Having three children, now (thankfully) all out of diapers, I've researched and written on the subject. One thing I was surprised to learn was that children today are potty-training much later than they were 50 and even 100 years ago. With technology, the internet and the advances in medicine and science, it's almost hard to comprehend that potty-training has actually regressed. We're so used to faster-better-new-and-improved-at-your-fingertips-millisecond EVERYTHING ALL THE TIME in 2015, that it's completely contrary to all of the progress we've made in other areas. Why is this? I did some more research and a little brainstorming. After a quick Google search, I found and enjoyed reading: A History of Potty Training. The invention of disposable diapers has actually negatively impacted how quickly children potty train—if you are using age as a measure. According to PottyTrainingConcepts.com:
- In the 1950s, almost a 100% of children wore cloth diapers and 95% of these children were trained by the age of 18 months.
- In the 1980s, about 50% of children wore cloth diapers, while the other 50% wore disposable diapers and only about 50% of the children were potty trained by the age of 18 months.
- Today, almost 90-95% of children wear disposable diapers and only about 10% of children are potty trained by the age of 18 months.
- Today, the average age for potty training is about 30 months with the age ranging from 18-60 months.
I started potty-training my first around 16 months because I wanted him finished before baby #2 came along. Since potty training is a roller coaster ride, he was completely trained by the age of 2 (day and night). I figure it was worth the almost year of work because he was out of diapers completely and by 2 1/2 had very few accidents during the night. I figure the trend to later potty training is business-too much going on to take the time to potty train. I’m already behind on my second child, but she’s already showing signs of readiness and I don’t want to miss my window like I did with her brother!
What an interesting trend.
This will be interesting to see. My daughter used sposies and was trained by 2 yrs by day and 3 by night. My son is cd so I have to wait and see the outcome
one of the things I said well before I had children was “if the kid is old enough to walk and talk, they’re old enough to use a toilet.”
after having my first, I did let him lead the way, and he showed interest at 18m. he was in undies during the day by 2yo, and completely trained (including nights) at 2.5yo.
cloth makes a difference!
It’s interesting to see how different it is now. We aren’t at the potty training stage yet but hope cloth diapering will help make it an easier transition.
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