What is the average age to potty train a baby

How long potty training takes as a process will depend on your individual child and the method you choose. Most children are able to control both bladder and bowels and leave diapers behind sometime between 3 and 4 years old. One popular method is the three-day potty training method. While fast, boot camp style plans may offer some helpful tactics and guidance, resist sticking to them too strictly.

If your child seems resistant, take their cues and go back to the basics for a while. And even if your child is out of diapers after a rigorous three days, you should still expect them to have accidents. Nap and nighttime training may take longer, too.

Daytime and nighttime potty training are different skills. While your child may be fully trained in the daytime, it may take many more months or even years for them to stay dry at night. The average for when children night train is between ages 4 and 5. As an early introduction to toilet training, try placing your fully clothed child on the potty.

Let them read a book or sing a song on the potty without focusing on actually going. Next, move to sitting your child on the potty directly after taking off a wet or dirty diaper. From there, you may encourage your child to use the potty one to three times a day for a few minutes at a time.

After mealtimes is an especially good time to try, as it tends to be when children have full bladders and bowels. You can increase the number of trips or tries your child takes throughout the day over time. It may be helpful to create a loose schedule, such as:. This is normal and expected. Point out the accident, but without blame or shame attached.

You can simply remind them that pee or poop goes in the potty. Young children get easily distracted and can be resistant to abandoning play for a bathroom break. Let them know that after the bathroom break, they can return to playing. The most important thing to remember with potty training is that children are individuals. In one study, initiation before 24 months of age resulted in 68 percent of toddlers completing training before 36 months of age, compared with 54 percent who began training after 24 months.

Although earlier training is not associated with stool withholding, enuresis, or other toilet-training problems, intensive training has little benefit before 27 months of age. Several options are available for developmentally normal children who are toilet training for the first time Table 1.

Most experts recommend that training start after 18 months of age and conclude by 24 to 36 months of age. Methods differ in techniques and end points. The use of operant conditioning, assisted infant toilet training, and elimination communication is more common in developing nations. Begin when child shows signs of readiness generally after 18 months of age.

Praise success using positive terms. Avoid punishment, shaming, or force. Make training positive, nonthreatening, and natural. Train without force. Begin training between 24 and 30 months of age. Allow child to accompany family members when they use bathroom. Make process relaxed and pleasant; avoid criticism. Avoid making negative comments about stool or criticizing child.

Let child use potty-chair voluntarily; once child shows interest, take him or her to the potty-chair two to three times daily. Praise success. Negative reinforcement through punishment or decreased positive attention for accidents. Parent-oriented training method. Begin bowel and bladder training at two to three weeks of age. Place infant on toilet after large meal or if shows signs of eliminating.

Reward successful voids with food or affection. Begin at birth. Learn to recognize infant body language, noises, and elimination patterns. Place infant over sink, toilet, or special miniature potty-chair while parent makes sound of running water. Some increased interest for this method in the United States since Information from reference 9.

Empiric data comparing the various methods of toilet training are limited. In , the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality AHRQ developed an evidence report on toilet training to evaluate the effectiveness of various toilet-training methods and the factors that influence their effectiveness. Meta-analysis was not possible because of the extreme heterogeneity and poor methodologic quality of these studies. No trials directly compared the child-oriented method with the Azrin and Foxx method; however, one study showed the Azrin and Foxx method to be more effective than Dr.

Spock's method. Some evidence suggests that toddlers using the latter, more intensive method achieve continence sooner, but how long these outcomes are sustained is unclear. The Brazelton child-oriented approach is strongly supported in the pediatric literature. Introduced in , it emphasizes gradual toilet training beginning only after specific physical and psychological milestones are achieved. Supporting evidence comes from a s retrospective chart review of Brazelton's clinic patients.

Whether his patients actually used this approach is unknown, because parents were encouraged to find methods that worked best for their families. Few outcome studies on the child-oriented approach have been published over the past 40 years.

Snacks or treats optional. Begin training when specific physical and psychological milestones are met usually around 18 months of age; introduce potty-chair and teach child to associate it with the toilet. Ask child to sit on potty-chair fully clothed; child may sit in close proximity when a parent is using the toilet; use potty-chair in any room or outside to accustom child to sitting on it; allow child to get off the chair at any time; talk to child or read a story during sits.

After one to two weeks of fully clothed sits, remove diaper and have child sit on potty-chair; do not insist that child use the potty-chair at this point. If child soils his or her diaper, take both child and soiled diaper to potty-chair and empty diaper into chair; explain that this is where stool goes. Once child understands, take him or her to potty-chair several times daily. As child becomes more confident, remove diaper for short intervals; place potty-chair in close proximity to child and encourage independent use; provide gentle reminders as needed.

After these steps are mastered, use training pants, instructing child on how to pull them up and remove them. Training area with minimal distractions and interruptions.

Doll that wets pants. Training pants. Short T-shirt. List of real or imaginary characters admired by child. Provide immediate positive reinforcement e. Asking about, approaching, or sitting on potty-chair. Manipulating pants. Urinating or defecating in potty-chair. Do not reinforce refusal or other uncooperative acts. Consequences for accidents:. Omit reinforcements. Verbal reprimand. Child changes wet pants by him- or herself. Demonstrate correct steps for toileting using a doll.

When doll wets, have child empty potty-chair basin into toilet, flush, replace basin, and wash hands. Teach child to differentiate between wet and dry; perform pants checks every three to five minutes and reward dry pants. Give child enough fluids to cause strong, frequent desire to urinate. Encourage child to go to potty-chair, pull down pants, sit for several minutes, and then get up and pull up pants; if child urinates or defecates in potty-chair, reward with praise or a treat.

After a productive sit, have child empty potty basin and replace it. Perform pants checks every five minutes and have child help. Start with child sitting on potty-chair for 10 minutes; after several productive sessions, reduce duration. Move toward child initiating request to use potty-chair. As child masters the task, provide praise only for successfully completed sits.

Check pants before naps and meals for the following three days; praise child for dry pants; for wet pants, have child change him- or herself and perform additional positive practice sessions.

Guidelines from the AAP incorporate many components of the child-oriented approach. The guidelines recommend that training begin after 18 months of age using a potty-chair, and that parents assess readiness by looking for signs that suggest interest in toilet training Table 3.

Uses words, facial expressions, or movements indicating the need to urinate or defecate. Information from reference 6. Azrin and Foxx recommend operant conditioning and the use of training components that facilitate learning.

Their method was the first to describe objective criteria for determining training readiness. Specifics of the method are described in Table 2. The kiddy urinal is a waste of money!!! I have learn a lot from this article. My baby boy have start potty training at age of 15 months old. Really helpful content. Your email address will not be published. Contact Us. Here are in a nutshell the phases that a child passes through: Under 12 months — the child has no control over bowel and bladder movements Between 12 and 18 months — children start to develop some control over bowel and bladder muscles but it is still too limited months — most children have certain control over bowel and bladder movements but still, some may have struggles.

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