If you’ve read my recent post on the history of cloth diapering in America, you know that I spend a lot of time wondering how we as parents are influenced by current history–and what we can learn from the past.  Of course, like the history fanatic that I am, I found the information on potty training in America fascinating.

Early potty training in America was completely parent-centered and sometimes disturbingly so. In the early 1900s children were on strict elimination schedules and parents even used suppositories or enemas to enforce regularity. Toddlers were admonished or  physically punished for accidents.  Potty training usually began at six months of age.

Although the harsh potty training methods of earlier decades were abandoned after World War II, potty training still happened far earlier than it does today. One hundred percent of babies wore cloth diapers  in the 1940s and 1950s and 95% of children were potty trained by the age of 18 months.  (Obviously, cloth diapering parents were quite motivated to start training their children early.)

Thirty years later, disposable diapers became more effective and less expensive and the public shift moved away from cloth.  Since many women had entered the workforce, families began to use cloth diaper services or disposables instead of instead of laundering their own diapers. As a result potty training ages started to increase.

In the 1980s Dr. T. Berry Brazelton advocated that parents wait until their children were ready to train, partially in response to the harsh potty training routines that were used decades earlier.  Most parents now don’t even think about attempting toilet training until their children are two or older.  In fact, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends waiting until your child is 18 months old, since it will take her that long to be able to hold her bladder or her bowel movements.  (Isn’t that interesting considering that 95% of babies were  potty trained by 18 months in years past, without the harsh potty training methods of the early 1900s?)

In a dramatic shift, today about 90% of American children wear disposables, and only about 10% are potty trained by 18 months.

With new disposables for children up to four and five years old, the average potty training age in America has now moved to 30 months (but can go as high as 60 months).

Our household history of potty training our two children has shown that while there is no reason to feel pressured to achieve early potty training, it’s possible to buy a potty seat and let your child use it now and again even before age one.  We plopped our baby (pictured below)  on the potty seat at seven months when it appeared that she needed to have a bowel movement.  Obviously it wasn’t a chore and she enjoyed the attention she got for her efforts.  She now uses the potty for solid elimination about 60% of the time, but is cloth diapered all the time.  She was using baby sign to show that she needed to poop at about eight months old.  It’s not all that amazing, but it’s something I never would have even thought about with my first child.

What insights have you gained about potty training through talking with parents and grandparents?  Have you experimented with elimination communication? Do you think cloth diaper use has helped with potty training for children in your life?