Posted on 10/09/2005 2:17:59 PM PDT by neverdem
Hannah Rothstein, 7 months old, has double thighs and a dimpled bottom, but very svelte German underwear. She can still fit into her birth-to-3-month-old clothes because she lacks her peers' familiar bulge in the rear. She can sleep all night without a diaper. And during the day, every so often, after her mother, Melinda, of Newton, Mass., places her on a plastic potty and makes a little "pss-wss-wss" sound like the one used to call a cat, Hannah uses the toilet.
For many parents in the United States, the idea of potty training before a baby is able to walk, or even before age 2, is not just horrifying but reprehensible - a sure nightmare for parents and baby, not to mention a direct route from the crib to the psychiatrist's couch. But a growing number of parents are experimenting with infant potty training, seeing it as more sanitary, ecologically correct and likely to strengthen bonds between parent and child.
About 2,000 people across the country have joined Internet groups and e-mail lists to learn more about the techniques of encouraging a baby - too young to walk or talk - to go in a toilet, a sink or a pot. Through a nonprofit group, Diaper Free Baby (www.diaperfreebaby.org), 77 local groups have formed in 35 states to encourage the practice. One author's how-to books on the subject have sold about 50,000 copies.
"It's just so simple," said Lamelle Ryman, who recently attended a support meeting at an apartment on the Upper West Side. Ms. Ryman, the mother of 7-month-old Neshama, added, "I feel like it's been such a gift in our relationship."
To be sure, adoption of the approach in the West is in its infant stage, so to speak. Moreover, the philosophy behind it flies in...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Another installment in the NYT's never-ending series about affluent females and their dating/child-rearing experiences...
Toilet training at one year (or even a little sooner) was not unheard-of in the pre-Huggies years.
I'm not really dissing the article because of the early toilet-training thing, but because the NYT never seems to talk to anyone outside of the richest neighborhoods for these "parenting" stories. Upper West Side? Newton, Massachusetts? Gotta be two of the most affluent neighborhoods in the Northeast.
I think all notions of child rearing from Dr. Spock are suspect. I wonder where he got his ideas from, Freud and psychoanalysis? I'll try to Google. Later
With ready access to Benjamin Spock and all of his private papers, Mr. Maier explained how Spock's training in Freudian psychoanalysis was weaved throughout his famous book and helped popularize many of Freud's fundamental theories on child development. Somewhat ironically, Spock did not acknowledge Freud in his book. Spock felt that Americans considered Freud to be somewhat “dirty-minded” and “perverse.” However, later he admitted that his book was pure Freud. Moreover, Spock's “nurturing” views set the stage for the progressive liberalism of the late 20th Century in America, epitomized by the Great Society programs of the 1960's. His break with President Johnson over the Vietnam War illustrates the trauma of that era, and also the lost opportunity that Spock saw for the government in improving the lives of children, particular among the poor.
OH, MY GOODNESS!
Now, all of a sudden, my family can't potty train kids, without European advice? We must have just muddled by on luck, or something!
If it had not been for Hilary's Village, and European wisdom, I suppose that my 39 year old daughter would still be wearing diapers.
If you find a kid in first grade still pooping in their drawers, I will bet that the kids mommie and daddy are democrats, or worse!
Brazelton was one such irritating, mawkish, crooning media advice-doc. Then he was overheard to admit he'd never spent more than fifteen minutes at a time with a child. He was too busy giving advice...
Pediatricians don't raise children. Their wives and nannies raise their children. (Nannies if the doc is female). Pediatricians should stick to attending to children's physical ailments which can be treated clinically, not pretending to be Wise Nanny-Man.
I don't know who is the "Wise Man" for people looking for guidance...but I know that Pediatricians are no wiser than anyone else. Probably less wise than many.
I do know that children used to be toilet-trained a lot earlier than they are now.
"pss-wss-wss"
I guess there's probably now way to spell the sound she uses for #2... :)
"..the NYT never seems to talk to anyone outside of the richest neighborhoods for these "parenting" stories."
Maybe too many of the "parenting" stories they get from the ghetto have to do w/ dumpsters.
Newton is really two cities.The north side is substantially working class and Catholic.The south side is overwhelmingly professional class and Unitarian/Universalist and Reform Judaism.
The south side is one of the most affluent areas in the nation,not just the northeast.
There are a lot of working-class neighborhoods in Metro NYC and Boston. No need for stories to be about only one extreme or the other.
Count me among the "doubters" of this story.
She can still fit into her birth-to-3-month-old clothes
Oh baloney. Clothing size has way more to do with length than weight.
For later reeding.
The Front Lines in the Battle Against Avian Flu Are Running Short of Money
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list. Anyone can post any unrelated link as they see fit. The toilet training story is on the front page of The Denver Post.
Pish-tosh. Baby clothes that size fit a baby up to about 12 lbs., and the diaper doesn't make much difference. Either they're making this up, or this kid is little.
Post-World War II Americans begot the baby boomers. Their parents wanted to make them the healthiest, smartest and best-adjusted generation in history. To accomplish this awesome task, millions of parents turned to experts for advice, information and reassurance.
Many of the experts were sour souls, advising mothers to avoid displays of affection, to discourage thumb sucking, and to impose strict feeding and potty training schedules.
Spock saw these issues in a different light. He advised and encouraged mothers and fathers to hug and kiss their children and to indulge in thumb sucking (within limits), to adopt flexible feeding schedules and to lighten up on rigid toilet training.
Now I understand the permissiveness of the baby boomer generation!
He set the stage for progressive liberalism....and to lighten up on rigid toilet training...
LOL If Spock was also a Freudian, he must have known that trying to potty train a kid too early results in "anal-retentive" tendencies. LOL My pediatrian wasn't worried about toilet training, like someone else said. He was more interested in treating physical ailments. When I told him I was worried about it, he laughed and said, if a kid isn't potty trained by the time he starts school, he'll learn really fast because of peer pressure. A bit cavilier, but on the right track for a doctor, imo.
I thought I also heard that Spock was busted for LSD in his later years. Don't know if that is true or not? LOL
Try it one more time. I don't understand why that link doesn't work. It works for me.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.