Posted on 10/10/2005 4:18:47 AM PDT by Cagey
NEW YORK — Hannah Rothstein, 7 months old, has chubby thighs and a dimpled bottom, but svelte German underwear. She still fits 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.
During the day, every so often — after Hannah's mother, Melinda, of Newton, Mass., places her on a plastic potty and makes a little "pss-wss-wss" sound — 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 reprehensible, a 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 — a child 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, including Washington, to encourage the practice. One author's how-to books have sold about 50,000 copies.
"It's just so simple," said Lamelle Ryman. Ryman, the mother of Neshama, 7 months, added, "I feel like it's been such a gift in our relationship."
Common abroad
Adoption of the approach in the Western Hemisphere is in its infant stage, so to speak. Moreover, the philosophy behind it flies in the face of Spock-influenced child-rearing. Dr. Benjamin Spock, the last word in child rearing for many U.S. families through much of the 20th century, recommended against any training in the first year, believing it could lead to bed-wetting later.
Once, however, breastfeeding, too, was a rarity, until conversations among mothers, supported by medical research and encouragement from doctors, nurses and midwives, pushed it during the 1970s to the mainstream of child-care practices, where it remains today.
With early toilet training, there is a broad body of knowledge and experience to draw on. Parents in at least 75 countries, including India, Kenya and Greenland, embrace the practice, with Chinese babies often wearing pants with split bottoms for easy squatting (available for $1 in Chinatown, according to savvy mothers in New York).
Some parents who adopt children from other countries say they are startled to find that their babies arrive ready to use the toilet. More than 50 percent of the world's children are toilet trained about the time they turn 1, according to Contemporary Pediatrics magazine.
From birth, the reasoning goes, infants are aware of their needs to eliminate, and although their muscles are not developed, they can soon learn to go on cue. Conversely, by relying on disposable diapers, modern parents are in effect teaching babies to ignore the signs that they have to go, making potty training at a later age more difficult.
Better bonding
Ingrid Bauer, author of "Diaper Free! The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene" (Natural Wisdom Press, 2001), believes it is easiest to begin toilet training in the first six months.
For families that practice the technique, the advantages are many: savings in the cost of diapers, which can reach $3,000 a child; less guilt about contributing to the 22 billion disposable diapers that end up in landfills every year; no diaper rash; and a nursery that doesn't reek of diaper pail. They also note that age 2, a common age for toilet training, is a time of notorious willfulness and a terrible age to start teaching any child anything.
Most important, they say, is an increased emotional bond with the baby, forged by the need for the parent to pick up subtle signs and act on them quickly. Proponents of the practice use the phrase "elimination communication."
"It is enhancing that interaction and closeness, the intimacy between baby and mother," said Thomas Ball, a psychologist in California who is helping develop a documentary about the technique. "Here's another set of cues the child is giving that may be ignored or may be responded to."
Unquestionably, in a child-rearing culture that thrives on sanitation and parental convenience, the prospect of supervising 20 deposits a day in the first busy months of infancy is daunting.
"It doesn't sound like anything I would ever even attempt to try," said Erinn Marchetti, who has two preschool-age children. "It's hard enough when they're 2 and 3."
Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, the renowned child-rearing expert, said parents need not worry about psychologically damaging their child. Brazelton, author of "Toilet Training: The Brazelton Way" (Da Capo Press, 2004), has always advocated a child-centered approach to training: Do it when a child is ready, without too much pushing or even encouraging.
"I'm all for it, except I don't think many people can do it," he said of elimination communication. "The thing that bothers me about it is today, probably 80 percent of women don't have that kind of availability."
The American Academy of Pediatrics, in its current "Toilet Training" pamphlet, says children have no control over bladder or bowel movements when they are younger than a year and little control for six months afterward.
"Even if you're getting them to go in a pot as a young infant, I don't know if it will have any long-term impact for all the effort you have to go through," said Dr. Mark Wolraich, author of the academy's "Guide to Toilet Training" (Bantam Books, 2003). "The risk is, if it's not working and the parents are frustrated, they're creating more negative interactions with their child."
But parents of diaper-free babies said working with a child's signals is a rewarding and worthwhile experience.
A mother in Medford, Mass., Sarabeth Matilsky, said elimination communication helped strengthen her bond with son Ben, who began using a potty when he was about 10 weeks old and who was colicky as an infant. "When I started doing this, I got to start seeing him as a little person with abilities," she said, noting that her son had become much happier after she learned to read his cues and that he no longer cried before every diaper change.
However, I'd recommend having your child wear a life preserver while sitting on the toilet. Just in case.
Yeah, before 1970 no one knew what those things were for. "Wow! I've been lugging these puppies around all my life and had no idea!", exclaimed one woman.
" Parents in at least 75 countries, including India, Kenya and Greenland, embrace the practice, with Chinese babies often wearing pants with split bottoms for easy squatting..."
Very helpful in stores, malls, church and groceries. Gives new meaning to the word, "dump."
"Once, however, breastfeeding, too, was a rarity, until conversations among mothers, supported by medical research and encouragement from doctors, nurses and midwives, pushed it during the 1970s to the mainstream of child-care practices, where it remains today."
Hard to believe someone actually said that.
I"m in my 50's. My mother swears I was potty trained by the time I was 6 months old. I tell her she was the one who was trained, not me, LOL!
My son self-trained at about 21 months. He'd just take off his diaper and go to the toilet.
Earlier might be better, as they're not as "stubborn" as they are when they hit the 2 year old stage.
We've bottle raised puppies, and it's a lot easier to housetrain them at 4 weeks old, than it is at 10 weeks old.
I wouldn't diss anybody for trying it, if they have the time and inclination.
I know, it sounds like I'm a spokesman for the diaper industry.
We used cloth diapers for our daughter, who was our first, for some odd reason and this was without a diaper service! Youth and ignorance go hand in hand. LOL
When our son was born we wised up and switched over to Pampers.
Save a fortune on diapers but, that squating thing should be reserved for camping.
I used cloth diapers with my son up until the time he was about 9 months old, as he seemed to have an allergy to the disposable ones. Didn't use a diaper service, just did it them the old fashioned way, diaper pail and all, LOL. (Has everybody that used cloth diapers almost flushed one down the toilet at one time or another?)
When he was about 9 months old we tried the disposables again, and he didn't seem to have a problem with the allergic rash he had had before when wearing them...oh happy day!!!
This is fantasy.
I have three kids... 3,6 and 9. Trying to get them to do anything at seven months was futile. My bet, this baby did it once on a fluke, and the mom called Reuters!
I think my brain just imploded.
Did it make a pss-wss-wss sound?
I taught my 4 kids to swim starting between 5 & 7 months. By a year, they could cruise around without floaties or any other assistance. Now at 9 years old, both of my twins are in the top 10 in the state. I never tried potty training early though.
Very interesting article. Never gave potty training at such a young age a thought. Since I've got a little one, I think I'll give it a try. Thanks for posting.
Both are in the top ten at 9? Well, maybe early retirement is coming to you! ;)
I just hope they stick with it as long as they have fun. I was a swimmer, and it is deathly painfully boring when you swim 4 hours a day every day.
BTW, they are top ten in their age group. they split them up in 2 year increments.
You would be amazed how natural babies are at swimming. It was hard with the twins because once they started to crawl,they would just try to get in the pool, so it took a real close eye.
I'm in my 40s, and my mom trained my three siblings and I before one year of age -- but disposable diapers were paper nightmares back then, according to her, and washing diapers wasn't fun.
I can't imagine any harm doing it if you are gentle and have perspective, but personally, I preferred to do my bonding while nursing. Dads, maybe this one is for you!
I think that little make-the-hole-smaller seat cover that adorable little Hannah is sitting on does the trick. See the NYT copy of this story, which includes the picture:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/09/nyregion/09diapers.html Hannah looks to be enjoying herself immensely.
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