Hi everyone,

My daughter turned 2 at the end of December and we think she might be ready for potty training. She is aware when she urinates/has BM (although wont always say when does it in diaper), she sometimes asks to go on the potty (2-3 times a week) and will more then likely urinate, when she hears us urinate she says "good girl,mommy!!) and claps.
We've been casually asking if she wants to go potty but when we ask she often says "no thank you" but she doesn't tell us enough on her own that she needs to go. We have books and all that, and we remind her that big girls and boys use the potty, but it almost seems as though that unless she is asking she is not overalls interested.
I'm hoping that you parents/fellow daycare providers might have some advice or tips.
Thanks in advance!

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why not try for a few days and see how she does? I know some people wait until there child is asking and capable of fully undressing themselves and other "readiness" signals but sometimes it is helpful to just take the plunge and see what your child can and cannot do. A couple little nudges may be all it takes for her to put together the whole pottying idea. on the other hand, if she is completely protesting and hating the process, it is no big deal to take a break and re-try in a few months. start taking her on a regular basis right after she wakes up and about 30 minutes after a meal, thats a good place to start. she doesn't have to go to real underwear 24/7 from day one.

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one thing that I tell parents is that if they are home with them for a long period of time, to let them run free in undies.

ALways TELL them it is time to go potty, it is not an option, don't ask them. If they resist when you tell them to go, then it is not time for them to potty train.

I keep a schedule of when I will take them to the bathroom. They mostly revolve around our meal times

everyone goes potty trained or not at:

8:15 before breakfast

9:45 right before snack

10:45 after snack

12:00 come in from outside play to eat lunch use the bathroom

12:45, again before nap

3:15 when awake from nap

4:30-

5:45 before going home.


When it is time for them to go, I take note if they went or not. If they did not go I will be sure to ask them after they get off the toilet and back to play, do you need to pee or poop poo? If they say no, then I don't make them go until the time that I TELL them to go.

You need to let her know that going in the diaper is not an option, this is why you need to TELL her, it's time to go potty.

I hope I made sense. Also, go to the daycare.com form page and ready NannyDe potty training policy and tips.

PT is hard work and takes tons of consistency all the way around. Be sure that everyone in your family is on the same page of HOW you are dealing with taking her to the potty....

Good Luck to you

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In my opinion she is not ready! She is just showing an interest in the potty and what's going on there but that's it. Being ready means being able to tell you consistantly that she needs to go, holding it until she gets to the potty and being able to pull her clothes and underwear off and on. According to child psychologists and many other professionals in the field this happens closer to 3 years of age.

Many people toilet train their children before 3 and it usually takes months of constant reminders and bringing the child to the toilet at regular intervals. The child eventually becomes toilet trained but again it seems that they finally "get it" closer to 3. The ealier you start the more work is involved. when a child is ready to be PT'd it should take 2 weeks or less usually. I have worked in daycare for years and we wouldn't even begin PTing until at least 2.5-3. I just PT'd a girl over the summer 2 months before her 3rd birthday and it took 3 days.

There are many opinions out there about PTing and this is one of them

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I disagree with some of this.

I have potty trained children at this age. Even my own.

My son never asked to use the potty, but I just got him used to the idea of going. After two weeks of doing it, he was asking to go. Of course there were a few accidents here and there, but it did not take long

Each child is different. I say give it a shot for about a week or two, if you don't see progress, stop and come back and try at a later date. Just don't force the issue, or like PP said, it will become a much longer process than necessary.

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My dd is 20 months old. She sees the older kids use the toilet. I have a smaller seat that snaps on to the toilet for the little ones to use. My dd says potty, and runs to the bathroom. She'll take the seat and set it up on the toilet. She takes her pants off, then I remove her diaper (usually which is very warm because she just went in it), then we sit up on the toilet. Sometimes she sits there for 3-5 seconds, sometimes she'll look at a book and lasts longer. She has not yet gone in the toilet. When she's done she says "done". She gets down, takes the seat down, closes the lid and tries to flush the toilet. If she soils her diaper I will dump it in the toilet so she sees it should go there.

I am not pushing her, and she doesn't have control of her body yet, enough to tell me prior to her going in her diaper. But she does seem interested, so as long as she asks, I'll let her sit on the toilet.

I may need to go read Nannyde's tips though.

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