Time for Britney to potty train Sean?

Britney Spears been hitting the shops again, splurging on her little princes Jayden James Federline, 8 months, and Sean Preston Federline, 20 months. From the look of things, Sean Preston’s diaper days may be numbered. Britney purchased this adorable potty throne by Teamson while shopping at Bel Bambini recently. This high-end potty features a built in magazine rack and toilet roll holder.

Britney may have other aspirations for her boys. She also selected two "Adorable Idol" tees by Angelic Genius, a design that is perfect for the iconic tots of the former Star Search contestant. And because her sons are surely destined to join the jet set, she got them their own airplane from American Retro.

Source: TMZ.com

How old was your child when you started toilet training?  How long did it take?  Any advice for Britney?

Comments

That potty throne is cute. It’s funny that you posted this article because on Splash there is a video with Britney changing her son’s diaper in the car. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eT0gK_I9Zw

- Roxana on May 14th, 2007

We started potty training our daughter at 21 months b/c we found out we were pregnant with our 2nd child. (I really didn’t want 2 kids in diapers.) Potty training her was a very hard and long process. After about 6 frustrating months, we realized she wasn’t ready. So, we didn’t push it as hard. Then, 7 months after that she decided that she wanted to sit on the potty. And she was completely potty trained (doing everything in the potty and not wetting her bed at night) a week later. So, all in all, it took us about 13 months to potty train our daughter. Our son is almost 26 months (and I’m 6 months pregnant with our 3rd) and is showing absolutely NO INTEREST in using the potty. So, we’re not going to push the issue until he’s ready. We figured we don’t need the extra stress and frustration right now.

My advice to Britney: make sure SP is ready to be potty trained. Because if he’s not, it will only frustrate both of you. And then, it might take longer to potty train him. Plus, I hear boys take a little longer than girls to train. Just remember, there is no kid in kindergarten in diapers. Good luck to her.

- jashmom on May 14th, 2007

Roxana, I saw that video too and I found it disgusting that this young mother can’t even change her little boy’s diaper without a pack of paparazzi harrassing them. Britney’s friends/bodyguards had to cover the windscreen and then position themselves around the car to stop those paps (who were circling around them like hungry vultures) from coming too close. Completely insane! Maybe that also explains why Britney is trying to shield her younger baby from them as long as possible.

The potty throne is adorable. The seat looks like it’s made of wood, not sure if that’s easy to clean. But it sure looks cute!

- pink.lioness on May 14th, 2007

Okay the throne is cute but a magazine rack? He can’t read; he’s a little baby.

- Sheri on May 14th, 2007

This is not meant to be mean (really!), but I just get the feeling that Britney’s not the type of Mom to do actual the potty training. She seems like someone who would employ that task either to a nanny, a family member, or a professional (are there such people?). That being said, my only advice is to have patience.

- Susan on May 14th, 2007

My three kids were all about two. My advice is take your cue from them. They showed interest in the potty – probably wanting to play in it. We had a potty chair, but they preferred a cushie tushie toilet ring and stool to step up. I also had them pick out their own underpants. Summer was an easier time to train too. It was relatively painless.

- Loralee on May 14th, 2007

The only advice I could give would be “be patient!”. I remember putting my 10-month-old daughter on the potty and getting excited when she actually pooped. She couldn’t even walk yet, but I bought the “how to potty train in a day” book and really thought I could train my twins at that age, but it was a no-go. My son, especially didn’t mind being in a dirty diaper and I finally gave up after a couple of weeks of banging my head against the wall.

As it turned out, my daughter trained herself at about 2 and my son was about 2 1/2. It’s MUCH easier if you just let it happen when they’re ready!

As for changing a dirty diaper in the car, I’ve done it. When it stinks, it can smell pretty bad! And I wouldn’t dream of leaving my child with dirty pants just for the sake of convenience….

- TwinMom24 on May 14th, 2007

Yeah it’s probably time for Britney to get Sean potty trained, eps. since he’s almost 2.

Cute potty throne (talk about sitting on the “throne” hehe), although aren’t boys potty chairs supposed to have a cup in the front? Or am I too old school? (I still remember back in the day when my mom had this potty ring or chair that had a cup in the front for my brothers. lol!)

IMHO $66 for a potty chair seems expensive, although 1.) Britney’s rich, 2.) She does have two sons only a year apart in age, and 3.) This potty chair can be a child’s chair with minimal changes.

Her other purchases seemed cute too, the t-shirts, the toy pedal plane, etc.

- Autumn on May 14th, 2007

I just purchased a potty for my 20 month old daughter a month ago. She shows interest in it, and tells me when she’s pooping in her diaper, but hasn’t done it on the potty yet. We tell her every time that it’s for the potty next time, and I’m certain she totally gets it, but she’s not quite sure yet about it. I’m not going to try to push her. Once she feels like she’s ready to go on the potty, then we’ll really get into it. For now, the pre-potty training is all I’m doing.

- MommyX1 on May 14th, 2007

Sheri,
Just because he can’t read the words doesn’t mean he doesn’t look at books. My daughter piles up a whole stack next to her little comfy chair and sits forever flipping the pages of each one and pointing things out.

- MommyX1 on May 14th, 2007

Kids will be potty trained on their own phase, you can’t rush it, doesn’t matter how much you want to.
Our Son was trained really fast, within a month? He was not wetting or on diaper maybe a week after his 3rd birthday.
But our daughter? Having a very hard time right now. She does #1 in the potty, but not #2 and still wets her diaper.

- Liz on May 14th, 2007

My daughter is almost 25 months and I bought her potty when she was about 18 months. I haven’t really pushed her on it until recently. Up until now I just let her play with it, sit on it whenever she felt like it, take it with her (it’s also a step stool so she’s been using it to get into things in high places lol) But now that she knows when she’s about to go “peepee” and “poopoo” I tell her to go sit on the potty. It is DEFINITELY easier to potty train in the summer because you can just let your kid run around naked without having to worry about them getting cold.

- Kim on May 14th, 2007

Meh, it’s different with all kids. My eldest was about 3 when he fully potty trained. My 2 1/2 year old son is totally dry and sleeps without a nappy at night but absolutely will not say in the day, so I figure he’ll get there when he’s ready. We’re practising elimination communication with our 6 month old girl and catching every poop, not bad! I wish I’d known about EC with my first 2.

- Bev on May 14th, 2007

My nephew took until he was over 3 years old. But my nieces were both quickly trained. I think with Sean will be a bit of a problem, but Jayden will be easy because he will want to be like his big brother. That is how my nieces were anyway. As for Britney not being the one who would do it, who knows. I have noticed Sean has never been shown using a pacifier and also seems to be on a sippy cup and off the bottle – in public at least. I think she’s doing something right even if most people won’t give her credit for it.

- ann on May 14th, 2007

Yeah Pink.lioness I agree with you. I read a lot of bad comments about this story. People
were saying that Sean is to old to be in diapers and whatever but X17 is reporting that there was a problem with Jayden and this is why she pulled her car off.

“Jayden had a little accident yesterday, causing his mom to pull over suddenly on the side of the road to tend to her youngest. Britney was coming from her home away from home, the Epitome salon in Beverly Glen (she drove by but didn’t stop, according to our photogs) with Jayden, Sean and her friend Jessica in the car, followed by Alli and her bodyguard in an SUV. On the way home, Britney pulled over to the side of the road suddenly, climbed into the backseat, and started to change Jayden. Alli (whom our photogs think was a little put out by having to ride with the bodyguard) pulled off her sweatshirt to cover the windshield – but our photogs clearly saw her changing Jayden inside (even if their cameras didn’t!) Jessica then got into the driver’s seat and drove the brood back home.”

- Roxana on May 14th, 2007

We bought our daughter a potty when she was 18 months old. This was so she could get use to it without any pressure. She’s 26 months now and I am just NOW (as in, past two days) starting to really work with her. I’m hoping she will catch on quick, but I also reminded my husband that there is no shame in waiting a few months (or longer) if need be.

- Dakota on May 14th, 2007

Just a heads up for those mothers who might be pregnant and have children of potty-training age. The “experts” say not to try potty-training your child during a time of great stress, such as a move or when there is a new baby in the house.

- J. on May 14th, 2007

My son completely potty trained himself at 21 months…And they say that boys are more difficult!

- Jayden's Mommie on May 14th, 2007

That is the most adorable potty chair I have ever seen!!!

As for the magazine rack, What difference doesn’t it matter, even if he can’t read, he can still look at books, and if not its cute just for decoration.

- Diana on May 15th, 2007

Just like we learn to recognize and respond to our children’s hunger signs from birth (and this becomes 2nd nature rather quickly, such that we don’t even think about it, we just recognize that they’re hungry), kids give VERY recognizable signs about pee/poop *from birth* that we can learn to recognize and respond to (and not have to think about) our kid’s need to pee/poop by communicating with them about what their bodies are doing and offering the potty with love, respect, support, and never any pressure. You can do this at ANY time in a child’s life – at birth, at 3 months, 5 months, 9 months, 11 months … 16, 17, 21, 28, 32 months. ALL are wonderful ages and opportunities to connect with your child, make them comfortable (like feeding them when they’re hungry, offering the potty when they need to go, helping them to sleep when they’re tired, etc.).

I’m so thrilled that I haphazardly/dumb luck heard about EC (elimination communication) while thinking of switching to cloth diapers when my daughter was about 7 months old. EC sounded initially wild & ridiculous, but I was so intrigued because truly it ALSO sounded really, really logical and respectful (once I got past all of my cultural conditioning). For a brief blurb on EC, check out http://whatisec.com/

So we gave EC a go and were *blown away* by how much our daughter loved it, how much we loved it, how flexible it was (we started out just an hour or 2 a day, quickly ramping up to whole days, then adding in nights, but taking EC breaks if needed). We were so pleasabtly surprised by how much FUN it was to get in touch with our daughter on that level, how much she appreciated our offering her the potty instead of having to go in her diaper/suffer through diaper changes/etc. I could not believe how much *more* babies are able to communicate to us if we only are aware of their ability to do so.

So, with my daughter, we did EC from 9 months (not really typical potty training, but we never had to go through typical potty trainined because EC was so great for our family) and she was pooping on the potty consistenly from 12 months on (THAT was SO glorious for her AND for us!), was very consistently reliably asking us to take her to the potty during the day by 20 months, and at night she took over responsibility at around 3.5 yrs. The whole process was lovely, gentle, slow, no-pressure, and saved us a TON of diapers and money and stress. I can’t fathom trying to convince a very independent 2.5 yr old that the diapers they’ve been wearing for their entire life are, in fact, not the real place where they’re supposed to pee/poop – what a HUGE change for them, and no wonder so much resistance! I really feel for people who are just starting to introduce the potty for the first time to an independent, active toddler… what a recipe for conflict! We bypassed all of that (again, dumb luck of hearing about EC).

Anyway, all of our family loved EC so much that when our 2nd baby was born, we ECed from birth. And that was even MORE amazing, that newborns are INNATELY BORN with knowing how to signal differently for hunger or for potty to us parents (if we only know to listen, know that it’s possible). Plus, our 3 yr old daughter was able to very accurately tell us when her newborn brother had to wee or poop! The grandparents were also already on board from ECing my daughter, but they, too, were even more amazed that newborns are so capable and happy when given the opportunity to pee/poop into a potty instead of “on themselves” in a diaper. Just that innate mammalian preference!

Lastly, I will say that doing EC instead of traditional potty training had a HUGE, positive impact on my breastfeeding relationships with each of my babies. I wasn’t confusing hunger signs with “gotta poop” signs anymore. Nightwakings were more clear to me – NOT every nightwaking was for nursing! In fact, the first waking was only “gotta pee, then I’ll fall right back to sleep”… With my daughter, before EC, I would always offer the breast (assuming she was hungry or thirsty) when really all she wanted was to pee!

Anyway… just wanted to provide our family’s “potty training” story so that others might know that there are other very gentle, loving, no pressure, relaxed options for potty learning than waiting for years and years and years and using all of those diapers and having pee/poop in contact with sensitive girl & boy parts for all of those years. And so that others might know that YES, if your 16 month old is showing signs of readiness, you CAN follow their lead instead of ignoring it until 2.5 yrs old (by which time they may well have lost interest because, hey, their earlier interest was ignored so these diapers MUST be the place to go).

For local support, if you’d like to meet ECing families, see EC happen in person, ask questions about this approach, see if your city has a local chapter of the non-profit support organization Diaper Free Baby:
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/

HAPPY POTTYING!

- Joy on May 19th, 2007