When did you start potty training?

DD is going to be 2 in Sept and i'm wondering when it's a good time to start potty training. She ask to go to potty, but she's never actually went in the potty. She'll sit, wipe and say "no pee pee" and then comes down.

So, I wanted to get a feel for what everyone else did.

1) when did you start potty training?
2) what type of things did you buy in preparation for it?
3) when do you start using pullups? Are you suppose to be using pullups when you potty train?

We started at 24 months. It was the perfect time for us and our DD. The most important thing for preparedness in my mind is parental commitment and readiness. This is so much about parents being ready, and not just the kid!

I would recommend the "bare-butt" method - some people do it over a long 3-4 day weekend, and I think we'll try the intensive method with DD2. With DD1, we didn't do it over a weekend, but whenever she was at home, she wore no diapers/pullups/underwear/pants of any kind, and we had a few baby potties located around the apartment that she could run to when she needed to go. It worked very well.

What you need: at least one stand alone potty (we liked the Baby Bjorn with removable insert). You can also get a cheap $5 potty at IKEA to have an extra for easy access. We also had the potty ring that goes into the regular toilet (Baby Bjorn again) and a stool so she could climb up to it. This is totally optional, but DD seemed to like it. Cloth training pants are nice - we used Hanna Andersson, but I hear good things about Gerber as well. When you're out and about, carry a change of clothes, plastic bag for wet clothes, and TP.

We didn't use pull-ups at all. Bare butt at home, diapers outside for the first week or 10 days, and when she was more aware of what was going on, we switched to cloth training pants. I know some parents who have their kids (boys mainly) go commando.

DD "got" the concept pretty quickly, and was completely out of diapers during the day by 26 months or so. She had accidents for a while, but then got pretty reliable. She wore diapers to bed at night until about 36 months, and then just decided one day she didn't want to anymore.

Good luck!

1) We started by letting DS sit on the Baby Bjorn potty chair around 18 mos. whenever we'd use the restroom. He eventually wanted to imitate us & pull down his own pants, occasionally happen to go while we were there. He wasn't exactly in a room at daycare that would have been good for potty-training either.

At 2, he decided he wanted to really use it. We did pull-ups b/c daycare wanted them as well. He used the potty but would get lazy, especially when outside. We bought the inserts for the big potty and he liked using those too.

At 2.5, we decided we'd had it with being lazy & put him in training pants one weeekend. A couple of accidents & we were done. He's good to go now, including overnight & during naps. We're not sure how that happened so soon, but we're not complaining. I just returned a bunch of pull-ups b/c he's using the training pants all the time now.

2) Started with the BabyBjorn with insert. Got two inserts and stools for the big potty (upstairs & downstairs).

3) We did use pull-ups for a little while after he turned 2. Daycare preferred them and they were easier when he was trying to use the potty, but not really necessary. DH was reluctant to just try the training pants. I just decided we were doing it one weekend b/c I felt he was ready but just being lazy about b/c he could be.

DS did really well with peeing in the potty. Once he started with training pants, the pooping in the potty was an issue. He usually goes about 1-2 times/day and he didn't go for 3 days. We started giving him prune juice & had him run around with no pants on. He must have gotten on that potty 20 times in 4 hrs to go, but nothing. He went the next morning & has been fine since then.

Good luck!

We got my daughter a potty around her 2nd birthday and she had occasional interest in using it. When she began holding it in for long periods of time and when one of her best friends was potty trained, we started to put her on it regularly. She had a lot of success, so we did the "wet weekend" thing. No pull-ups or diapers: just put her in regular panties (bought 18 pairs) and kept her in rooms that weren't carpeted. She had 12 accidents the first day, 3 the second, 1 tiny amount of drippage the third, and then she was pretty much trained. She was 2 and 3 months and that was basically it. For the next two weeks, she had an accident maybe every other day, and then we were home free! It helped a LOT that her preschool cooperated and really got involved with us. No Pull Ups or diapers, except a Pull-Up at night...and after a month or two of dryness, we stopped using that, too.

My son trained about a year later. He was 3 and 1 month. He used Pull Up for poop for about four months because he did pee-training. It took him a week to train and again, preschool cooperation was a big help.

18-24 months we did what I call potty orientation. Random sitting on the potty/ toilet. Then just after 2 we did potty training-- week naked. It worked well for mine. The first 3 were out of diapers by 2.5 but Nathan took llonger with the nights than his brothers

We started with DS1 when he was 3 yrs 1 month and with DS2 when he was 35 months. We did cold turkey no pull ups, set a timer ever 15 mins go pee, M&M for peeing, used a Bjorn potty chair and the regular toilet (big boys). It took a couple of days.
/hillary