Early Potty Training Pros and Cons

Many parent worry that early training could harm the baby emotionally and mentally; this idea has been promoted by pediatricians and child care professionals and it goes back to the bad training methods. Parents in 1920's used harmful and abusive techniques that leaded to emotional side effects upon children.  Pediatricians, like Benjamin Spock and T. Berry Brazelton, argued that pushing children may cause a variety of troubles, including stool withholding, stool toileting refusal, regression, and bed wetting. On the other hand, the few scientific studies on potty training revealed that early training does not cause any problems.
In this article, we will review together the pros and cons of early potty training.

I- Cons:

1. Children trained earlier tend to take longer to complete training: the youngest the child is the less prepared he is for potty training which will slow the progress.
2. Infant training steals the child of the sense of pride older children develop when they accomplish the skill on their own, says T. Berry Brazelton, MD, a renowned pediatrician and the author of Toilet Training: The Brazelton Way (Da Capo Press). "When you start that early, you train a reflex, something that isn't conscious in a child," Dr. Brazelton says. "When it works, I'm sure it's rewarding. But when it doesn't, it could increase the parents' tension to the point where they say: 'Oh, my God, I put so much into this, why are they not getting it?' It's a parent-oriented kind of approach, and not a child-oriented approach."
3. Pushing the child to potty train too early will cause a variety of troubles, including stool withholding, stool toileting refusal, regression, and bed wetting.
4. Early training is unpractical for parents since they have to analyze their child's every facial expression,it is better to wait until age 2. That's typically when a child expresses interest in potty training and shows signs of readiness ( When are most children potty trained)

II- Pros:

1. Fewer diaper rashes
2. Fewer illness: The Rotavirus is less likely to spread among children in daycares if they had fewer diapers to change since this illness is spread by fecal to oral contamination and is extremely contagious. Few studies showed that children wearing diapers and in daycare are at higher risk of getting infectious diarrhea and infectious hepatitis.
3.  Less risk of bladder problems: Studies showed that late potty training increased risks of bladder control problem and urinary tract infection.
4. Positive effect on both the environment and economic situation: Early training has financial benefits related to the substantial costs of diapers and environmental benefits when we cut the use of diapers.
5. Natural bonding experience: Just like breastfeeding, potty training is a natural bonding experience between baby and his mother. Social connections develop as they both communicate, touch and spend quality time together.

In general, it is advised to wait till your child is 24 months, then he will be ready and the process will be easier to both of you. You will still benefit from all the advantages of early training even if trained after 2. My advice to you, is to start preparing your baby to the idea since he is 18 months. Always refer to the fact that you and his dad use the bathroom instead of diapers, take him to choose the potty or baby seat (as I did), let him decorate it with stickers of his choice. Start practicing sitting on potty once a day without expecting any progress since you are just preparing your kid to the process; this way when he is ready the concept of urinating in the seat will be already planted in his mind and this will lead to faster progress in the training.

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