Parents struggling with potty training seek advice

Nearly half of all calls to a service for parents and families were seeking support with their child's toilet training, Humber Teaching NHS Foundation Trust said.

The Trust's 0-19 Single Point of Contact (SPOC) in Hull said the most common reason for referral to their service was for continence and toileting advice.

Health and development practitioner Lindsey Eddom said it was important to introduce children to the potty or toilet "as early as possible" so that they were fully trained by the time they start school.

The age at which children are fully toilet-trained has risen in recent years, and children who start school in nappies are "at a severe disadvantage" according to the trust.

Figures nationally show that one in four children are not toilet-trained by the time they reach primary school age.

The trust said 44% of the calls taken by the SPOC service were from parents who were struggling with toilet training.

Eddom said: "We regularly speak to parents who have either started toilet training and are finding it difficult to make progress or those who want to know how to start with their child.

"The key thing is to introduce your child to the potty or toilet as early as possible and talk to them about what it is for."

The trust said the advice also applied to children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) as the process could take longer.

The health authority said children who could not use the toilet independently and remained in nappies were at a "severe disadvantage when starting school" and could impact their education and social and emotional development.

"We want to help parents to understand they don't need to wait for signs of readiness, 18 months is an ideal age to start for any child," Eddom said.

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