My son was 18 months old when I started to potty train him. Some may say that's too young, but I don't think it is if the child is ready and willing to start trying to be a big kid. He always wanted to go when we did, so once he took a diaper off I said don't buy anymore diapers and my mother in law bought him a potty chair and a pack of underwear and we bought pull ups for night and nap time only. At first, I would give him a cup of watered down juice to get him full and needing to go and after a bit he caught on pretty quick. By 2 1/2 years old, he was completely potty trained curing the day, and also at nap time and bedtime. Of course accidents occurred during the training process as it does with everyone, but he caught on quickly. Of course, by 2 we got rid of the plastic potty chair and just bought a potty type seat for the toilet.
My daughter was also 18 months old when I started to potty train her. She wanted to be like her big brother (they are 10 months apart in age) and have underwear and a potty chair. She also didn't get another diaper once she took one off. She caught on a little quicker when it came to the cups and potty time, so it wasn't long before that wasn't needed to encourage her to want to go. She was 2 years old when she was completely potty trained during the day, as well as nap time and bedtime. It was a little after her 2nd birthday that she was done with pull ups for good!
A piece of advice:
- Not all children are the same when it comes to potty training, so you may start him or her at 18 months and they be done before 2, but you could also be working on it until 3 years old. I know people who didn't even START potty training until 4 years old, which to me is totally rediculous in most cases, unless of course they are unable to truly understand what it means and can't talk, but in general I'd suggest to introduce the potty around 18 - 20 months to see how they do and go from there.
- If he or she has an older sibling, it's pretty likely that the potty training can and will start early on as they want to do everything their brother or sister do, including potty training which is a great motivation!
- Award him or her each time they go to the bathroom, whether it's with praise and recognition or M&Ms as I did with my two kids or a toy at the end of the week with no accidents.
- Do not allow a drink of water, juice, or milk 2 hours prior to bedtime. It will help a lot when it comes to narrowing down the number of accidents your child may have at bedtime. Make sure he or she goes to the bathroom before it's time to take a nap or go to bed.
