\n \u00a9 2021- 2025 Gwen Dewar, Ph.D., all rights reserved<\/span><\/p>\n When children show signs of toilet training readiness, they may learn toileting skills more easily or quickly. But not all signs are equally helpful \u2014 or even relevant \u2014 to your family\u2019s needs. Before you begin training, it\u2019s important to decide on your individualized goals<\/em> for potty training, and then look for signs that your child has the developmental abilities to match these goals.<\/strong><\/p>\n What is \u201ctoilet training readiness\u201d? The concept was pioneered by two pediatricians \u2014 Benjamin Spock and T. Berry Brazelton. They argued that some children are pushed into training before they are developmentally ready. So kids resist, and families fail to make progress. <\/p>\n To avoid these pitfalls, the doctors recommended patience. Wait until a child has achieved certain physical and psychological milestones. Then you can be confident that your child is prepared for the toilet training process (Brazelton et al 1999).<\/p>\n It sounds reasonable. But should we view these milestones as prerequisites<\/em> for training? Not necessarily!<\/p>\n Watching for milestones is useful.\u00a0 It helps us understand what types of toileting skills our children are ready to learn.<\/p>\n But over the years, pediatricians and researchers have come up with lots of different signs of toilet training readiness, and they aren\u2019t all equally useful, not to everyone.<\/p>\n For example, your own child\u2019s readiness depends on what, exactly, you want to achieve. For some parents, the goal is complete toileting independence. They want their kids to be able to walk into a bathroom, pull down their pants, use the potty, wipe themselves, and so forth.\u00a0If that\u2019s your goal, then you obviously need to wait for certain key milestones, like the ability to walk independently.<\/p>\n But other parents \u2014 like parents who practice traditional infant potty training? They have more modest goals in mind. They aren\u2019t going to ask their babies to seat themselves on a potty chair \u2014 let alone expect them to walk. For these families, many of the proposed \u201csigns of toilet training readiness\u201d aren\u2019t relevant.<\/p>\n And then there\u2019s another point. Even if you\u2019re interested in training your child for complete, toileting independence, you don\u2019t need to wait until you observe every sign of readiness that has ever been proposed.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n For instance, some writers have advised parents to wait until their kids are staying dry during daytime naps. Is it really necessary to wait this long? A study of 270 children suggests otherwise. Less than half <\/em>of the children who were successfully toilet trained had reached this milestone (Wyndaele et al 2020).<\/p>\n And it\u2019s worth noting: Some \u201csigns of readiness\u201d concern your child\u2019s curiosity and motivation to begin training. You can wait for these signs to arise spontaneously. But you can also take active steps to engage your child\u2019s interest \u2014 and generate enthusiasm for the process.<\/p>\n It depends on what costs and benefits you are trying to weigh. <\/p>\n Ever since the latter half of the 20th century, there\u2019s been a trend in some countries \u2014 Western countries \u2014 to delay the start of training until after 24 months. This trend was was likely fueled by notions of toilet training readiness, as well as the availability of disposable diapers, and a rejection of coercive training practices. <\/p>\n The shift to later training ages may have reduced conflicts during training. But what about long-term outcomes \u2014 like medical or behavioral outcomes? Decades later, studies suggest that early training may impart lasting benefits \u2014 in the form of reducing a child\u2019s risk of bladder problems.<\/p>\n For example, there is evidence that very early (infant) toilet training is linked with lower rates of bladder and bowel dysfunction, including lower rates of urinary tract symptoms (Xu et al 2021; Liu 2024). So very early training may have protective effects.<\/strong><\/p>\n And on the flip side, there evidence linking \u201cdelayed\u201d toilet training <\/strong>(defined as not completing training by 24 months) with an increased risk of developing problems with bed-wetting<\/strong> (Carvalho et al 2022) as well as daytime incontinence.<\/strong> <\/p>\n For instance, two large studies \u2014 tracking kids from the age of 15 months \u2014 found that kids who didn\u2019t<\/em> begin training until after <\/em>the age of 24 months were more likely to experience problems with daytime bladder control years later \u2014 when they were between the ages of 4 and 7 (Joinson et al 2009; Joinson et al 2019).<\/p>\n So there\u2019s reason to think that earlier training has its advantages. Yet parents will want to weigh the benefit of a somewhat lower risk of bladder problems against other factors \u2014 like the more intensive oversight required for earlier training, and the lengthier training times required for younger children. For help weighing these considerations, see my article, \u201cWhat\u2019s the right age to start potty training? It depends\u2026\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n Here I will review the expert advice, beginning with the preconditions for training that everybody agrees about. Then I\u2019ll review some of the most frequently-mentioned signs of toilet training readiness, which I\u2019ve compiled from a variety of medical publications.<\/p>\n There\u2019s no hard-and-fast list of developmental milestones that every child must achieve before potty training. But \u2014 no matter what your goals \u2014 there are certain background conditions that need to be in place before you start asking your child to learn new toileting skills.<\/p>\n In general, you shouldn\u2019t<\/em> try to begin potty training unless your child is<\/p>\n Why are these crucial? Because successful outcomes depend on children maintaining positive feelings about toilet training.<\/p>\n If you try to train during a difficult time, your child may learn to associate toilet training with pain, illness, emotional distress, or fighting. And once that happens, your child may become very resistant to the training process.<\/p>\n But let\u2019s assume you\u2019ve got a healthy, relaxed, cooperative child who is experiencing regular bowel movements. What\u2019s next? What sorts of behavior might signal that your child ready to train?<\/p>\n Back in 1999, Dr. Peter Gorski presented a set of signs which are still embraced by the American Academy of Pediatrics today. He advised that kids should be capable of<\/p>\n In addition, physician Drew Baird and colleagues (2019) suggest that parents look for signs that children are<\/p>\n And other experts have proposed more signs of toilet training readiness, including<\/p>\n Okay. That\u2019s quite a few signs, and you can probably understand the rationale for most of them. \u00a0But it\u2019s also clear that different signs can lead us to different conclusions.<\/p>\n For example, in Gorski\u2019s signs of toilet training readiness, he doesn\u2019t mention asking to wear \u201cbig kid\u201d underwear, or staying dry during a daytime nap. What if your child meets Gorski\u2019s criteria, but doesn\u2019t show all the signs proposed by another expert? Are you supposed to move forward, or wait?<\/p>\n Confusing? Yes. And the people who are arguably the most knowledgeable about this \u2014 researchers who study toilet training and bladder control \u2014 agree. After reviewing the published literature on toilet training, Nore Kaerts and her colleagues reported:<\/p>\n \u201cOur results show that there is no consensus on which or how many readiness signs to use. Depending on the readiness sign, the moment to start toilet training can vary a lot\u201d<\/em> (Kaerts et al 2012).<\/p>\n So how should parents sift through these signs?<\/p>\n Many of signs of readiness assume that parents want to wait until their kids have developed rather advanced developmental abilities. And that might not describe you.<\/p>\n For instance, some parents might want to delay training until their children are showing considerable bladder control \u2014 staying dry for at least two hours at a stretch. <\/p>\n It\u2019s a reasonable choice to make. If your child can \u201chold it\u201d for longer intervals, you won\u2019t have to pay as many visits to the potty. But other parents may feel differently. They prefer to get started earlier, even if it means some additional trips to the potty chair.<\/p>\n Is one of these approaches right, and the other wrong?<\/p>\n No. Starting earlier might involve more work up front, and \u2014 in general \u2014 younger children usually take longer to master the entire process. But on the positive side, families may get their kids out of diapers sooner, which comes with a number of benefits. <\/p>\n So there\u2019s a case to be made for both options. It just depends on what trade-offs you\u2019re willing to make. The important thing is to look for developmental signs that are consistent with the goals you set.<\/p>\n According to the original concept of toilet training readiness, you\u2019re supposed to wait patiently for skills to emerge. But this approach could leave you waiting for quite a long time.<\/p>\n For instance, in a study of American children, aged 15-40 months, most toilet-related skills were not mastered until after 22 months, and the median age for attaining some skills \u2014 like telling a parent beforehand about the need to urinate \u2014 was over 32 months (Schum et al 2002).<\/p>\n That\u2019s quite a long wait if you consider that \u201cmedian\u201d means that half the kids took even\u00a0longer.<\/em><\/p>\n So can parents speed up the development of certain behavioral milestones?<\/p>\n In a study of more than 200 children living in the Netherlands, researchers found evidence in favor of the idea. Their data suggest that kids developed some \u201csigns of readiness\u201d not before training, but during<\/em> training.<\/p>\n For example, going through toilet training predicted the development of increased interest in toilet training. It was also associated with picking up more expressive vocabulary, including a knowledge of potty training related words (Wyndaele et al 2020).<\/p>\n And course this fits with everyday experience, and what we know about how kids learn. There\u2019s a lot that parents can do:<\/p>\n In sum, it\u2019s a good idea to actively introduce your child to potty training skills and concepts. Barton Schmidt, Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Colorado, says that one of the most common mistakes parents make is doing nothing to prepare until the week they start training (Schmidt 2004).\u00a0<\/p>\n In that same study of kids in the Netherlands, researchers asked this question. They collected data on 221 (aged 15-35 months), and looked for correlations between signs of readiness and toilet training status.<\/p>\n What were the signs most strongly linked with children who had successfully completed toilet training? The three biggest were<\/p>\n So \u2014 if your goal is to teach your child to initiate potty visits, and handle much of the procedure independently \u2014 these signs might be especially helpful indicators of your child\u2019s readiness.<\/p>\n Looking for more information about the timing of training? Check out my evidence-based article about choosing the right potty training age<\/a>. In it, I review the pros and cons of toilet training at different stages of development, from infancy to 24 months \u2014 and beyond.<\/p>\n![\"toddler](\"https:\/\/parentingscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/signs-of-toilet-training-awareness-by-istock-yaoinlove-min.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nThere is no \u201cone size fits all\u201d approach to the timing of toilet training<\/h2>\n
Is it possible to wait too long to start potty training?<\/h2>\n
So what signs of toilet training readiness should be on your parental radar? And how should you decide which signs are worth waiting for?<\/h2>\n
Crucial conditions for toilet training: What every family should wait for<\/h2>\n
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Signs of toilet training readiness signs: A list compiled from 7 different expert sources<\/h2>\n
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\nSkip signs that aren\u2019t relevant or important to your goals<\/h2>\n
Remember: You can take steps to actively prepare your child for toilet training<\/h2>\n
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Are any signs of toilet training readiness especially helpful for predicting success?<\/h2>\n
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More information<\/h2>\n
\nReferences: Signs of toilet training readiness<\/h2>\n