i began toilet training at 18 months, with very good success.  we had accidents here and there but it is a process and it does not happen overnight.  I used a reward system and bought a very plain potty and gave him a sticker every time he went potty so he could decorate his potty and the finished project was great.

There are two ways of getting babies out of nappies - toilet training (generally accepted that children arent physically aware/able to control what's happening until after 18 months) and toilet timing/elimination communication (obviously, before 18 months). There are a LOT of articles on Minti on both if you do a search! There are as many opinions and approaches to toilet training as there are children (no two children in a family will train the same!) and it is the cause of a lot of grief. IMO, read your way thru the articles, observe your child, complete this helpful quiz, and make your own mind up (but stay flexible - your child may have other ideas)!

My own approach, as with most other things in parenting, was to be baby-led, and to try to make it as unstressful as I possibly could. Consquently I bought a potty and toilet seat insert at 18 months with DD1, plonked the potty in front of the TV and told her it was a toilet chair for watching telly on . After a while she was quite happy to sit there for half an hour watching tv and eventually something would arrive and I would go OTT celebrating. She was always happy to sit on it and constantly tried to work out how to fll it at will. We nearly succeeded at 24 months but then after one great day she lost interest BIG time, so I backed down and in the end she got there at 28 months all of a sudden. DD2 I handled in exactly the same way but her first year (from 18 months) she would run away from the potty, and even developed a fear of it for a short while. Now at 34 months she has been using it since Easter and is getting fairly good at it, but still has almost daily accidents (usually when she's tired). It depends partly on the personality of the child - mine both are pretty strong willed and if they think you are trying to get them to do something against their wills, the heels get dug in and you are one step forward two backwards, ie NOT worth it with something they are in control of (like toileting and food). So I have to work with their co-operation, making them believe it was their idea! Other children are so eager to please I'm sure they could be trained in half the time. Hope you have one of those!

I think you'll know when they're ready.  People can push you towards it a little or a lot, but in the end you can end up just causing yourself and you rkids a lot of unnessacary stress.  Just go with the flow. 

My mum and step dad pushed me with my eldest, and I refused to start until he was ready.  He was just 3 I think and he was ready and it only took a couple of weeks, and only a couple of mistakes.  My 2.5yr goes to the potty every now and again, but I don't push it because 9 times out of 10 he still does it on his nappy.

If you're happy to wait don't stress about it.  Just enjoy your time together. 

Good luck

im in the middle of training my little one,  out of a week iv had 3 successful potties (thats both poo and wee) iv noticed my little one will go quiet and red in the face or will sound like hes pushing one out.  try and see, best time is in the morn either before or after breakies ( i do 30 mins after) after naps, and before bed and bath

 I dont think it is ever to early but you have to be careful not to force them into it, otherwise it mite make it a lot harder. Maybe start putting them on the potty after naps (or any other regular time you know they pee) then slowly build up. I have read some people start at like a few weeks old and they hardly need to use any nappys!

Just take it slow if it dosn't work then try again later :)