Early-Start Potty Training

I'm not a crunchy mom so early potty training was the farthest thing from my mind as I prepared for 2 under 2. When the 15 month old came to me and told me BEFORE he pooped I was at a loss so I did what I always do - went in search of a book to help me figure this whole parenting thing out! It really opened my mind to how we are conditioned about potty training in the US vs. the rest of the world. I didn't have high expectations but I figured "Why not? If it works, awesome. If not, we will revisit it later." I wasn't gonna go hard core but why not try if he was interested and I had the t time to devote to it?To be frank the method is much more about parent training than child training but I figured if it could save me even a few diapers by "catching" during our regular diaper changing times, why not. We moved the diaper changing station into the bathroom and put them on the potty at every change. This will sound totally insane but the BABY was pooping on the potty by 6 months old. I'm a believer.Be prepared - EVERYONE told me that I was crazy and this was stupid or even bad for my kids. Bottom line is that we were done putting diapers in land fills before age 2 and I probably used half as many diapers with my 2nd as with my 1st child. Overall I consider that a win!They are now 8 and 9 and neither of them need therapy because their evil mom put them on the potty at such a young age.

This book is a great resource. I sort of skimmed through until I reached the age where my daughter was when I ordered the book, and then began really reading. There's a lot of information in the introductory chapters; and the author is very pro-EC. BUT she does not force EC down your throat nor does she insist it is the only way to go. She is also rather pro-CD, in a way that could be a turn-off if you love your disposable diapers. I didn't have that problem as we CD, so I got a lot out of it. I found the book intelligently written and useful. I think anyone contemplating potty training or who needs to change strategies because what they're doing just doesn't seem to be working would benefit from this book. But unless you really want to read it all, just skip ahead.

We found out about Elimination Communication when our baby was nearly 4 months, outside the usual range of starting EC/infant potty training. There's (at least that I've seen) a real gap in information for between 3 and ~18 month olds, and one of the biggest advantages of this books is that it at least addresses doing so and gives suggestions.I agree with complaints about it, though. It could be a more in-depth "how to". The author feels very strongly about this and tends to come off as a bit hostile- likening diapers to starving a baby. Although I agree with the idea of diaper-less babies in theory, it's not always possible and diapers aren't hugely damaging. The severity of the author's position can be off-putting. I agree whole-heartedly with the idea behind EC and wish we had been able to start it from birth, and I still found the author to be a bit heavy handed. Someone who is on the fence or even not convinced may be put off by it.I found the personal accounts to be the most helpful part. Seeing a variety of descriptions about what this has looked like and how it worked for people was encouraging.We're going to start trying to train our almost 8 month old, and I'll really be combining the age-specific suggestions with my information from reading about EC for newborns as well as potty training at later ages. I don't think that this could work as a stand-alone book for someone with no idea what they're doing.I wish that there was more information for the "in between" ages out there, and if anyone knows of anything better for 6-18 months, I'd love to hear about it.

Gives some interesting information about the history of potty training in the US and some facts about potty training around the world, but the actual instruction is lacking. I do think that this might be a good book to give to any family member that is trying to discourage you from early potty training (a mother-in-law that perhaps is certain her way is the only way, a 'perfect' sister that is certain you are destroying your child, etc.) to get them to understand the background of early training and to show that the system has been in place for many years. This didn't give any information that I had not already read by doing research online, but I might pass it on to a few people that gave me a hard time for training my child "too early".

I started potty training my daughter at the age of 10 months. All I've read about this book, promised that I would find guidance and tips on how to make my baby comfortable with the potty, but it's all theory there with "Hallmark" type stories. Some quotations are aggressive against modern American society and parents using disposable diapers. It even made me feel guilty and ashamed rather than enouraging. I come from culture where children are potty trained from birth. My parents started it when I was 3 months old. This book made me feel like I was lazy to postpone it till my daughter turned 10 mo. I found no guidance and no real tips. Only theory about how going in diaper is bad for health and Pampers corp. is evil. I regret for buying this book.

I’ve read many books for parenting, sleep training etc. and most cater to the fact that the reader is a parent. A parent with limited time, and maybe exhausted. This book doesn’t cater to the parent. It would take me 6 months to be able to get all the information needed from this book.Not helpful in my opinion

Just read this book and when I got to the end I was like, "so where are the instructions?".I have a 13 month old that I wanted to start slowly working with and I was looking for a little more "how to" then what this book gave me. I really enjoyed the read but as a busy mom of a toddler I needed to spend my time reading a book that would have helped us out more.If you are looking for a hand holding book then this book is not the right one in my humble opinion.

Really useful book. My ten month old now always uses the potty after each nap and after waking up, and many other times! I am hoping to be nappy free as soon as he can speak and say “potty”!

Highly recommend. Baby is now dry most of the time. Easy to read and follow

This book helped me go from clueless to confident. I read it once and while it's not very prescriptive, it has some very useful tips. My son was out of nappies by 16 months and independent by two.

This book is common sense potty training rather than believing the current thinking that infants can't control their elimination until at least 18 months. It is fairly simplistic in language and can repeat itself at times. Generally an interesting read and good tips if you are keen to move your child away from (mostly disposable) nappies before they are 2 years old. I am yet to complete my daughter's training so I wont comment on the effectiveness of early potty training.

Fantastic book worth reading!!!