ABOUT SERVICES EVENTS NEWS BLOG VOLUNTEER DONATE CONTACT Quick Facts About Potty Training Quick Facts About Potty Training Potty training can be natural, easy, and peaceful. The first step is to know the facts. The perfect age to begin potty training is different for every child. Your child's best starting age could be anywhere from eighteen to thirty-two months. Pre-potty training preparation can begin when a child is as young as ten months. You can begin training at any age, but your child's biology, skills, and readiness will determine when he can take over his own toileting. Teaching your child how to use the toilet can, and should, be as natural as teaching him to build a block tower or use a spoon. No matter the age that toilet training begins, most children become physically capable of independent toileting between ages two and a half and four. It takes three to twelve months from the start of training to daytime toilet independence. The more readiness skills that a child possesses, the quicker the process will be. The age that a child masters toileting has absolutely no correlation to future abilities or intelligence. There isn’t only one right way to potty train – any approach you use can work - if you are pleasant, positive and patient. Nighttime dryness is achieved only when a child's physiology supports this--you can't rush it. A parent's readiness to train is just as important as a child's readiness to learn. Potty training need not be expensive. A potty chair, a dozen pairs of training pants and a relaxed and pleasant attitude are all that you really need. Anything else is truly optional. Most toddlers urinate four to eight times each day, usually about every two hours or so. Most toddlers have one or two bowel movements each day, some have three, and others skip a day or two in between movements. In general, each child has a regular pattern. More than 80 percent of children experience setbacks in toilet training. This means that what we call “setbacks” are really just the usual path to mastery of toileting. Ninety-eight percent of children are completely daytime independent by age four. This article is an excerpt from The No-Cry Potty Training Solution: Gentle Ways to Help Your Child Say Good-Bye to Diapers by Elizabeth Pantley. (McGraw-Hill, 2006) You are welcome to reprint this article on your website or in your newspaper or newsletter, provided that you reprint the entire article, including the complete byline with author's name and book title. Please also send a link or copy to elizabeth@pantley.com. Thank you. fgc@familyguidancecenter.org 334-270-4100 (tel) 334-270-4104 (fax) 2358 Fairlane Drive, Montgomery, AL 36116 Follow us About Events News Blog Contact Families of the Year Counseling Services Co-Parenting Programs Community/School Presentations Critical Incident Stress Management Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Families In Transition (FIT) Family Service Centers Filial Therapy Group Counseling Individual, Couple & Family Counseling Play Therapy Therapeutic Counseling & Visitation Early Childhood Services Child Care Education and Training Program Child Care Financial Assistance Community/School Presentations Family Service Centers First Teacher Home Visiting Program Head Start/Early Head Start Program Kids & Kin Senior Child Caregiver Program Success by 6 Family Services Case Management Services Community/School Presentations Family Service Centers Life Is Fun Together (LIFT) Money Management Classes Parenting Education Services Small Wonders Teen Services Travelers Aid Employment-Related Services Coaching for Excellence in Employment Program Community/School Presentations Computer Classes Family Coaches Program Job Readiness Life Skills Classes Parenting Matters Program Strengthening Families Through Workforce Development Work Ready! Program Working Matters Program