Okay, so I’ve been doing the infant potty training (aka elimination communication) thing for nearly six months now and here’s my experience since my last post:
As my baby grew older, his body language cues started to change as well as his sounds that told me he needed to go to the potty. He stopped stretching his legs out when he needed to poop which had been the tell-tale sign starting at 6 weeks old. At around 3 months old he began to make a sort of urgent sound “uhh-uhh” when he needed to pee and/or poop.
He began to try to hold his pee (a lot of the time) and poop until I could get him to the potty. I would miss a lot of pees when I was distracted (talking on the phone or doing something where I wouldn’t hear him), but he would almost always tell me when he needed to go. Then one day somewhere around 5 months old, he started doing silent pees where he wouldn’t tell me when we would go. It happened a lot for a while and then tapered off some, but now he still does do silent pees sometimes.
Here’s an interesting thing that happened while we were traveling for 3 weeks. I decided that cloth diapers would take up too much space in my suitcase and that washing them while on the road would be unpredictable, so I used disposable diapers. During the time I used disposables, I found it was much harder to tell when he was peeing. His sounds also changed while we were on this trip so I really had a hard time catching pees. I thought that once we got home and I started to use cloth diapers again that I would get back on track. It has been better, but not quite as good as when we left for our trip. I think that using a diaper where you and the baby can’t feel wetness can set back the potty training process. Now I think he got used to peeing in his diaper so he is not as good about telling me until he is really wet. I know part of it is that I am not clear on what his sound signal is anymore and/or body language cues. I know what I need to do is spend a few hours with his diaper off so that I can witness exactly what happens right before he pees. The thing is that now he is in full crawling mode so it is not as easy to do. I will try it soon though so I can get back on track.
Another thing I found when I was traveling was that it is not always easy and societally acceptable to have a potty trained baby. I had brought his potty-on-the-go seat with me on the airplane so that I could just have him pee into the bag and not have to get up every time he needed to pee. But when passengers and the flight attendant saw the potty, they looked disgusted as if they thought I was going to have him poop and subject everyone to the smell. At that point in his potty training, he would fuss and be unhappy if I didn’t take him to the potty, so I just saw it as a way to keep him happy and less fussy. Once the flight attendant told me I had to take him into the bathroom, it became challenging to get him there in time before his bladder couldn’t hold it any longer. There was usually a wait for the bathroom, so I ended up changing wet diapers instead of catching his pees.
I also realized while on the road that some cities like Beverly Hills don’t have bathrooms in many of the smaller boutique stores. It is also impossible to just crouch down behind a bush because there are no bushes or leafy trees in Beverly Hills. Even when I did know when he had to go pee, I couldn’t find a place to take him.
I also realized that when you are in a city where it takes time (30+ minutes) to drive around and you can’t just pull over if you’re on the freeway, it makes it more difficult to answer a baby’s plea for a potty break. It helps to give him a chance to pee right before you get in the car and right after you get to your destination. That is where the “potty-on-the-go” comes in handy if you don’t have a nearby bush handy.
More potty training stories to come….
(Read Infant Potty Training Works! Post Before Reading This- under parenting category)
Ok, here is an update to my potty training experience/experiment… and here’s what I’ve found:
It doesn’t take very long at all to get your baby to pee consistently in the potty, but it is a major commitment for you the parent. It took Cam just a couple of days to understand the potty is the place to pee.
The first few days I would guess when it seemed like he would need to pee. I sat him on the potty and made psshhh-psshh sounds and said pee-pee to give him a verbal cue. After a couple days my husband and I noticed that he would kick his legs and sometimes cry before he needed to pee. (It’s very important to have the support of any other caretakers in on the potty training too!) And after a couple of days I noticed that when I made the pee-pee sounds he would actually try to pee on the potty by flexing his hip muscles. I wasn’t sure though if he was associating peeing with being placed on the potty until I tried making the pee-pee sounds when we were at the beach– and sure enough he peed right on cue!
At night it was pretty predictable as to when to get him to the potty. In the middle of the night I would feel him kicking me as he was asleep and everytime it was when he needed to pee. The challenging part was when I decided to transition him from sleeping in bed with me to sleeping in a bassinet next to the bed– I couldn’t feel him kick me anymore, but I discovered that I could hear his legs moving around and he would make a certain sound when it was time.
We’ve had several nights in a row now with a totally dry diaper! I am more tired because I am constantly looking at him to see if he’s kicking, but I’m sure I’ll get used to trusting his sounds as my cue.
A friend asked me about pooping, how long do you keep him on the potty. I told her to use your intuition which I do… but I also noticed that in watching his leg and feet, I can tell if he is still in the pushing mode or totally done if he is relaxed.
I also discovered a great product called “potty on the go”. We used it today at our breastfeeding support group and it worked great! Cam pooped and peed and it was easy, clean and efficient! It is a collapsable potty that fits in your diaper bag! It comes with special plastic bags that act as the “well” of the pot. The bags have an absorbent pad at the bottom. I think you can use any plastic bag really and it’ll still work. A friend suggested an eco-friendly solution of using bio-degradable corn husk bags. I like that idea a lot, but I’ll have to see how easy they are to find, how waterproof they are and if they are not too pricey.
I am still struggling to make potty training work when we are out and about. I find that I am not clued into him as well since I’m being distracted by whatever I’m doing. And when he cries to let me know, I haven’t been able to be quick enough to get his diaper off and find an appropriate place to pee. I’m not sure that the potty on the go will solve those problems… hmmm. I’ll let you know if I discover anything that makes it easier. For now I’m thrilled that all of this is working so well… thanks to Cam 
Hey, if you’re about to have a baby or know someone who is, you’ve gotta hear about this…
I didn’t know if it would be possible to potty train an infant even though I had read about it. But I can tell you now that it really works. My son started pooping in the potty at 6 & 1/2 weeks old!
Here’s what happened…
Every day after we came home from our walk when I would change his wet diaper, he would start to poop. After it happened a few times at different times of the day, I realized that he was holding on until we got home and onto his changing table. I thought since he’s associating the changing table with pooping, why not just change the association to the potty.
Since I am a stay-at-home-mom, I have the luxury of watching him very closely, so I noticed the cues he would give me before he was going to poop. He would push his legs out straight and make little grunting sounds. I’m sure each child probably has different cues.
When he was on the changing table I used to say “poop-poop or poopy-poopy” telling him to poop it out so I could then put a clean diaper on him. So when I put him on the potty, he recognized the words and would literally begin to push when I would say the words.
Even when we are away from the house for many hours, he will try to wait to poop in the potty at home and he is now only 8 weeks old.
What I love about this:
It makes life so much easier now that I don’t have to clean poopy diapers. I can wash my cloth diapers in one cycle instead of having to do the cold rinse first, saving time, energy and water.
I can tell that Cam (my baby boy) knows that I know that he has to poop, so he feels understood. This is a major thing to be able to let your child know that you understand him. I think it makes them feel more secure and less frustrated and alienated. It creates a special bond being able to essentially communicate before the baby can talk. When he feels he is being understood, everything is right in his world.
I read (actually skimmed) Infant Potty Training by Laurie Boucke. The book is pretty long citing other countries that have been using the techniques for ages and a whole section on testimonals. I’m sure there are shorter, simpler books on the subject. A friend of mine just bought a DVD on it, but in my experience it is pretty simple.
Want some tips to try it yourself? Here’s my advice:
•Watch for cues from your baby– vocal sounds and body language.
•Be consistent with using a certain word or sound when you talk to your baby about poop (and pee).
•Use the same potty or bowl or receptacle consistently so your baby associates pooping with that place.
•Be encouraging and loving when you change your baby’s diapers and when pooping on the potty. Your baby can detect if you associate poop with negative feelings or if you love his poop as much as you love him Let him know he did a good thing and you’re happy about it.
•Make sure he is comfortable and happy on the potty. I talk to him with a happy, soothing voice and sometimes breast-feed while he’s on the potty to keep him content. I don’t keep him there for too long so he won’t get frustrated with the process.
•Use your intuition to sense if it is time to poop.
•Pay attention to patterns: time of day, after a long nap, after waking in the morning, etc.
•Commit to trying to make every big poop in the potty. It takes lots of effort on the parents part to create the consistency. Effective training is about consistency and association to only using the potty.
My next effort is to get Cam to pee in the potty every time. Talk about commitment… he sometimes pees every 15 minutes! I haven’t yet learned his cues for peeing. I’ll need to stop putting a waterproof diaper cover on him so that I can tell when he’s actually peeing.
I’ll let you know how that goes
Your Sensible Girlfriend,
Angeline
Ok, here is an update to my potty training experience/experiment… and here’s what I’ve found:
It doesn’t take very long at all to get your baby to pee consistently in the potty, but it is a major commitment for you the parent. It took Cam just a couple of days to understand the potty is the place to pee.
The first few days I would guess when it seemed like he would need to pee. I sat him on the potty and made psshhh-psshh sounds and said pee-pee to give him a verbal cue. After a couple days my husband and I noticed that he would kick his legs and sometimes cry before he needed to pee. (It’s very important to have the support of any other caretakers in on the potty training too!) And after a couple of days I noticed that when I made the pee-pee sounds he would actually try to pee on the potty by flexing his hip muscles. I wasn’t sure though if he was associating peeing with being placed on the potty until I tried making the pee-pee sounds when we were at the beach– and sure enough he peed right on cue!
At night it was pretty predictable as to when to get him to the potty. In the middle of the night I would feel him kicking me as he was asleep and everytime it was when he needed to pee. The challenging part was when I decided to transition him from sleeping in bed with me to sleeping in a bassinet next to the bed– I couldn’t feel him kick me anymore, but I discovered that I could hear his legs moving around and he would make a certain sound when it was time.
We’ve had several nights in a row now with a totally dry diaper! I am more tired because I am constantly looking at him to see if he’s kicking, but I’m sure I’ll get used to trusting his sounds as my cue.
A friend asked me about pooping, how long do you keep him on the potty. I told her to use your intuition which I do… but I also noticed that in watching his leg and feet, I can tell if he is still in the pushing mode or totally done if he is relaxed.
I also discovered a great product called “potty on the go”. We used it today at our breastfeeding support group and it worked great! Cam pooped and peed and it was easy, clean and efficient! It is a collapsable potty that fits in your diaper bag! It comes with special plastic bags that act as the “well” of the pot. The bags have an absorbent pad at the bottom. I think you can use any plastic bag really and it’ll still work. A friend suggested an eco-friendly solution of using bio-degradable corn husk bags. I like that idea a lot, but I’ll have to see how easy they are to find, how waterproof they are and if they are not too pricey.
I am still struggling to make potty training work when we are out and about. I find that I am not clued into him as well since I’m being distracted by whatever I’m doing. And when he cries to let me know, I haven’t been able to be quick enough to get his diaper off and find an appropriate place to pee. I’m not sure that the potty on the go will solve those problems… hmmm. I’ll let you know if I discover anything that makes it easier. For now I’m thrilled that all of this is working so well… thanks to Cam
