Potty Training Your 1 Year Old
Posted on: October 21, 2010
- In: Life
- 15 Comments
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I’ve started potty training Hannah.
Before you think I’m crazy {after all, she’s only 16 months old}, it’s not quite the potty training one might think. There’s no bootcamp or hours spent locked in the bathroom. It’s just a s-l-o-w process of getting Hannah comfortable with going on the potty.
When Hannah turned one, I introduced the potty to her. In the beginning she really wasn’t all that interested, but after a couple of months she loves it. She’s started communicating when she needs to go, which is great, since this girl poos 5-7 times a day. I’d say we are about 50/50 on actually being on top of things. But 50/50 means I’m only changing 2-3 dirty diapers in a day, which is amazing!
We did a very similar method with Julia, slowly introducing her to using the potty at an early age. Even though she wasn’t fully potty trained till this summer, she has exclusively pooped in the potty since 20 months. For that reason alone, I love starting potty training young. I know that Hannah is her own person and might very well take longer. But, it’s been wonderful seeing her excitement for the potty and the bonds that are happening between her, Julia and I as we are walking down this newest adventure together.
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15 Responses to "Potty Training Your 1 Year Old"
October 21, 2010 at 6:52 am
P.S. So, you don’t start with a training potty? Just the real deal?
October 21, 2010 at 7:59 am
Wow, I’ve been talking about the potty and reading potty books with my 16 month old, but you have inspired me to go ahead and get him used to the potty itself!
October 21, 2010 at 8:19 am
Yeah, I’ve heard boys are harder, but don’t really know. Especially if you started early. And we just went straight to a big potty. I thought about the little ones, but Jonathan’s take was why train them for one and then retrain for the other. Plus, this way, they aren’t afraid of a big potty.
October 21, 2010 at 8:44 am
This is a favorite type of picture from the girls’ childhood that I will always remember about Julia and Hannah. My point of view on potty training is simple: I hate diapers, dirty diapers. I almost threw up this morning because of a dirty diaper. Sarah can testify. So, when granola girl Sarah came out with, “let’s try cloth?”, I was like, “didn’t you hear me? I hate diapers. Now you want to save them. What?!”. So, long story short, get that kid on a potty… and fast. If she can sit, sit her on a potty. It takes time and energy, especially holding onto her because a big potty will swallow a child. Poop first. Then pee. In fact, I’m not overly concerned about pee until much much later, like if she were 4 and not regularly peeing. But poop smells, it’s a pain to clean up, and it makes me gag. If we can get that girl pooping in a potty, my life is a whole lot better. Not to mention that she will have less rash opportunities. If she can get comfortable with the idea of sitting there. Then pooping there. Then pooping there at any location. Phase one is complete. And that’s all I really care about. The best part about Hannah is that she gives it away every time she’s about to go.
October 21, 2010 at 10:03 am
HA! Hilarious! My friend Audrey started potty training her daughter from the time she was an infant! Everytime after she fed her, she would go hold that baby over the toilet! And by golly, the kid has almost always gone in the toilet. Unreal.
Maybe ya’ll should try that for #3! 😀
October 21, 2010 at 10:49 pm
That is called elimination communication and it sounds harder than diapers to me, but my kid is only 2.5 months old.
October 21, 2010 at 10:33 am
I’m visiting from Alicia’s blog, and this reminded me of when I was little… and using the big potty (we did have a little potty chair and I remember using it… and I don’t remember having a problem switching to the big potty)… and the times I would grab the lid AND seat by accident, would go to sit on the big potty and fall in and get a wet behind! That’s COLD water, folks! We ALWAYS left the lid down b/c the little kids would play in it/drop toys in it otherwise, not to mention the drowning danger. Anyway, our girl is 7.5 months and yes, her dirty diapers are STINKY!! but I’m not ready to go through the hassle of potty training yet. Different strokes for different folks 🙂
October 21, 2010 at 5:03 pm
Wow! That is great. We are working on potty training still with my 2 almost 3 year old. She is starting to get it the last two weeks at home. Now I just need to her to be comfortable when we are in public.
Blessings!
October 21, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Love this post, love Jonathan’s response even more! My husband also has a difficult time with the poop on cloth.
[…] post about potty-training a 16-month-old and this one about potty-training a one-year-old has inspired me to pull out the bamboo potty seat […]
[…] 1. Potty Training Your 1- Year Old […]
October 28, 2010 at 10:46 pm
Amazing.
My 16 month old will sometimes tinkle before her bath, and will tell me after she has “pop”ed (she can’t figure out the ‘oo’ sound), but I’m not sure I’m quite brave enough to go further.
Her favorite part? She gets to flush the toilet when she’s done.
October 29, 2010 at 10:53 am
Oh yeah, toilet flushing is a big deal! My girls will always wave bye as they flush. Cracks me up every time!
A Wife Loved Like The Church 
October 21, 2010 at 6:52 am
Oh my gosh, I love that picture! So cute!!!
Wow…it blows my mind that I could start this with Squishy in a few short months (he’s 11 months now!). Wonder if it’s different with boys? Who knows. Each child is different, like you said. But the earlier the better, in my mind!