Positive Approach Shortens Potty Training

Parents may do well to focus on the positive when toilet training their children, according to the results of a new study. Children whose parents do not use negative words about poop tended to become toilet-trained sooner.

In the study, the parents of 381 children were given basic information about toilet training, but about half of the parents received additional instructions. They were asked not to use negative terms like "stinky diaper" or to say that a child was stinky or dirty after having a bowel movement. And before children began active toilet training, this group of parents was instructed to verbally praise children when they defecated in their diaper.

The approach did not seem to have any significant effect on so-called stool toileting refusal - a willingness to use the toilet to urinate but not to have a bowel movement. But stool toileting refusal did not last as long in children whose parents avoided negative words when discussing bowel movements.

What's more, children who were praised become potty trained sooner than other children, researchers report in the journal Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine. On average, they were fully toilet-trained by age 40 months, compared to 43 months in other children.

The team led by Dr. Bruce Taubman at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia suspects that by cutting down on the duration of stool toilet refusal, the positive approach to toilet training may minimize stress on families and prevent a "battle of the bowels."

The approach did not have an effect on another type of troublesome toilet-training behavior, however, the researchers report. About 70 percent of children in the study hid from their parents while defecating in their diapers. The team found this behavior is tied to stool withholding and constipation, and makes training more difficult.

Why so many children hide will pooping in their diapers is uncertain. One possibility, according to the researchers, is that children notice that adults defecate in private, so they do the same. Taubman's team also suggests that some children may hide because they are afraid or ashamed.

Whatever the reason, the authors conclude that the findings challenge researchers "to better understand the reasons for this behavior, since such understanding may help in the development of approaches to toilet training that avoid stool toileting refusal, stool withholding and their negative consequences."

SOURCE: Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, December 2003.

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