Early-Start Potty Training

by Linda Sonna

The time-tested, gentle, and successful method that introduces children to potty training as early as six months While parents around the world successfully potty train their children well before preschool age, in the United States, we've moved away from this early introduction. However, there's no evidence that later is better--in fact, there's even significant reason to believe that later can be detrimental. Written by a respected child psychologist, Early-Start Potty Training shows why the early-start method is preferable to the commonly used readiness method. Waiting until children show signs of readiness can hold them back from preschool, cost a fortune in diapers, and lead to health problems. The early-start method avoids these concerns by starting the process of training as early as six months old. This easy-to-follow program provides you with:

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

202 pages, Paperback

First published June 13, 2005

Reviews

[Robin · Rating 2 out of 5]

I did not really like this book. If you want to start potty training your infant from birth and use cloth, this is a good book for you. Otherwise, it's very preachy and the author shames those that wait to train after the age of two. She explains all the horrible things that happen to those that wait till 2 and I think it instills more fear and guilt than anything else. There was a little bit of helpful info and I didn't find it helpful at all until at least page 132. If you are planning on taking a more typical approach to potty training, this is not the book for you. If you just had a new baby and are open to elimination communication, you might enjoy this book.

[Abby · Rating 3 out of 5]

I quit. I think I'll wait to potty train.

I got a potty chair for Benjamin. It has sensors in the bottom of it that make musical sounds when someone (hopefully a child) poops in it. It also makes music if you stick your foot in it and stand on the sensors. Benjamin has never pooped in the potty chair, but he can often be found in the bathroom standing in his potty and dancing happily to the music.

Here's the deal: yes, a kid can tell you that they are ready to pee or poop (or at least do so when prompted) very early in life, even at just a few months. So wow, the kid can tell you they need to go and then you never need a diaper. HOWEVER, that requires you be with your child non stop, and constantly carry around a bucket or something to let them go in. (Seriously, what do you do when they ask for it in the middle of the checkout at Walmart)? They are not old enough to climb on a potty by themselves, or flush or wipe or wash their hands or anything. They can just poop in a bucket instead of their diaper. You still have to do everything else. And you have to remember to take them to the potty every hour or so ALL DAY LONG, EVERY SINGLE DAY. That takes a lot of memory. And you have to do it for a couple YEARS until they can finally take themselves!

I started thinking, Benjamin sleeps in his crib still. Some peaceful mornings, I even get to sleep in while he plays in his bed for awhile after he wakes up. But all of that is GONE if he has to get up to pee the moment he awakens. (At least, if he's like me. I always have to pee so bad the second I wake up. My husband always wants to cuddle when he wakes up without getting up and peeing first. I cannot understand how he does that.)

Diapers are the lazy mom's way out. I choose lazy mom way. Seriously, quickly wiping a poopy butt (or in my case, chasing around a naked butt who runs free the second the diaper is off) and tossing the diaper out in the trash, versus wiping up a poopy butt (no change there) and cleaning out a messy potty by hand, while a small fascinated child tries to dump it out on the floor and dance in it, and you spill it on your lap. (I'm just projecting there.)

Oh, and whipping on and off a few wet diapers a day versus taking your child to pee hourly, every day, no matter what, for always and forever (or what feels like forever)?? I choose diapers, baby!!

[Amber Bourassa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I mean it's not super exciting but I feel better equipped to start potty training now

[Rebecca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not an altogether terrible book. Perhaps it's because I have a lot of family and friends who have shared their potty training experiences with me or perhaps it's just that obvious, but I found a lot of what she had to say rather evident. I also disagreed with some of her points. She cited research that stated problems with U.T.Is., problems with bed wetting and psychological dependence on diapers for children who are potty trained after 3. While she cited her research, my personal experience says otherwise. Every single one of my sisters potty trained after age three, none of her children had any of the problems mentioned. I have several friends who also have waited on potty training, many of them able to get the job done in about a week. I do believe there is something to be said for a child's readiness for potty training.

It seemed that Sonna has a personal mission to get children potty trained earlier. That is not my agenda. While my son is under 2, my husband checked the book out of the library because he has been asking about using the toilet. If he starts and it's a fit, great. If he starts and it's a struggle, we will wait. This is not the advice of this author. I just don't feel her sense of urgency.

Further, she gives a lot of common sense advice. I didn't feel like she said anything revelatory for me and my mission to getting my boy out of diapers.

On a more positive note, I do like her take on letting your child see where all the business of the bathroom comes from. I also agree with her notion that we should not shame our children for noticing that they have functioning bodies that produce waste.

For me, I think there are better books out there.

[Kirstin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had some really good tips for potty training. I got some good ideas out of it. I even liked the IDEA of infant potty training like they used to do (and still do in 3rd world countries). That said, the author made disposable diapers out to be a huge conspiracy theory most of the time and criticized the overall American thoughts on potty training today. I agreed with some of it. The problem I see with infant potty training (and even potty training before 18 mo) is that I think it creates more stress and work for the parents. You will be constantly watching and worrying over your baby to make sure you run them to the potty just moments after you see the signal they need to go. According to her own thought, kids can't be independent in using the potty until at least 18 mo anyway (wiping, flushing, washing hands) so my thought is, "Then why not wait until then?"

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't really learn anything new reading this book.
The only thing I learned was to make a "pss" sound when your baby is urinating.

I can't believe that they didn't talk about not drinking a lot and using the bathroom before bedtime if you have a bed wetter (not that it always works).

I don't believe in making babies potty train. I think that 8 months + it could be possible if you worked at it everyday, but 3 months?

I felt like I was being talked down to because I use disposable diapers and that the book promoted cloth diapers too much. I understand that babies can't feel their urine as much when they pee with disposables, but potty training can be done with disposables.

This book was a waste of time.

[Becca · Rating 2 out of 5]

We've kind of sort of been potty training Lindsay, so I picked up the only potty training book they had at the branch. The author has some good ideas, especially if you want to potty train your child as an infant to two years old. But I don't think that's potty training. It's just not using a diaper, and you still do all the work. Anyway, prepare to be talked down to if you use disposable diapers or waited after the age of two to have your child use the potty. You are a bad parent and your child has terrible hygiene. But minus all that stuff, I gleaned what I wanted, which is tips on how to potty train a younger child.

[Jencarey1 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Leah struggles with diaper rashes and I have been debating potty training her early. I read this book and found nothing helpful in it. She carried on about the introduction of disposable diapers and that is why people now late potty train their children. There is one chapter about potty training your 2 year old and I found nothing in the chapter helpful. She explained that you need to have training underwear and a small potty (things that were very obvious). I was looking for a book that helped me with a schedule and a way to help Leah be successful with potty training. This book definitely did not do that.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good guide to potty training babies and young toddlers, but it doesn't go into as much step by step retail as I would have preferred. I had to look up actual potty training methods and apply them to work with my 18-month-old. This book left me with several questions, but the author actually gives her email address on her website, so I was able to ask her my questions personally and she was quick to respond.

[Katarzyna Balutowski · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like the style of the book, but it is preachy to the point of shaming parents for using disposables. She does offer practical advice for parents with younger children. The advice for older potty training was not great. I am really unsure why she included a chapter on bed wetting other then to further shame parents out of using disposables diapers...

[Cassie DiOrio · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has great ideas for potty training, especially if you want to start potty training early.

[Hella Smella · Rating 2 out of 5]

I already agree with the author's viewpoint, so I found her extremely defensive posture obnoxious. As for the practical advice, it was contradictory and all over the place.

[Brittany Nasgovitz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can see why parents would feel pressured and shamed by this book. Right now I am the parent of a 5 mo and this book inspired me to start toilet training her. The motivation for me is the cost and waste of diapers. I don’t want to deal with mess and time of cloth diapers. Also I have been feeling intuitively that it can’t be natural to have waste all over your skin. Plus as a SAHM I have the time and I was interested in taking on the challenge. As she says in the book, there is not really much pressure, as even if it doesn’t work at this age, kids retain the knowledge and training is much easier later on. Depending on how my daughter does with the training I might update my review to be more negative later! But overall I was grateful for the information and found the chapters on infant and baby training especially intriguing.

[Eileen · Rating 2 out of 5]

The author really looks down her nose at parents who haven't started potty training their infants from 6+ mo old, and *especially* at parents who use disposable diapers. She goes on about killing the environment (while also shaming cloth diaperers for their water/energy use), letting your child sit in their filth for your convenience, and how the disposable diaper industry has brain washed us all. With a solid start like that, who wouldn't be jazzed to read the rest of this book!?

I gleaned about two helpful tidbits from what I read (skimmed) and am happily returning this to the library after not finishing. I read the intro, the age appropriate chapter on my child, and decided I'd had enough Mom-bashing from this author.

Look elsewhere for a helpful potty training text!

[Lindsey · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I expected it to be, maybe that's my fault. I thought it was going to be a potty training book, but it was a book about the history of potty training mostly.

Overall, I was not a fan. It was written in a way that in my opinion put down parents who haven't potty trained their children before they turned 18months old - max of 2 years.

[Kodee · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fine book. I think I would recommend “Oh Crap Potty Training” over this one. This book does cover infant training so if that’s something you want to do, it would be good to read!

[Michelle Carlson · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book challenges the modern view of potty training that most parents have today -- namely, that you shouldn't even THINK about it until they're at least 2, and are showing a long list of "signs of readiness." The book says that this notion of waiting so long for the child to be ready was actually popularized by a pediatrician who was the paid spokesman for Pampers! He gives an overview of the methods and ages for potty training in the US through history. Back when people used cloth diapers and had no washing machines, they would hold their infants over a pot and basically EC with them (read my review on Diaper Free Baby for more on that). In the ?'s (can't remember the year) pediatricians started advising you wait until age 9 months to potty train and everyone was like "WHAT! That's so OLD!!" So it turns out that starting early isn't such a crazy idea after all.

This book didn't have much information on HOW to begin potty training at an early age, but it was a good first book to read on the issue because it gave some great insight into why it's a good idea to start early. The ideas presented in this book made me decide to start potty training my daughter starting that week (she was 18 months old at the time) and two months later, she's come so far!

[Kristi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm currently considering training Matthias before the baby comes. I thought this book had some good ideas, but was really up in the night about some stuff. She was completely convinced that parents relate potty training with sexuality and therefore are reluctant to potty train. I think we just don't want poop and pee all over our houses, but that's just me. I do however think it is totally possible to train an infant to pee at certain times or to give signals when needing to pee (obviously this is not "potty" training as they can't walk to the potty, but will assist greatly later on.) Most people just find it easier to use diapers than rush a 6 month old to the toilet. I'm one of those people. Interesting read, but I didn't agree with a lot of her ideas and methods.

[Janey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for more of a step-by-step approach. I find myself re-reading the paragraphs to put it into step form. My son is 20-months-old and I think this book would do better for the 1-12 month old. I will keep this book and begin my next child right away! I think I'll have to find a different plan for my 20-month-old. It almost has me convinced to use cloth diapers for my next child. Also, my son responds to the removable potty seat instead of the actual potty chair this book swears by. I completely agree that it's possible to train children much younger than 3, because yes, they have to in third-world countries.

[Krista · Rating 2 out of 5]

Got some decent factual understanding from a non-perpetually-diapering perspective... had to roll my eyes at some of the cheesy scenarios, tenuous "evidence," and anti-diaper invective to get through it, though. Worth a brief read, at any rate - I learned some ideas that I can apply in teaching my own kiddo (and that have already helped). I'd really like to try this whenever we have another kiddo; just don't let the occasional anti-diaper screed make you feel like a horrible parent for letting your child get comfy in diapers!

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Includes references to scientific studies, but I did not bother looking them up. I thought it gives great background info on cultures world wide along with some American history. She explains why the "readiness" method became so popular within only a couple generations and why its not healthy (physically & emotionally) I'd recommend the book to expectant new moms. They may want to start some of the strategies with a newborn and they wont have time to read the book right after the baby is born. :)

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having just finished this book I have mixed feelings. I love so many of the suggestions and it has helped me start to navigate my way into this new parenting adventure. But I still feel a little confused as to how parents do this method who are working or have other children or simply have a child who needs to go while they are out and about. I definitely feel convinced by the early start argument (I sure hope that those who started late dont feel guilt tripped by this book!) but I will probably be mixing methods when it comes to potty training.

[Breonne · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are on board for starting potty training early this book has all of the reasons why you should. It is a little too pushy for me but overall it helped me feel good about starting early dispite everyone thinking I was nuts (my son is 14 months).

I didn't find it too helpful when it came to actually potty training them and how to do it. It seemed to really focus on why you should rather than how.

I ended up skipping a bunch of pages becuase it got really boring.

[Melody · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wish I had read this when Rosa turned 1yr. It had some information over-kill about disposable diapers changing the historical age of when to potty train children. All-in-all, I still found a lot of useful information. This book would be a useful tool if put in the hands of parents before their child's first birthday and might be considering earlier potty training instead of later training and the older child's personal opinion about it.

[Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned about potty training in other cultures and how usually the babes are potty trained during infancy. This makes me feel more confident about forging ahead with my 19-month son. (Whereas other books made it feel more daunting, like I should wait until he can dress himself and reach other milestones.)

This book contains good, practical wisdom. The writing style is clear and easy to read through quickly.

[Frangipani · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a book that should be given to all new parents before they fall into the nappy trap! It has some radically sensible sounding ideas, but unfortunately no golden solutions to the problem of getting nappy-bound toddlers toilet trained when they don't want to be, which is what I was hoping to glean.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise of this book is basically that up until the 60s, Americans potty trained their kids by age 2 and that in other countries everyone does the same. Great diapers shouldn't keep us from doing just that.
I haven't changed a poopy diaper on Jonah since a month after he turned two and for that I am incredibly grateful. Great book.

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely gave me a new perspective and I do really really want to potty train my children earlier but it is so hard. And especially hard that I go away to work so I have to convince hubby to keep up with it. But I have some new ideas and hope further potty training will be even smoother than before.

[Kit · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was very disappointed with the book. While I'm happy to see that it talks about elimination communication, I am less happy to see recommendations of putting children on a schedule as the only way to learn an older child's elimination patterns.

[joy *the clean-reader extraordinaire* · Rating 1 out of 5]

yikes! this book is PREACHY, GUILTING, and HARSH.
even if you agree with the general philosophy espoused (which i somewhat do), there is absolutely no reason to read this monster. find the information elsewhere and spare yourself the shame of this lecture.