My mother swears I potty trained myself at 18 months. She was also using cloth diapers. In old school Korea.

My daughter is one day younger than Hank and she is about 80 % potty trained. By 80 percent, I mean that when something is too interesting (a visit to the aquarium comes to mind), she will squirm but want to stay doing the interesting thing. So then you have to make her.

Also what works for me is taking her out of a pull up (we still use them at night) and into Hello Kitty panties. She hates getting Hello Kitty wet and actually apologizes to her.

Since I had been told I had potty trained at 18 months, I decided that we would try that last year. I made myself crazy and my little girl uncomfortable about her eliminations. So after that, I decided to let her take the lead.

In August of this year, she told me she wanted panties. So we got her them and it took about nine days for her to consistently go to the potty. Every time she goes, she gets to play with a Winnie the Pooh tea set. We used to reward with M and M’s but the tea set works best.

First up: congrats to all thos e.c.ers out there, but e.c. is very difficult for those parents who work outside of the house. Sure, you can do e.c. only on weekends, but there’s a consistency issue and the fact that I’d likely be stuck in the house scrutinizing my kids’ facial expressions and running to the toilet all weekend. At the end, the timing of toilet training really depends on the readiness of the child–and even though my almost 3 y-o poops in the toilet, he’s been stubborn about peeing consistently in the bathroom.

Thought you might be interested! I know you love healthy living… and btw, I love your blog. :D

http://dauntlessdiva.com/2009/12/06/30-day-green-smoothie-challenge-coming-soon/

I don’t think that the argument has ever been against trying to potty-train kids early — but rather against creating negative feelings when it comes to body image and issues of mastery and control. I do think that the general assumption in our society is that the average parent will not have sufficient patience to practice early training without creating opportunities for confrontation to creep into the process — and as child development experts will concur, confrontation has no place in toilet-training.

Two of my three kids potty trained in a matter of days, well before their second birthdays. It was easy and without stress because we waited until they showed interest when asked if they wanted to learn, and because our reactions were only positive — they were never scolded for “misses” but reassured that they’d “make it next time.”

Our third child has severe sensory integration disorder. Though he was potty-trained for urination like his siblings, his sensory issues caused severe with-holding problems with regards to fecal elimination. Though we are now successfully past that horrific obstacle, it was an experience I’d wish on NO ONE.

In the same manner that I would advise pregnant women to develop an “ideal” birth plan, but to keep an open mind in case (it becomes impossible to implement), so would I advise parents of babies/toddlers to rely on the progress of their children to decide if the originally chosen method is appropriate for that child, at that time. As in most parent/child interactions, flexibility is the name of the game — especially with regards to mastery and control issues.