When your child is showing an interest in the toilet (other than to drop things in), grab the opportunity to start potty training.
There comes a point when you have had enough of changing diapers: the cost, the washing, and trying to find a reasonable place to change your baby.
Everyone seems to have an opinion about when is the best time to potty train, and what is the best method, yet every parent has to make up their own mind about when to start. Attitudes toward toilet training vary around the world, and have changed even within recent generations.
Before washing machines and disposable diapers became affordable and widely available, parents had every motivation to get babies out of diapers as quickly as possible. Young children were put onto the toilet or potties after every meal, and many were out of diapers by their first birthday.
Advice about when best to potty train changed in the 1960s in the US and Europe when parents were advised to hold off until after 18 months.
‘Babies of the Digo people in East Africa are dry day and night by six months old.
In many countries early toilet training is still the norm, and one study estimated that 50 percent of the world’s babies are toilet trained by their first birthday.
Most parents in India, for example, consider it shameful to allow children to sit and sleep in their own waste. Western travelers on Indian transportation remark on the telepathic ease with which mothers hold tiny babies to the window to urinate.
Chinese babies wear split-legged pants for easy squatting and early toilet training. Your grandparents might be amazed that contemporary children are in diapers for so long, although they may be impressed by the absorbent capacity of modern diapers.
Advocates of diaper-free parenting (also called elimination timing) say babies can signal when they need to go from about four months old using gestures, sounds, facial expressions, and wiggling. Western parents used to be familiar with these signs, but with disposables there is no real sense of urgency, and this knowledge is not used.
If you tune in to your baby and learn his cues, you can anticipate when to put him on a potty from an early age. You can encourage the link between physical sensation and action by talking to your baby from birth, and making urinating and grunting sounds so he knows how to tell you when he needs to go.
The older the infant (over six months), the less likely he is to recognize and signal the sensations. Once your child becomes a toddler there are so many other distractions, timely communication can go a little haywire.
To try the elimination-timing method you must be completely baby focused. That means spending most days and nights at home with your baby while you develop intimate parent–baby communication.
Once you know the signals you can teach these to your partner, family, and any other caregivers. If you need to do the school pickup, go to work, or care for another child, then this method may be challenging since it does take over your time in the early stages.
Most parents in the US and UK toilet train their children between 18 months and three years. This is when most children develop the necessary bladder and bowel control. If your child becomes curious about you using the toilet, or starts to try to take off his own wet or dirty diaper, then this could be the right time for you to start training.
If you don’t own any potties, buy one or two now so you always have one nearby; portable potties can be useful for when you’re out. Washable, cloth diapers make a useful transition step since children who know how awful a wet diaper feels have a head start, so you could borrow some cloth diapers for a few weeks.
Some toddlers love sitting on the potty whereas others find the adult expectation and gaze intimidating. The best approach is to stay positive, praise every successful attempt, and not fuss over the inevitable accidents. Though it’s tempting to keep a toddler in diapers or training diapers while potty training, he’ll get the message more readily if you keep him diaper-free during the day.
Some children will urinate happily in a potty but might want a diaper back on for a stool; you might have to go with this for a while. Going half-naked around the home or backyard might help, as will using easy to pull up or down clothes. It’s easiest to conquer potty training if you can stay at home for the first few days. When you have to head out, take changes of clothing, and expect to find yourself waiting while he sits in the park on his potty.
Babies “eliminate” about 20 times a day in their first weeks; this reduces to 10 times a day by three years old.
Toddler boys take an average one to three months longer than girls to get the potty habit, but this isn’t always the case. Having an older sibling can mean that the whole process makes more sense, so this can make training quicker. Daycare centers also find they can train children quickly since the children notice others doing the same, and it becomes part of the usual routine.
As your child gets the hang of it, provide a step so he can sit on the toilet. He might find it difficult to balance and reach toilet paper or wipes so don’t be surprised if you have to help for a while yet.
Start teaching a good hand-washing routine, too. Nighttime dryness comes later once your child develops further control over his bladder. Toilet training requires patience, humor, and selfconfidence, and you will both get there eventually.