The use of disposable diapers creates a huge amount of waste that gorge our landfills. Disposable diaper companies make larger and larger sizes, claiming that children cannot be trained until they are three or four years old, really this is just a marketing ploy that western society is falling for. People from non-Western countries think it disgusting to keep a child's waist against there body any longer than necessary. By taking our babies to the potty and practicing EC, using cloth diapers and green detergents, and toilet training as soon possible we all can help our Earth last a little longer for our children's children and the future generations.
For all the above reasons we wanted to toilet train Cai, who was conventionally diapered, as soon as possible. I did hear about EC, from my wonderful friend Tara, when Cai was 4 months, but I didn't have the guts to try it; something I regretted later. As Cai got older and started solid food and was more mobile I really disliked the difficult diaper changes and I was even more motivated to put him into underwear.
Learning about EC helped me to realize that since babies are aware of their elimination needs from birth, really you can toilet train at any time. You just have to have your child become more aware of what is going on by taking off the diaper and having them stop ignoring when they are peeing and pooping.
Since we were moving to the U.S. right before Cai turned two we decided to potty train once we were settled into the new house, when Cai was 24 months old. Of course everyone had their doubts as to the success of this endeavor since he was "so young" and "boys are harder to train than girls." However, I just knew that we had to patient and supportive and make the switch to full-time underwear!
The challenge is: How do you make the switch from your child having no idea when or what is going to come out to your child knowing when its coming and where to go in preparation? The answer: Juice + potty+ Franklin + candy!
We put the potty on the couch and sat Cai on it. We gave him lots of juice and had him watch Franklin pretty much all day. He would announce when he peed because he was excited to get the candy. He peed often because he was drinking juice. After 48 hours of lots of accidents he was able to sit on the potty and let it out right away. It was pretty amazing how quickly he started to listen to his body, considering he had been ignoring those functions for two whole years. After a week he was reliable enough to go out and about and we were down to only 1 accident a day. We were so proud of him and I could tell he was proud of himself too.
Catching his poops was a matter of watching for when he started squatting and quickly scooting the potty under him. I would give him a toy to play with (lego or a puzzle) and he would sit there for about 20 minutes, totally engrossed in his toy. When he got up we were both so excited to see what he had left behind.
We always stayed calm and happy, never pressuring him or forcing him to sit if he didn't want to. It was not a power struggle and he didn't have any regression.
Two weeks after beginning potty training we started using underwear at night. Cai said he wanted to and we went with it. Of course there were many a wet morning or night but I really feel that in order to learn how to be dry at night he has to know what it feels like to be wet and this cannot be accomplished by wearing diapers. Now Cai sometimes wakes up to pee in the middle of the night and we go and help him. He has yet to do it by himself but it will come.
My advice to anyone who wants to potty train their little one :
-Buy tons of cheap underwear from Walmart and some 100% cotton cloth diapers to mop up the accidents
-Go to strictly underwear during the day or your child will not learn as fast
-Don't worry about the pants for the first 48 hours you will have to change them so often there is no point
-Don't leave the house for the first 5 days (you will be too stressed about having an accident and your child will sense this)
-Buy really great (small) candies (m&ms, skittles,...) that your child will want (Hint: my friend, Rebecca's daughter, didn't care about candy so she set the oven timer and put her daughter on the toilet every fifteen minutes in order to catch the pees when they came out)
-Count to ten if you get stressed and keep a smile on, your child will know if what he is doing is upsetting you and that will cause more accidents and complicate the issue
-Soon after starting, get rid of the diapers at night, you will thank yourself later
-The poos will probably take longer than the pees so be prepared to throw away some underwear that are beyond saving (we did this at a park once!)
-If the poos are being missed for a long time, consider offering a super amazing reward like a whole can of sprite
Good luck, and look forward to the time you have to go down a pant size because there is no more bulky diaper:)
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4 comments:
You are a brave mommy! Good for you, your babies & the planet!:)
We also used sweet incentives- chocolate chips and mini m&m's did the trick.
Thank you also for the awesome patterns!
Your welcome for the patterns I just hope they help everyone out there. I just want to give back:)
Chocolate chips - what a good idea!
Thank you for the wonderful confirming info. I am a grandmother who has had custody of our little 22 mo. old grandson since he was 3 mos. old. I wish I had run across EC back then. (It is the way my mother taught me and my 3 sibblings and the way I taught my 3 children without even knowing what it was called) Moms at church insisted that boys now arn't ready before 3 to 3 1/2yrs. old. I knew it was a great dissposible diaper marketing ploy but I still kept our dear grandson in diapers. No more. This week we baught a Bjorn potty and I have made several styles of your trainers. My husband and I have talked about toileting and shown our toddler how we use the toilet. We have decided that this comming week we will be staying home and learning. I too believe in giving up the diapers for good. It's so confusing for little ones who have indecisive parents that use trainers one and then jump back to diapers as soon as there is a miss. Thank you so much for the great ideas to use with a child who has missed the EC opportunity, and the wonderful patterns. The nicely made ready wear trainers are so expensive. Your tutorials were perfect!
Wow! Thanks. I really enjoyed reading that. I'm so glad I could help you! Can't wait to hear how it all goes!
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