Experts advise parents to talk, sing songs, and recite nursery rhymes to boost language skills, even though very young babies do not understand what they hear. Similarly, babies are supposed to help feed themselves so they can learn how to eat without help, never mind that they wave the spoon like a flag with one hand while tossing food with the other. Yet when it comes to potty training, most experts suggest not doing anything before age two. If this same logic were applied to eating, no youngster would be allowed to hold a spoon until around age four, when most have enough control to learn quickly. Start potty training early to speed learning during the toddler years. You could even end up with a potty-trained baby!

Most parents are capable of providing the kinds of relaxed, fun early learning experiences that instill healthy attitudes toward elimination and the potty, teach important concepts, and provide practice with potty skills. Many babies actually begin using the potty or another receptacle regularly after they've been on the baby track for a short time, and there is nothing to suggest that they are hurt by such an early introduction.

As recently as the 1920s, parents in the United States began potty training their infants at three to ten months of age by holding their infant over a sink, basin, toilet, potty, or other receptacle, making sure to provide adequate and comfortable support.

A Compassionate Approach

The accepted age for potty training has increased over the last century. Claudine Brown, mother of two, worked with dozens of children at an orphanage in the 1930s. She reports that the accepted practice was for parents to begin accustoming children to the potty soon after they learned to walk, so they were “basically” trained a few months later — meaning that they still needed help with clothing, and an occasional accident was to be expected.

Many parents today assume the techniques must have been harsh or punitive, but this was not the case. If mistreated, children didn't learn very well, and their emotional upsets often meant they continued to have accidents and problems with the potty at age three or four. The workable method was for parents to try to get their baby to the potty at the right time and have them sit there for a few minutes. If nothing happened, the children would play for a bit before trying again.

The period from birth to age three is a critical time for psychological development. The self-concept and feelings of self-worth children acquire during these few short years can continue into adulthood. If caregivers react with even mild frustration, disappointment, or irritation, babies detect their negative emotions. Given the intimate nature of elimination, parents' impatience and anger during potty training can have harmful, far-reaching consequences. When working with a baby, you must be supportive and gentle!

“The keys to working with little ones,” Brown says, “are time, persistence, patience, and lots of love and understanding.” Back then, most children were potty trained by the time they could walk. Since one of Brown's nephews learned to walk at a very young age, he was potty trained at eight months.

Sphincter Control

Most parents believe that sphincter control does not develop until late in the toddler years, so they think babies cannot accomplish much. Traditional practices prove them wrong, as does the fact that throughout most of the modern world, infants eliminate into little pots and are usually trained well before age two. Babies urinate frequently but do not leak, as some pediatric experts in the United States have suggested. As the bladder grows, it holds more liquid and potty training is easier when urination is less frequent. Toddlers are so difficult to work with, however, baby training remains the method of choice in other countries and is again gaining popularity in the United States.