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Home › Expert Q&A › Behavior and Development › My daughter is 14 months and 1 week old. Should she be potty trained already? Is it too early?

Expert Q&A

 

By Michael F. Wasserman
General Pediatrician

Everyone I talk to is into early potty training. They say they had their girls potty trained between 13 and 15 months. My daughter is 14 months and 1 week old. Should she be potty trained already? Is it too early?

There is no proper age for a child to become potty trained. Most girls are ready for potty training around 18 months, boys oftentimes slightly older. For successful potty training two things must occur:

  1. The child must be physically able to control urine and stool
  2. The CHILD must be mentally motivated to be potty trained.

Motivation is commonly the major obstacle in potty training, and in fact, this can become an area of conflict between parent and child. In this scenario, the parent is the loser, as we are discussing the child's bodily functions. If a parent applies enough coercion, the child may become potty trained. However, I believe that a disproportionate number of pressured potty trained children develop longer term issues with constipation, which I believe is a much more difficult problem for child and parent to deal with.

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