If your daughter is showing interest in the potty at this age, I would suggest putting her in underwear at home and sitting her on the potty every half hour or so. Does she have good bladder control? Can she tell you when she needs to go? I've actually heard that boys are significantly harder to train than girls. 2.5 is about an average age for a child to train, so you have time. Don't rush and follow her cues. You might want to try getting her interested with books and toys for potty training. We have this elmo goes potty toy here, and I used to have the Elmo goes Potty DVD and I would highly recommend it. It's a good one. I wouldn't suggest serious training at the same time as a switch to a new bed. Try one transition at a time to make it easier. Too much change at one time is hard on small children (and adults). Maybe do the bed before you do the toilet training? When I switched my son out of his crib I just took the one side off the crib first, I had one of those cribs that would do that. Then down the road I put him into a bed.

Funny, I always heard that it was easier for girls to learn how to use the potty. My biggest piece of advice would be to try not to get frustrated. It tends to be a long process with almost as many steps backwards as forwards. Introduce her to the potty. Encourage her to try it. Make it fun - sing songs together, have a special toy she gets to hold when she sits on the potty or a special game she gets to play. Get her used to the idea first. Let the change be gradual. As far as the toddler bed goes, I'd say trust your own judgment. We never used a crib, so I'm not sure what it's like to switch away from crib sleeping, but I suggest maybe keeping the rest of your routine consistent and talking about the switch. Maybe even switch for nap time first (if she's home for nap time) to get her used to it and then bedtime afterwards? Good luck!

Hey! I moved this into As They Grow; it seemed more appropriate to this forum. Anyway, I second not trying to do two things at once. It will probably be too much. I've never transitioned my toddler to her own bed, but I am potty training. It's not a linear process, and the younger you start them, the longer it takes. My advice would be that if you're using cloth diapers, to not do underwear. And if you are using disposables, I'd recommend getting cloth trainers rather than underwear. It'll take your kiddo a while. Cleaning up pee will get old real quick. At the same time, you want your kiddo to feel the wetness so she knows when she's going. I'd also recommend putting her on the potty every time you change her diaper - in the house or out. If you can, turn on some running water while she goes. It will take her a while to figure out that she's supposed to pee on the potty. The water will help her go, giving you the opportunity to encourage her to keep going there. If she refuses, LET IT GO. She's so little, and you don't want to make it a power struggle. I offer my little one the potty about every hour. Can she say potty? Are you signing with your baby? It will really help with the potty learning if you make sure that she can say or sign the word - she might not use it; she might even ask for the potty after she's already gone. But it's a start. Also, if you use a sling at all, now's a great time to bust it out. Even though I started potty training at six months old, I think she's only peed on me in the sling a couple of times. For whatever reason, she just doesn't like to pee in there - and is more apt to tell me that she has to go. Another thing, and everyone thinks I'm crazy when I tell them this, but I do think the easiest time to potty train is at night. In my experience, my daughter only wakes up at night either because she wants to nurse or because she has to go potty. I'd start offering the potty when your LO wakes up and isn't immediately settled by nursing/pacifier/bottle. If you do choose to start potty training now, it's probably not realistic to expect her to undress, wipe, redress, and wash hands independently. So, even if you have her out of diapers, she might not be toilet independent for a while. Keep that in mind. HTH!

hey thanks for all the advice... she's started showing interest bout 3 months ago when she started following me to the potty when i say i had to go... she watches me use it then wipe and wash my hands afterwards too... she's not on formula anymore, she hasnt had a bottle since she was a year old... and yes she does have some bladder control and can say potty, she also tells me whenever she has a poopy diaper!!! i took her bottle away from her by the signs, like our great and great great grandmothers used to do and she done wonderfully with it, i'm also wanting to try that with the potty training to see how well she does with it... i'm just really nervous bout it lol also with the bed switch she's already taking her naps on a reg adult bed when she's at home or at a family members house and sleeps the whole time, the only thing with that right now tho is the fact that she has to have someone lay beside her till she falls asleep otherwise she just gets up and plays the whole 2 hours she's supposed to be asleep... oh and back to the potty training she sometimes flushes the toilet for me after i get done and then says yayayayyayay and claps her hands and of course i encourage her to do so cuz i think that would be considered as part of introducing her to the toilet in the first place right? and she has this lil stuffed tigger that she carries around with her everywhere including when she follows me to the potty, but when she gets there and starts watching me use the potty she lays it down and just stares at me, watching every move i make, is that a good sign? lol i'm sorry i'm blabbering i do that when i get nervous or dont know what the hecksie i'm talking bout and in this case its both lol anyway i dont think i could do a swing at this point in time for the simple fact she's nearly 3ft tall and weighs bout 30lbs lol she's a big girl for her age (19months) but the trainer underwear is a really good idea my aunt is using them for her twin boys who are bout a year older than my daughter and she speaks highly of them so should i start with them and then start potty training? or should i do the bed switch first, she also already sleeps in her own room at night by herself, me being a nervous mom bout that i check on her bout every hour or so lol i hope this helps tune the advice better and i'm sorry for not being more specific bout all this in my original post... thanks again!!! proud mama as of june 2nd 2007

I am currently potty training my son. Seriously, I strongly reccomend potty-training the child when the child show's she is ready. It just leads to a lot of frusteration on both ends, potty training a child who does not have the proper bladder control/ability to understand. This is a suprisingly big milestone for children, and it's better to acheive as pleasently as possible, I think. With my son, we put him in underwear. At the beginning, it was the toilet every half and an hour. Very slow process, but eventually, he started to understand what was going on. He still wont poop in the toilet. Apparently this is a common issue (lot's of parent's ive spoken too, report the same thing!) Another thing that I did, was I bought some bristol board *any cardboard would work*, and drew a 20-spaced game board. I put a picture of a car on a popcicle stick. Whenever he pees in the toilet, he gets to move the car one space, and when he poops the car goes two spaces. After 20 spaces, he gets to choose a prize from the "toilet bag" (His prizes are Hot Wheels cars). My son really HATES to use the potty sometimes (we never will know why), and would scream and refuse to even try. When we gave him this little incentive, he started to co-operate a bit better! As for the toddler bed....I have no idea when that happends. My son went from a crib, to a double bed.....we didn't really have the money to buy a toddler bed, only to upgrade to a normal bed in a year...plus our son is kinda tall....A mattress should last for about 20 years, so hopefully that will equal one bed we have to buy....

ok well C just turned 2 on june 2nd and i want to start potty training her now... i want to do it by the signs(the astrological signs, which they are supposed to be in the thighs legs and feet for potty training, and that starts on june 8th, my mom looked it up in the farmer's almanac) anyways she has showed an extreme interest in going potty now than in the past and the reason i aint started yet is cuz we did the bed transition first... She not only follows me to the bathroom now but she also hands me the toilet paper, puts the lid down when i stand up and flushes the toilet for me and afterwards yells yay! my mom is buying her some cloth underwear cuz we use disposable diapers from the get go... i guess what i'm asking is how do i start? what is the best way to start her with sitting on the toilet? what position is best for her to sit in on the toilet? my mother in law told me to try sittin her facing the back of the toilet... is that ok? or would it be better to sit her forward that way there's no confusion when she starts telling me she needs to go... speaking of which she tells me when she needs to poop after she's already done it in her diaper... and when she needs to pee she says diaper, after she's already done it... basically i need all the help and advice i can get on potty training and techniques that have helped yall out with your LOs... thanks bunches and bunches and bunches in advance for all the help lol

brandi