Potty Training Infants

Hi J.,

There are websites on this issue- I believe it is called elimination communication. Do a google search for that and you should have many websites pop up. I haven't done this myself at the age you are talking about, so good luck!

Molly

I don't mean to be a 'naysayer,' but starting at 5 weeks and being ALMOST finished at 2 yrs - starting at 4 months finishing at 18 months...seems like a long time and a lot of work. I mean, it is great if you have that kind of time to dedicate to it. Both my kids were just over two when they showed signs of being ready (taking themselves to the toilet and sitting for a while) and in 3 days they had it down...It just seems like with all the work and challenges parenting involves, why create more? If they are ready and old enough to know it and understand it, that is half the battle!

I can understand wanting to begin potty training, but is your baby really ready? Has she shown the signs of being ready, physically and mentally? If she hasn't, and I am not sure that a 10 month old really can, then it is likely to be a much more difficult process. Good luck whatever you decide, though.

heck yes! do it! Elimination Communication is the way. we have been 'potty training' our almost 2 year old since he was 5 weeks old. he's almost completely potty trained (except at night) and it's been months, literally, since we changed a poopy diaper. EC rocks! research the Diaper-Free Baby, there are books and websites on it. also, there's an online digest on yahoo groups called East Bay Diaper Free Babies. you can get support, answer questions, and sometimes we have hang outs with the babies. hanging out with other EC'ing babies is really helpful to the kiddos.

your baby is ready and totally deserves to not poop in her pants!! don't listen to naysayers!

You can check out the new book on EC by Christine Gross-Loh
http://www.thediaperfreebaby.com/index.htm

There is also an EC store you can check out.

I practiced with with my 2nd child and am now doing it with my 3rd. But I started at 4 months with my second and she was pretty much done at 18 months and from birth with my 3rd who is now 4 months.

Anyway, I would check out reading material and be consistent with certain times that you take her: first thing in the morning, after naps, first thing when you return from home, before bath, before bedtime. You don't have to practice it full time in order to get some positive results. I also taught our second the American sign for toilet and she was using the sign from about 9 months so that was really helpful. In our house we say Shi-Shi for pee and that is the sound I make to indicate that it is time to go. I think the EC store sells the clear one piece. Kids love to see what they are producing. Anyway good luck and just pay attention to what your little girl is saying.

I should add that both girls stopped pooping completely in their diapers from 9 months on ( before then they would poop every day but in their diaper only 2 or 3 times a month if that and if it did happen they demanded to be changed right away) and once they could walk at ages 9 1/2 months and 10 1/2 months I would leave them naked in the house and they just walked over and peed or pooped in their little bjorn potties. I only put diapers on when we went out because I didn't always know where the first available toilet would be but they hardly ever used them. By 18 months they could hold it and wait until we got to a toilet even if it was 10 minute wait.

Hi J.,

All parents and their parenting styles are different. Please know that the most important thing your daughter has is love and support. It is clear she has that in you because you are seeking advice and trying to do what is best.

To all the mommies that are criticizing J.'s choice, please remember what it is like for you to be a mom for the first time and how much SUPPORT you could have used. I am sure that all of us have done things our way at some point and know what it was like to have others think it should be done differently. (how about all the in-laws who think you should change x, y, or z?)

Go for it J., you will learn what works for you and your child. It may be a great experience, or it may take some adjusting. Blessings to you and your little one.

I have done this with many success. My child was not as young, but that's only because I didn't know about it till he was 14 months. I do have a cousin who started at 6 months. Any how, the process is called Elimination Communication or Infant potty training. Only it is not really potty training it is more like understanding your baby's cues to when they have to eliminate. In a way they kinda train the parents. The first thing to you want to do is to recored and observe when your child goes pee and poop and what time and how many times. I switched to prefolds because of this process. It's hard to tell when they would go and how often with dispoissables or pocket cloth diapers. Once you get a ruff idea when they eliminate, you try to take them to the potty around that time. If you can not commit full time, you can do part time. which is what I did because I have 2 other children that I had to tend to as well. I would take him to the bathroom as soon as he would get up in the morning and when he woke up from a nap and after he would eat. When he would go pee, I would make the psssss sound or poop I would make the sound too. It also helps if you teach them to sign. That's pretty much how you get started. They do have a great support group on cafe mom its called diaper free or infant potty training group. when I started I asked those great mamas all my questions.

A friend of mine just told me that she never changed a poopy diaper after six months. The child's eyes would water and she knew it was time. They would put the baby on the toilet and she'd poop away.

I guess you need to learn the sign and cycles. I suspect if you are tuned in, it could be done.

S

Hi! You can look up books on Infant Potty Training. I "trained" my son when he was 3 months old to poop in the potty and was successful 90% of the time. However, when I went on a trip without him when he was one, the caregiver could not follow his schedule, and we lost it. Still, I think Infant Potty Training is a great way to go. Personally, though, I don't know if I will start potty training a baby girl at 10 months old, as I've heard enough stories of girls self training themselves at 18 months... Also, at 10 months, she would have gotten used to the diaper and it could take a lot of effort to get used to a new routine. in this case, deferring the transition to a time when she can understand instructions, consequences and reward systems might be better. Infant Potty Training works because babies love routine, and routines are best established early. In the early stages, it is more about catching their schedule than anything else.

But if you want to do it at this late stage, you need to answer yes to all the following:
1. Does she have a regular schedule, i.e., poop at a consistent time everyday.
2. Is her diaper dry a good amount of time?
3. Is she easy going and does she adapt easily to changes in routine?
4. Will she sit on the potty without struggling?
5. Can you invest a good amount of time to get into the new routine and maintain it on a daily basis?

If you answered yes to all the above, then get the book, "Infant Potty Training" by Laurie Boucke. Otherwise, I would advise you to wait until your daughter is ready for the typical potty training done in the US.

Hi J.- I guess I'm confused as to why? There are lots of natural diaper choices out there now that are not toxic. It seems like it would take a huge amount of time and effort with very little return to bathroom train a 10 month old. The Mom who started at 5 weeks and is "almost completely potty trained at two" doesn't really make sense to me. How does she know her child wouldn't have been using the toilet by that time anyway without two full years of working at it? I'm sure there are babies who are easier to catch at the right time then others and if it makes you happy then why not but I would be careful about getting too wrapped up in it. Is this for the baby or you? Is it so you don't have to change diapers or is there some other value that I'm missing? It sounds a bit like people using flash cards and trying to teach an infant to read, what's the rush? Babyhood is so sweet and so short. To each her own but when my girls were little I would have rather done a quick diaper change and then play, read or nap with her than spend time holding her over the toilet every hour. Good luck if you decide to go for it, sounds like others have had some success. Write and update so we'll know what you decided!

Dear J.,

I have not done it with my sons but this is my mom's and many other moms method. You'd have to put you girl on the potty (let's say in the morning) and let her sit on it for a while. You can say something like "poo-poo" or some other word connected to the process. As for number 1, you would need to take her to the bathroom and let her pee there. Usually parents have to hold the baby, the running water helps, and say something like "pee-pee". My mom potty trained me by the age of 20 months. After 1 year, I did not wear diapers. I have heard from other friends here in US (I'm from another country) who did the same and their children are completely potty trained between 18 and 24 months. One friend told me it was time consuming b/c she was taking her little daughter to the bathroom every hour, but it is totally worth it. Good luck with this process!

I'm not sure why I'm responding to this since I've never trained a child so young. But my mother in law was always wanting me to . So here are a few of the things she used to say to me.
If your child has fairly normal bowel movements, you can sit her on the potty a couple of minutes before she needs to go. For most of us, this is after a meal, usually breakfast. I think she had a small pot that she could sit on her lap, so she could still hold the baby. And of course the same would go for bottle feeding. Soon after giving the baby her milk, you might encourage her to "tinkle". Good luck. I know it can be done, even if most will tell you it's the mom that is trained when they are young, not the baby. But it can sure save a lot of diapers.

I read a majority of the reponses you received and am wondering why so many moms are in such a hurry to no longer have their baby be a baby??!!! It's astonishing to me! She is not even 1! Why are you wanting to rush this??

At that age you are basically training yourself not the baby. A potty trained child will actually tell you when they need to go and can go on their own with minimal help. I don't think a 10 month old is ready for this. They need to be physically ready as well including being able to hold their urine or waking up from nap semi dry. I just potty trained my daughter at 2 and it only took a couple of days and we were done. You may start early, but she may still not be really trained until another year or so. I think diapers are much easier than worrying about your child having accidents in the car and when you areout in public. I would wait until your child shows signs of readiness, which you can read about online.

I also practiced elimination communication with my son from the day he was born. By the time he was six or seven months almost all of his poops and over half of his pees were in the potty. Unfortunately, when he started walking he stopped wanting to be put on the potty. He had too much to do and couldn't be patient to wait for a poop. It turns out this type of "potty pause" is very common. We still do diaper free time when at home, but the accidents are much more common. According to other "EC" mommies I know many babies come out of the potty pause when they start talking and then are reliably using the potty for most elimination by around 15mts. So-- while I encourage you to buy the diaper free books and start the process, I want to warn you to be very patient with your self and your baby. Keep it very, very low pressure and mellow.

Dear J.,
I know it seems awfully young to begin thinking about potty training, but without realizing it, I started potty training my first baby very early. She developed a horrible allergy to disposable diapers and I was so terrified of her getting such another bad rash, that unless we were going somewhere, I didn't have a diaper of any kind on her at all. I put cotton training panties on her and set her on the potty throughout the day. Some people thought I was out of my mind, but like I said, I would rather her have an accident than go through another rash. But she did great. And, she never developed a fondness for diapers or the sense that she couldn't go without a diaper on. My son came along 10 years later and although he didn't have an allergy, I rarely put diapers on him. He was super easy to potty train because for instance, if we went somewhere and I put a diaper on him, he wanted it off the very instant he even just got it wet. He wanted nothing to do with wet or dirty diapers. I put them on the toilet when they were really super little so they wouldn't be afraid of it and I just knelt in front of them and hugged them and rubbed their backs. If they went, they went. If they didn't, they didn't, but everytime I went, I put them on the toilet. They both had little potty chairs, but just thought of them as another toy. They didn't use them.
I personally don't think it's too early to drop the diapers as often as you can and introduce the whole bathroom procedure. It makes things a lot easier down the road.

Best of wishes!

10 months is way too early. Way too early.

Frankly, I'm pretty dubious about this. In my experience a child does not successfully toilet train until he or she can speak in complete sentences. I can remember when my son was two, and I sent him to nursery school two mornings a week, how all the little 18 month old girls were toilet trained, but by the end of the year, they were back in diapers, and my son had toilet trained in three days right before he turned three. She's a baby! If you wanted to do this for your convenience, I suggest limiting yourself to one child.

Hi! You know, I didn't start my children that young, but I have family members who did. They told me that they just had to remember to put the baby on the toilet every hour. At that young of an age, I don't think that a baby can be truly potty-trained...the parent is trained to put them on the potty. I think that a child can be truly potty-trained when the child is able to understand that he/she has to use the potty. There may be others who disagree, but just my two cents. Have a great day!

She's a baby! Let her be a baby. Why are people always in such a big rush? Can't you just relax and enjoy her progress toward her natural developmental milestones?