Toilet Training

John's Most Recent Articles

Starting Toilet Training Early Pays Off

Posted on 12/27/2022

Q: My grandmother maintains that her children – my mother and her two siblings, all born in the 1950s – were completely toilet trained at 18 months. Her terse explanation: “I just gave...

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The Problem With Pull-Ups

Posted on 11/1/2022

I finally tracked down the fellow who invented the so-called “pull-up.” His name is Lucapher (Big Lou) Saytan. Reputedly, Mr. Saytan lives in an underground bunker from which he develops and...

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On Chores, Discipline, Potty-Training

Posted on 3/29/2022

Q: When I give my 5-year-old daughter a chore, she does it, but all the while she is muttering under her breath, huffing and puffing, and so on. Do I discipline that behavior or just let her...

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The Keys to Relatively Quick, Painless Toilet Training

Posted on 1/12/2022

Q: I recently tried toilet training my 32-month-old, but after a few days of no success, I decided to stop. A friend tells me to hang in there, but my pediatrician says my son isn’t ready. She...

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Where We All Went Wrong

Posted on 8/25/2020

My profession, psychology, began demonizing traditional childrearing in the late 1960s. I was in graduate school at the time and on fire for the promise that the proper use of psychological...

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Some Benchmarks on Toilet Training

Posted on 6/9/2020

“There’s no one-size-fits-all model of childrearing for all the world’s parents,” opines Alma Gottlieb, Professor Emerita of Anthropology at the University of Illinois. Gottlieb was quoted in an...

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Toilet Training Is Not Rocket Science

Posted on 9/26/2018

Talking today’s mother through her first experience with toilet training is akin to talking someone off a ledge. Both situations involve massive anxiety, high drama and lots of yelling and...

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Debunking Hot Potty Training Myths

Posted on 8/14/2018

“Potty training is a nightmare.” So begins advice from Meghan Leahy, advice columnist for The Washington Post. More accurately, potty training has, of late, BECOME a nightmare, thanks to advice of...

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I Spy Toilet-Training Atrocities

Posted on 7/10/2018

Strolling through my go-to grocery store the other day, I happened down the Baby Products aisle where I spied packages of toilet-training pants featuring pictures of happy children who looked at...

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Nip Toddler Misbehavior in the Bud

Posted on 12/19/2017

Q: My parents recently told me that my husband and I are letting our toddler run our family and that it’s becoming increasingly uncomfortable for them to visit or have us visit with them – they...

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Recent Questions

POTTY TRAINING WITH 22 MONTH OLD

Posted on 11/22/2024

Please help us with potty training! We used "Naked and $75" with our oldest child and it worked great. Our next child, however (22 months) is really struggling. We've been doing it for 6 weeks...

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TOILET TRAINING SNAFUS NO BIG DEAL

Posted on 10/28/2024

We started training my now 21 month old son at 19 months. We had him trained during naps and he's been dry overnight several times as well. However, for about the past two weeks he's been waking...

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20 MONTH OLD REBELLING AGAINST TOILET TRAINING

Posted on 10/14/2024

Hi I have a 20 month old daughter and have spent 5 days doing naked75. During this time she would randomly sit on the potty when asked but most of the time she would refuse. When she did sit on it...

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3 yr old poop pattern or indication it's time to go!!

Posted on 9/18/2024

Re your answer about potty training my 33 month granddaughter. The thing is she does not poop every day (usually every other)and does not have a pattern such as after breakfast, lunch etc. If...

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Potty Gate question

Posted on 8/29/2024

My daughter is 19 months. On august 1st we started potty training. I can count on one hand the amount of times she has gone on the potty. She is able to understand commands. When we ask her where...

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TODDLER POOPS AND POOPS AND POOPS IN HIS PANTS

Posted on 8/22/2024

My son is 27 months. We’ve been potty training since 19 months. He’s struggling with still pooping his underwear a lot. He poops very frequently so it’s not uncommon for me to wash out 4-6 pairs...

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NEARLY 3 YO LITTLE GIRL WON'T POOP IN THE POTTY

Posted on 8/9/2024

My 33 month granddaughter pees on the toilet, and has few accidents. Either informs us she has to go or it happens when told every few hours that it’s time. Pooping is another story. She hides...

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Toilet Training Regression, Don't Turn to Pull-Ups

Posted on 7/7/2024

My sweet five year old boy is in the midst of a full potty training regression. He was fully potty trained and then we moved and he is back in pull ups full time while home with me for the summer....

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Retraining will be challenging, possible and necessary.

Posted on 6/24/2024

Due with baby #3 in 9mon… 4yo and 2.5yo still sleeping with mom and dad, 2.5yo not potty trained. Where do we start in retraining our children so that our bed can be child free, and out of diapers...

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Posted on 5/29/2024

How do we make our 4-year old daughter care about peeing in her pants? She was seemingly potty-trained a couple of months ago, and then accidents started happening frequently the last month or...

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Video

Toilet Training Made Stress Free (Webinar Recording)

Posted on 5/16/2023

In 1955, Harvard University determined that nearly 9 out of 10 children were completely toilet trained to the point of being accident-free by 23 months of age. In the 1960s, pediatricians began...

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