Potty Training isn't my favorite thing in the world! With my first 2 kids, potty training went fairly smoothly. Then I had my twins. They are now 5 and are mostly potty trained (still an occasional accident for one of them) during the day but aren't nighttime trained yet. Then there's my 3yo boy who can and will go when you tell him to but if you don't tell him to, usually won't go and goes through many clothing changes a day. Finally my almost 2yo girl may do better than her next older siblings but at the moment she hasn't gone on the potty yet. She is always saying "poo-poo" like she's always poopy but I think she says that for both being wet or poopy. She sometimes says it when she needs to go and if you don't think she's gone, she'll prove it by putting her hand in her diaper and then showing it to you! But she has yet to be able to go when she sits on the potty.
Recently I was at a friend's house who practices elimination communication (sometimes called infant potty training) with her son who recently turned one. While we were there he was getting fussy and she realized it might be because he needed to go potty. So she took off his undies (he doesn't wear diapers at all) and put him on his potty and he promptly pooped! I was amazed about it and asked her some questions about it. I later was looking at some websites about elimination communication and started to get interested in the topic.
I read about how in our Western society we spend the first year plus training our kids that a diaper is the place to go potty and it's ok to be wet for a while. I admit that I haven't always been as diligent as I should be about changing my kids' diapers as soon as I should. Then after we train our kids to use a diaper for going potty, we change all the rules when they enter the "terrible two's" or threes. They are already going through lots of attitudes and changes and it's often a difficult time for them to make this big change. I also read about how infants truly can control to some degree the muscles that control peeing and pooping and that until about 4 months of age, they're very aware of their peeing and pooping.
The more I watched my youngest children struggling to change their potty habits I had trained into them when they were young, the more interest I had in trying elimination communication with my next baby. I recently requested some books from the library on the topic and 2 nights ago read/skimmed through the 2 books that came. The basic process you go through in training them is to first let your baby go naked or with just a thin cloth diaper on without a cover for a period of time when you can watch them. Then you watch for them to pee or poop and when they do, you make a pssss sound (or whatever sound you decide on). You pay attention to when they tend to go and watch for visual cues that they're about to go (squirming, facial expressions etc...). Babies don't go potty when they're sleeping so key times to watch for them to go are after naptimes and then after nursing sessions.
Once you've discovered when they go and gotten them used to hearing you make the signal sound (psss or whatever), you try to get them to go when you think it's time to go. You decide on a location/receptacle for them to go into and then find a position they're comfortable in and put them over the receptacle and hold them and make the signal sound and see if they'll go. Receptacles could be a sink (infant pee/poop is pretty harmless), a bowl, the potty or whatever you decide. For a good infant position, you hold them with their heads by your body and holding their legs in your hands.
So today I decided to try it out. In the morning I was able to notice a couple of times when Lindy peed and made the signal sound. I had tried making a sound a time or two other days before I read the book but don't know if I had done it at the right time for sure. I was gone in the late morning/early afternoon so didn't do anything then - just had her in diapers. Then in the afternoon I had her diaper off and held her on a cloth diaper to catch anything. She went a couple more times and I made the sound but didn't get her over a receptacle. Then she took a long nap around suppertime. After she got up I knew she might need to go and took her to her "potty" (an ice cream bucket on the counter). I was distracted a second while holder her over the "potty" and when I looked back I noticed she had pooped! A while later after feeding her and all I took her again and she peed! Then a while later before bedtime I took her again and right away when I made the signal she peed and pooped!
I was amazed as I could tell she was relating being there and my signaling to her going potty. I couldn't believe that in one day of trying, she already related the potty position and signaling to her going potty! Today I've had her in cloth diapers most of the time - sometimes with a cover so she won't leak and sometimes without. All in all I'd say she went at least 1/2 of the time in the potty - maybe a bit more. It's a bit amazing to me! So I think I'll keep at it with this infant potty training. It doesn't take much more work than changing diapers, although I take her potty more often than I would change her diaper normally. But I'm saving on diapers and laundering so many cloth diapers! It's just nice to know that she will grow up knowing the proper place for her pee and poop. I know she won't truly be potty trained until she's closer to 2 when she can really be independent with going potty, but she could be out of diapers and dry most of the time much sooner!
Good for you for trying this! I have heard about it, but never knew anyone who did it. I think that if I were to have another baby I would look into this more myself.
I read up a little on that when I was ready to train Mary. I had a hard time with the first two also and the 2nd and 3rd girls used a pull-up until age 6 and 4. Mary still gets up in the night occasionally even though I limit evening drinking.
Now that we have a 17mo I am thinking about it soon too. I know with the move it may be hard, but it would really help on the money part not to have to buy diapers or pull-ups. Can you train them for a sound even as old as Lydia? When I did train Mary at 20 months, I took off an entire week from everything. The older girls played as they wanted and I sat with Mary nearly full time. I kept her in a dress only. I had a potty chair with books in the main area. She had a hard time learning to release! On the fifth day I was crying from frustration, but by day 6 she got it and never had another accident except during the night!
I will look forward to seeing how it goes for you! Are you working with the 2yo also? Maybe this will help them to be interested as well. Praying for you!
I think you put the infant potty training theory into easy to understand words. Thank you. I'd really love to hear about your progress in the future.
I am encouraged in two ways by your posting.
One, I have a 4 almost 5 year old that has had various potty issues, so much so that I recently put her in pull ups (and I NEVER had her pull ups before) so that I wouldn't show her so much of my frustration with her accidents. Her sister trained easily at just barely 2. I'm encouraged just to know that others have had similar issues. Maybe this method would have helped.
Secondly, I've been thinking about trying this with my baby. I'm encouraged to hear that you've already had some success.
Posted by 
Posted by 
Posted by 
• Sat 26 Jul 2008 - Untitled Comment