Toilet training is accomplished when a child uses a potty chair or toilet for bladder and bowel functions during waking hours. Nighttime bladder control usually occurs later because it requires the ability to suppress the urge to void during sleep or the advanced skill of awakening from sleep to the signal of a full bladder. Even at 6 years of age, 10% of children still wet their bed!

What is the best time to start toilet training?

When your child meets the following 3 criteria, you may start thinking of toilet train:

- When your child started to walk steadily (able to walk to potty, get on and pull down pants)

- When your child understand and response to simple instruction (understand what potty and toilet are for and is interested in using them etc.)

- When the parent can sometimes recognize or predict when the child has a full bladder or rectum

What are some basic principles behind good toilet training?

Be patient AT ALL TIME.
-Encourage all efforts – whether or not they're successful. For example, if he “makes” on the potty, you can say "Great job, you did it!" and if he wets his pants as he's running to the bathroom, you can say, "Great try. You almost made it. You can try again next time."
-Make diaper changes pleasant for him so he will come to you.
-Change him often so he will prefer a dry diaper
-Deal with potty training matter-of-factly, using simple and straightforward words for bowel movements (like BM, poop, or stool), urine (like pee) Do not use negative words like “stinky” or “dirty” to talk about poop. After all, the poop came out of your child's body, and they made it
-Teach what the toilet and potty chair are for ("the pee or poop goes in this special place"). -Demonstrate by dumping poop from diapers into the toilet.
-Have your child observe toilet-trained children use the toilet or potty chair (an older toilet-trained sibling can be very helpful).
-Give your child a potty chair. Help your child develop a sense of ownership ("my chair").
Never pressure or force your child.
-Teach him to come to you whenever he is wet or soiled.
Praise your child for every step in the right direction and keep your attitude positive.
-Keeping a positive tone and using lots of praise will work much better than punishing, criticizing or shaming your child.