Potty training girl under 2?

[Firsttimemumx]

So my mum and a lot of older women I work with etc have all said their children including me and my brother were all dry through the day by 18 months and through the night by 2 years old. My daughter is 16 months and we have had a potty in the house since she turned 1. Every month or so we let her run around without a nappy on in the evening and encourage her to use her potty by putting her on there every 5 minutes or so. Everytime she has peed on the floor and not on the potty. She recognises it’s for wee wee as she says wee wee and points at it and when I change her nappy she will tell me if she’s done a wee wee or a poo poo. She will even go and get a nappy for me to change her when she has done a poo. Everywhere I have read pretty much says potty train from two onwards but my mum and other parents of adults have said that’s ridiculous and far too late. I am keen for her to be potty trained as I am pregnant with my second due in March but I also don’t want to pressure my daughter and make her upset etc if she isn’t capable yet. Any opinions? Also welcome any tips to potty training for when I do decide to go for it!

 

[first_time_mum]

I potty trained my daughter in August and she's 3.5, she done it within a week and is set day and night. I honest my believe that before 2.5 us to early but obviously every child is different. I think you will just know when she is ready so I wouldn't take no notice of what other people think, my mum and nan kept telling me to do it but I knew she wasn't ready yet xx

 

[claire_louise9]

My daughter has only been potty trained during the day for a couple of months she is 3 next month. I did try her a couple of months before but she just wasn't ready but within a weekend she got the hang on it and there's no looking back. Don't listen to other people my lot was the same saying I was trained by now. You know your child , you know when they are ready , there's no need to rush x

 

[Lucky2015]

If she has the skills to communicate with you well at 16 months and you are happy to try then do so, My little boy is 2 yrs 5 months and we started Saturday after him showing signs, we are day 3 now and its stressful, partly because I'm so worried about the carpet the sofa and everything else, thankfully no accidents today and seems he may have the hang of this but i'm sure we still have set backs to come. He was not ready to this before now. The H/v advise if they haven't got the hang of it by day 3 to stop and try again in a few weeks. Good Luck

 

[Firsttimemumx]

Thank you all that’s really helpful and reassuring to hear it’s not just me getting pressure! Also nice to hear that most have you have gone for the 2 and a half - 3 age as opposed to earlier!

 

[TORino]

My MIL was exactly the same with the potty training comments. She provided childcare for my niece and as she had a lot of time she sort of trained her to sit on the potty at a young age. She was out of nappies at maybe 22 months if I remember rightly.

Doing it this early has consequences though, I don't think they will necessarily tell you and place a lot of reliance on you to sit them on the potty repeatedly during the day. I waited a bit longer with my daughter. She was maybe 27 months and trained by then.

 

[Shepherdess]

I did it with my daughter at 21 months, she's 28 months now and has been totally day and night dry since she turned two. we've only ever had one wee accident since we started. my lo never told me when she'd done wees and poos in her nappy but I was aware she was doing her business at the same time of day from about 19 months. I got a potty and every evening before bathtime I'd let her have an hour or two naked time (it was winter so the fire had always been lit) and told her to use the potty. for ages she didn't do anything but then she'd start to have a wee before she got in the bath. I bought her lots of lovely pretty knickers which she found and really wanted to wear so I said she'd have to do all her wees and poos in the potty. she did for a day then asked for her nappy back which I gave her but then two weeks later she wanted to wear the knickers again and that's been us since. I wouldn't even say it took any training as such, she was ready at 21m and we did it. it was totally stress free. I honestly think if either of you are getting stressed or pressured put the nappies back on and wait a while

 

[Firsttimemumx]

My MIL was exactly the same with the potty training comments. She provided childcare for my niece and as she had a lot of time she sort of trained her to sit on the potty at a young age. She was out of nappies at maybe 22 months if I remember rightly.

Doing it this early has consequences though, I don't think they will necessarily tell you and place a lot of reliance on you to sit them on the potty repeatedly during the day. I waited a bit longer with my daughter. She was maybe 27 months and trained by then.

Thank you for your reply, I agree I worry that she wouldn’t be able to tell me if we were out and about that she needs to pee x

 

[Firsttimemumx]

I did it with my daughter at 21 months, she's 28 months now and has been totally day and night dry since she turned two. we've only ever had one wee accident since we started. my lo never told me when she'd done wees and poos in her nappy but I was aware she was doing her business at the same time of day from about 19 months. I got a potty and every evening before bathtime I'd let her have an hour or two naked time (it was winter so the fire had always been lit) and told her to use the potty. for ages she didn't do anything but then she'd start to have a wee before she got in the bath. I bought her lots of lovely pretty knickers which she found and really wanted to wear so I said she'd have to do all her wees and poos in the potty. she did for a day then asked for her nappy back which I gave her but then two weeks later she wanted to wear the knickers again and that's been us since. I wouldn't even say it took any training as such, she was ready at 21m and we did it. it was totally stress free. I honestly think if either of you are getting stressed or pressured put the nappies back on and wait a while

Knickers is another thing that’s an issue my daughter is a very small 16 month old and has only just gone into 9-12 month clothes and everywhere I’ve looked the smallest sizes I’ve found are 18-24 months she will be about 4 when they fit 😂🙈

 

[Hoping for no2]

Unless she's showing clear signs of being ready and has good speech and communication skills I would personally leave it as she is very young. I don't know why the older generation have such a thing about potty training young because in all honesty it really doesn't matter when they are trained. They all get there in the end. Had a nightmare with my first as tried to do before he was ready and took a whole year...left my 2nd till nearly 3 and done wishing 2-3 weeks. He never has an accident and is dry at night too.

 

[Shepherdess]

I did it with my daughter at 21 months, she's 28 months now and has been totally day and night dry since she turned two. we've only ever had one wee accident since we started. my lo never told me when she'd done wees and poos in her nappy but I was aware she was doing her business at the same time of day from about 19 months. I got a potty and every evening before bathtime I'd let her have an hour or two naked time (it was winter so the fire had always been lit) and told her to use the potty. for ages she didn't do anything but then she'd start to have a wee before she got in the bath. I bought her lots of lovely pretty knickers which she found and really wanted to wear so I said she'd have to do all her wees and poos in the potty. she did for a day then asked for her nappy back which I gave her but then two weeks later she wanted to wear the knickers again and that's been us since. I wouldn't even say it took any training as such, she was ready at 21m and we did it. it was totally stress free. I honestly think if either of you are getting stressed or pressured put the nappies back on and wait a while

Knickers is another thing that’s an issue my daughter is a very small 16 month old and has only just gone into 9-12 month clothes and everywhere I’ve looked the smallest sizes I’ve found are 18-24 months she will be about 4 when they fit 😂🙈

haha I had the same problem my little girl is very petite to, I managed to find some 12-18 month ones online. she's nearly 2 1/2 now and I've just bought her some 18-24h ones. I think clothes are designed around nappies to as everything seems to hang off her bum

 

[Belfa]

I was told at the weekend that guidance has changed a lot since "back in the day" when children did potty train earlier and a big part was that nappies weren't absorbent or the were toweling nappies so children were training more easily because it wasn't nice feeling wet or dirty.

Nowadays nappies are good that children don't go through the same feeling and research has shown that actually, ages 2.5 - 3 have better control and understanding. I dare say that there will be children who are training between 18-24months and they are probably quite mature developmentally.

I would choose to ignore the know it alls xx

 

[JD.Deedee]

My lad likely autistic, doesn't have the communication... it just happens when they start to have bladder control. It just comes natural... for some that's before two for others much later like my Son. Especially if the communication is there you're likely to succeed much earlier but please don't stress about it his. His great gran meivered me for the last 3 years about it.. same his dad... it's also consistency... now I know within an hour or so after a drink he needs to wee and try from about 20-30 mins after. Dad and other people who look after the children have to be on board too when you're attempting there's nothing worse of having an accident on the carpet because you were doing something for yourself especially in the early days x

 

[Firsttimemumx]

I was told at the weekend that guidance has changed a lot since "back in the day" when children did potty train earlier and a big part was that nappies weren't absorbent or the were toweling nappies so children were training more easily because it wasn't nice feeling wet or dirty.

Nowadays nappies are good that children don't go through the same feeling and research has shown that actually, ages 2.5 - 3 have better control and understanding. I dare say that there will be children who are training between 18-24months and they are probably quite mature developmentally.

I would choose to ignore the know it alls xx

Yeah most things I have read said 2 and a half to 3 years too that’s why I was a bit like well there has to be a reason surely?! My little one is quite advanced physically she was walking properly at 9 months and has a vocabulary of 100+ words at 16 months but i still see her as a ‘baby’

 

[Firsttimemumx]

My lad likely autistic, doesn't have the communication... it just happens when they start to have bladder control. It just comes natural... for some that's before two for others much later like my Son. Especially if the communication is there you're likely to succeed much earlier but please don't stress about it his. His great gran meivered me for the last 3 years about it.. same his dad... it's also consistency... now I know within an hour or so after a drink he needs to wee and try from about 20-30 mins after. Dad and other people who look after the children have to be on board too when you're attempting there's nothing worse of having an accident on the carpet because you were doing something for yourself especially in the early days x

Yeah that’s a good point as currently I’ve no clue when she wees! So it’s worth working that out first too!