Fully toilet trailed at 2.5 by 17 year old Mum in secret

Dedication and respect are values this 17-year-old Mom has. Her Son (now 2.5 years) is fully toilet independent – and she assisted him alongside finishing school and starting her first job. #amazingmom

You may have heard people say ‘boys take longer to potty train’ – but that is certainly not the case when the parent is supportive and assists in the process. When people wait for a child to be ‘ready’ they are then going to need to consider teaching the child that a diaper is no longer a toilet. This process can be challenging for some. This Mom started her son young, offering him the chance to become familiar with the use of the toilet.

Now 19, she wants to share her story so that other parents can learn about infant potty hygiene (infant potty learning, elimination communication, E.C.) as it’s still often misunderstood.

This is my little one, nearly 2 and a half. This little one is potty trained full-time now! I’m a proud mommy!

I started EC (Elimination Communication) off and on with my son when he was 2-weeks old when I was 17. I hid this from my household as this was not the ‘done thing’ in our family. I used a potty insert for the toilet when he was little and he was okay with it. When he was around 3 months old he was great at it maybe had one miss a day. I was so happy any time we got a catch. That’s when I told my family about it – that this is a legit thing people can do for their babies. They were all surprised.

Around 7-9 months he was a walking baby! His focus shifted and we went through a potty pause. At the same time, I was finishing school so I wasn’t with him all the time.

We picked it up again after this break. My son doesn’t talk much. He does sign a few words such as “more, please, thank you and sorry”. He can ‘sign’ the word potty but he doesn’t use it. The way he tells me he has to go is taking off his underwear. After the first week, he would take himself to the bathroom and use the floor potty. By August when I started school he was day potty trained. No one had to ask him if he needed to go he would tell someone or go himself. He does like someone to go with him most of the time, And give him hugs and kisses after and to wipe. But he does like his privacy too.

I noticed that he would stay dry in his pull-ups most nights. I asked him once when he woke up if he needed to go use the potty and he got right up and went, he asked me to put his pull up back on and got in bed and went right back to sleep. I decided to put a waterproof pad on my bed with a disposable pad and then a quilt on top for him to sleep on the next night and put him in underwear full-time. I keep the floor potty in the room at night with us now so he can go as he pleases.

This is what worked for us. I was so proud of him. I never thought he would be potty trained so fast. I think EC has helped so much for us. He has known what the potty was since he was 3 months old. I didn’t have to introduce him to it because he already knew and that helped. My baby isn’t even 2 and a half and is fully potty trained. EC is amazing.

We think this Mom is amazing too, and that her experience might inspire others.

#amazingmom You may have heard people say ‘boys take longer to potty train’ – but that is certainly not the case when the parent is supportive and assists in the process.