Toilet Training - History in The United States

History in The United States

Until the mid-1900s, the vast majority of babies finished toilet training by 2 years, and achieved nighttime dryness by 3 years. Since then, the age for toilet training has increased dramatically. The US Department of Labor Children’s Bureau put out a series of publications called Infant Care starting in 1914, and recommended toilet training to be started in the first year until the 1951 edition. In 1914, parents were advised to start toilet training by the third month "with the utmost gentleness". A somewhat harsh method that used suppositories to put the baby on a strict schedule of bowel movements was advocated in 1929 and 1935. In 1938, parents were advised to start bowel training "as early as the sixth month". By 1951, fears of psychological ramifications of early training surfaced and parents were advised to wait "between one and a half to two years" to commence training. However, in 1957, the average age of starting toilet training was still under one year, at 11 months, and 90% of children were dry during the day by 2 years. In 2002, the average age that parents recognized their child "showing an interest in using the potty" was 24–25 months, and daytime dryness was achieved on average at almost 3 years of age. Nighttime accidents are now considered normal until 5 or 6 years of age.

Read more about this topic:  Toilet Training

Famous quotes containing the words united states, history, united and/or states:

    It is said that the British Empire is very large and respectable, and that the United States are a first-rate power. We do not believe that a tide rises and falls behind every man which can float the British Empire like a chip, if he should ever harbor it in his mind.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    While the Republic has already acquired a history world-wide, America is still unsettled and unexplored. Like the English in New Holland, we live only on the shores of a continent even yet, and hardly know where the rivers come from which float our navy.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)

    The real charm of the United States is that it is the only comic country ever heard of.
    —H.L. (Henry Lewis)

    When some one remarked that, with the addition of a chaplain, it would have been a perfect Cromwellian troop, he observed that he would have been glad to add a chaplain to the list, if he could have found one who could fill that office worthily. It is easy enough to find one for the United States Army. I believe that he had prayers in his camp morning and evening, nevertheless.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)