In starting to write this post, I have already accepted the fact that many of you will think I'm off my rocker. Others will smile a knowing, supportive grin. But here it is: I'm going to try to potty train Emil, who is only 5 months old.
The official term isn't potty training, it's Elimination Communication (EC) or Infant Potty Training, or Natural Infant Hygiene. And I am going to do it b/c we're having such a hard time potty training Esme that I can't help but think there must be a better way.
The idea is that there are many diaper free cultures where mothers learn to communicate with their babies about needing to pee or poop. Like all communication, this is a two way street. The mother must recognize baby's habits and signals (squirming, funny faces, grunts), and the baby must recognize a certain sound that is associated with pee (pssss) and poop (hmmm), so that when baby hears those sounds he knows it's okay to let go. Does it still sound crazy to you? If so, then maybe it's not for you.
But I realize that communication with Emil is very possible. He can tell me what he wants pretty clearly, whether it's the boob, a toy, or sleep. I know him well enough to recognize his signals, and I already know when he pees and poops much of the time, so why not give this a try?
The first step is to observe. That is, find out when he goes (how soon after waking, how soon after eating, etc.). This involves having him naked or wearing a cloth diaper without the cover for a period of time (a morning or a day if possible). When he goes, I make the sound of choice (I guess I'm going to go with the tradition psss and hmmm, although you can make any sound you like) so that he starts to associate his elimination with those sounds. Once I recognize his patterns, we'll start putting him over a bowl or small potty to let him go.
Now there's a whole host of terminology that goes with EC - from a "catch" (peeing in the correct place) to a "miss" (yeah, uh, missing, although they say it's missing an opportunity not the receptacle) and pottitunity, or something like that. This all gets a little too cutesy and cult-like for me, so I'm going to stick with my normal vocabulary. I just don't buy that "miss" is any less negative than "accident." It has more to do with tone of voice than the word you choose.
Tomorrow, I'm planning to have an observation day with Emil. I'm sending the nanny to the library with Esme, and Emil and I are going to communicate about pee and poop all morning. I know that sounds thrilling, but I'd much rather do it now than change a gazillion more diapers over the next few years. I'm not aiming to have him 100% potty trained anytime soon. We'll still use diapers when we're out and about and at night. I just don't like using and changing all these diapers, so if we can use fewer and he can be on the road to full potty training a little sooner, then I'm all for it.
Stay tuned. This is going to be interesting.
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3 comments:
Go for it! I am positive that that method, although not named, worked for thousands of years before we had disposable diapers and is still working in many parts of the world today. I was not able to successfully potty train either of my boys with diapers or pull-ups. It was one accident after another, but when we went to underwear only (even at night) it was smooth sailing from there on out.
I've read quite a bit about this, lately and am eager to find how you get on. At the moment I am too busy being a walking burpcloth to want to add another body fluid to the mix, but I am tempted by the process. I can see that it works throughout the world- you just have to invest in natty Chinese crotchless babywear!
When I first read about it, I thought it sounded like way too much work for a mom with a newborn, too. But now that we're doing it, I only wish I had started sooner. At least so far, I think it's easier than using diapers for every pee and poop (of course, as you'll read in today's blog, I'm still using diapers, they're just not getting dirty very often). You can start EC anytime before the baby is 6 months, though, and have high chances of success. After 6 months, it supposedly gets more difficult, but still doable.
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