When is my child ready? 

Now coming to the million dollar question, when is the child ready to be potty trained? The answer to this question depends on a number of factors. Age is one of the factors. 

Other factors can include:

• The ability of the child to understand your instructions (such as “sit here” or “wait for the candy”),

• Your ability to predict the bowel movements of your child,

• The child’s ability to walk to the bathroom,

• The child’s understanding about soiling his diapers and the child asking for the potty chair.

As age advances the bowel movement in children become regular and quite predictable. The child can normally stay dry for about 2 hours continuously. As the understanding about the bowel process increases, the child may express his need to urinate or pass stools. These are some of the indications that your child is ready for toilet training. But, do not hurry.

Next page: Steps in potty training

Written by: Healthplus24 team
Date last updated: April 20, 2012