Doctors’ Tips for Keeping Your Kids Healthy

Don't Potty Train Too Soon

What the doctor wants you to know: “Parents often decide it’s time to toilet train because of a school deadline or because they are sick of changing diapers. You’re better off waiting until your child approaches you,” recommends Alanna Levine, a pediatrician in Tappan, New York. “The goal is to transfer the responsibility from the parent (noticing a full diaper) to the child (deciding she needs to go the bathroom). If you become the ‘potty police,’ asking every 10 minutes, ‘Do you have to go to the bathroom?’ then you might as well keep her in diapers. If you wait for the child to be interested, she’ll tell you when she needs to go.”

Where she slacks off: “I have a major sweet tooth, so I’m lax when it comes to sugar. I can’t remember the last day that my kids didn’t have a cookie or candy.”