Potty Training

I have read two different schools of thought on Potty Training. One says that you should potty train your child as soon as they show an interest in the potty. The other says that you should wait until your child is 2. That before 2 they are not developmentally ready to recognize when they need to use the potty.

My experience with my daughter who will be 3 in May was interesting to say the least. When she was about 10 months old I purchased a portable potty and put it in the living room. At this point she would tell us when she had a wet diaper. When we purchased the potty she was curious and we explained to her what it was. One day she crawled over to the potty and expressed that she needed to go. I put her on it and she went. Every time I would put her on it she would go. I was very excited. Then at 11 months she got sick and had to be hospitalized. When she returned home I didn't push the potty because I thought she had been through enough and needed a break. Maybe this was my mistake. We didn't introduce the potty again for about 3 months because right after her 1st birthday she became quite sick with a stomach bug and had diarrhea for over a month.

When we introduced the potty again she showed limited interest until right before her 2nd birthday - but this time the interest was in the big potty so we purchased on of those seats that goes on top of the toilet. Although at this point she would use the potty several times a day she would also have several accidents a day in her pullups (if she was doing something she was really interested in she would not use the potty.)

A few weeks ago she announced that she was a big girl and wanted to wear big girl undies. She did have a few accidents the first few days but we only put the pull ups on at night. Thank God for the Spot Bot. Well I'm thankful to say that it has been a few weeks and no accidents. She has even begun to get up at night and go to the potty.