Toilet Training involves your toddler learning both bladder and bowel control. We found that most of our training efforts went into teaching them when they had a full bladder (and what to do about that!) and that bowel training followed soon after. While some children may find it hard to regulate their bowel movements and others may choose to use it as a battle ground (more about this in another issue), a regular, daily pattern soon emerges and is therefore easier to train.

Patterns also develop with bladder training but because of the frequency in which they need to empty their bladder each day, this requires a bit more work.

Last month we talked about the importance of encouraging your child to drink lots during the early stages of the toilet training process. Our reason for this is so they can feel when their bladder is full as that will obviously become the trigger for them going to the toilet. We’ve found that on average, about 20 minutes after a drink, their bladder was full enough for them to be able to go to the toilet. That meant that we would give them a drink, then after about 15 minutes, get them to sit on the toilet or potty until they had success! I would literally set an egg timer because inevitably I would get distracted and forget to put them on the toilet, leaving a mess to clean up! If you keep an eye on the time between drinking and their need for the toilet, you will soon find your child’s unique pattern developing and can plan accordingly.

There is no right or wrong time to start training but on average, most children will be ready sometime between 18 and 36 months.