Toilet training timing

Toilet training timing


No parent enjoys changing diapers, but no one wants to rush their toddler into pitching the Pampers if he’s just not ready to, either. Parents have long wondered if there might be a best time to toilet train, and researchers now confirm that indeed there is.

In a study recently appearing in the Journal of Urology, researchers found that not only is it best to toilet train children between the ages of twenty-seven and thirty-two months, toddlers who aren’t out of diapers by year three are more likely to have bed wetting and day wetting problems later in childhood.

In a first-time effort to scientifically show a precise, optimal time to toilet train, researchers queried parents of one-hundred-fifty children, ages four to twelve, who had experienced wetting problems either during the day or at night. Parents were asked about when they began toilet training and which method they used. The responses were then compared with those from parents of sixty children who had not experienced wetting woes.

The researchers found no correlation between the technique used for toilet training and the probability of having problems with wetting. But they did find that the average age for toilet training of children with incontinence was almost five months older than those children who did not have problems with wetting.

Still, don’t get too caught up in the numbers, the researchers advised. Parents can guide, support and praise their children’s efforts, but in the end, your little one will use the toilet when he or she is ready to.

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