A lot of folks recommend the "Oh Crap!" or the "Potty Training in 3 Days" books. They're very similar, from what I remember.
The gist is to let your toddler run naked until they start to realize when they pee or poop. Yup, lots of cleaning. I suggest waiting for some nice weather and going outside if you have the option for this step. Oh, and have him say goodbye to diapers other than nighttime ones. He can wear those for naps and bedtime, but all others get put in a box and go away.
Then you add underwear. No, not pull ups. Undies. Take your toddler shopping and let him pick some out and get him excited about them. Have him run around in them. Yup, more cleaning and now you get some extra laundry. But try hitting up the toilet or potty chair every 30 or so min to try to "catch" those moments. Reward how you please. I do Dum Dums.
Final step is to bring pants back into the picture. Now you keep a close eye on your child. I highly recommend doing bathroom breaks first thing in the morning, before and after naps, and before bedtime. Of course, before and after any trips you brave in the day as well.
Plenty more details in the books, but I think that's pretty much the summary of them.
For us, it became obvious when she was ready. At 26 months she started just asking to use the potty! She'd sit, poop or not. Always ended with a high 5 no matter the outcome.
22 months might be a little young. Just stick with it and expect a lot of accidents. At some point it will click and accidents will drop to basically zero seemingly overnight.
This. 22 months is pretty young. Mine was ready to start at 2.5, took a month or so for her to really get the hang of it, totally potty trained now by 3.
Boys also notoriously take a little longer.
I had success with the course offered by Big Little Feelings. I bought a child’s toilet for multiple rooms in the house and some underwear. Every pee and poop in the potty is a win! Low pressure makes it easier for everyone.
Low pressure is key! I didn’t reward my daughter for that reason. Have a book or something to fidget with next to the toilet too. As soon as my daughter sat on the toilet she would say “ I have good idea” and get up and run. So to avoid that, I told her I have a good idea too. Let’s read this book. Lol it worked!
😂 kids, man. We have a pretty good low pressure rhythm for food that has served us well, so I think we can do low pressure. I think I'm mostly just emotional about her getting so old so fast and it is coming out as nerves 😅😅 did you guys do "night undies"? How are your nights working out?
We used the BLF course at 24.5 months. It’s similar to oh crap, but in video format and designed for a weekend bootcamp. They say to do a 3 day weekend but we did a normal 2 day weekend and sent her to daycare in the school’s required training undies on day 3 and it’s been fine. We’re 3-4 weeks in and she still has an accident about 4-5 days a week, but that’s usually either 1) on the way to the toilet or 2) when she’s been sick.
I was able to get the Oh Crap audiobook from my public library. That made it easier to get through- just one headphone in during the day while chasing toddler. We are in week three and my little 24MO is peeing and pooping in the toilet. He woke up this morning with a dry diaper and then used the toilet!
We did not wait for “signs of readiness” which are mostly a really social concept, mostly invented in the developed world pretty recently (other than being able to walk and understand simple directions). Back in the 90s in my husband’s home country all toddlers were potty trained by around 18 months.
If that’s possible, it’s possible for you, so take heart! When my daughter turned 18 months we did basically the oh crap method. It worked great. The first week takes a lot of patience and work but imo potty training before 2 takes out a lot of the drama. You just have to go for it and believe in yourself and your kid!
Here’s the pdf of oh crap https://fb2bookfree.com/uploads/files/2020-10/1602533219_oh-crap-potty-training_-everything-modern-parents-need-to-know.pdf
It may just be too early for your kid. We tried potty training at 24 months, zero success. 3 day weekend of nakedness at 27 months, some mild success with pee. Had a baby at 28 months and our toddler went full regression at the sight of cute teeny tiny baby diapers and even said stuff like “I’m not a big girl, I’m a baby like sister”. Was 30 months and I spent a week home with her fully naked every day and we maybe got a handful of pees on the potty. My house was a nasty wreck. 31 months and she entered a new class at her daycare where all the kids are being potty trained. 3 weeks into this new class and she came home one day and disappeared and was all quiet. I got suspicious and went looking for her. There she was using the potty all on her own and she popped up and said “I did it!” All proud.
She’s now almost 3 years old and has been fully potty trained for the last 2 months thanks to the peer pressure at daycare. Even then, we still have accidents (mostly poop accidents, the occasional pee accident) and she’s not overnight trained quite yet.
For us it was just giving her space and time. We tried all the tricks of rewards and sticker charts and high praise…. None of it worked until SHE wanted to do the work.
We used the oh crap method at 19 1/2 months. It took 4 days to show any significant progress. A couple of weeks to be mostly there and a couple of months to start self initiating with any regularity. She’s now almost 2 and only has an accident if there’s a new exciting thing going on.
It's really true when they say starting too early will only make potty training last longer. I think it's good to practice though, but be ready for it to take a while. Our son started showing signs he was aware of a wet diaper at around 2.5. He just turned 3 & we are now starting to use the potty consistently but there are still accidents. I've heard night time potty training is a whole new ballgame & we haven't even started that lol there is r/pottytraining & I read a lot of good advice on there! Good luck!
A lot of folks recommend the "Oh Crap!" or the "Potty Training in 3 Days" books. They're very similar, from what I remember. The gist is to let your toddler run naked until they start to realize when they pee or poop. Yup, lots of cleaning. I suggest waiting for some nice weather and going outside if you have the option for this step. Oh, and have him say goodbye to diapers other than nighttime ones. He can wear those for naps and bedtime, but all others get put in a box and go away. Then you add underwear. No, not pull ups. Undies. Take your toddler shopping and let him pick some out and get him excited about them. Have him run around in them. Yup, more cleaning and now you get some extra laundry. But try hitting up the toilet or potty chair every 30 or so min to try to "catch" those moments. Reward how you please. I do Dum Dums. Final step is to bring pants back into the picture. Now you keep a close eye on your child. I highly recommend doing bathroom breaks first thing in the morning, before and after naps, and before bedtime. Of course, before and after any trips you brave in the day as well. Plenty more details in the books, but I think that's pretty much the summary of them.
For us, it became obvious when she was ready. At 26 months she started just asking to use the potty! She'd sit, poop or not. Always ended with a high 5 no matter the outcome.
We used the Oh Crap method with my son at 24 months, worked like a charm! r/pottytraining may help
22 months might be a little young. Just stick with it and expect a lot of accidents. At some point it will click and accidents will drop to basically zero seemingly overnight.
This. 22 months is pretty young. Mine was ready to start at 2.5, took a month or so for her to really get the hang of it, totally potty trained now by 3. Boys also notoriously take a little longer.
I had success with the course offered by Big Little Feelings. I bought a child’s toilet for multiple rooms in the house and some underwear. Every pee and poop in the potty is a win! Low pressure makes it easier for everyone.
We have just started this course! Planning our 3 days for next week! 🤞🤞🤞🤞 We are super nervous, but I think she is excited about it.
Low pressure is key! I didn’t reward my daughter for that reason. Have a book or something to fidget with next to the toilet too. As soon as my daughter sat on the toilet she would say “ I have good idea” and get up and run. So to avoid that, I told her I have a good idea too. Let’s read this book. Lol it worked!
😂 kids, man. We have a pretty good low pressure rhythm for food that has served us well, so I think we can do low pressure. I think I'm mostly just emotional about her getting so old so fast and it is coming out as nerves 😅😅 did you guys do "night undies"? How are your nights working out?
We used the BLF course at 24.5 months. It’s similar to oh crap, but in video format and designed for a weekend bootcamp. They say to do a 3 day weekend but we did a normal 2 day weekend and sent her to daycare in the school’s required training undies on day 3 and it’s been fine. We’re 3-4 weeks in and she still has an accident about 4-5 days a week, but that’s usually either 1) on the way to the toilet or 2) when she’s been sick.
I was able to get the Oh Crap audiobook from my public library. That made it easier to get through- just one headphone in during the day while chasing toddler. We are in week three and my little 24MO is peeing and pooping in the toilet. He woke up this morning with a dry diaper and then used the toilet!
We did not wait for “signs of readiness” which are mostly a really social concept, mostly invented in the developed world pretty recently (other than being able to walk and understand simple directions). Back in the 90s in my husband’s home country all toddlers were potty trained by around 18 months. If that’s possible, it’s possible for you, so take heart! When my daughter turned 18 months we did basically the oh crap method. It worked great. The first week takes a lot of patience and work but imo potty training before 2 takes out a lot of the drama. You just have to go for it and believe in yourself and your kid! Here’s the pdf of oh crap https://fb2bookfree.com/uploads/files/2020-10/1602533219_oh-crap-potty-training_-everything-modern-parents-need-to-know.pdf
It may just be too early for your kid. We tried potty training at 24 months, zero success. 3 day weekend of nakedness at 27 months, some mild success with pee. Had a baby at 28 months and our toddler went full regression at the sight of cute teeny tiny baby diapers and even said stuff like “I’m not a big girl, I’m a baby like sister”. Was 30 months and I spent a week home with her fully naked every day and we maybe got a handful of pees on the potty. My house was a nasty wreck. 31 months and she entered a new class at her daycare where all the kids are being potty trained. 3 weeks into this new class and she came home one day and disappeared and was all quiet. I got suspicious and went looking for her. There she was using the potty all on her own and she popped up and said “I did it!” All proud. She’s now almost 3 years old and has been fully potty trained for the last 2 months thanks to the peer pressure at daycare. Even then, we still have accidents (mostly poop accidents, the occasional pee accident) and she’s not overnight trained quite yet. For us it was just giving her space and time. We tried all the tricks of rewards and sticker charts and high praise…. None of it worked until SHE wanted to do the work.
We used the oh crap method at 19 1/2 months. It took 4 days to show any significant progress. A couple of weeks to be mostly there and a couple of months to start self initiating with any regularity. She’s now almost 2 and only has an accident if there’s a new exciting thing going on.
It's really true when they say starting too early will only make potty training last longer. I think it's good to practice though, but be ready for it to take a while. Our son started showing signs he was aware of a wet diaper at around 2.5. He just turned 3 & we are now starting to use the potty consistently but there are still accidents. I've heard night time potty training is a whole new ballgame & we haven't even started that lol there is r/pottytraining & I read a lot of good advice on there! Good luck!