A Look at Potty Training

A Look at a Few Potty Training Methods

When parents start thinking about potty training their child they look to a number of sources for advice; parenting magazines, grandparents, friends and professionals. The number of methods and range of advice is huge, making it a daunting task before even beginning. In the end you just need to find a program that works for you and your child. You may have to use one program for one child and an entirely different program for another child.

Late Potty Training:

Some parents wait until their child is at least two years old before even thinking about potty training. Thinking that they need to wait until their child can verbalize the need to go potty, their child wants to be potty trained and often this isn't until age 3 or 4.

While some children may train easily at this age for many it makes potty training more difficult. Once a child turns two they want to do everything their way. You say "It's time to go potty" and they say "No" because it wasn't their idea. And they will fight to the end to get their way.

An older child is also more mobile and is easily distracted making it difficult to convince them to sit on the potty long enough to accomplish the task. They would rather play than take the time to stop and use the potty.

A big disadvantage to late potty training is that most pre-schools require the children to be fully potty trained. Some parents that potty train late are even faced with the possibility that their child may not be able to start Kindergarten on time because they are not fully potty trained.

The other extreme to late potty training is the EC or Elimination Communication method.

This method relies on the parents recognizing their child's facial expressions and other cues often from birth. Just as many parents can tell when their baby is tired or hungry based on their cues they can also learn to recognize their child's elimination cues. Whenever a baby starts showing signs of needing to eliminate the parents are instructed to hold the baby over the potty and make a "shhhh" sound. Eventually the baby associates this sound with elimination and does so on cue.

I realize this method has worked for some parents, but to me it just isn't practical for most families. Who has the time, especially if you have more than one child or work outside the home, to be consistent with this method?

A nice compromise between the two is the Baby Signs Potty Training Program.

It doesn't require the constant vigilance of the EC method, but it allows babies to reach communication readiness long before they can speak. The Baby Signs Potty Training Method focuses on potty training before the age of two.

Babies are taught the five potty time signs so they can signal the need to go potty long before they can speak it. By training before the age of two the chances of it turning into a power struggle are significantly reduced. Babies are mobile, but still willing to spend more time in one place. They are at an age where they are excited to learn new things and show them off to parents.

Although the program is designed with the second year in mind the book has an abundance of information for earlier or later potty training. Drs. Linda Acredelo and Susan Goodwyn realize that there are a lot of different types of personalities and circumstances from one family to another and they give instructions on how to be successful with each of them!

POTTY TRAIN YOUR BABY BEFORE 2!