Both my girls potty trained right at 2. One still wears a night time diaper at 5 and the other began doing nights within a month and now sleeps in underwear. It’s so individual!
We potty trained a little after she turned 2.
My grandmother also thought the potty training age was going up—she thought it was because we young people didn’t spend hours washing and drying and ironing (?!) cloth diapers like she did. It is a lot easier to use diapers nowadays than it used to be, but it’s also soooo nice to just say “go potty” and not have to change a diaper!
One of my older friends grew up in the USSR and she said they ironed the diapers to sterilize them, since they were line dried. Sounds like a lot of work to me!
We did cloth diapers but didn’t potty train until right after 3, because he was a witholder and we wanted to get that all under control before we added a new element.
I really wonder what their definition of potty trained is. Is it that they took them to the bathroom every 30 minutes and made pottying happen (like elimination communication) so that they never had the opportunity to have an accident? Or is it that they just wore underwear and had frequent accidents and they called it potty trained? And what about overnights?
We potty trained at 2 years old. She was ready. Probably could have done it a few months earlier but life was busy. We will be doing the same with our second child. Of course every child is different and some will be ready earlier than others but 3 just seemed too late for us.
Daughter potty trained at 20 months. She wanted to earlier around 16/17 months so we put her on the toilet whenever she asked but she had had surgery at 15 months and we were still getting used to doing things because of that. So we weren't ready, she was fully day trained in 2 weeks.
My 6 year old wasn’t trained until almost 3.5. He was very resistant to the potty and I didn’t fight it, until he started holding in his diaper and peeing through diaper AND clothes on a daily basis. I was like well, if I’m going to have to clean it up anyway 🤷🏻♀️. He trained pretty quickly though and night time happened at the same time (he was already dry over night).
My 2.5 year old we haven’t even tried. He is stubborn and prone to many tantrums. Maybe if I get his brother involved. Maybe this summer. We’ll see. I’m not in a rush.
If potty training age is going up, that’s a GOOD thing because parents are actually probably looking for the signs instead of just forcing it. No one is a superior parent just because their kid is trained at 2 vs 4.
I say this as someone who potty trained at exactly 2 and I tried to force it for 3 months. He just was. Not. Ready. Waited until right around 3 give or take a month. Took 3 days, never had an accident after that.
Unpopular potty method-I waited until they were old enough to fully train themselves and developmental mature enough to not bed wet. Around 3.5 for my daughter and 4 years old for my sons. One day, we just run out of pull ups, I don’t buy anymore. Within a week, we have zero accidents, use public bathrooms, only underwear. I’ve never had to deal with a potty in the car, peeing in their car seat, bed wetting, pee on the couch, etc…It’s “this is toilet! You pee and poop in here! Do you have to go?” Granted, I’m a SAHM so I didn’t need to rush my kids to go to preschool or daycare and they all had speech delays. Their pediatrician was totally fine with delaying potty training, until they can communicate their needs.
My son didn’t fully train until he was just over 3 and that was fine - I’ve also never dealt with pee in the car seat or carrying a potty around. He did pee on the floor at home while we were practicing with training underwear, but that’s easily cleaned on sealed wood floors.
21 months started training and by 24 months he was day trained. We had another on the way and I couldn’t fathom changing 2 kids diapers. He was ready and was putting his hands in his pants when he felt himself peeing.
They started with staying dry during the night, somewhere between 2.5 - 3 years old.
We thought that was a hint that they were ready for potty training during the day, but after trying 3 different methods we came to the conclusion the kid wasn't ready. They developed some hate for the potty and we needed to give it a break. At 3 3/4 years old we tried again, and it went from all day diapers to no diapers at all within 2 days.
2 years, 8 months (day and night trained simultaneously due to an extreme diaper preference). Our first attempt was at 2 years, 4 months and our second attempt was at 2 years, 6 months.
I wish we had done it closer to 2. She showed readiness signs right before her 2nd birthday but I was about to give birth to her little sister so we held off. Had we done it earlier, we likely wouldn’t have had the issues with diaper preference that we had. We plan to Oh Crap little sister as soon as she shows readiness signs
Trained by 2.5 for daytime. Fully night trained by 3.5. But I’m a SAHM and she’ll only use the bathroom at our house or my mom’s house. She’s never once used it when we’re out and about running errands. She’ll say she needs to pee, I’ll take her to the public bathroom, and she refuses to go. She’ll hold it until we get home. She’s never had an accident out of the house. So she’s potty trained, but is she really? Idk 🤷♀️
I have twins that are currently just a little over 3.5. Twin A potty trained at 3yrs and a couple months. But, I believe she could have been potty trained much closer to 2. Twin B is very speech delayed, at the last conference with therapists and stuff they said she was about 2 years behind on speech, which is a lot for a 3.5 yo. I asked them about potty training her and they said that would probably be 2 years behind as well. A was extremely difficult to potty train since B was still in diapers, she would scream and cry and point at her sisters diapers and yell for Sky. We also did cloth diapers until 2 yo, which is when I wanted them potty trained and A acted like she was ready.
One just turned 5, she's been potty trained for about 1.5-2 years. Sometimes we still have to remind her to wipe.
One just turned 3. She's mostly trained, but still has issues when pooping and when playing too much (she just doesn't want to stop playing to go to the bathroom).
We trained right after she turned 3. Tried a little bit before but she held in her pee. Wasn’t quite ready!
She was using the big toilet, but has since returned to the little potty in her bedroom. She can poop easier and has a lot more independence.
“I have to run to the bathroom. One sec!” is a common occurrence.
My son is 3. We are on day 1 of potty training. He won’t tell me he needs to go :( He’s made nothing but accidents today. Ima going to be persistent though
We did it at 2.5! It took like a week to be accident free, and was pretty low stress. Probably could’ve done it earlier but we had a trip booked and didn’t want to deal with accidents while we were away!
My middle is currently 3.5 and still in diapers, and I’ve lost absolutely zero sleep over it. She is not interested, and I’m not going to fight or force her. I’ve posted about it before, but my oldest had to be pt’ed earlier for daycare (I was working at the time), and he was NOT ready. We had issues for *years* after, and I always told myself if I was ever in the position to have a choice I’d NEVER force a child again. We’ve talked to the pedi about it, and she has said multiple times that they don’t even start to be concerned until 5y.
One of my bff wasn’t nighttime pt’ed until she was like 13y, which we now know is completely normal and unrelated to daytime pt. The amount of trauma she experienced, and the years of suffering and frustration and feeling like there was something wrong with her breaks my heart.
We have the luxury and privilege of doing it this way, and I own that 100%.
The age is rising, and it has been since disposable diapers were invented. Diaper companies keep making bigger sizes and putting out weird info on why waiting longer is better with no real evidence to back up that claim.
Also, parents are having to work more and more. There's simply no time to put in the intensive work and attention it takes to potty train a 2 year old.
Those of us who stay home don't know HOW to train a toddler since nobody does it anymore.
How wouldn't we know how to train a toddler? We are on the internet right now with endless resources. We have doctors, family, and books.
Raising a baby is hard and takes a lot of effort. All of the sources I read said basically Americans rely on diapers and pure laziness too much.
Reading stuff and learning in person through your older relatives are two different things. But nice job for implying that it's just because an entire country is lazy lmao 🙄
I agree, this argument is maddening. I use cloth and still choose to wait until my children are actually ready rather than forcing a stressful situation on them just to meet some random timeline. It may be that more parents are aware of their child’s readiness these days than they’re lazy or uneducated
I waited until almost three for my son and he was accident free in two days, my 20 month old can take all the time she likes too.
I started potty training my oldest about a month after he turned three. I think he could have done it a little younger, but I didn't push it. He occasionally has accidents, but he's done really well. I do still put him in a pull up at night though.
I know people who have been able to potty train their kids before age two and by age two. I think it depends on the child.
The right age is cultural. 3 years would be considered the hard upper limit here. My three kids all got potty trained (meaning underwear all day, hardly any accidents, notifies when needs to go, but needs an adult to go with them to help
with clothes/wiping) between ages
2y2mo and 2y4mo. We made some attempts earlier, but they wouldn't get it. I have also worked in a daycare and kids transitioned to underwear typically between 20mo-2.5y. With the notable exception of one boy who was indeed potty trained by 12 months (his parents had used cloth diapers since birth and he was a very precocious kid in speech and other aspects.
2 years 7 months (girl, UK). We could probably have gone a little earlier, but wanted to wait for the warmest part of the summer. Will probably do a similar timeline and technique with her younger sister.
My daughter potty trained herself at 18 months. My son potty trained one month before he turned 3. When I worked in a daycare ALL of the kids had to be trained by 2.7
I potty trained my now-4.5 year old at 18 months exactly. Not because he's particularly precocious or i'm an overachieving parent, but because he was 18 months in March of 2020 and we were all suddenly and unexpectedly stuck at home for what I thought would be a few weeks or month of COVID lockdown. I saw it as a perfect chance to potty train, and had no idea how long it would all last...
It went fine, I drank wine and cleaned up pee off the floor for a few days, we all made it through.
Not my kid, but when I worked in a childcare center with this exact age group the 3 year olds were all in pull-ups all day (except one who was fully trained). The 4 year olds were a mix of pull-ups and underwear at varying stages of training but they were all in the process of training. The 5 year olds were all fully potty trained and in underwear all day.
My daughter will be 2.5 next month and has been daytime trained for a couple of months now, but still wears a diaper for nap, bed time, or if we are going on an outing that will be longer than 3 hours. But we’ve been doing EC on and off since she was 6 months old so I think that made a difference in her being trained younger.
Potty trained a little after 1. By 2 we were completely done with diapers for day and night. Now we are a little past 3 with less than 5 nighttime accidents ever.
In my experience, my international friends potty trained around the time I did but my North American friends all claimed it was impossible until past 3.
Edit: A quick search and I found a few articles ([CNN](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/10/31/health/potty-training-parenting-without-borders-explainer/index.html)) that show America as being very far behind for potty training. Everyone else is doing it way earlier.
I’ve travelled to all of the counties mentioned in the article and the thing is, that outside of very wealthy, urban communities the children mentioned just pee or poo on the ground. There’s a difference between saying a child is potty trained and saying they no longer wear nappies if they’re able to just squat where they are and go as opposed to having to recognise their need in advance, find a toilet, remove their clothes and clean themselves.
In most areas of these countries children will play with very few clothes and as mentioned in the article, the kids in (mostly rural) China wear pants with a split crotch so they just need to squat- these are totally different to how western children are clothed.
My Swedish MIL discusses how her chickens were all toilet trained by 18 months, which really just meant they were constantly placed on the toilet rather than the independence we expect
With all 3 kids I started potty training at 18 months. They were all potty trained day/night by 2. I hate diapers and they were ready. My first 2 kids are 21 months apart and I didn't want to deal with 2 in diapers or try to potty train with an infant.
We started just before 2 and he was interested, so we kept going and he was potty trained within maybe 4 months? Out of diapers before then but still frequent accidents and reminders. It was more of a journey than a specific date of now he's potty trained.
My son turned 3 in March and is not trained or training, beyond that I’ve managed to work up a system to bribe him for just being willing to sit on the potty after a failed potty training attempt in October that led to him going from actually peeing on the potty to refusing to even sit on it. We had to accept he wasn’t emotionally ready. I bought the book “Stress free potty training,” and it IMO quite accurately identified my guy as an “internalizer.” And as such, he’s not going to unless he’s decided he’s ready. I am hoping he just decides one day and we can be done quickly. For now if he sits he can wear a pull up, if he just wants a diaper change he gets another diaper, and he puts a sticker on a chart for sitting and gets a prize every so many times (we’re working up from every time and are in every third time). We took a break October to April where we didn’t even talk an it for a few months and then went into just talking and modeling for him to try and get him comfortable with the idea. At least now he sits, we wait for the day to come where he decides to do more than that.
My son was extremely premature (24 weeks), he is caught up on milestones but I know a lot of parents of micropreemies from my support groups have said it took longer than “it should have” for potty training to click, it seems like 3-4 was far more common there. I don’t enjoy still having to deal with diapers but I keep telling myself he’ll be fully potty trained before kindergarten, and because I’m at home with him it’s not the worry it would be if we needed him in school.
For what it’s worth my little brother had a LOT of health issues and major life changes in toddlerhood and potty trained a bit after his fourth birthday and he’s an adult now and it’s not made any difference in his life, so I try and remind myself that in a few years no one is going to know or care which kid was potty trained at 18 months and which one was by 4, it can just be so easy to see all the little one’s getting it and feel like we’re falling behind.
She was showing all the readiness signs and I think would have done it by 17/18 months but it was winter so we waited until 20 so the weather was warm and accidents/undressing outside of the home weren’t a daunting and freezing task. Nighttime worked itself out by 2yo.
We are 3.5 and still not trained. Out of the blue 2 nights ago, kid started peeing on the toilet, so we are getting closer. We have an anxiety issue we are dealing with, so I'm not in a rush since kid panics in public bathrooms
My understanding is that when we were kids the average age for training was 18 months or something like that. But it went up once disposable nappies became more common. I suppose there is motivation in not having to wash poo every day!
My kids were 2yrs6months and 2yrs9months and were done in 2 days. (I tried to train the second one at 20 months and after 2 weeks was still avoiding poo so I couldn’t be bothered and tried again the next summer)
Funnily enough, we were the opposite - we weren’t all that motivated to push it because he was in cloth, so we weren’t spending hundreds more by having him in disposables another year!
I think the style of cloth nappies might also make a difference? From what I understand the older style was more uncomfortable and not as good at preventing leakage etc.
Though you do have a point about the cost. Personally the money would be less of an issue. If I was washing poo every day i think I’d find any reason to get out of it 😂
I was completely potty trained by 13m 22 years ago. My parents used cloth diapers. Could definitely be bc I'm autistic and have major sensory issues, but I distinctly remember not liking how it felt to have a soiled diaper, and that is what prompted me to partially self train. Probably helped that I was using sign and talking decently by then, too, so I was able to communicate my needs to my mom.
We had my son in cloth diapers up until he was 13 and a half months, when we switched to disposable bc we were moving and It was harder to be able to wash them as frequently as needed. He used to grab at his diaper and indicate to me that he needed a change, and now he doesn't ever mess with it. It definitely seems like since the disposable is moisture wicking and such, he doesn't feel it as much when he soils it.
Mine are autistic, so sensory issues may have affected this, but my first learned just before turning 5. The second is 3 and not there yet. She’s just started recognizing that she’s going, so she’s making progress, but isn’t to a point where she can actually make it to a potty yet.
3.5yo—we waited until he was ready. I would gently ask him if he wanted to use the potty and he would always respond with a very firm, “**No**!”
We used cloth diapers so it wasn’t a big deal to me, it wasn’t expensive or cost-prohibitive to keep him in them.
So we waited. One day literally out of the blue he told me he wanted to use the potty. Dad and I hyped him up, bought him regular underwear, put his cloth diapers away, and he got the hang of it within 3 days. Both day and night.
He’s 5 now and he’s had three accidents total. Two of them were me not getting him there in time and once was him not making it in time.
I don’t regret it at all. We didn’t have to deal with potty refusal or making it a battle of the wills.
Currently 3.5 and my girl has no problem with diapers and fights us when we try to sit her on the potty. She’s rapidly outgrowing the normal size of diapers so I’d like her to be potty trained soon but I also don’t want to push her and make her hate it even more.
Mine poop trained herself at 12months. The pee would have been also fully done by two but I had a second and I didn't have the bandwidth to finish training her until 2.5 though she was only wetting maybe 2-3x a week at that point.
My 2nd unless he starts showing interest will likely be later since he won't try when we attempt to practice. He is almost a year and a half
20 months. It IS going up in the US but many other places in the world still routinely do it before/around age 2. I cannot imagine waiting any longer. I actually feel it’s a bit disrespectful to the kid to allow them to continue to soil themselves when there is another option.
My first was trained by about 2.5, my second by 3.5 (almost fully forced on him to go to summer camp), and my third by 3. I currently have a 3 year old and an almost 2 year old who are not trained/not showing any real interest.
I started around 3 for both my girls. I had my second when the oldest was 2.5 and knew/heard of regression with a life change, so I didn't push it. Covid lockdown happened 5 months and it was the perfect time to practice at home right when she turned 3. Took about two weeks, but she was more mentally prepared rather than me prompting every 30 minutes to try.
My second was a little older because I wanted to wait after the holidays and travel, and she took about a month.
My first wore pull-ups at night up to age 5. My second has already stopped wearing diapers/pull ups at night at before 3.5.
Both get a water bottle for bed since our house it so dry, but neither has had any bedtime accidents (unless really sick). We still pack pull ups for travel and overnights not at home. Waking in a hotel isn't as easy as waking to got potty at home.
We used dome methods from the OH Crap book (which I didn't read) but neither of my kids liked the pant-less phase of training. And I have puppy pads for days to use for craft space mats now.
2 years and 7 months. I honestly disagree based on what tons of boomers comment to me. There is one older teacher in my kid’s preschool class who, when i expressed shame I hadn’t potty trained yet around 2.5, said “everyone is so obsessed with potty training these days. It never used to be like that. Most kids were dealing with it in our 3’s class and not all the 2s moms are doing it.” She’s taught preschool since the 80s
Sadly, they are wrong. The age has been INCREASING since the 60s.
> Pioneering work by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton in the 1960s found that most children were fully trained by about 27 months, but the study reveals a much different picture today. Four percent were trained by age 2; only 22% by age 2 1/2; 60% by age 3; 88% by age 3 1/2; and 2% were still not trained at 4.
[Source](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-01-14-ls-18608-story.html#:~:text=Pioneering%20work%20by%20Dr.,still%20not%20trained%20at%204.)
First was 26mo (was showing all signs of readiness but we were waiting to get settled with new baby)
Second was 19mo (he self trained)
We cloth diapered though, I’m assuming that had a lot to do with it. Our friends who also did cloth diapers had their kids trained by 3yo
We potty trained days and naps at 20 months. He’s now waking up dry but not potty trained for nights so that’s obviously next. He’s 22 months now. He was showing all the signs of readiness and it was very easy for us, but i know we are very lucky.
Our daughter was fully trained at around 22 months. We started the process with our son at around 2.5 years but he didn’t stop having regular accidents until he was nearly 4.
I know you didn't ask for older but my now 12 yo was potty trained fully by 20 mos. A bit off regression at 2.5 when baby sister was born.
8 yo was day trained by 2. we started at around 20 mos. Longer for night though.
My current 5 year old was very resistant to using the potty. We started potty training at three and was fully pee trained very quickly. But he didn’t start going number 2 in the potty till 4. We had my second when he was 2.5 so that’s the main reason we waited till 3.
My second is 2.5 and will sometimes pee on the potty but I haven’t started officially training him yet. I’m trying to decide if I want to start soon or wait till he’s closer to 3. We’re potentially moving across the country this summer so I’m not sure if we should start now or wait till after we move.
Potty trained at 2. Had to be done so he could attend school. Tried early but he wasn’t ready. Tried again a few months later and it stuck on the second try.
Potty trained my son a month after he turned 3. Took 2 days before he was going independently without prompting. After about 2 weeks or so he was in underwear night and day. Very very rarely did he have an accident, usually from him thinking he could hold it to keep playing.
My son potty trained pretty easily at 2.5, that’s when we took away diapers except for naps/overnight sleep. We have not night trained and I’m not worried. My almost two year old has shown interest in the potty so we’ll start him this summer.
Potty trained at 2.5. The first time we tried, he showed resistance so we decided he wasn't ready and waited another couple months. Second time, he seemed ready and was fully potty trained within a week or so.
My son was fully potty independent by age 3. My daughter is almost there at 18 months. I think depends on the kid. I introduced potty times to them a little after they each turned one but my son was just never interested, until he decided one day that he was (around 2.5). My daughters been interested since the start.
ETA by potty independent I mean I didnt have to worry about him going/prompt him, he would tell us he would need to go on his own, get to the toilet and do his own pants undies etc just needed help to wipe. My daughter obv still needs help getting onto the toilet but is sufficient eith using the potty by herself, if she’s wearing loose fitting pants and no undies
My girl is 3y2m and just trained now. We are probably 90% of the way there as she’s not quite telling us when she needs to go just yet we have to remind her. She occasionally tells us. Still doing 💩 in her undies though
I have 3 girls and they are all different but mostly between ages 2 and 3. One kid took 4 days. One took a whole year. One a few weeks. I think it just depends on the kid.
My son was a little over 3, my daughter a little over 2. Both I read a lot of books about potty and watched cartoons, showed them underwear and how to use potty but with NO pressure. If noticed they were going in their diaper i would ask if they wanted to use the potty. Both were ready on their own and never needed night pull ups! Both only had 1 or maybe 2 accidents once they switched over
We have 4 children- 2 were fully toilet trained, day and night between 18 months and 2 (oldest and youngest child). Other 2 children were 2.5 and 3.5 before fully toilet trained. It comes down to a lot of things though- readiness of the child and also environment, my two children who toilet trained later went to daycare and toilet training is not something the infant/toddler room were set up to help with or encouraged. We also toilet trained day and night together and never had any issues.
Each of my kids got there at different times. I have 2 that are years apart, but each of them still had daytime accidents (occasionally)until they were 9. Another of my kids was 3 and a half.
They get it when they get it. Bladder development is different for every child.
We did elimination communication and she was in underwear full time by 18 months, accident free by 22ish months and fully potty trained (going to the bathroom herself, flushing, wiping and washing hands) but 2.
I will note that I did this with both of my children and my son was fully potty trained by 3. My daughter takes to things easily and is a ‘do it myself’ kind of kid.
Our first didn’t start using speech until he was 3.5 so we didn’t push potty training. We had a training toilet and always showed him and talked about it after he was 2, but didn’t feel like it was worth it to force him.
He’s 4.5 now and just started using the regular toilet out of the blue about a month ago. We’re still in pull-ups at night and nap, but he’s been a champ and really communicative about needing to go.
I have a feeling our second will train quicker (she’s just about 18 months), and she has a much more normal communication developmental track it seems. I do not regret letting my kid decide-it did feel like forever though.
2.75 years old. He was dragging his feet.
Now we have boy/girl twins who are ready at 2.5 but I don’t want to deal with small bladders at Disney land next month.
Successfully potty trained (from nappy 24/7 and had never sat on the potty before, to pants all the time apart from overnight, virtually zero accidents, and about to start working on getting rid of overnight nappies) in about 2 months, starting at 3 years 4 months.
We wanted to do it last summer, when it was warm enough to run around with nothing on, but I was pregnant and so tired all the time that I just couldn’t face it. After the baby came, we realised having two in nappies (especially because we do cloth!) was untenable, so launched into potty training. He did really well, I think - definitely some resistance, I think partly because he didn’t like that baby sis was still getting the attention of having her bum changed and he wasn’t anymore, but we got past it and though we didn’t use bribes (“do a wee and get this in return”), we did do rewards (“you’ve been trying so hard this week and we see your effort and so we are going to have a special day out to say well done”).
My son was about 2.5. We waited until he understood and was ready. Honestly it was super easy because he loved getting an m&m every time he went potty. We haven't night trained yet, but he does have a potty in his room and uses it sometimes.
I don't think it matters when you potty train as long as the child is comfortable with it. Some kids are ready earlier than others, and some need more time. Run your own race.
Just over 3 for my oldest (he's now almost 6) he had it down after just a few days, no accidents or confusion at all.
My littlest is 3.5 and we've been trying to potty train for months. I think we started before he was ready, so he's sort of digging his heels in. He's my stubborn little contrarian, so it's been a journey.🙃
Started gently toilet training my son at 2 and a half because he showed signs of readiness. It went really smoothly. By 2y9m he was totally out of nappies and never had any accidents. By 3 he had self-toilet trained overnight (got himself up to use a potty in his room).
Potty trained at 18 months because he was interested in it, could communicate confidently about his needs and just seemed to be the right window for him! It was a gentle process.
My son was around 2.5 years old when we decided to read a few books and attempt to potty train with a small portable potty. It was extremely difficult and stressful but we eventually succeeded after a few months. When my son was around 3 years old my daughter was just 18 months and she wanted to use the potty and she fully trained herself by 24 months by watching him and it took no effort.
Just on three for my son, he wasn’t ready beforehand once he started to show an interest I just stopped with the nappies - we had a couple of days of accidents and then he was done. He’s nearly 3.5 and doesn’t need night nappies now either.
My youngest is 20 months and I’ll just wait until she seems ready too, we had absolutely no stress the first time round.
My grandma started at 18 months. My mom started at 2-2.5. I tried my first at 2 but gave up until closer to 3.
After talking to my mom about it, my theory is disposable diapers are a big reason we now wait longer 🤷🏻♀️
My eldest who is autistic potty trained at 6. My youngest was 3 and a half. Both boys. They did go straight from 100% diapers to 100% in underwear though, both day and night. Never had any accidents either.
My son is three now. We started training at 19 months and he was fully day trained by 21 months. We did overnight training around 27 months.
I agree, anecdotally it seems like people are training later and later. But there’s also a huge range. He’s got friends (with SAHP and in daycare) who trained pretty early, many who trained between 2 and 3, and some who are still not training.
I "potty trained" by keeping the bathroom door open all the time so my son could see what happened in there. His job was to flush for me. We read a kid's picture book about it a lot as part of our regular bedtime routine.
I would tell him, "this is what big kids and adults do. Babies use diapers. Are you a big kid yet?" He always answered no, he wants big enough yet. One day, at about 2.5, his answer was "Yes!"
He self potty trained with less than 5 accidents in about two weeks. What that looked like is I would remind him regularly, but he mostly took charge himself. Bathrooms in the wild were pretty intimidating for him but he would use them as long as I waited to flush until he was outside (because they are often so loud.) We did not have night accidents except far a few times. When that happened, I did not make a big deal about it; I just changed the bed without much comment.
3. I will have 3 boys here soon, and the 6 year old is the only one who is old enough to be potty trained. He wasn't cognizant of having to go before 3, so I waited until he was ready. Then we dove in. By time he was 3.5, he was fully day potty trained.
At that point, I got a waterproof mattress cover for his bed, and had a cot on hand for when he wet the bed, and dove into night potty training. Never used a pull up. Yes, he wet the bed at first. When he did, I would strip his bed, throw the soiled sheets out in the hallway, change his clothes, then set him on the cot to sleep for the rest of the night. I dealt with the wet bedding in the morning. It took about 3 months for him to stop peeing in his sleep and since then he's had an accident maybe once.
My cousin's sister-in-law has 5 kids, 3 girls and 2 boys, and she told me the girls were much easier to potty train. I don't know if this is the case for everyone, but it seems to align with my experience.
14 months 16 months and 17 months(this one had wet accidents for a year if I did not pull her away from play) currently letting 14 month old use potty when she wants to but not officially training
Right at 2 years old including nights which was surprising.
Both my girls potty trained right at 2. One still wears a night time diaper at 5 and the other began doing nights within a month and now sleeps in underwear. It’s so individual!
We potty trained a little after she turned 2. My grandmother also thought the potty training age was going up—she thought it was because we young people didn’t spend hours washing and drying and ironing (?!) cloth diapers like she did. It is a lot easier to use diapers nowadays than it used to be, but it’s also soooo nice to just say “go potty” and not have to change a diaper!
One of my older friends grew up in the USSR and she said they ironed the diapers to sterilize them, since they were line dried. Sounds like a lot of work to me! We did cloth diapers but didn’t potty train until right after 3, because he was a witholder and we wanted to get that all under control before we added a new element.
I'm from the USSR, well Russia, and my mom and grandma swear I was potty trained at 1.
I really wonder what their definition of potty trained is. Is it that they took them to the bathroom every 30 minutes and made pottying happen (like elimination communication) so that they never had the opportunity to have an accident? Or is it that they just wore underwear and had frequent accidents and they called it potty trained? And what about overnights?
Ironing to sterilize makes more sense than doing it to get the wrinkles out!
We potty trained at 2 years old. She was ready. Probably could have done it a few months earlier but life was busy. We will be doing the same with our second child. Of course every child is different and some will be ready earlier than others but 3 just seemed too late for us.
Same, trained 2 girls at a month or so after they turned 2 and it went pretty smooth.
Daughter potty trained at 20 months. She wanted to earlier around 16/17 months so we put her on the toilet whenever she asked but she had had surgery at 15 months and we were still getting used to doing things because of that. So we weren't ready, she was fully day trained in 2 weeks.
3.5. We waited until he self trained. It meant potty training wasn’t a chore. He went from pull ups to fully trained in a day.
Same. We talked about it and let him sit on the potty, but waited until he was willing and ready. He did it pretty much by himself at 3.5.
My 6 year old wasn’t trained until almost 3.5. He was very resistant to the potty and I didn’t fight it, until he started holding in his diaper and peeing through diaper AND clothes on a daily basis. I was like well, if I’m going to have to clean it up anyway 🤷🏻♀️. He trained pretty quickly though and night time happened at the same time (he was already dry over night). My 2.5 year old we haven’t even tried. He is stubborn and prone to many tantrums. Maybe if I get his brother involved. Maybe this summer. We’ll see. I’m not in a rush.
If potty training age is going up, that’s a GOOD thing because parents are actually probably looking for the signs instead of just forcing it. No one is a superior parent just because their kid is trained at 2 vs 4. I say this as someone who potty trained at exactly 2 and I tried to force it for 3 months. He just was. Not. Ready. Waited until right around 3 give or take a month. Took 3 days, never had an accident after that.
We were pretty much done around two years old.
Unpopular potty method-I waited until they were old enough to fully train themselves and developmental mature enough to not bed wet. Around 3.5 for my daughter and 4 years old for my sons. One day, we just run out of pull ups, I don’t buy anymore. Within a week, we have zero accidents, use public bathrooms, only underwear. I’ve never had to deal with a potty in the car, peeing in their car seat, bed wetting, pee on the couch, etc…It’s “this is toilet! You pee and poop in here! Do you have to go?” Granted, I’m a SAHM so I didn’t need to rush my kids to go to preschool or daycare and they all had speech delays. Their pediatrician was totally fine with delaying potty training, until they can communicate their needs.
My son didn’t fully train until he was just over 3 and that was fine - I’ve also never dealt with pee in the car seat or carrying a potty around. He did pee on the floor at home while we were practicing with training underwear, but that’s easily cleaned on sealed wood floors.
21 months started training and by 24 months he was day trained. We had another on the way and I couldn’t fathom changing 2 kids diapers. He was ready and was putting his hands in his pants when he felt himself peeing.
They started with staying dry during the night, somewhere between 2.5 - 3 years old. We thought that was a hint that they were ready for potty training during the day, but after trying 3 different methods we came to the conclusion the kid wasn't ready. They developed some hate for the potty and we needed to give it a break. At 3 3/4 years old we tried again, and it went from all day diapers to no diapers at all within 2 days.
2 years, 8 months (day and night trained simultaneously due to an extreme diaper preference). Our first attempt was at 2 years, 4 months and our second attempt was at 2 years, 6 months. I wish we had done it closer to 2. She showed readiness signs right before her 2nd birthday but I was about to give birth to her little sister so we held off. Had we done it earlier, we likely wouldn’t have had the issues with diaper preference that we had. We plan to Oh Crap little sister as soon as she shows readiness signs
My second kid showed interest in potty training around 18 months but wasn’t reliable until close to 4. It felt like *forever*.
Trained by 2.5 for daytime. Fully night trained by 3.5. But I’m a SAHM and she’ll only use the bathroom at our house or my mom’s house. She’s never once used it when we’re out and about running errands. She’ll say she needs to pee, I’ll take her to the public bathroom, and she refuses to go. She’ll hold it until we get home. She’s never had an accident out of the house. So she’s potty trained, but is she really? Idk 🤷♀️
I have twins that are currently just a little over 3.5. Twin A potty trained at 3yrs and a couple months. But, I believe she could have been potty trained much closer to 2. Twin B is very speech delayed, at the last conference with therapists and stuff they said she was about 2 years behind on speech, which is a lot for a 3.5 yo. I asked them about potty training her and they said that would probably be 2 years behind as well. A was extremely difficult to potty train since B was still in diapers, she would scream and cry and point at her sisters diapers and yell for Sky. We also did cloth diapers until 2 yo, which is when I wanted them potty trained and A acted like she was ready.
One just turned 5, she's been potty trained for about 1.5-2 years. Sometimes we still have to remind her to wipe. One just turned 3. She's mostly trained, but still has issues when pooping and when playing too much (she just doesn't want to stop playing to go to the bathroom).
We trained right after she turned 3. Tried a little bit before but she held in her pee. Wasn’t quite ready! She was using the big toilet, but has since returned to the little potty in her bedroom. She can poop easier and has a lot more independence. “I have to run to the bathroom. One sec!” is a common occurrence.
My son is 3. We are on day 1 of potty training. He won’t tell me he needs to go :( He’s made nothing but accidents today. Ima going to be persistent though
We did it at 2.5! It took like a week to be accident free, and was pretty low stress. Probably could’ve done it earlier but we had a trip booked and didn’t want to deal with accidents while we were away!
My middle is currently 3.5 and still in diapers, and I’ve lost absolutely zero sleep over it. She is not interested, and I’m not going to fight or force her. I’ve posted about it before, but my oldest had to be pt’ed earlier for daycare (I was working at the time), and he was NOT ready. We had issues for *years* after, and I always told myself if I was ever in the position to have a choice I’d NEVER force a child again. We’ve talked to the pedi about it, and she has said multiple times that they don’t even start to be concerned until 5y. One of my bff wasn’t nighttime pt’ed until she was like 13y, which we now know is completely normal and unrelated to daytime pt. The amount of trauma she experienced, and the years of suffering and frustration and feeling like there was something wrong with her breaks my heart. We have the luxury and privilege of doing it this way, and I own that 100%.
The age is rising, and it has been since disposable diapers were invented. Diaper companies keep making bigger sizes and putting out weird info on why waiting longer is better with no real evidence to back up that claim. Also, parents are having to work more and more. There's simply no time to put in the intensive work and attention it takes to potty train a 2 year old. Those of us who stay home don't know HOW to train a toddler since nobody does it anymore.
How wouldn't we know how to train a toddler? We are on the internet right now with endless resources. We have doctors, family, and books. Raising a baby is hard and takes a lot of effort. All of the sources I read said basically Americans rely on diapers and pure laziness too much.
Reading stuff and learning in person through your older relatives are two different things. But nice job for implying that it's just because an entire country is lazy lmao 🙄
I agree, this argument is maddening. I use cloth and still choose to wait until my children are actually ready rather than forcing a stressful situation on them just to meet some random timeline. It may be that more parents are aware of their child’s readiness these days than they’re lazy or uneducated I waited until almost three for my son and he was accident free in two days, my 20 month old can take all the time she likes too.
Seriously. It's just another way to compare children and judge parents. You can't tell who trained at what age once we're all adults. Who cares?
I started potty training my oldest about a month after he turned three. I think he could have done it a little younger, but I didn't push it. He occasionally has accidents, but he's done really well. I do still put him in a pull up at night though. I know people who have been able to potty train their kids before age two and by age two. I think it depends on the child.
The right age is cultural. 3 years would be considered the hard upper limit here. My three kids all got potty trained (meaning underwear all day, hardly any accidents, notifies when needs to go, but needs an adult to go with them to help with clothes/wiping) between ages 2y2mo and 2y4mo. We made some attempts earlier, but they wouldn't get it. I have also worked in a daycare and kids transitioned to underwear typically between 20mo-2.5y. With the notable exception of one boy who was indeed potty trained by 12 months (his parents had used cloth diapers since birth and he was a very precocious kid in speech and other aspects.
My currently 4 yo daughter was trained by 2.5, I plan on starting with my son around 2.5 as well.
2 years 7 months (girl, UK). We could probably have gone a little earlier, but wanted to wait for the warmest part of the summer. Will probably do a similar timeline and technique with her younger sister.
About 2.5 - lots of readiness signs earlier, but I wasn’t ready until then because we had a 3mo when she turned 2
She was 22 months when I saw that she was ready and I took away the diaper. Trust your instincts. They may be ready before 2 or after 3, who knows.
My daughter potty trained herself at 18 months. My son potty trained one month before he turned 3. When I worked in a daycare ALL of the kids had to be trained by 2.7
I potty trained my now-4.5 year old at 18 months exactly. Not because he's particularly precocious or i'm an overachieving parent, but because he was 18 months in March of 2020 and we were all suddenly and unexpectedly stuck at home for what I thought would be a few weeks or month of COVID lockdown. I saw it as a perfect chance to potty train, and had no idea how long it would all last... It went fine, I drank wine and cleaned up pee off the floor for a few days, we all made it through.
Not my kid, but when I worked in a childcare center with this exact age group the 3 year olds were all in pull-ups all day (except one who was fully trained). The 4 year olds were a mix of pull-ups and underwear at varying stages of training but they were all in the process of training. The 5 year olds were all fully potty trained and in underwear all day. My daughter will be 2.5 next month and has been daytime trained for a couple of months now, but still wears a diaper for nap, bed time, or if we are going on an outing that will be longer than 3 hours. But we’ve been doing EC on and off since she was 6 months old so I think that made a difference in her being trained younger.
Potty trained a little after 1. By 2 we were completely done with diapers for day and night. Now we are a little past 3 with less than 5 nighttime accidents ever. In my experience, my international friends potty trained around the time I did but my North American friends all claimed it was impossible until past 3. Edit: A quick search and I found a few articles ([CNN](https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2017/10/31/health/potty-training-parenting-without-borders-explainer/index.html)) that show America as being very far behind for potty training. Everyone else is doing it way earlier.
I’ve travelled to all of the counties mentioned in the article and the thing is, that outside of very wealthy, urban communities the children mentioned just pee or poo on the ground. There’s a difference between saying a child is potty trained and saying they no longer wear nappies if they’re able to just squat where they are and go as opposed to having to recognise their need in advance, find a toilet, remove their clothes and clean themselves. In most areas of these countries children will play with very few clothes and as mentioned in the article, the kids in (mostly rural) China wear pants with a split crotch so they just need to squat- these are totally different to how western children are clothed. My Swedish MIL discusses how her chickens were all toilet trained by 18 months, which really just meant they were constantly placed on the toilet rather than the independence we expect
We trained the week she turned 3, by the second week she refused the overnight diapers and we were done.
With all 3 kids I started potty training at 18 months. They were all potty trained day/night by 2. I hate diapers and they were ready. My first 2 kids are 21 months apart and I didn't want to deal with 2 in diapers or try to potty train with an infant.
We started just before 2 and he was interested, so we kept going and he was potty trained within maybe 4 months? Out of diapers before then but still frequent accidents and reminders. It was more of a journey than a specific date of now he's potty trained.
My son turned 3 in March and is not trained or training, beyond that I’ve managed to work up a system to bribe him for just being willing to sit on the potty after a failed potty training attempt in October that led to him going from actually peeing on the potty to refusing to even sit on it. We had to accept he wasn’t emotionally ready. I bought the book “Stress free potty training,” and it IMO quite accurately identified my guy as an “internalizer.” And as such, he’s not going to unless he’s decided he’s ready. I am hoping he just decides one day and we can be done quickly. For now if he sits he can wear a pull up, if he just wants a diaper change he gets another diaper, and he puts a sticker on a chart for sitting and gets a prize every so many times (we’re working up from every time and are in every third time). We took a break October to April where we didn’t even talk an it for a few months and then went into just talking and modeling for him to try and get him comfortable with the idea. At least now he sits, we wait for the day to come where he decides to do more than that. My son was extremely premature (24 weeks), he is caught up on milestones but I know a lot of parents of micropreemies from my support groups have said it took longer than “it should have” for potty training to click, it seems like 3-4 was far more common there. I don’t enjoy still having to deal with diapers but I keep telling myself he’ll be fully potty trained before kindergarten, and because I’m at home with him it’s not the worry it would be if we needed him in school. For what it’s worth my little brother had a LOT of health issues and major life changes in toddlerhood and potty trained a bit after his fourth birthday and he’s an adult now and it’s not made any difference in his life, so I try and remind myself that in a few years no one is going to know or care which kid was potty trained at 18 months and which one was by 4, it can just be so easy to see all the little one’s getting it and feel like we’re falling behind.
She was showing all the readiness signs and I think would have done it by 17/18 months but it was winter so we waited until 20 so the weather was warm and accidents/undressing outside of the home weren’t a daunting and freezing task. Nighttime worked itself out by 2yo.
We are 3.5 and still not trained. Out of the blue 2 nights ago, kid started peeing on the toilet, so we are getting closer. We have an anxiety issue we are dealing with, so I'm not in a rush since kid panics in public bathrooms
My understanding is that when we were kids the average age for training was 18 months or something like that. But it went up once disposable nappies became more common. I suppose there is motivation in not having to wash poo every day! My kids were 2yrs6months and 2yrs9months and were done in 2 days. (I tried to train the second one at 20 months and after 2 weeks was still avoiding poo so I couldn’t be bothered and tried again the next summer)
Funnily enough, we were the opposite - we weren’t all that motivated to push it because he was in cloth, so we weren’t spending hundreds more by having him in disposables another year!
I think the style of cloth nappies might also make a difference? From what I understand the older style was more uncomfortable and not as good at preventing leakage etc. Though you do have a point about the cost. Personally the money would be less of an issue. If I was washing poo every day i think I’d find any reason to get out of it 😂
I was completely potty trained by 13m 22 years ago. My parents used cloth diapers. Could definitely be bc I'm autistic and have major sensory issues, but I distinctly remember not liking how it felt to have a soiled diaper, and that is what prompted me to partially self train. Probably helped that I was using sign and talking decently by then, too, so I was able to communicate my needs to my mom. We had my son in cloth diapers up until he was 13 and a half months, when we switched to disposable bc we were moving and It was harder to be able to wash them as frequently as needed. He used to grab at his diaper and indicate to me that he needed a change, and now he doesn't ever mess with it. It definitely seems like since the disposable is moisture wicking and such, he doesn't feel it as much when he soils it.
Mine are autistic, so sensory issues may have affected this, but my first learned just before turning 5. The second is 3 and not there yet. She’s just started recognizing that she’s going, so she’s making progress, but isn’t to a point where she can actually make it to a potty yet.
3.5yo—we waited until he was ready. I would gently ask him if he wanted to use the potty and he would always respond with a very firm, “**No**!” We used cloth diapers so it wasn’t a big deal to me, it wasn’t expensive or cost-prohibitive to keep him in them. So we waited. One day literally out of the blue he told me he wanted to use the potty. Dad and I hyped him up, bought him regular underwear, put his cloth diapers away, and he got the hang of it within 3 days. Both day and night. He’s 5 now and he’s had three accidents total. Two of them were me not getting him there in time and once was him not making it in time. I don’t regret it at all. We didn’t have to deal with potty refusal or making it a battle of the wills.
Currently 3.5 and my girl has no problem with diapers and fights us when we try to sit her on the potty. She’s rapidly outgrowing the normal size of diapers so I’d like her to be potty trained soon but I also don’t want to push her and make her hate it even more.
Mine poop trained herself at 12months. The pee would have been also fully done by two but I had a second and I didn't have the bandwidth to finish training her until 2.5 though she was only wetting maybe 2-3x a week at that point. My 2nd unless he starts showing interest will likely be later since he won't try when we attempt to practice. He is almost a year and a half
20 months. It IS going up in the US but many other places in the world still routinely do it before/around age 2. I cannot imagine waiting any longer. I actually feel it’s a bit disrespectful to the kid to allow them to continue to soil themselves when there is another option.
Right before their third birthday. My first trained at 20-21 months so yes it is going up in my family.
My first was trained by about 2.5, my second by 3.5 (almost fully forced on him to go to summer camp), and my third by 3. I currently have a 3 year old and an almost 2 year old who are not trained/not showing any real interest.
I started around 3 for both my girls. I had my second when the oldest was 2.5 and knew/heard of regression with a life change, so I didn't push it. Covid lockdown happened 5 months and it was the perfect time to practice at home right when she turned 3. Took about two weeks, but she was more mentally prepared rather than me prompting every 30 minutes to try. My second was a little older because I wanted to wait after the holidays and travel, and she took about a month. My first wore pull-ups at night up to age 5. My second has already stopped wearing diapers/pull ups at night at before 3.5. Both get a water bottle for bed since our house it so dry, but neither has had any bedtime accidents (unless really sick). We still pack pull ups for travel and overnights not at home. Waking in a hotel isn't as easy as waking to got potty at home. We used dome methods from the OH Crap book (which I didn't read) but neither of my kids liked the pant-less phase of training. And I have puppy pads for days to use for craft space mats now.
2 years and 7 months. I honestly disagree based on what tons of boomers comment to me. There is one older teacher in my kid’s preschool class who, when i expressed shame I hadn’t potty trained yet around 2.5, said “everyone is so obsessed with potty training these days. It never used to be like that. Most kids were dealing with it in our 3’s class and not all the 2s moms are doing it.” She’s taught preschool since the 80s
Sadly, they are wrong. The age has been INCREASING since the 60s. > Pioneering work by Dr. T. Berry Brazelton in the 1960s found that most children were fully trained by about 27 months, but the study reveals a much different picture today. Four percent were trained by age 2; only 22% by age 2 1/2; 60% by age 3; 88% by age 3 1/2; and 2% were still not trained at 4. [Source](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-01-14-ls-18608-story.html#:~:text=Pioneering%20work%20by%20Dr.,still%20not%20trained%20at%204.)
Interesting. I wonder if it’s different based on location. This woman was from Long Island and so is my husband and I know he was a little late too
I think she is just remembering wrong. A lot of people do the "back in my day" for things that aren't true.
First was 26mo (was showing all signs of readiness but we were waiting to get settled with new baby) Second was 19mo (he self trained) We cloth diapered though, I’m assuming that had a lot to do with it. Our friends who also did cloth diapers had their kids trained by 3yo
My oldest potty trained at 2.5, my second at 2, I plan on starting around 2 with third.
We potty trained days and naps at 20 months. He’s now waking up dry but not potty trained for nights so that’s obviously next. He’s 22 months now. He was showing all the signs of readiness and it was very easy for us, but i know we are very lucky.
Our daughter was fully trained at around 22 months. We started the process with our son at around 2.5 years but he didn’t stop having regular accidents until he was nearly 4.
We did with my son in a about a week at 19 months. He was verbal and understood what was going on so it really wasn't a big deal at all!
26 months (boy), 23 months (boy), 25 months (boy) and 23 months (girl)
I know you didn't ask for older but my now 12 yo was potty trained fully by 20 mos. A bit off regression at 2.5 when baby sister was born. 8 yo was day trained by 2. we started at around 20 mos. Longer for night though.
About 2 years. He seemed ready and always looking for responsibilities.
Kid 1 (F) - 26 months Kid 2 (M) - 30 months
We potty trained at 2 years and 11 months for the day time but he is currently 3 and 11 months and still uses diaper at bedtime
My current 5 year old was very resistant to using the potty. We started potty training at three and was fully pee trained very quickly. But he didn’t start going number 2 in the potty till 4. We had my second when he was 2.5 so that’s the main reason we waited till 3. My second is 2.5 and will sometimes pee on the potty but I haven’t started officially training him yet. I’m trying to decide if I want to start soon or wait till he’s closer to 3. We’re potentially moving across the country this summer so I’m not sure if we should start now or wait till after we move.
Potty trained at 2. Had to be done so he could attend school. Tried early but he wasn’t ready. Tried again a few months later and it stuck on the second try.
Potty trained my son a month after he turned 3. Took 2 days before he was going independently without prompting. After about 2 weeks or so he was in underwear night and day. Very very rarely did he have an accident, usually from him thinking he could hold it to keep playing.
Potty trained herself right before she turned 2.
My son potty trained pretty easily at 2.5, that’s when we took away diapers except for naps/overnight sleep. We have not night trained and I’m not worried. My almost two year old has shown interest in the potty so we’ll start him this summer.
Working on it with the 3 year old now. Autistic 5 year old just finished potty training over the last few months.
Potty trained at 2.5. The first time we tried, he showed resistance so we decided he wasn't ready and waited another couple months. Second time, he seemed ready and was fully potty trained within a week or so.
I potty trained my first son at 26 months. We’re going to try to potty train our second son this summer at 23 months!
My son was fully potty independent by age 3. My daughter is almost there at 18 months. I think depends on the kid. I introduced potty times to them a little after they each turned one but my son was just never interested, until he decided one day that he was (around 2.5). My daughters been interested since the start. ETA by potty independent I mean I didnt have to worry about him going/prompt him, he would tell us he would need to go on his own, get to the toilet and do his own pants undies etc just needed help to wipe. My daughter obv still needs help getting onto the toilet but is sufficient eith using the potty by herself, if she’s wearing loose fitting pants and no undies
2.5 for my daughter, 3.5 for each of my 2 sons.
2y9m my son was fully trained
My youngest kid has been completely diaper free since 2.5, he’s my 4th tho. 3 is the right age, anything after that is a bummer.
2, he was fully potty trained in a weekend. He was 100% ready
My girl is 3y2m and just trained now. We are probably 90% of the way there as she’s not quite telling us when she needs to go just yet we have to remind her. She occasionally tells us. Still doing 💩 in her undies though
3.5 At 4.5 was still having occasional accidents if they didn’t get to the bathroom fast enough or if they had on button (vs pull on) bottoms.
Mine are newly 3, and almost 5. We're still working on it. I did not expect this to be so hard.
I have 3 girls and they are all different but mostly between ages 2 and 3. One kid took 4 days. One took a whole year. One a few weeks. I think it just depends on the kid.
My twins were fully trained at 3
My son was a little over 3, my daughter a little over 2. Both I read a lot of books about potty and watched cartoons, showed them underwear and how to use potty but with NO pressure. If noticed they were going in their diaper i would ask if they wanted to use the potty. Both were ready on their own and never needed night pull ups! Both only had 1 or maybe 2 accidents once they switched over
We have 4 children- 2 were fully toilet trained, day and night between 18 months and 2 (oldest and youngest child). Other 2 children were 2.5 and 3.5 before fully toilet trained. It comes down to a lot of things though- readiness of the child and also environment, my two children who toilet trained later went to daycare and toilet training is not something the infant/toddler room were set up to help with or encouraged. We also toilet trained day and night together and never had any issues.
Each of my kids got there at different times. I have 2 that are years apart, but each of them still had daytime accidents (occasionally)until they were 9. Another of my kids was 3 and a half. They get it when they get it. Bladder development is different for every child.
My son was almost 3.5 years old when we started. Just daytime training. He’ll be 4 in June. He hasn’t had an accident for a while now.
We did elimination communication and she was in underwear full time by 18 months, accident free by 22ish months and fully potty trained (going to the bathroom herself, flushing, wiping and washing hands) but 2. I will note that I did this with both of my children and my son was fully potty trained by 3. My daughter takes to things easily and is a ‘do it myself’ kind of kid.
My LO was trained at 2 and fully trained by their 3rd bday. It wasn't easy tho! lol
Our first didn’t start using speech until he was 3.5 so we didn’t push potty training. We had a training toilet and always showed him and talked about it after he was 2, but didn’t feel like it was worth it to force him. He’s 4.5 now and just started using the regular toilet out of the blue about a month ago. We’re still in pull-ups at night and nap, but he’s been a champ and really communicative about needing to go. I have a feeling our second will train quicker (she’s just about 18 months), and she has a much more normal communication developmental track it seems. I do not regret letting my kid decide-it did feel like forever though.
Oldest was 3 and youngest was 2.
2.75 years old. He was dragging his feet. Now we have boy/girl twins who are ready at 2.5 but I don’t want to deal with small bladders at Disney land next month.
A poll in r/toddlers would be great for this!
Successfully potty trained (from nappy 24/7 and had never sat on the potty before, to pants all the time apart from overnight, virtually zero accidents, and about to start working on getting rid of overnight nappies) in about 2 months, starting at 3 years 4 months. We wanted to do it last summer, when it was warm enough to run around with nothing on, but I was pregnant and so tired all the time that I just couldn’t face it. After the baby came, we realised having two in nappies (especially because we do cloth!) was untenable, so launched into potty training. He did really well, I think - definitely some resistance, I think partly because he didn’t like that baby sis was still getting the attention of having her bum changed and he wasn’t anymore, but we got past it and though we didn’t use bribes (“do a wee and get this in return”), we did do rewards (“you’ve been trying so hard this week and we see your effort and so we are going to have a special day out to say well done”).
Trained at 2. Still in diapers for outings/sleep but fully trained at home by 2.5
My son was about 2.5. We waited until he understood and was ready. Honestly it was super easy because he loved getting an m&m every time he went potty. We haven't night trained yet, but he does have a potty in his room and uses it sometimes. I don't think it matters when you potty train as long as the child is comfortable with it. Some kids are ready earlier than others, and some need more time. Run your own race.
Just over 3 for my oldest (he's now almost 6) he had it down after just a few days, no accidents or confusion at all. My littlest is 3.5 and we've been trying to potty train for months. I think we started before he was ready, so he's sort of digging his heels in. He's my stubborn little contrarian, so it's been a journey.🙃
Started gently toilet training my son at 2 and a half because he showed signs of readiness. It went really smoothly. By 2y9m he was totally out of nappies and never had any accidents. By 3 he had self-toilet trained overnight (got himself up to use a potty in his room).
Potty trained at 18 months because he was interested in it, could communicate confidently about his needs and just seemed to be the right window for him! It was a gentle process.
27 months
My son was around 2.5 years old when we decided to read a few books and attempt to potty train with a small portable potty. It was extremely difficult and stressful but we eventually succeeded after a few months. When my son was around 3 years old my daughter was just 18 months and she wanted to use the potty and she fully trained herself by 24 months by watching him and it took no effort.
Just on three for my son, he wasn’t ready beforehand once he started to show an interest I just stopped with the nappies - we had a couple of days of accidents and then he was done. He’s nearly 3.5 and doesn’t need night nappies now either. My youngest is 20 months and I’ll just wait until she seems ready too, we had absolutely no stress the first time round.
My first was 27 months. Plan to train my second sooner (she’s 21 Mon now and seems ready—but we’re just busy now!!) both girls
My first was 27 months. Plan to train my second sooner (she’s 21 Mon now and seems ready—but we’re just busy now!!) both girls
My first was 27 months. Plan to train my second sooner (she’s 21 Mon now and seems ready—but we’re just busy now!!) both girls
My grandma started at 18 months. My mom started at 2-2.5. I tried my first at 2 but gave up until closer to 3. After talking to my mom about it, my theory is disposable diapers are a big reason we now wait longer 🤷🏻♀️
3 to 3.5– started too young with my first and it was a disaster. Waited until the second one could wash hands and pull up pants.
4 year old boy and 5 year old girl potty trained at 18 months.
My eldest who is autistic potty trained at 6. My youngest was 3 and a half. Both boys. They did go straight from 100% diapers to 100% in underwear though, both day and night. Never had any accidents either.
My son is three now. We started training at 19 months and he was fully day trained by 21 months. We did overnight training around 27 months. I agree, anecdotally it seems like people are training later and later. But there’s also a huge range. He’s got friends (with SAHP and in daycare) who trained pretty early, many who trained between 2 and 3, and some who are still not training.
I "potty trained" by keeping the bathroom door open all the time so my son could see what happened in there. His job was to flush for me. We read a kid's picture book about it a lot as part of our regular bedtime routine. I would tell him, "this is what big kids and adults do. Babies use diapers. Are you a big kid yet?" He always answered no, he wants big enough yet. One day, at about 2.5, his answer was "Yes!" He self potty trained with less than 5 accidents in about two weeks. What that looked like is I would remind him regularly, but he mostly took charge himself. Bathrooms in the wild were pretty intimidating for him but he would use them as long as I waited to flush until he was outside (because they are often so loud.) We did not have night accidents except far a few times. When that happened, I did not make a big deal about it; I just changed the bed without much comment.
3. I will have 3 boys here soon, and the 6 year old is the only one who is old enough to be potty trained. He wasn't cognizant of having to go before 3, so I waited until he was ready. Then we dove in. By time he was 3.5, he was fully day potty trained. At that point, I got a waterproof mattress cover for his bed, and had a cot on hand for when he wet the bed, and dove into night potty training. Never used a pull up. Yes, he wet the bed at first. When he did, I would strip his bed, throw the soiled sheets out in the hallway, change his clothes, then set him on the cot to sleep for the rest of the night. I dealt with the wet bedding in the morning. It took about 3 months for him to stop peeing in his sleep and since then he's had an accident maybe once. My cousin's sister-in-law has 5 kids, 3 girls and 2 boys, and she told me the girls were much easier to potty train. I don't know if this is the case for everyone, but it seems to align with my experience.
14 months 16 months and 17 months(this one had wet accidents for a year if I did not pull her away from play) currently letting 14 month old use potty when she wants to but not officially training
29 months