A child cannot successfully potty train until her body is ready.
Even if your toddler has the cognitive skills to comprehend the potty process, he might not possess the physical development involved for urination or sphincter control. In past decades, parents were warned of dire consequences in a child's development if potty training was not mastered by a certain age. Today's pediatricians and scientists know that behavioral problems and other "dangers" our grandparents were warned about are nonexistent. The dangers of early potty training lie not in behaviors or other false fears, but in the frustration and resistance levels of the child and increased accidents leading to work for the parents.
Constant Frustration for Child and Parent
An adult might sit a toddler on a potty, but the child makes no connection between voiding urine or bowel movements. No matter how much a parent wishes a toddler to perform while on the potty, if the child's body is not mature enough, results will not be positive. Healthy Children's website indicates that a toddler is not able to voluntarily control urination or bowel movements until the age of at least 18 months. Around 12 months of age, a toddler might understand when he has to urinate or void, but "holding it" long enough to get to a potty, provided the child is walking, isn't possible. Insisting on early training results in tears and possibly tantrums.
Increased Resistance to Potty Performance
Insisting that a toddler perform while on the potty results in a tug of war of wills between the parent and the child. Toddlers are testing boundaries on a regular basis. Insisting on potty performance before a child feels successful will result in more tantrums and resistance to anything potty-related. Most children don't possess the motor skills, according to Healthy Children's website, to walk, sit and manipulate clothing when they feel the immediate urge to urinate or void until the child reaches the ages of 18 to 24 months.
Increased Accidents
Attempting to toilet train a toddler before physical maturation only results in more frequent accidents. Toddlers are usually placed into cloth training pants that they might not be able to pull on or off. The process of removing pants to urinate or void is too complicated and overwhelming, and the child "doesn't make it" in time. The American Academy of Pediatrics says that some toddlers are not ready to master toilet training until the age of 30 months. Even more important to realize is that most children cannot voluntarily control bowels or urination until the age of 3 or 4 years old. Pushing a toddler to stay dry results in more wet pants for the wash, or a toddler so fearful of failure that she might "hold" her bowel movements, resulting in constipation, or not empty her bladder, resulting in urinary tract infections.
Tags: bowel movements, urinate void, Children website, Healthy Children, Healthy Children website
