WAIT UNTIL 27 MONTHS TO TOILET TRAIN, STUDY SAYS

Initiating toilet training early may not only be frustrating, it’s ineffective, say investigators who conducted phone interviews about toilet training habits with the parents of 378 children, aged 17 to 19 months. Interviews were conducted every two to three months until the child was toilet trained during daytime.

“Though we did not find more toilet training problems in the younger children, we found no clear benefit to beginning training earlier than 27 months,” says chief investigator, Nathan Blum, MD. “In fact, earlier training is likely to take longer, which can be frustrating for both parent
and child.”

Specifically, children who began intensive training (defined as asking the child to use the toilet more than three times per day) at less than 27 months took 10 to 14.5 months to train. On the other hand, those who began training at 27 months or later took 5 to 9.5 months.

Pediatrics – April 2003;11:810-4. http://www.pediatrics.org/