What are the signs my son may be ready to potty train?

Question

he is 18 months old.

Answer 1

The sooner the better.  I can't say much about boys, but my girl (19 mo) has been giving us signal that she is ready to do a number 2.  Sometimes, she does have a hard time doing it, and that give us time to get her to the bathroom before it is too late.  When we recognize that sign, we rush her to the bathroom right away (put the little toilet seat down, drop the diaper, and sit her down).  If we can get her there within 30 secs, no dirty diaper!  Even when it is a little late, she would still finish while on the toilet seat.

We have been able to pick up on that since she was a about 13 mo.  I have to say.. flushing the toilet is far better than cleaning dirty @ss/diapers.  She would sit on the toilet until she is ready to get off the seat.  I think she likes to be clean as well, so that helps.

Good luck with your potty training.

Answer 2

My daughter is 18.5 months old now and has started using her potty.  There's a great DVD out now called "Once Upon a Potty."  There's a boy version and a girl version you can buy.  I'll leave you a link for the boy version at the bottom of this answer.

Have your child watch the video and present him with a potty after the video's been shown.  Replay the video, take the diaper off and see if your child will sit on it.

My little girl LOVES the Potty video and will sit on it while watching.  My wife also brings our girl into the bathroom with her and whenever she has to go, she takes off my daughter's diaper, sits her on the potty and my wife talks about going potty.

It's a shared experience and my daughter will actually POINT to the TV, look at me or my wife and say, "bobby" which is her way of saying "potty."  We put the video on, sit her down and wait.  So far, she's gone #2 in it once and #1 twice and we always clap and cheer for her whenever she's successful.

As long as you don't force the issue and instead, make it look like fun, your son will be more likely to WANT to try the potty.

Good luck.

Answer 3

put him on a toilet and try

Answer 4

He should be interested in what the potty/toilet is.

He should be at the stage when he is either telling you that he needs to wee/poo or that his nappy is full.

Answer 5

18 months is really early. I would really just hold off a bit unless he is really showing signs. Some good signs are: wakes up dry from naps/night sleep, goes several hours between wet diapers, knows the difference between opposites (on/off, wet/dry), can communicate his needs through signing/speaking, etc. Starting too early can be much more harmful that starting late. Pick up Elizabeth Pantley's "The No-Cry Potty Training Solution".

Answer 6

18 mos old is the perfect time to introduce your child to potty training because they are physically capable of "holding" their urine.  Not for long mind you... so it's not like they can hold it during nap or nite time.  

Keep in mind that boys are often times harder to train than girls and their physical ability to "hold it" develops a little slower than girls.  So take it slow and start by introducing him to the potty.  I like to use our toilet with a child's potty ring (to make the hole smaller) instead of the potty chair.  It's less mess and then you don't have to retrain them to use the big potty which they can sometimes develop a fear of.  

Allow your child to see others (you, your wife, other kids) using the potty whenever the opportunity is available.  He's too young to notice gender so don't worry about any of that just yet.  

Start out slow and maybe two - three times a day have your child sit on the toilet.  For the first week you might not get anything, but I have found the best time to do this is after a meal and/or before nap/bed.  Increase your times to go as he becomes more comfortable on the potty.

Once he has started to get the hang of what the toilet is for (always make a huge deal about him going pee/p**p in the toilet) then you can think about getting some cool underwear with action figures that he can pick out and some rubber pants.  Kids are less likely to continue to soil themselves when they can feel it.  I've never been a big fan of pull ups because it's basically just like a diaper.

Anyhow, take things slow and work at your child's rate.  My daughter is 2 1/2 and completely trained... I started her at 18 mos. and she was pretty close by 2 and all the way trained by 2 1/2.  My nephew however is 3 and just finished training... he was really stubborn about it~

ps... having your boy sit down is usually the easiest at this age... at least until he can figure out when he needs to do #1 or 2.  Then introduce the standing up.  That will be the fun part!  I've heard that some boys once they learn to pee upright like to pee on all of the outdoor greenery and see this as quite the little game~  I suppose that's why grown men still enjoy writing their names in the sand~  haha (just kidding)

Answer 7

I've been told that when your child wakes from sleeping with a dry diaper repeatedly they may be ready.  Also, I was told that if they are confident walkers and are interested in the potty that might me a good time to try...