The Latest Insights and Updates on Potty Training Toddlers and Babies

Welcome back to our blog on potty training children! As parents and caregivers, we understand how crucial it is to stay up-to-date with the latest news and updates in the realm of potty training. In this article, we’ll share some of the most recent insights and developments in potty training techniques and approaches for both toddlers and babies. Let’s dive in and explore the exciting world of potty training!

We are familiar with the first potty training approach we will discuss, Elimination Communication. Elimination communication remains in the forefront of innovative ways to handle potty training.

Elimination Communication:

One of the recent trends maintaining popularity in the potty training community is Elimination Communication (EC). This approach involves closely observing your baby’s signals and cues for elimination needs and responding promptly by offering them the potty. By starting at an early age, around three months or even earlier, some parents have found success in helping their infants communicate their need to eliminate, ultimately reducing the time spent in diapers.

Child-Centered Approaches:

In recent years, there has been a shift toward child-centered potty training methods. These approaches prioritize the child’s readiness and willingness to engage in potty training activities. Instead of using a strict timeline, parents are encouraged to follow their child’s cues and offer support and encouragement as needed. This flexible approach allows children to feel empowered and motivated during their potty training journey.

Technology and Potty Training:

Technology has made its way into the world of potty training as well. There are now various potty training apps available that provide interactive and engaging experiences for children. These apps often include animated videos, games, and progress tracking tools, making the potty training process more enjoyable for children and helping parents monitor their child’s progress.

Nighttime Potty Training

Nighttime potty training can be a challenging aspect for many parents. However, recent studies have suggested that nighttime dryness is often dependent on biological factors and developmental milestones. It’s crucial to remember that each child develops at their own pace, and nighttime dryness may take longer for some. Patience, consistency, and maintaining a supportive and encouraging atmosphere are key to success in nighttime potty training.

Potty training is an exciting milestone for both toddlers and parents alike. By staying informed about the latest trends and approaches, we can adapt our strategies and create a positive and supportive environment for our children. Remember, every child is unique, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to potty training. We hope these recent insights and updates will provide you with valuable information as you continue your potty training journey with your little ones. Stay tuned for more tips and tricks in our upcoming blog posts!

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No Diaper Baby

Potty Training over the years-No diaper baby

Potty training your child is an experience that is different for each family and depends greatly on cultural and environmental factors. The age at which a child should be toilet trained may vary from culture to culture and from family to family in each culture. According to my Internet research, here in the United States, before the 1950’s, most children were using the potty as early as the first few months from birth and completely toilet trained by age 1. During the 1970’s, 18 months old was when most children were potty trained. Over the years, the average age for being potty trained has increased. Today the average age is from 2 years old to 3 years old.

Potty Training and Psychology

The philosophy to hold off on potty training until later in a child’s life stems from a change in how potty training was seen in the 20th century by psychiatrists, psychologists and pediatricians of the industrialized nations such as the United States. The emphasis on the psychological impact of how people progress through childhood growth and development, gained major momentum in the early 1900’s. During the mid 1900’s psychiatrists such as Freud, contended that anxieties and other adult personality problems stem from the mishandling of childhood milestones such as developing trust and other life events such as potty training.

Many pediatricians, psychiatrists and psychologists today subscribe to the psychological impact theory and support the “readiness” approach to everything in childhood development, including the readiness to be potty trained. Dr. Brazelton, a leading modern pediatrician subscribes to the readiness theory and advocates this, so it has become the conventional thought for potty training.

Diaper Free – No diaper Baby

Pediatrician, Dr. Jill M. Lekovic contends that toilet training can begin as early as 9 months. She also contends that this is a healthy age to begin and it is beneficial for your child. Toilet training is less stressful according to Dr. Lekovic for the parent and the child if they start early because it becomes part of the child’s routine. Your child will not remember “unlearning” to go in their diapers because they will only remember using the potty or toilet. She has written a book, Diaper-Free Before 3. Dr. Lekovic recommends to parents ways to help their children communicate with them and both parents’ and children become aware of the child’s body signals for elimination.

(click on image for book preview)

Other Cultures and potty training

According to my research of reference materials on the Internet, there is no scientific studies or basis to support Dr. Brazelton’s theory that potty training needs to be an area to tread lightly. Since babies are usually potty trained before age 1 in other cultures such as in Malaysia, it seems that potty training at an earlier age does not affect the child’s developing personality.

If you look at the readiness view and the elimination communication view objectively, it is not about when your child is ready. He is ready at birth to eat, eliminate and grow. It’s when his family is ready to provide a way to help him to eat and direct him where to eliminate…the diaper or the toilet that makes the difference. On the other hand, Dr. Brazelton has a point when he says EC (elimination communication) does not fit well in industrialized societies where the mother and father quite often are employed outside the home. They may not have enough time to observe their baby for elimination cues. The modern pace of life is a obstacle to EC but if one follows the argument for EC, babies could be potty trained by the time moms were done with maternity leave which is about a six week period.

Benefits of EC potty training

There are benefits to EC potty training for baby’s family such as saving money, better skin health for the baby’s bottom, closeness to and bonding for baby and family members. Environmentally, it would reduce synthetic disposable diapers filling up landfills. The disposable diaper companies would have to develop other products.

The downside is it takes time and is difficult to travel because facilities may not be available when you need them. You would have to have a babysitter or another family member willing to continue the EC potty training if you need to leave for work or other obligations where you could not bring your baby along.

All in all, potty training can be done in different ways. When it is done depends on the family and their frame of reference about child rearing from traditional or conventional views and the knowledge they are privy to. Potty training at an early age, elimination communication view or potty training, readiness view, at a later age 18 months- 2 1/2 years old, depends upon the family. The success of either potty training view is obtained through consistency, patience and love.

P.S. Why do you think children aren’t potty trained as early as they used to be in early 20th century?

Do you think disposable diapers are bad for the environment?

Which method of potty training would you use?

Please share your thoughts and comments with us. Share this post !

Elimination Communication Potty Training

Elimination Communication

(click image above to watch video)

Elimination communication-what is it?

Children in many countries of the world learn to use the toilet on their own before age 2 and even earlier, but why not in America? The technique used to potty train children at these early ages is being called elimination communication here in America and industrialized nations. This term, elimination communication was inspired by the traditional use of diaper-less baby care in less industrialized nations.

The terms elimination communication and natural infant hygiene were created by Ingrid Bauer and are used interchangeably in her book, Diaper Free! The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene . Bauer observed during her travels to India and Africa that mothers carried their babies with no diapers without their babies having accidents. She observed what these mothers did and later she used the techniques on her own children and later began to share the diaper-less approach with other mothers and child care providers. Conscious Toilet Training written in 1979 by Laurie Boucke, also documented the diaper-less life for infants. Elimination communication is also viewed as a way to meet infants’ needs. It depends greatly on observing cues, signals, timing and changes in your baby’s behavior.

What are the benefits of elimination communication?

The benefits of elimination communication are it decreases families’ dependence on disposable diapers which reduces the environmental problem of discarding disposable diapers in landfills. It reduces the cost of washing cloth diapers and saves families money. Elimination communication babies are also free from health issues such as diaper rash and skin yeast infections from wet diapers.

What are the negatives for elimination communication?

The negatives for elimination communication according to Dr. Thomas B. Brazelton, is that it would not work in conventional industrialized nations as the mothers return to work after babies are born and there is lack of daily close contact with babies that is needed for the elimination communication to work. Most conventional training advice is based on research by Dr. Thomas B. Brazelton. He promotes the readiness approach. He supports that the readiness age for potty training is between 18 months to 2 years of age. He says that a child should be ready for potty training so as not to cause psychological damage or guilt for the parents if the child does not do well with potty training.

Other negatives is EC takes too much time and patience. Naps and travel can be difficult while using elimination communication because parents have to be in tune with cues, and signals of their baby while being preoccupied with travel activities.

What are parents saying?

Elimination communication potty training also called diaper-less or diaper-free toilet training is one of the trends today in potty training. Many parents participating in this method contend that this method is no more difficult than the conventional readiness method of potty training. EC parents say they save money and feel closer to their children because they learn to observe their needs closely and meet them.

P.S. Do you think children can be potty trained from birth and before age 1?

Is elimination communication practical?

Would you give elimination communication potty training a try and be diaper-free?

Please leave your thoughts in our comment section.

Learn more. Try diaper- free for your child.