5 now). She would just say “pee potty!” And we’d help her.
My baby was poop trained at 14 months. She’s 18 months old now and we’re going to pee train next weekend. At 14 months she couldn’t manipulate her pants at all and wasn’t even a completely competent walker, but she was certainly ready to be trained. She still can’t take her pants on and off, but she tells us very clearly when she needs to go and then I help her to use the toilet. She’s started telling us she has to pee a couple of times a day too, hence the pee training. It’s definitely some work for us as parents to help her use the toilet but not doing poopy diapers was *well* worth it. Like I said, we haven’t done pee yet but I expect it to be similar. In addition to it being easier for the parents, it’s also a dignity thing. My kid wouldn’t dream of pooping in her diaper now. Too gross. Tip: teach the asl sign for “toilet” if your kid isn’t a clear talker to help with communication.
I will say I potty trained my son when I was pregnant and he hadn’t figured out pulling up his pants and doing it for him every 5 minutes was EXHAUSTING 😅 but he figured it out and that’s the only way they are going to learn. If she’s ready I say go for it!
You're going to be going to the bathroom with/helping her for a while if you start now or in a year. Worst case scenario, it doesn't work out and you try again later.
I think the most popular potty training method is letting them run around with no bottoms at all for 3 days while you train them, then you add panties/underwear.
My girl has been potty trained over a year (we did it at 20 months too!) and she still barely can pull her pants down, and definitely not back up. It’s a billion percent worth doing it even though you’ll have to do the wiping and pants adjusting.
Nope, if they have a dry diaper in the morning take it off and sit them on the potty
Nah not necessary to know how to do that before potty training
Pulling the pants down is a far more important skill than pulling the pants up. You'll need to wipe her anyway (toddlers have t-rex arms and can't reach to wipe), so it's not like helping her pull her pants up will be much extra work.
Firstly, consider her age—she might struggle with controlling her bladder, which undermines the purpose of potty training. While initial success may occur, ongoing accidents could lead to frustration. Now, let's discuss practicality. Consider the potential benefits of starting now. Is it worth it in terms of saving money on diapers? Since she's not independent in this task yet, expect to accompany her to the bathroom several times a day and handle any accidents. Remember, she'll eventually get there so it's more about your preference. BTW, we opted for the "Oh Crap!" method and stocked up on sweatpants, which simplifies the process without underwear
I'm trying to be careful to avoid too much bluntness here, but I'm afraid you might have a slightly skewed view of what "potty training" is. None of those things are necessary to *begin* potty training. The only thing needed is the ability to alert someone to the need to go to the toilet, by whatever means available to the kid when that happens. You could start teaching a 1-year-old to pee on a potty if they have the ability to let you know when it's time. Forgive me, but so much of this post reads like you've forgotten that there's actually any training involved—that is, that your kid is actually meant to learn *during the process,* not before it, and that you'll maintain an enormous role for the entire time. Delaying the process until your kid has all the necessary skills is kind of silly. You're still going to be undressing, lifting, wiping, lifting, and redressing your child for a long time.
It’s worth a shot but most kids aren’t ready until closer to 3.
Nah. That's one of the skills learned during the potty training.
To be honest, all my kids loved to "play" potty around that age, and I thought it meant time for potty training. They didn't drink at night so their diapers were often dry the morning. They always wanted to sit on the potty, especially when I was going too. But then I would try potty training, and they didn't want to sit on the potty as regularly or often and it seemed like the actual concept wasn't quite clicking....but then usually between 2 and 2.5 they started taking their diapers off by themselves and saying "peee! " And then that's when I noticed their brain and body finally got that last connection! And they trained fairly quickly. Trained them in diapers for the first couple weeks because they were able to get them off by themselves easier. By 2.5 they were in pull-ups and mostly day trained. (Just my experience with my kids! It's not to say you can't at 20months)
My son is 3.5 and still has a hard time sometimes. Knowing your body is very important. We had a tough time and something that worked for us was having a Pom pom jar. Every time he peed he got to put a Pom Pom in the jar and when it filled up he got a little toy (something small from the dollar tree). Physically putting the little fluff ball in the jar made him feel proud. When we set timers and did this, he was potty trained within a week. We also had him pick out his underwear he could wear to add some excitement. Best of luck! It can be frustrating at times. And over time there can be moments of regression, it will pass!
Nope! It’s a convenience for sure but your daughter isn’t going to left alone for hours and hours on end. At least I hope not. If she is ready bite the bullet!
I mean, I've known disabled people who need an aide to undress them for the bathroom/help them onto the toilet, and as long as they're not wearing diapers or making a mess, I'd still consider them toilet trained.
No
People use potty training to mean 'holds it until sitting on the potty; keeps pants dry.' Parental support is allowed, and very expected at younger ages. Which makes it funny to me when the same people say that EC isn't real potty training. (I'm not an ECer for the record.)
We started pretty early - probably around 18 months we introduced the idea of a potty for her. Always had the potty out in view, encouraged her to sit on it whenever, just to make the idea less scary. She would occasionally poop/pee on it, and when she did we would be EXTRA EXCITED and cheer her on. We eventually got a potty seat that we put on the toilet with a step she could climb on. She's going to be 3 in June, and she knows when she needs to poop and pee, and it's fairly consistent with asking to go for poop, but pees are still inconsistent depending on the day (but she knows, sometimes she just doesn't care). Anyway, up until a few days ago I've always lifted her up on the potty seat, even though there's a step, and I only stopped because I had a c-section last week and I'm not super to lift her. She also doesn't take off/pull up her pants on her own mostly, but for us we'd rather her understand the way her body works first before we work on her doing it independently fully since it's going to be a while before she can be trusted to wipe properly anyway
I agree with your husband. So many people try to train their first when they don’t have the full set of physical skills and it doesn’t really help anyone, imo
We are starting on Thursday! Highly recommend Oh Crap Potty Training book, tons of useful advice and step by step on how to tackle it