Can you start toilet training at 9months?

[justme]

HI,
I have an 8 month old and I've read that you can start toilet training at 9 months. I'm curious to know if anyone's ever tried starting at this age and what their experience has been.
Also, what's best - potty or straight to the toilet seat?
Thanks.

[Rell]

I haven't done it but my sister started toilet training at 4 mths!! Basicly what she would do was have a lot of nappy free time and look for signs that your bub needs to go, she would then hold them over the toilet or potty. I guess it worked to some extent becouse her daughter was fully toilet trained at about 18mths.

[pickles]

I think that training a baby so young is more toilet 'timing' than training. Some babies do a poo at the same time each day and it is a mater of putting them over the potty at this time. Physiologically however most of the books state that a child does not have the brain - bladder - bowel conection until 18 mths old. my daughter wanted to train herself from 18 months onwards but we have only just become fully day trained at 2 1/2. With some kids I think it is better to wait until they are really ready and then it only takes a couple of days rather than weeks / months.

[Shae]

Hi Just me

I have started toilet awareness with my 12 month old daughter. It involves letting her watch when I go, letting her flush the toilet, washing her hands. She has a plasic potty which she loves. We tell her to go potty and she know what that means and can hop on by herself. I do not force her to go for number 1 or 2s. I just let her have a lot of nappy free time and every 20 mins or so say time to go potty. Some times she goes some times she doent. I dont do this every day maybe once or twice a week.

My partners grandmother started toilet training as soon as she left the hospital. After every feed the baby would be held over a plasic potty. She says that all of her children were toilet trained by the time they were 1. She had 4 in 5 years so I wouldn't want to be washing all of those nappies by HAND.

Shae

[cwsmum]

A friend of ours started toilet training her daughter at about 9 or 10 mths...she is now a little over 2yrs old and still doesn't seem to understand much more than she did at 10mths.
We have only just started toilet training our 2.5yr old son...even tho he still doesn't seem totally ready, he only has a couple of accidents most days, when he is tired usually. It's been less than a week tho, so I think he's doing pretty good :) I'm not expecting a miracle... :)

[our little treasures]

I think that children understand the toilet concept but their bladder control is poor so they dont know when or where it will happen. my dd at 1 was going to the potty and crawling when she needed it. dd is know 19mnths and we are starting potty training now. due to moving having bubba etc we put it aside.

i think its important to pop them on for #2 if possible this is the one as they get older they get scared.
dd now comes and tells me "oh ohhh weee or poooh" so cute.

[Peaceangels]

Firstly, let me say whatever works for you!
But toilet training is actually a developmental thing - ie, their brain matures at a certain stage (from 18mths onwards) so that they know that sensation of "needing to go" and until that happens you would have to do the thinking for them (or as someone mentioned earlier knowing the signs for when they are about to go). I did a child studies course with TAFE, so only going by what I learnt.
I have tried with DS1 several times this year and he is just not ready, so we will try again in a few months.

[nemosmum]

DS has started giving me signs when he needs a nappy change for both 1's and 2's, he points to his nappy and say's "doo doo" his attempt at saying poo or "dee dee" for wee. His only 14 months and we werent really planning to start so soon, but should I get a potty and try t.training? Should I start by making a nappy change diary(jotting down the times when he wets/soils the nappy) so as to calculate when I should take him to the potty, or should I just take him every half hour?

[Ky]

Is this after your little one has pooed or wee'd? If so, they can recognise the uncomfortable feeling often months, sometimes up to a year or more before they are ready to toilet train.

Both of my kids were telling me that they wanted a change early on, but my dd didn't train until she was 3 and my ds is now 2 ½ and is nowhere near ready.

Personally, I would give it a bit of time yet ... it is less stress for Mum and bub if they have some idea that they are about to do a poo or wee rather than finding out after the fact.

[nemosmum]

Yeah he does it after his actually done the deed :p So I guess I'll wait a while he is very little....may wait till summer time. Thanks :)

[Taddy]

HI,
I have an 8 month old and I've read that you can start toilet training at 9 months. I'm curious to know if anyone's ever tried starting at this age and what their experience has been.
Also, what's best - potty or straight to the toilet seat?
Thanks.

Hey, I have an 11 month old boy and I started potty training at 9 and 1/2 months but he has not yet done anything in his potty. It just takes patience.

[Imogensmum]

Not that it would be impossible but at that age it is more MUM traing than potty training, what i mean is it is you who learns when they need to go as opposed to the child gaining the concept of how to use a toilet! So you work on timings... children tend to learn once they have some language come through (12mths-3yrs)- and they begin associate the uncomfortable feeling with needing to empty their bladder/bowel.

I work in child care and a lot of Asian parents ask for their children to be held over a potty from around this age- it doesn't seem to "teach" them any earlier than say starting at 18mths but it definately doesn't hurt them either- and it makes for less dirty nappies ;) ! By all means if this is what you want to do go for it...

[Moorish]

I think at 9 mths you could start toilet 'awareness' but not toilet training. As many people have said, it's a whole brain-bladded-bowel connection thing that doesn't come along until much later. I've learned from my experiences so far that less stress from the parents to the child will make the whole process a lot easier, especially if you really are in no particular hurry to lose the nappies.

When we started potty training our first it wasn't until she was a few months off 3, she just wasn't ready & I could see that. By her 3rd birthday she was weeing on the potty & occassionally on the toilet but still going #2's in her night nappy (she'd hold it until it was on). The about a month after her b'day she was given some hard antibiotics for tonsilitis & she became serverely consitipated & developed something called prolapsed bowel. A few months of laxative & specialist visits/test etc got her relatively back to normal but she was (& still is) a bit psychologically scarred about #2's. She's been day trained now for about 6 mths which is great & 8 days ago I thought I'd try to go overnight in "big girl pants" and there've been no nappies at all since! (Here's hoping it stays that way!)

As for dd #2, she's just turned 2 & is curious, watches us go & her sister etc & occassionally tells me Nicola go toilet. We go thru the processes with her, nappy off, sit on the toilet training seat (she doesn't want the potty), wipes, clean nappy back on. She hasn't done anything yet but I will just persist with this until she does. The other day I was driving down the highway & she said Nicola go toilet & she was so insistant that I had to pull over & go through the whole process in the back of the car on the potty! (We take a travel one with us for 'just in case'!) Again, she didn't do anything but she was really proud of herself but didn't mummy look a dill with a bear bottomed baby in the boot of a car pulled over on a busy highway during peak hour!! The things our kids make us do!

[Moorish]

I just had to post this extra little achievement that happened just now!
Chelsea just woke up from her nap & came out announcing that she'd just done wees & poos all by herself & she makes mummy very happy! (which is what we say when she goes #2 on the toilet!)

She'd even wiped front to back (still a little streak left LOL!) but hadn't washed her hands yet so we went & did that & she was soooo proud of herself!
Have to go call Daddy now & tell him the good news! :p

[cobysmummy]

my son almost 7 months has been sitting on the potty for about 2 months... i got sick of being peed on every nappy change and found him to be dry a few times when i changed his nappy... call me crazy if u wish but i put him on the potty every nappy change and he does something almost everytime... my parents started potty traning me and my 2 sisters and brother early and we were fully potty trained by 1 year so it definately is possible.... it just takes patience and time... i dont believe age has nything to do with it


Mummy: Helen
Daddy: Brodie
Bubby: Coby James...
21 March 2005