Too Young to Potty Train?

[Unregistered]

My son is 22 months old and the last month he has been extremely interested in the potty! At first he would just sit on it stand up and say Yea! This last week he has been asking us to take off his clothes, we thought it was just a phrase of wanting to be naked.

So this weekend we let him since it was just family at home. Almost every time he asked for his clothes off he would run to the little potty we have and use the potty. He did it all day today too! I'm not sure if I should really try to potty train him and encourage it. He isn't even 2 yet.

I haven't had a child so interested in the potty before so I am a little out of my "comfort" zone. Most of my daycare kids didn't potty train until 2.5-3 years old. I am one of the few providers on here (at least I think) that uses underwear on kids potty training. I have been pretty successful with the older ages but no experience with a child so young. What is your advice?

[Cradle2crayons]

My son is 22 months old and the last month he has been extremely interested in the potty! At first he would just sit on it stand up and say Yea! This last week he has been asking us to take off his clothes, we thought it was just a phrase of wanting to be naked.

So this weekend we let him since it was just family at home. Almost every time he asked for his clothes off he would run to the little potty we have and use the potty. He did it all day today too! I'm not sure if I should really try to potty train him and encourage it. He isn't even 2 yet.

I haven't had a child so interested in the potty before so I am a little out of my "comfort" zone. Most of my daycare kids didn't potty train until 2.5-3 years old. I am one of the few providers on here (at least I think) that uses underwear on kids potty training. I have been pretty successful with the older ages but no experience with a child so young. What is your advice?

I wouldn't worry about his exact chronological age. I would focus on his interest.

Can he remove his clothes? Can he hold his bladder for at least a few hours??

My own son was completely potty trained at 20 months. He didn't show an interest though. He got a yeast or some kind of rash and the dr said open to air and so we bought some underwear and took him potty. He was completely trained in one week. He ran with it.

I say if he is PHYSICALLY ready and able to hold his bladder and doesn't have to be taken into the bathroom every hour, go for it!

[blandino]

I don't think he's too young. If he is showing interest now, he might be totally there by 2. Which isn't unreasonably young.

A lot of my kids start showing interest at that age, but then take 6+ months to get to the point that they were fully potty trained. But it does sound like he is ready if he is making it every time.

I am a big proponent of straight to underwear, I just ask that parents do it at home first. So that the phase were there are accidents is done mostly at home.

[Heidi]

I'm normally in the late/independent camp, but I have had the occasional kiddo who is just plain ready at that age.

One of the toughest kiddos I've ever had (behavior wise) was completely potty trained at 22 months. He just decided, and that was it. When mom suggested I let him wear underwear, I did one of these..., but said I'd give it a week. He never had a single accident. My own kids were all around their 3rd birthday, and so are most of my dck's.

So, if you're son is interested, let him take the lead. Maybe he's just one of those kids.

[harperluu]

My son is 22 months old and the last month he has been extremely interested in the potty! At first he would just sit on it stand up and say Yea! This last week he has been asking us to take off his clothes, we thought it was just a phrase of wanting to be naked.

So this weekend we let him since it was just family at home. Almost every time he asked for his clothes off he would run to the little potty we have and use the potty. He did it all day today too! I'm not sure if I should really try to potty train him and encourage it. He isn't even 2 yet.

I haven't had a child so interested in the potty before so I am a little out of my "comfort" zone. Most of my daycare kids didn't potty train until 2.5-3 years old. I am one of the few providers on here (at least I think) that uses underwear on kids potty training. I have been pretty successful with the older ages but no experience with a child so young. What is your advice?

I'm a provider that will not potty train with pull-ups. Underwear only. It has worked well for me. I'd say it's not overly rare to have a just under two year old potty training. I just wouldn't push it if he isn't successful within a few days.

Put him in underwear and see how he does. I'd take him in short intervals at first to see if he has continued success and his underwear stays dry. I also wouldn't mind taking him every hour, as long as that gradually increases over a few days. I'd also have him in a diaper at bedtime, until his diaper is dry consistently in the morning.

Good luck to you!

[itlw8]

He is not too young you can do it now when he is interested or you can wait and then he will be close to 3 when he wants to go again or you make him do it.

[TwinKristi]

I potty train with underwear as well. Maybe nap if I had a frequent wetter. My friend's son has a condition and her son cannot hold his bladder during sleep. He's seen several drs and tried all the alarms and tricks but nada! He's 8! So I wouldn't be opposed to nap time pull-ups but not waking time. My DS will be 2 in 2wks and he's been showing interest in it as well. He takes off his diaper and wants to go and has gone three times now on the potty. If I leave him with just underwear he's still wetting them but not pooping. We're trying! My first boys were 3.5+ but my other 3 boys were all just turning 2!

[Unregistered]

I was a little worried that I was one of the crazy parents thinking my child could potty train too early I will go out to buy him underwear, I didn't think I would need them anytime soon so we don't have any. I really dislike pull ups! I have had great success with just underwear. I'm not too worried about accidents but my house is mostly hardwood. I have only had a handful of kids have accidents.

One of my previous dcb older sister had a situation like yours. She had a medical condition (can't remember the name) where she can't hold her bladder when she sleeps. She is almost 10 and been to a lot of doctors to try and help the problem. She is embarrassed to have sleep overs because of it.

[Holladee]

My son is 25 months and will go potty when sat on the toilet. Usually this is in the morning, before nap, bath, and bed. He will also sometimes ask occasionally during the day and I will take him and he will go.

I got brave last week and bought underwear, thinking that I should at least give it a shot. Well, after cleaning up several pee puddles I put the diapers back on. I'll continue to take him to potty, but I'm not willing to push it at this time - mostly because I have a high maintenance 4 month old so I just don't have it in me right now. I'm not a huge pull up fan, but I'm considering trying them just because if would be easier to pull on and off for bathroom breaks.

I hope I'm not dooming myself by not being more aggressive, but we'll see.

I would try the underwear if I were you. Give it a few days and see what happens!

Good luck!

[Rachel]

Except my twins (my first), all my kids were totally reliable by 2.5 at the latest. I am a big believer in earlier is better. It used to be that 18-24 months was the normal time to train, now it's closer to 3 (or even 4!). No reason why a 22 month old who is interested can't switch to underwear. I say go for it!

[Shell]

Except my twins (my first), all my kids were totally reliable by 2.5 at the latest. I am a big believer in earlier is better. It used to be that 18-24 months was the normal time to train, now it's closer to 3 (or even 4!). No reason why a 22 month old who is interested can't switch to underwear. I say go for it!

My ds was trained before he turned 2, as were so many people in generations before. I had twin 3 year olds that would go potty here all the time, and ds wanted to be like them and go potty, too. I trained him over a course of a few days, used rubber underwear at first, then switched to thicker cotton ones. Once he was out of diapers, I never went back. If your little one is interested, why not go for it?! I sure didn't want to buy anymore diapers, or change any more poopy diapers!

[EchoMom]

It won't hurt to try.

I'm a believer that the best thing you can do is keep your child sensitive to the feeling of dirty/wet and connected to the sensation of peeing/pooping. When you wait too long to train, they become totally desensitized to those feelings and are diaper trained.

I put my DS over the toilet since he was a newborn. I'm not saying that's what everyone should do, just what I did. He was pretty good at using the toilet by 24 months and gave up diapers completely. Now at 27 months he's 95% reliable, initiates going on his own, can dress, wash, flush, etc. He never has a full out accident. The worst he ever does is piddle a little in his underwear while grabbing himself running to the bathroom just a TAD too late! LOL

Don't compare your own child to DCKs. It's apples and oranges. You are home with your child and able to work with him a lot more than a parent working outside the home not seeing their child nearly as often as you do. It would be very reasonable to assume your own child will potty train sooner than a DCK just because of the sheer amount of attention you can spend on it since you're home and available to him (although still working and busy at times of course!) I know that if I weren't doing daycare my son would have been trained even sooner. But because I was working and had a house of other kids that needed me, it was a little slower a process than I first expected.

[blandino]

You are home with your child and able to work with him a lot more than a parent working outside the home not seeing their child nearly as often as you do. It would be very reasonable to assume your own child will potty train sooner than a DCK just because of the sheer amount of attention you can spend on it since you're home and available to him (although still working and busy at times of course!) I know that if I weren't doing daycare my son would have been trained even sooner. But because I was working and had a house of other kids that needed me, it was a little slower a process than I first expected.

YES !! my friends who stay home (mostly) have children who PT around the age of 2. As opposed to my DCK, who are all 2.5-3. Not true for all, but I do think having a parent home with you, does help.

[daycarediva]

I don't think he's too young. If he is showing interest now, he might be totally there by 2. Which isn't unreasonably young.

A lot of my kids start showing interest at that age, but then take 6+ months to get to the point that they were fully potty trained. But it does sound like he is ready if he is making it every time.

I am a big proponent of straight to underwear, I just ask that parents do it at home first. So that the phase were there are accidents is done mostly at home.

I have had two of my own kids (out of 4) and several daycare kids completely trained right before/around their 2nd birthday.

I really feel it's because of the lack of time at home (and parent laziness) that kids are trained later. Like a PP said, it used to be 18-24 months.

[Lyss]

My daughter will be two in a few days and has been fully potty trained (wipes self, pulls up/down pants, verbalizes when she needs to go, dry at night/nap) since 21 months. She was super interested in it because the older sibling of one of my current DCKs came one in-service day (she used to come but aged out to formal prek) and my DD wanted to do everything just like here, including potty which we had just introduced. I put her in underwear and a few days later she was accident free and potty trained! Honestly I was AMAZED, she's very headstrong and I really expected a power struggle with PT ::

The downside is that now all my DCPs want (expect) their kids PT by 2... but aren't consistent at home