In looking into green and organic diaper options, I still haven't made a decision on what kind of diapers to use. There are a lot of reusable choices, and I'll talk about diapers later. What I've been reading about this week has been a diaper free baby. One of my girl friends sent a link to Alicia Silverstone's review of the book Diaper Free Baby. This book talks about the possibility of toilet training from birth, and the process of understanding when your baby has to use the bathroom is called "elimination communication" as opposed to conventional toilet training during toddler years.
I'm just gonna get off my chest that I found the subculture of "ECers" a little creepy. I rolled my eyes when the book talked about EC support groups and how this one woman was so relieved to meet other people practicing EC so that she didn't have to be in the closet with it all of the time. Instead of coming out of the broom closet, maybe she was coming out of the potty closet. I know, I'm horrible. That woman was just excited to be able to share her experiences with other people. For that, I am very happy for her, because moms need that. I can't lie; I might check out the local group to see if the extra support is helpful.
That said, there is a lot of value to the basic principles of having a diaper free baby. It starts with the premise that babies aren't born with the desire to poo in their pants, and that we teach them to do that. They want to soil themselves as much as adults do. Parents can help babies adapt to using the toilet starting at any time, including just after birth, through a few combination mechanisms:
- Watching for signals the baby is giving off just before peeing or pooping.
- Communicating that it's time to go to the bathroom by giving cues (making a sound), such as "pssssssst" for peeing or grunting for pooping.
- Holding the baby in a comfortable position over the toilet, infant potty, diaper, or other container.
- Not letting the baby sit long in a soiled diaper.
- Not using super-absorbent diapers.
- Using clothing that allows for easy removal.
I find this concept fascinating, because I completely believe that babies can learn to use the toilet at a much earlier age. It also folds right into the concept that we can communicate with Baby Bennett prior to speech development by using hand signs. Baby daddy and I purchased a baby sign language kit, because babies do have the ability to communicate and once we establish communication, we can better help baby be happy. And, we can help develop our child's cognitive skills earlier.
My neighbour, who is Pakistani, toilet trained all her kids when they were one year old. She basically watched their faces, and when they were ready to poop, whooshed them over a toilet. This is an old method of toilet training - watching and swooping.
ReplyDeleteI must confess my son was not toilet trained until he was 5 years old. He was slow developmently and required a lot of intervention. Such as speech therapy since he didn't talk.
Not sure about Signing, but it is worth a try. Since I am hard of hearing and my son didn't talk, we ended up with a private Sign language.
Virginia, that is so amazing that you and your son developed your own sign language. :) That makes me feel like it can work for others.
ReplyDeleteWhat I discovered in the Deaf world, is that Signing is natural. Using hands to convey meaning is easier since using hands are gross motor skills while using the tongue is fine motor (a more difficult task). Babies can grasp language before they can speak. SO happy hand talk:)
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