Toilet training is an important aspect of upbringing. It may sound simple but for a child to learn it is like being adapted to a new skill as it requires your child to have attained a certain amount of physical, mental, sensory and emotional development before he even gets anywhere near starting the process. Every child like other things takes his own time with potty training as well. One major difficulty in the whole process is when parents have unrealistic expectations. Either we begin too early or expect the training process to succeed within a matter of days.

It is unfair to have expectations from a one year old child to not to pee in his pants when his bladder is not even matured enough. Toilet training involves a coordinated effort between child’s biological, physical and psychological senses, and as parents one should ideally wait till one can observe signs of readiness in the child. Following are the few signs to be looked for:

UNDERSTANDING THE PROCESS
Awareness or understanding of urinating or bowel movement is the most important readiness factor. It implies that he is now aware of having peed or pooped and wants to get cleaned. Perhaps this is when you could start nudging or telling him about the potty chair and that the next time he needs to pee, he could use it.

PHYSICALLY ABILITY
This includes your child’s ability to tell you verbally or through gestures that he has peed or has had a bowel movement. He should also be able to balance himself and sit comfortably on a potty chair before you begin the process.

REGULARITY
When your child starts having solid meals, his bowel movements would become restricted to one to two a day and become harder in consistency and you would be able to make out when he is having a movement. You can try around those times and after a while the child will get into the habit of doing it in the toilet itself.

BLADDER ABILITY & TOILET TRAINING TIMING
When a baby is small, his bladder is unable to hold large amount of urine. Therefore, he urinates or wets himself very frequently. However, as he grows, the muscles in the bladder become stronger and are able to retain more amount of urine. You would notice that around the time your child turns 18 months, his pee has increased in quantity and the gap between his need to go has increased a lot. This is a good time to begin toilet training.

GESTURES
There comes a time when your child would start getting uncomfortable in wet facial expressions would become tight as they do when someone is applying force or pressure. Also his body would become still or rigid. When you do notice these signs, gently nudge him towards the potty and make him sit on it, even if he is in his pants or diaper. Soon, he would get accustomed to sitting and pooping in the potty.