19 month old wants to be potty trained

Goldrose6

Sun, Jan 14 2007, 4:35 pm

My 19 month old (3rd child) loves being in the bathroom, whether to play in the toilet (gross), wash his hands in the sink, or taking a bath. Recently every time he needs to make #2, he will go to the bathroom door (I started keeping the door closed), knock on the door, and say "uch" over and over again. Then, if I ignore this (becouse I'm busy doing other things and don't really have the time or the patience to start the whole potty training experience again), a minute later he'll come to me and tell me "uch" again. And if I look, sure enough, he has an "uch." (By the way, "uch" happens to be one of the only words he knows.)

My question to you: is 19 months too young to toilet train? I'm hoping it is, because I don't want to start yet. But should I be discouraging him if he wants to?

lubcoralsprings

Sun, Jan 14 2007, 5:02 pm

I think it is too young. I have a 21 month old and he shows signs of potty readiness but I am not going to try. With DS#1 I toilet trianed him a month before his upshernish and it went beautifully. He didn't have accidents and slept through the night dry. With DD#1 I started at a little over 2. It was a big mistake. She had accidents for two months. I think she wasn't ready to begin with and I should have waited until a few months before she turned three. Now with DS#2 I am going to wait until a month before his upsherin. I see no reason to push him. I don't want to have any more disasters like with DD.

withhumor

Sun, Jan 14 2007, 5:11 pm

Around Sukkos time, by # 3 was about 21 months old and she started pulling down her pamper and told me she needs to go BEFORE she started the process so I decided, whatever, let me train her. It went very well and then, like I predicted she started making meshuga now. She does what she pleases and because she really doesn’t talk a lot it’s very difficult to tell her ‘we’re going out now so let’s go to the bathroom before, I’ll give you a cookie’ blah blah, se doesn’t get it.

She goes to playgroup and every day it’s trial and error, for now I’m simply holding out. I did yield last shabbos though, to avoid ‘puddles and piles’ all over the house on shabbos, she wears a pull-up second shabbos in a row, only in the house. I’m entitled to my day of rest.

GOOD LUCK!

mumsy23

Sun, Jan 14 2007, 5:14 pm

I think that if you're doesn't like making number 2 in his diaper and really wants to expel it into the toilet rather in his pants, then it IMO is very cruel to not potty train him because it is inconvenient for you. There is no blanket age that is too young, every child is different. How can anyone just make a statement like "19 months is too young"? Some children are more advanced and for them 19 months is perfect.

I started my daughter at 23 months and yes, she had accidents for 2 months, but so what? Now she almost 25 months and fully potty trained. I don't have to deal with dirty and expensive diapers and she feels so good about herself. Yes, it was hard for 2 months, but I dealt with it and now I am reaping the rewards!

I say, your child sounds MORE than ready!

MOM222

Sun, Jan 14 2007, 5:41 pm

I also trained my daughter at 23 months. She had about 3 accident in a month. But as mumsy said it outweighs not being trained. And my daughter trained herself at night at 25 months.

Esther01

Sun, Jan 14 2007, 10:34 pm

according to research (dh did a research paper on this) 19 months is too young to train. the child will regress and might not want to start again till much a later age.

this is what I would do. let the child go to the bathroom when he asks, no need to train. it's a meshigas of his. it'll pass since he's probably not ready.

(if you want the research paper, I can e-mail it to you. it's about 7 pages long)

ChavieK

Sun, Jan 14 2007, 10:45 pm

You only mention the "uch", so can we assume his diaper is still wet & he shows no interest in that? If so go with what Esther01 says. If he is showing an interest in both then go with it. I had one at 18 mo but we knew she would prob regress as I was due any day. Sure enough she stopped for a few months but was ready again at 22 mo,(no accidents).Either way good luck.

Mishie

Sun, Jan 14 2007, 10:59 pm

My 21 month old DD is also showing signs that she's ready.
She takes off her diaper, and climbs on the toilet (which has a toddler seat on it) and actually "goes".

Of course, she doesn't do it "all" the time. But, I'm very impressed with her progress.
I'm not gonna push her to be "out of diapers". But, if she wants to go on the toilet every so often, then I'll let her.

Goldrose6

Mon, Jan 15 2007, 4:46 am

Thank you all for the advice my husband says the same that its just a stage and he wants to copy his older brothers and yes its only #2 he dosent like.
I want to wait I didnt start with my other ones till almost 3 and then it was a breeze couse they were old anofe that they understood whats going on

Esther01
if you want the research paper, I can e-mail it to you. it's about 7 pages long

I would be interested in this paper please im me and I will give you my e-mail address Thank you

mumsy23

Mon, Jan 15 2007, 10:02 am

Esther01 wrote:

I would also like this research paper. I find it hard to believe that there can be efficacy based research that suggests that 19 months is too young for everyone - a blanket statement like that never seems right. Considering that in some cultures, children are trained at 18 months or younger - I would really like to see what this research is based on.

Goldrose - Its obviously up to you, but I just feel bad for your baby who doesn't like to be dirty and is being stopped from training. I have never heard medical advice saying that you should STOP a child from going on the toilet when they want to.

happymom

Mon, Jan 15 2007, 10:06 am

I think every kid is different and when they are ready, whatever age they are , they are ready. If you really feel your 19 month olds wants to use the toilet, try it! It cant hurt! or at least u can buy him a little potty and he can sit on it at certain times..... I say if they are ready, all the better for u. ure gonna hve to go through the whole process sooner or later..... Wink

greenfire

Mon, Jan 15 2007, 10:08 am

I don't have patience to read other posts but all my kids were trained early also cause they wanted - it just takes a week of alot of attention and time and accidents and voila - no more diapers

raizy

Sat, Feb 03 2007, 9:41 pm

greenfire I am with u. it usally takes me about a week to get it down path. usally bye day 3 they start going to the bathroom before they make. and after that it is a breeze. but I train in two stages.

HindaRochel

Sat, Feb 03 2007, 9:54 pm

My fourth trained herself basically at 18 months.
It is not to young if the child wishes it. Go for it, just don't push, and don't chastise for mistakes, just praise like all get out for success.

Usually, at least with my kids, there seeems to be a connection between training and talking, but who knows? Maybe that is just my kids. If your child is ready, don't worry about what everyone else's child is doing. Our children don't read the charts.

I wouldn't miss this opportunity if the child is actually ready. I know it is more work now, but if he is happy with learning now, it will be much quicker than you might expect, and much less work.

purplegirl

Sun, Feb 04 2007, 6:14 am

Okay, I'm not a mother yet, but my parents are from Russia, where they used cloth diapers (and newspaper for toilet paper, but that's another story) so you can imagine that they tried to get their babies out of diapers as soon as possible. I was born in America... and trained by 1 year. This is normal. Depends on what you're used to.

Mrs. XYZ

Sun, Feb 04 2007, 8:51 am

My first I started by 18 months, didn't work, kept trying every few weeks and by 2 years was trained. My other kids were all trained by 2.
There was an article in the Binah (I think) a couple of weeks ago. Dr. Shulman writes that she holds that the earlier the better (starting from 18 months)- before they have 'a mind of their own'. This way, you just make it part of their routine, when they're older and understand they could just decide that they dont want to go! And try fighting with a little 'akshan'! Mad

chavamom

Sun, Feb 04 2007, 11:41 am

chocolate moose wrote:

I think that's very nice! Just be prepared for some accidents along the way!

I had a 19 m.o. whose friend in playgroup got trained. She was over 2, so it was more realistic. But my dd decided that was it. Devori used the potty, she was going to too. She did it! But yes, there were more accidents than with my kids who trained earlier.