Potty training methods: an honest comparison

It is not about age but about whether your child is ready for potty training. Most children mature somewhere between 18 and 36 months, and while potty training at two may suit one child, another is not ready yet. What matters is whether your child can already hold wee for a little while and also notices that they need to go. Those are exactly the readiness signs the check above looks at.

There are several readiness signs and they fall into four areas: the body (stays dry, notices being wet), understanding (follows an instruction, can interrupt play), movement (gets to the potty, pulls trousers down) and interest (wants to sit on the potty, dislikes the nappy). One sign is not enough — readiness comes in layers, it is not a switch.

The usual offers are three-day intensive training, the Montessori approach, child-led training (Brazelton), Azrin and Foxx, or elimination communication from birth. None of them has strong evidence over the others. Pick whichever suits you — but no method speeds up how the body matures.

Night is a completely different thing from day and comes later, often by a year or more. It depends on a hormone that reduces urine production overnight, and that matures on its own. A dry night cannot be trained, it comes by itself. When your child is older, you can gently encourage them. And it is not considered a problem until school age.

When it does not work, it is usually not defiance and not your mistake. Three causes are the most common: the body has not matured yet, the child has painful or hard poos, or something big is happening at home (moving, a new baby, starting nursery). The first needs time, the second a doctor, the third calm.