Toilet Training

Topic:

Guiding Young Children’s Toilet Training

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Sub-Topics:

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Toilet Training

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Parent’s Cooperation

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Sexual Abuse

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Toileting Routine

Introduction:

Using the toilet is an important step in your toddler’s life. Sometoddlers get the knack quickly, while others need parental patience andsupport. Don’t start toilet training too early. Children are generally aroundtwo years of age before they can recognize and respond to toileting signalssuch as a full bladder, so premature toilet training will only frustrate you andupset your child because they can’t do what you’re asking of them.

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Toilet Training

Using the toilet is an important step in your toddler’s life. Sometoddlers get the knack quickly, while others need parental patience andsupport. Don’t start toilet training too early. Children are generally aroundtwo years of age before they can recognize and respond to toileting signalssuch as a full bladder, so premature toilet training will only frustrate you andupset your child because they can’t do what you’re asking of them.

What is Toilet Training?

Toilet training is the process of teaching a young child to controlthebowelandbladder and use thebathroomfor elimination. A child is considered to be toilet trained when he or she initiates going to thebathroom and can adjust clothing necessary tourinateor have abowel movement. Toilet training is sometimes called toilet learning or potty training.

Toilet training

(or

potty training

) is the process of weaning ayoungchildoff diapers(or "nappies" inCommonwealth countries) and training the child to use thetoiletfor urinationanddefecation. Toilet training is usually started and completed between the ages of 12 months and threeyears (generally towards the later end of the range in America). Boys are

typically closer to the high end of the age range than are girls, by anaverage of 3 to 6 months, at the mastery of toilet training.

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Many psychologists believe that toilet training is among the mostformative events of the human psyche because it is the child's firstintroduction to the fact that social imperatives can take precedence over bodily desires. According toSigmund Freud, a child can have problemslater in life if the toilet training does not go well, or is too strict. For example,as an adult a person couldstrive for perfection or excessive cleanliness because they were too harshly trained. The current popular wisdom on thissubject is that toilet training is a mutual task, requiring cooperation,agreement and understanding between both the child and the caregiver.

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It is strongly recommended that coercion and shame are not used asdisciplinary instruction tools during this phase of development. Thoughrecent studies inJapanshow that an increasing number of children arewetting their beds or wearing diapers full time, even inelementary schoo l .Indeed, the best potty training techniques emphasize consistencyand positive reinforcement over punishment.

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Common Problems

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In some cases a child may resist all toilet training efforts from theparents, some going so far as to resist sitting on the potty or even holdingback bowel movements.

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Toilet training resistance may be the result of a parent over-admonishing the child when accidents are made or the child does not usethe potty when directed. In some cases the child is simply not ready for toilet learning.

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More rarely, resistance can be caused by a condition that causes thechildpainwhen he or she uses the potty, such as painful urinationassociated with aurinary tract infection.

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If a child isuncooperativeduring the toilet training process, parentscan try letting the child initiate the process when he or she is ready, usingrewards and positive feedback each time the child is successful in usingthe potty or goes a whole day without soiling his or her pants, replacing the

child's diaper or training pants with regular unde rwear or having the childchange his or her own clothes when accidents occur.

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One potential negative effect of resistance is that the child can holdback bowel movements, resulting inconstipation. This in turn makeseliminationuncomfortableand even painful, creating even greater reluctance and resistance on the part of the child. Severe cases of constipationcan cause painful anal fissures,fecalsoiling (), or rectal enlargement. Unusual delays in toilet training normal children or regressions to soiling generally indicate family stress and/or underlyingemotional problems and may require counseling to be effectively reso

Steps/Guides to Toilet Training:

1. Purchase a potty- There are different versions of potties, including ones that sit onthe floor and are emptied after each use, ones that have cups to protectagainst splatters, and ones that sit on top of an adult toilet with or without a stepstoolfor the child to climb up to it. The floor-level model ismost often recommended for the first stages of toilet training. Somerecommend taking the child to the store to help pick out his or her ownpotty, then helping to personalize it with a name, stickers, paint, etc.,with the general idea of making the potty a prized possession of thechild's, not something to be feared.2.The child should first spend some time sitting on the potty, first whileclothed and then with clothes removed, so that he or she is comfortablesitting on it. The connection between what she is doing on her small pottyand what the adults and siblings do on the big potty should be emphasized.One suggestion is to bring the child to the potty with a dirty diaper and thecontents placed in it so he or she can see that this is where they belong.Parents should watch for cues from the child that he or she may be aboutto urinate or have a bowel movement, such as a concentrated look,yanking at his or her diaper,squatting, or grunting.3.Bowel movement will happen first thing in the morning, right after anap,or approximately 20 minutes after a meal. The child should be taken to the