Can you PT a pre-verbal toddler?

First of all let me say that I am in NO hurry to PT. I'd be happy to wait till they're 3.

However, my DDs are in daycare, and are the youngest in their class, so many of the other kids (ages 2-2.5) are PTing right now. The routine is that they wake up from nap, go into the bathroom with a teacher, and sit on the potty. The teacher told me that yesterday, Sarah woke up from her nap, walked into the bathroom and said "Potty?" The teacher felt her diaper and it was dry, so she plunked Sarah on the pot and she peed!

I am proud of her, but not sure how to proceed from here. The fact that she said "Potty" at all is pretty amazing to me, since she barely has any 2-syllable words. Does this make a difference? Or is it just as effective to do it nonverbally?

Also, am I missing a precious opportunity if I don't pick up the ball and run with it? I think this was probably just a fluke. She's clearly getting some understanding of the whole potty concept, but I'd rather wait till she's really ready, than go through 9 months of sporadic potty use. WWYD?

 

Honestly, I don't know the answer to this. I can't imagine my girls even being close to ready for PT at this age. Gabe showed some interest early, but we didn't push it or even try. When it was evident to me that he was ready, at 3y3-4m, we ran with it. It took no effort from me, it was all about him getting it! I'm still just so proud of him.

 

When my dd was about 22 months, she started leading me into the bathroom and she even said potty a few times. She went poop & potty a few times. My mom swears that all her kids were trained at 18 months! Good luck. We encouraged her but she stopped after awhile. I'm ready to start again! Don't know if I can lead her in that direction or not. I would definitely be encouraging her! GOod luck!

 

I take the girls when they ask and sit them on it first thing in the morning and before bath but we don't push them. It's working really well for us.

 

Just an update to this -- after a week or two of them being interested in the potty, now they've pretty much forgotten about it. They still point to it and say "potty," and occasionally ask to use it, but they sit there for 1.5 seconds and then want to get up.

At school, they will pee in the potty once in a while, but I think that's because they get asked at regular intervals if they want to use the potty. They also prefer the one at school (it's a real kid-sized toilet, whereas ours is a potty chair), and there are all the older kids there to set an example.

I have to admit I'm sort of relieved. I'd rather start this up again when they are really ready.