The process of learning to control the bowel and bladder and use the bathroom for elimination.

Most children are toilet trained by the age of two or two-and-a-half. Bowel control comes before bladder control, and daytime training is achieved before a child stays dry at night. Child care experts today recommend a more easy-going, low-pressure approach than was often used in the past. It has been found that when parents wait until their toddler has attained the greatest possible degree of readiness, the process is easier, faster, and accompanied by fewer lapses. The emphasis is on letting the child proceed at his own pace, motivated by the desire to be grown up and imitate his parents. Measures that may cause pressure and anxiety are avoided.

Children achieve some control over the sphincter—the muscle that controls elimination—as early as 9 months of age, and are able...