What’s the Right Time to Transition to New Milestones?

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I’ve always heard that you shouldn’t make too many changes to your child’s routine all at once. We’ve been ready to wean our toddler off a pacifier and are also in the midst of potty training. With the holiday break coming up, it all just feels like maybe too much at once? Or is it actually a good idea to use the break to make all of these changes?
Anonymous

There isn’t much evidence on stacking changes like this, and it likely depends a lot on your child. Some kids make these transitions more easily than others, and that’s a core part of the decision about whether to stack them all at the same time.

More importantly, though, is to remember that many of these transitions take time — often more than you think. If you’re facing down a three-day weekend or a two-week break, there may be a temptation to get everything done during that window. But many transitions — like potty training — ultimately take a longer time.

The bottom line is you should base all of these decisions on when you are ready to do it and when you think it’s good for your child, not necessarily on having some extra time. A caveat is that if you’re around family members, they may make the transition more challenging. I am hearing in my head, “Oh, but she really wants a bottle. Poor thing is going to sleep hungry now.” This is probably not going to help.The strongest case here is for potty training, since at least some potty-training approaches benefit from concentrated time walking around the house naked. The main answer is: maybe. When we were potty training my younger child, I recall coming home from work in the middle of the day several times because my presence was required for certain … ahem … activities. It would have been easier to do this on a holiday, for sure. Having said that, potty training takes time for many kids, so imagining you’ll start on December 23 and then be good to go, fully trained, by January 3 is possible but optimistic.