Early-Start Potty Training

I just wanted to say that I LOVE your toilet training book and I've not only recommended it to all my friends, but I've also bought several copies to hand out. My mother had 3 girls and 2 boys trained by 15 months each, and I had my own daughter trained at 17 months day AND night. (we had a bit of a setback when my husband had to go away for work for a couple of months, or else I'm sure she would have been dry by 15 months too.) Both my sisters' kids are fully trained at 18 months, and thanks to your books, I've convinced several of my friends to start training their babies and toddlers right away -- even one mom who didn't train her first one 'til he was 4, and is now training her 13 month old! Anyway, keep up the good work and THANK YOU for being that ONE person who disagrees with the rest of this miserable country.

Great book. Sonna gives helpful advice for introducing the potty to youngsters according to their age: 0-6 months, 6-18 months, 18-24 months, and 2+ years old. She suggests that "early" potty training can be done in a very healthy, positive way that is beneficial to the child. Her opinions do clearly come through, but her conclusions about "early" versus "late" potty training are well supported by good research. In the early 1900s the big debate over potty training was whether to start at age 2 months or wait until age 3 months; and in the 1940s, the big debate was whether or not to wait until the "late" age of 7-9 months. She also talks about the study that supposedly concludes that it's better to wait much later, until the child shows "readiness" signs. She reveals that this study was conducted by the paid spokesman of Pampers disposable diapers! I introduced the potty to my son at 18 months, without having any ideas or advice about potty training. At 19 months, he surprised me one day by pulling down his pants and peeing on the potty. I continued on with potty training, which mostly involved running around bare-bottomed and having many many accidents, as is expected. At 21 months, I finally read "Early-Start Potty Training." Her suggestions really helped, and within a week I saw major improvement. Soon he began letting me know when he needed to go-- with both pee and poop! He is still 21 months, and accidents still happen. But we are well on our way. He almost always pees when he sits on the potty; he is starting to feel when he has to go; and he is beginning to communicate this to me. This has been a very positive process. I never knew that potty training could be so fun!

REVIEW UPDATE TWO YEARS LATER At the time of my initial review of this product, my youngest was barely 2. We'd had the book for over a year and had started using the method with her at birth. The results: she was reliably toilet trained at 13 months for daytime; she'd been pretty reliable at about 8 months but not completely. Because she never woke up in the middle of the night, I didn't take her potty in the middle of the night, and so she wore a diaper until she was over 2. The last time she wore a diaper during the day was at 15 months, when we drove to Florida for a family vacation and needed to not stop as frequently as she needed to go. It took a couple of weeks when we got back to untrain her from using the diaper. I can only think that the reviewers who gave this book a poor rating *based on theory* instead of practice just highlight that most other potty training books are also just based on theory, as Dr. Sonna points out in the book. Those of us who have actually followed her method know that it is anything but harsh, and it works--quite well. I'm very happy to have been able to put the money I saved on diapers and ammonia burn creams into my daughter's college savings account. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are several really wonderful things about this book: 1) It is research-based, unlike 99% of potty-training books out there that recommend late training, which are based on theory. 2) She gives a history of the average age of potty-training in America. 3) Dr. Sonna gives researched-based health reasons to EC (elimination communication, or infant potty-training), and how it isn't just training the parent. Finally, 4) Dr. Sonna gives research-based instructions for starting at birth, starting at 6 months, and starting at 18 months, because how you train has a lot to do with the child's age. If you missed the early training window of before 6 months, she tells what to do and why. She also has chapters on bedwetting and special situations. Why did people start late training? She explains why this is--did you know that T. Barry Brazleton was the spokesman for Pampers when they were first introduced in 1957? Yup. :-P He has been largely responsible for brainwashing people into late potty training. In 1902, the year my grandmother was born, the big debate among doctors was whether it was ok to start at 2 months instead of at 2 weeks! With the introduction of the electric washer in the late 30's (it wasn't widespread until about 1946), the age was pushed back to about 4 months, as it was much easier to do the laundry. Dr. Spock shocked people by recommending 7-9 months when his book came out--most people thought it was way too late (and we know they were right). Then came Pampers and Brazleton recommending 18 months. No wonder my Grandma hated diapers! Dr. Sonna says that ECing trains a child's sphincter muscles; it keeps them aware of the sensations of eliminating before, during and afte

I thought this book was great. I'd been told that 18 months was early to introduce the potty to my daughter, but this book gave me the morale boost and the information that i needed. In less than a week my daughter has made great strides and we are well on our way to being diaper free. I found the section on the history of potty training and the role of the disposable diaper industry in delaying toilet training very interesting. I used disposables, but did not feel at all rebuked by the author's tone. However I am seriously considering cloth now for my second baby. Regardless of the diaper debate, the instructions and advice were just as relevant for me as they would be for a dedicated cloth diaper mom. Also, this book has specific advice for those starting potty training at any age level, but it's mostly for those interested in starting before age 2. pros and cons are given for starting at different ages, and i didn't feel that there was a pushy tone about starting training very young (although the arguements are persuasive for at least doing a little "elimination communication" during infancy). For my 18 month old, I followed much of Sonna's advice while trusting my own insticts and following my daughter's cues. We moved a little more quickly than her timeline because that suited us. For our "potty sits" we ended up close together with me either behind her potty seat w/ a book in her lap or me on the step stool next to her reading picture books, and we didn't set a timer. The best thing that I did (on the book's advice) was to spend long mornings with my daughter running around pants-free and diaperless so that she could learn about elimination and she could see for herself why the potty chair is a good place to go - and so i could learn her patterns. Messy, but it really taught us a lot in a short period of time. Books and dolls were also a big help as well as serving as a potty role-model. These are basic concepts that I'd also seen in Sears' Baby Book, but Sonna goes into much more detail. So, I would highly recommend this book as a good read and a positive, motivating force as well as for a source of practical advice. This was the only potty training book that I bought, and it has served me well so far.

Someone gave me this book. I'm not big on the self-help book craze, but I must admit that this author (she also wrote some other child development books) opened my eyes to the cultural differences in potty training, and does a great job of detailing why here in America our children take longer to potty train than anywhere else. This book isn't just a manual and a "how to" but it's also an expose on the diaper industry. I'm suprised this hasn't been picked up by the news agencies. This so called "self-help" book is actually a fabulous read. I HIGHLY recommend it.