Is there any right age to toilet train your child?


Fortunately and unfortunately there is no potty training age as such. Some toddlers show signs of readiness before turning 18 months and some after 4 years of age. But typically it seems to be between ages 2-4. Generally babies from the time they are born till about 18 months, learn to empty their bladder and bowels after a feed when their tummies are full. This is therefore more of a reflex than a voluntary action. Toddlers generally develop in phases.






Around this time they acquire some control over their muscles and some awareness on when they have peed or pooped. After turning 2, the muscle control is further enhanced, and awareness as she is peeing or passing a BM becomes more obvious. During the next phase, the control increases and her consciousness of peeing and pooping even before it happens, develops.




During the final phase your child will have both the awareness and the ability to hold the wee and BM before reaching the potty or the toilet bowl (whichever your child has been using), thereby reducing the episodes of misses and messes. Some research shows that no matter which age you start potty training, toddlers tend to decide that they want to move on from diapers to the toilet only around 3½, and not earlier. Preschool also proves to work as an incentive in the potty-training area as your child starts to notice other kids and in wanting to fit in the crowd, he will be all set to train and become fully trained within a short span of time. Both these points seem to suggest that chances of your child being fully potty trained will be around this age.