In between breaking up squabbles, kissing boo-boos and otherwise generally micromanaging our children, I got a chance to ask my sister about how she potty-trained her two boys, Owen and Andrew, by the time they were 18 months. Owen is now almost five and Andrew is two-and-a-half. She is expecting her third baby in a few more weeks and this last baby, like his (or her) older brothers, will be wearing cloth diapers.
Catherine told me that she didn’t set out to potty train her sons early but when her mother-in-law brought over a small plastic potty she had found at a garage sale, it got her thinking. Owen was just over one at the time. She says she could tell when he was peeing or pooping so she started to talk to him when he was “going.” She’d say “You’re peeing, good boy,” or “Good pooping, Owen!” This helped him to learn the words that were associated with his bodily functions.
Much of Owen’s early potty training was spent naked. He seemed to like being in the buff as many young children do, and the hardwood floors in her house meant that an occasional accident on the floor was no big deal. She left the potty in the corner of whatever room they were hanging out in and let him use it when she sensed he needed to go or whenever he wanted to sit on it. One thing she attributes to his success was his age–he hadn’t reached the stubborn and willful “Terrible Twos” and he was quite happy to please his mother and responded well to praise. In hindsight she says she doesn’t know how others potty train their two-year-olds because her boys were far too disagreeable and prone to power struggles at age two.
Catherine is extremely in tune with her children and practices “Attachment Parenting.” By watching Owen for cues, she would plop him on the potty whenever she sensed he needed “to go.” And she also began to put him on the potty right after nap, after meals, before leaving the house and upon getting back home–times when adults and older children often empty their bladders. This sent Owen the message that there are “times” when we use the potty so we don’t have to go when there isn’t a bathroom around.
Something we hear often today when getting ready to potty train is that we should wait until the child has the “words” to communicate. Owen was not an early talker by any means. He was mostly using “baby signs” and would sign “potty” if he needed to go. He was potty-trained long before he was fully verbal.
Since Owen potty-trained early and was also a cloth diaper wearing baby, I, of course, asked Catherine if she thought there was a relationship between the two. She said she thought there was. For one thing, she was motivated to get him potty-trained because she was the one washing the diapers. But she also said, she felt that the cloth helped him to understand at a young age the cause and effect of peeing and then feeling wet. Though she let him go diaper-less as much as possible when training, she said he did wear a diaper when she didn’t have time to have to clean up accidents or when she left the house.
Now, I’m certainly not saying that all cloth-diaper-wearing toddlers can be potty-trained this young. However, Catherine’s second son Andrew was also potty-trained early–and by seventeen months! All kids have different personalities, different temperaments, and different levels of control over their bodily functions. My girls were trained by two and a half and two and a quarter. Will Cooper be earlier? I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t nervous since I’ve promised to keep you all apprised! But what I really want to know is this: Will Catherine have a Hat Trick with this third baby or will he or she throw her for a loop and be in diapers until the age of four? I’ll be sure to let you know!
This motivated me to get our potty out! Thanks!
How old were they when she started potty training?
We use Elimination Communication part time and have since my son was 10 days old. He is in cloth exclusively, but when I see his cues to go I just put him on the potty and make the “ppssss” sound and he goes. The past two nights he has woken up in the morning completely dry, I take him out of his cloth diaper and we go into the bathroom and he does his business on the toilet. He is just 14 weeks old. Babies have the capability of learning to use the toilet. Cloth helps so much because when I don’t notice his cue or we are out somewhere without a potty available he makes sure I know he has a wet/soiled diaper and I change him immediately.
I also used baby signs to help train my son “early.” He was completely #2 trained by 2.25 and only had occasional accidents w/ #1 after that. I did use nighttime diapers until about age 3 though.
I am so glad he was able to potty train early. I’m hoping my daughter will train easily as well.
We’ve been doing CD almost exclusively since our son was born. The only time we ever used sposies was on long holidays. His skin couldn’t really tolerate them, so we always had to have cloth overnight, even on vacation.
When he was 12 weeks old, we started doing Elimination Communication, and he has not regularly pooped in his diaper since then. He is 16 months old now and in cloth training pants. He has started to sign when he needs to use the bathroom. It definitely made CD-ing a lot easier!
I love reading this stuff. My daughter is 14 months and we already have a potty – though we don’t use it much. We’ve made it a part of her daily routine though – before her bath she always sits on the potty. I’ll up the frequency before too long. I’d love to have her potty trained early.
We also had an early potty trained toddler, also at 18 months. Combination of cloth diapers and elimination communication did the trick.
I’d love to have my 2.25 year old potty trained, however every time I ask him if he wants sit on the potty he cries…. 🙁 So, we keep trying but I can’t force him to sit on the potty…. We try the naked thing but he just doesn’t want to cooperate… Hopefully sometime he’ll decide to have an interest. Thanks for the happy thoughts!
This is a great article! My son is only 4.5 months old, but I’m starting to gather info on how to help him potty train.
It’s great to read this! I would love to have my son potty trained by two.
My daughter is 14 months, and she has been “telling” my when she lees and loos for the last couple months. I got a lofty a month ago, and she sits on it every time I use the bathroom and at every “time” for pottying. Since I stay home with her, I think (hope) this training will go rather smoothly. I agree that cloth is a major porgy training incentive for the laundry maiden of this household!
Great article! I do believe that there is a “window of opportunity” when it comes to potty training… My daughter (cloth diapered since birth) is 28 months old and *almost* potty trained. However she started to show a real interest in using the potty before she was 2 – I just didn’t work with her soon enough on it, and she is definitely in that more defiant 2 yr old stage now so we are having more trouble now that I am “ready” to get her out of diapers…sigh. :-/ Moral of the story: when they start to show interest, jump in and start with the teaching!
I definitely hope we can potty train our son (due in July) that quickly! 🙂
Wow!! I would LOVE to see if I can get my little girl to be potty trained by 18 months old!! Or at least by the time baby number 2 comes along. That would be so awesome!
My son is only 9 months but I’m already thinking ahead to this daunting task. Thanks for the info and advice!
I’ve been struggling with my now 26 month old since he was about 19 months and started showing interest in the potty. He is so stubborn and refuses to go on the potty even though he knows that’s where he’s supposed to go. Hopefully my next one will be easier 🙂
My daughter would have been potty trained around 18 months if I had just followed through. I started getting lazy and not wanting to take her every 10 minutes in stores. So I would say, “It’s okay; you have a diaper on.” mommy fail. We are just now (27 months back on track).
I’m going to bookmark this so when my daughter is old enough I can start (if she’s ready)!
Interesting! I felt like I was flying blind with my first daughter who started potty training before she was two, but it took months before she was totally trained. I can already tell when my 7 month old is pooping, so I’ve wondered about getting the potty out earlier for her. This is helpful.
Good job mama…potty training is such a difficult task!
this is some good advice! thanks!
i hope this works well for my son! 🙂
Wow, that is so cool, I hope out potty training goes well
man I hope my little one is potty trained that early. 🙂
No such luck with my 2.5 yr old. She can hold her bladder for a while and even wakes up dry sometimes. She just has no interest in going on the potty. i will sit her on there for a long time in the morning and let her watch tv and nothing. one time she got up and started peeing so i grabbed her and sat her back down and she finished peeing on the potty. i praised her and gave her a treat but she has yet to do it again. she just doesnt care so im trying to to traumatize her and make her sit on it all the time. sigh.
That’s awesome she got them potty trained so early! My LO is almost 16 months and I’ve been trying to let her sit on the potty to get used to it and have been talking to her when I go. She understands that poopy goes in the potty (and likes to wave byebye to it when I flush) so I think we might be close to starting. I’m not pushing or rushing it but I’m excited to watch her learn.
I’m so glad I stumbled across this article. I’m 33 weeks with my first (a boy!) and we’re planning to use cloth diapers. While potty training is a long way off for us, it’s something that always crosses my mind. I was potty trained very early as a child, but many of my friends with children nearly three are still having trouble getting their boys to go. I knew it had to be possible, and it was very encouraging to read this article! I also feel even more confident about our cloth diaper choice now too. Thank you!
My lil one is yet to be born this Wed. to be exact and I am already loving the fact that early PT is just another benefit CD can give to us.
Great post. My first daughter is 18 months and is going potty like a big girl all day now and staying mostly dry only a few accidents a day !!!!
I’m getting the potty out now for my almost 18 month old! I’m inspired!
that is amazing. yet i hope to be able to use our cloth diapers for a bit longer. our ds is 14 months now.
This is something I would like to do early with my daughter, but I don’t think it will be entirely feasible. At 6 months old I can tell some of my daughter’s elimination habits and hope to use that to my advantage once I start potty training her. The part that might not work is that our babysitter may not be able to pick up on those cues while my husband and I are at work. Though when at home I’m going to try my hardest to start early.
We potty trained our first boy early with disposible diapers but I’m very much hoping the cloth diapers will speed potty training for our second boy!
i am excited to see how potty training goes with my little one. i know we are a long way off. but my mom tells me tails getting me potty trained at 14 months and give the credit to cloth diapers. i hated to be wet and saw my big brother was using the potty. so i was a quick one to potty train.
Wow- that is really great that they used the potty so early, especially since boys supposedly are harder than girls when it somes to using the potty.
This is very interesting. I have a 2 yo (just turned 2 days ago)in diapers and a 9 week old. I use disposables for my 2 yo and cloth for my younger one. I would like to cloth both, I just don’t have a large stash (since I have two babies, I just can’t do diaper laundry every other day). Of course it would be great to have my 2 yo suddenly know how to go potty in her princess potty, I just don’t want to push her. She shows some interest in the potty and likes to sit on it at least. I will start talking to her now (when I know she is “going”) to see if this helps her understand her body more. Maybe that will get us on the road to potty training! Great post!
This is my major selling point in trying to convince my husband that cloth diapers are the way to go. But, my little one is not quite 6 months, so we have a ways to go in diapers still!
My 3 kids have all been potty trained at 21 months and my 4th is on track to possibly be sooner!
We are planning a similar approach, starting around 10-12 months to sit her on the potty and see how it goes!
So glad I read this when my first is only 5 months. I’ll definitely being trying this, as she is already willful 🙂 Thanks!
This is a great article. I read it when I started out potty training my son when he was 15.5 months old. We’re now coming up on 17 months and though he’s willful and won’t always sit on it when I ask him, he far prefers to go in the potty by himself than in a diaper. Haven’t started working on underwear yet, but we will. Most poops and pees go in the potty at this point, and he’s always very proud of himself. He helps clean up peepee accidents, too. This morning I hadn’t even known he’d gone to the potty until I saw him toddling off to the bathroom with the detachable bowl in hand to put his pee into the toilet. This article was very helpful and really convinced me it was possible and desirable to start potty training a little earlier than conventional wisdom claimed.
We practiced part time Elimination Communication with my last two children and even though it didn’t lead to “early” potty training I think it did assist in getting them potty trained quickly once they finally decided to lose the diapers. We have a 1 month old baby girl now and I’d love to give it another go. 🙂
Guess I better get busy with my two-year-old!
Great story & strong motivation to start potty training 🙂 thanks!! Any recommendations for a potty for lil boys?
My 19 month old is showing interest now! Just when I thought I was done having full conversations with adults about baby poop, I’m back at it again. We’ve had 4 successful poops and last night was our first pee!! I wish that Thirsties made a training pant!
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