Infant Potty Training

Early Learning Teaching Your Child - Other Topics
1

Hi everyone, I came upon the podcast about Infant Potty Training and it is the best explanation I come across yet.

When I first heard about infant potty training I thought that you had to have your baby on your lap all day with your hand on their diaper so that every time you felt them pee you would run them to the pot. Everyone I ever heard mention it would say, “It’s not baby training, it’s really Mommy training.” This is of course totally impractical, but I found out that it’s really not like that and is so much easier and more practical than running to the pot every twenty minutes.

Babies can learn to associate your voice with going poo, and you can begin this training at birth, every time you hear them going poo instead of saying “Eew!” or “PU!” you say, “Go potty Johnny! Very good Johnny go potty, go potty” the whole time they’re going in their diaper. Then at around 2-3 months old, when they’re not so fragile, you can begin sitting them on the pot. Babies are born without a single habit, and at first the purpose is just to get them used to the pot, and learning to associate Mommy’s voice with letting loose. The goal is NOT to never go in their diaper, and parents should never fret about a “miss”. By three- to six-months of age, they will be so accustomed to letting loose at the sound of your command (just like most of us have to pee whenever we hear the sound of running water, like the shower) that they will let loose whenever you put them on the pot and say “Go potty”. By the time they’re walking, they will not need a diaper anymore.

It almost sounds too good to be true, but it makes SO much more sense than the “readiness” theories that are popular in the US and elsewhere today. It’s now becoming normal to potty train at four years old because we’re waiting until they’re “ready”. Almost all other cultures begin much earlier, I have heard of many different starting points, some at birth, some three months, some six months, some one year. In the US it used to be common to begin at 18 - 24 months. Now the new norm is 30 - 42 months! I think this more has to do with the ease of disposable diapers than it does with children’s abilities changing.

I did not personally potty train my son as an infant (didn’t know about that then) but I really wish I would have known about it, and I will DEFINITELY do so with my future children. My son started peeing on the potty at 18 months but didn’t consistently go poo on the potty until almost 36 months! Potty training is such a hassle with toddlers, their whole lives they’ve been trained to go in their pants at the moments convenience, then all of the sudden we introduce them to this cold, new, unknown potty and tell them to take their pants off and go in there! It makes so much more sense to start from birth, and like I said, I am for sure going to do so with my future children. You really can teach a baby anything, and babies really are a lot more capable than our culture makes them out to be.

Here’s the article, enjoy!

http://www.nogreaterjoy.org/podcasts/view-podcast/archive/2008/june/16/infant-potty-training/

2

Hi, Your message sounded great. I tried to read the link, which opened but I don’t know how to read the article, it won’t show up, could you please tell me how to do it. My 3rd child is 15 months old now and I was about to begin potty training, this method you mention sounds great, I wish I had known about it with my other two children.

Thank you for any help
Katherine

3

The article is a Podcast, meaning you listen to it rather than read it. There is a little gray strip that has a play button on it, just click that. There is a way to download it and save it to your computer so you can listen to it wherever you want, but I don’t know how :frowning:

4

Thankyou Elizabeth, I have looked around that site now, and I have started to do this with my 14month old daughter. Its good.
Katherine

5

Thanks for the tip. I have been trying with my 16 month old. We’ve had a few successes, but I’m going to incorporate these ideas too.

6

Hi there , How interesting! An old lady I know told me that this is how she had trained her kids - I kind of dismissed it as old fashioned… :blush:

Thanks for the link

TABS

7

Just wanted to relate my experience. We started potty training our daughter at 4 months. She was able to pick up and relate to letting go when sitting on the potty in around a week’s time. Over time, she has learnt to hold back and keep her diaper as dry as possible. At 7 months, she completely stopped pooping in her diaper. One thing you do need to do is actively watch out for ways they will communicate when they have to go. My daughter did it by shrugging off everything else and holding her legs together in a shivery position. These days, sometimes she just motions her hands as though removing her diaper. During the initial phases, you tend to have a lot of false positives where you end up taking them to the potty for every small gesture you might think is their cue. Eventually you learn to recognize the pattern and also timing, etc. She’s 9 months old now and unless we are careless, is usually good about not wetting her diaper. In fact, there are nights when she has held back and woken up with a dry diaper. I can’t wait until she can communicate more effectively.

Tips and other things…

  • We could not find a small enough potty. Babies R Us had a small portable Baby Bjorn potty that was available in white, blue or pink. When we started out, it was slightly big for my daughter.
  • We put the potty on the countertop in the bathroom and have her sit facing the mirror. This is nice because it allows you to communicate and play with them. The mirror also fascinates them as they watch themselves, etc.
8

I like the mirror idea. I’m going to keep it in mind for days when dd won’t sit still! We usually read books or do cards while sitting on the potty but sometimes she just needs something different.