The Right Age to Start Potty Train Your Child

There is no fixed potty training age at which you can initiate training your children to start using the potty; however most kids start showing signs that they are ready to learn between 18 and 24 months. This said, it is important to remember that some children will continue to use diapers well into their third year. Girls pick up potty training skills faster than boys, which is good news if you have a little girl child or a girl and a boy; you can hopefully instill potty training skills faster in the siblings.

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Since there is no exact potty training age, you need to look for signs that your baby may display. These include ability to voluntarily control muscles responsible for defecation and urination; this is usually gauged when the diapers are dry; ability to communicate the need to go with sound and gestures; pass more urine at one time instead of a little multiple times; and some routine in bowel movements instead of soiling diapers any time during the day. The child may begin to show understanding of terms such as “poo” “potty” “wet”, etc. He or she may also begin a preference for dry diapers and show signs of discomfort when wet.

Motor skills such as coordinated hand and feet movement are important to move to the potty, maintain balance and sit, and also to make an effort to pull down diapers or underpants. A child may also imitate adult behavior and try to use the toilet. Bear in mind that potty training is a sustained process and can take upwards of six months; do not rush into the process because you think it’s going to be a long-drawn one. As mentioned earlier, more than the right potty training age it is important to look for the right signs. Of course not all signs may manifest at the same time, therefore it can be a good idea and try to instill toilet hygiene in the baby before you begin the actual toilet training.

The use of disposable diapers lends a sense of comfort to parents and may lead to a delaying in beginning potty training. By not delaying you give your child the chance to gain independence, avoid nappy rashes, and reduce the chance of infections from diapers worn too long. Training to use the toilet is the first important lesson a baby learns as till then all its actions are dictated more by instinct and less by training. Therefore, it is important that you begin to train it at the right potty training age so that all things learnt subsequently can be done so in a smooth manner.

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