These responses may be helpful during the toilet learning process. In general, children learn about bowel needs before urine needs. This is because children can generally control the sphincter muscle at an earlier age than they are able to recognize and control urination muscles. As soon as signs of pushing and concentration are noticed, the parent may take the child to the toilet to finish. Children need to be old enough to learn to gauge their own body signals and attend to them.
Girls usually learn toileting before boys.
For girls, toilet learning may occur as early as 18 months and, for boys, around 22 months. However, there is no magical time to begin, and this process cannot be rushed. Each child will have his or her own schedule. Children begin toilet learning first in the daytime then progress to nighttime learning. Problems in toilet learning often can be traced to parental stress or other struggles between parent and child.