I can’t wait to see the trainers list. I’ve bought a potty and have decided to start PLing with my 18 month old. People think it is too young, but hopefully it can’t hurt to try. I look forward to hearing about your progress and tips.

I find this inspiring. I could not EC all the time myself but love the idea of early potty training. So far most people tell me that it is too early to start potty training my child. She is 9 months old now. But I am sticking to my guns as soon as she can walk we are going to start introducing the potty. I don’t want her to be afraid for the potty like a cousin of mine was or wait until she 18 months to 2 years old to start, which is my in-laws suggestion.

our son is the same way, he could care less if he’s sitting in a dirty diaper. i know some babies yell and scream to be changed right away- nope. i’m fascinated by EC, i think it can help make them at least marginally more aware of their bodily functions, but i’m afraid that our son is like yours and doesn’t particularly care. i like what you said, and it’s the same thing i told my husband- it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.
.-= Jamie´s last blog ..my favorite time these days =-.

Our LO’s are about the same age, and my daughter just recently became obsessed with the potty (other kids at day care started sitting on the potty so she do too apparently). We get about one to two pees in the potty. I’m not interested in pushing her at it, but I’d like it if she were on the younger end too. I’m really looking forward to your trainers post, I was doing some research this weekend and just can’t decide. I liked the colorful ones you reviewed a while back, but I fear they’re out of my price range.
.-= April´s last blog ..Wordless Wednesday: Sunglasses =-.

We started introducing the potty to my now-13-month-old several months ago. She now pees on the potty several times a day, poops in the potty, and is beginning to tell me when she needs to go. The ONLY problem I’ve experienced doing “early potty training” (It’s right on time in the rest of the world!) is that I’m not using enough diapers and it makes it hard to get enough diapers to make a full load!
Danielle – Introduce it now! That just means sitting on the potty a couple of times a day, when she’d usually go if you can time it, perhaps reading books with her, etc – and clap and cheer whether she does anything or not! Before they can walk and take off on you is a great time to begin introduction!

My dad actually is encouraging me to start cloth diapering (I’m shocked too) because he says that children that are CD will generally start using the potty earlier. He also told me that he and all 10 of his siblings were potty trained by the time they were 13-15 months old. Unfortunately, my grandmother has passed away, otherwise I’d ask her how she did it, but I’m pretty sure that EC was a huge factor.

I’m not really sure what the correlation between CD and potty training earlier is, but I think it really comes down to parents who CD their kids usually implement EC versus parents who use disposables.

I really need to start doing EC with my youngest daughter, she’s almost 2.5 and isn’t anywhere near getting potty trained, although when we were visiting my cousin she hid herself in their bathroom, took her pants and diaper off and used their training potty. But I think EC is a big thing here.
.-= Amber H´s last blog ..Ibolya the Lonely Matryoshka and a Minor Correction =-.

After 15 years of doctors telling parents that they should wait until their child is ‘ready’ IE they say ‘I want to potty’ and not even trying until then, they are turning around. My doc said at our 18 month appt that we could start anytime. I figured it would be a fight with him, but he said in other countries, kids are already trained by then and indicated that kids were waiting to 3 or 4 and training WAYY too late basically. We have only captured 2 pees–and now she is telling me WHEN she poos, but it has been when waking from a nap and so we aren’t getting a warning. It will take a little time I guess, but we’ll get there!
.-= Jill´s last blog ..Happy Birthday Jill! =-.

YAY for you!!! That is fantastic! I know a lot of people feel differently, but I’m a big fan of EC/early potty training. I didn’t know anything about it until my oldest son was 13 months. We started almost immediately, and he picked up the pooping right away. Peeing in the potty was more of “journey” (so to speak), but he was daytime trained at 20 months, and I was sooooo thankful. We had big plans of starting early with our second son. We started at 3 months, but I only made it a few weeks. I am such a perfectionist, it was killing me when I missed. I now see how stupid that is, but we’ve been just ECing sporadically since then. I love that he is HAPPY sitting on the potty, even if he usually doesn’t do anything. We will start putting more energy into it this summer…he turns 1 in a week!
.-= Stacey´s last blog ..Teaching My Boys to Be Men =-.

I think it’s great! My son is 14 months and I am buying him potty this week. I wanted to start at 7 months but circumstances forestalled that. I can’t wait too start Luckily for me, my son HATES having poop in his diaper and is not to crazy about pee either. He LOVES being naked, which we try to do a lot outdoors since the weather has been so awesome, and is very intrigued with his bodily functions.

Can’t wait for your next post. My 18 mo old son also has never cared about being wet or dirty. But in the last week has become very interested in going potty. We now make numerous attempts everyday & have some success. I’m trying not to put pressure on him or myself. If it happens it would be great, but I’m not going to stress about it.

I started sitting my toddler on the potty at 14 months and he was 100% during the day by 18 months. I know other moms thought I was crazy. My thinking, so much easier to train a non-moving, highly opinionated target. At 14 months, my son just thought it was what you do. Plus, we had always allowed him into the bathroom with us to watch and flush. I cannot imagine how difficult it would be to start now at 2 1/2. He is so much busier.

We started watching for cues and putting our daughter on the potty starting at 1 month. She will go about 25% of the time – she’s 4 months. Not too bad. I think it will make potty learning so much easier down the road.
.-= T Rex Mom´s last blog ..Bird Strike II =-.

Good for you. That’s great. I waited for my son to be “ready” and now he is 3 and not fully potty trained. I finally just jumped in and decided I was ready wether he was or not (he also doesn’t care if he is dirty). I really wish I had started younger and not listened to the parenting books or follow what “everyone” says. I think we would still be waiting for him to be ready.

Hmmm. Interesting reading. Thanks, Kim (and commenters). I waited until my son was “ready” and he was pee trained by 2.5yrs old, but we had huge psychological issues with the pooping. He wouldn’t go poop and held it for terribly long periods of time until he was crazy full. It was awful, and to this day, he still has to be reminded, and sometimes convinced, to go poop. He is 4 yrs old now. Oh brother!
Now, my daughter is 14 months, but because she sees us in the bathroom and sees her brother on the potty, she has wanted, no insisted, that she be a part of it. So I introduced her to the potty by just asking her to sit on it. Now she thinks chairs are amazing and loves to sit in just about any chair she can find, so this was like a treat for her. We applaud whenever she sits on the potty (albeit fully clothed). I’m working full time right now, but school ends next week and I will be back to full time mommying. I definitely intend to do some part-time ECing with her and letting her get used to going on the potty. I will still wait until she is “ready” but I think she will be ready much earlier when she has this experience and encouragement. Wish I had cloth diapered and EC’d my son!!!!
.-= Jennifer B´s last blog ..(Late) Wordless Wednesday – Carpe Diem =-.

We started ECing with my daughter when she was 6 months old and was able to sit up on her own. At first, we relied mostly on timing and patterns, ie. she was likely to pee upon waking in the morning, after naps, and after meals. By the time she was 11 months she would sign “potty” when she had to poo, and sometimes when she had to pee. CDing and training pants help the process because the consequence of peeing in them is that it feels wet, as opposed to disposables with just keep absorbing the liquid.

We started ECing my son when he was about 2 months old, and now at 10 months he’s diaper-free during the day (though we do have some misses). The motivation was the constant diaper rashes that he was getting despite trying to change his CD frequently.
If anyone is interested, a great resource to check out is: http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/

I’m currently working at the potty with my 18 month old son. He started telling me about a month & a half ago when he was going poop. I hadn’t really considered EC before, but I very well may attempt that when we decide to have a second. I think it’s great and does make for a more natural transition to using the toilet than current day potty training methods.

My son is 5 months & we plan to buy his potty at 6 months and pretty much take the same part-tine EC approach. I think it’s important for every family to do what works for them. I get amazed by how strongly people feel about issues like potty training,co-sleeping, etc. I personally don’t want to get into the power struggle over the potty with my son that I see so many others dealing with. I think when introducig them to the potty closer to age 3 then they’re at the stage of wanting to be independent and in control. I’m seeing so many kids recently who aren’t using the potty until around age 4. No thanks! I want to save us from that battle and save our diapers from wear & tear so they will be in good shape for baby #2.

This sounds exactly like our use of EC, except that our daughter is 10 mos old. We started at 6 mos & have been successful all but twice w/ #2s. I’d say that’s success. We’re reading her cues & going by patterns as well. I am not sure when we’ll be ready for full-on potty training, and am curious how this will go w/ you. I, too, want to be on the early end & am hoping that by using EC we’re able to avoid the drama & anxiety associated w/ potty training. It’s just one big experiment. I also share your sentiment that it’s extra work, but w/ promise of a long term pay off. Time will tell. Best of luck!
.-= Melissa (Green Mommy)´s last blog ..Black Bean Mini-Sliders =-.

My son was out of dipes at age 2 and my daughter at 20 months. it’s totally doable! I didn’t EC but did use cloth dipes, and I really think it makes a difference. I will say, during the transition phase we went naked under clothes – if they had something close fitting on they’d assume it was a dipe and go. Once they had made the transition then I switched to trainers (after about a month).

Good luck!