Look, Ma, no diaper!

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A year and a half ago two friends, started DiaperFreeBaby and DiaperFreeBaby.org, a nonprofit and a website dedicated to ''elimination communication." About 70 people in the Boston area belong to the group.

''Discover how amazing your baby really is," encourages the brochure. ''Just as parents learn to read their baby's signs for sleep and hunger, they can also learn to read their baby's signs for needing to eliminate." Roots come from traditional cultures of Africa and Asia, where mothers carry their babies close to them and hold them out to let them urinate on the ground. In suburban Boston, parents observe the child closely, taking cues from the child's body language and trying to get him to a potty, a toilet, or even a sink before he eliminates. Sometimes a parent can give the baby a cue, like holding her over a potty and making a ''sss" sound.

''To me, this is parents getting themselves trained and not leaving it to the child at all," said Brazelton, founder of the Brazelton Touchpoints Center at Children's Hospital Boston and one of the authors of ''Toilet Training: The Brazelton Way." Brazelton says he witnessed mothers holding their babies out from their bodies to urinate when he worked with Mayan Indians in southern Mexico. ''It's a regression to an earlier stage in our civilization," he says. ''It seems like an unnecessary hovering of a parent over a child. I think there are more productive ways to interact with a child -- like play."

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2005/07/05/look_ma_no_diaper/

What do you think? Who would want to give this a go? Curious to see if people think this is insane or a good idea? I mean if it really works you would save tons in diapers and be very environmentally friendly.

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I think it sounds ok.
BUT- the money you save on diapers is doubled in what you will pay on carpet cleaning. Confused

haha

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Hmm. I have a knee-jerk reaction against the "regression to an earlier stage in our civilization" thing, as the mother-child bond and instincts have been honed over millennia and it is more often the modern overlays that are damaging than the instinctual, ancient stuff.

I'm not sure how this would play out in practice, though. Seems like it's a tall order and setting up a guilt trip for parent, kid, or both if the cues are missed. (And that it would be easy to miss cues.)

I agree that there is an over-dependence on diapers, but seems like there's a happy medium.

One thing that they're finally doing, long overdue, is diapers that are made to feel wet. Sozlet has been done with regular diapers for years now (mostly trained when she was about one, all done by two), BUT she wanted to wear pull-ups at night, and had the odd accident so wasn't secure about going without. Got the kind that feel wet, she had maybe 2 accidents, hated the feeling, stopped completely, decided she wanted to wear underwear instead, no problem since. (6 months or so?)

Anyway, that's a little off-topic. This idea (holding the kid out etc.) also doesn't take climate into account. Suburban Boston in January is rather different from Southern Mexico, I'd imagine.

It might be a nice thing to do half-way -- I guess we did, I let her run around naked a lot when she was a baby and when I saw a certain gleam in her eye or a certain way of walking I'd hustle her over to the potty -- but seems silly to expect to do it 100%.

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And I also doubt that many babysitters, daycares or nannys would want to do this - especially if they have a few children to watch.

Imagine having multiple children and trying this. Basically I am to each his own sort of thing. So if it works for you and the child is happy, who the devil cares what you do?

It does seem a bit extreme to me. What I do/did when it appeared my child is ready to use the potty is buy the really cheap diapers - that way I do not have to get the "it feels like it is wet diaper". Bonus - I pay a less money and get the benefit of them being uncomfortable.

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I agree with the climate point.
Our society has us living in houses, not huts .
Our floors are carpet , not dirt.
We dont have to carry our babies on our backs anymore because of modern technology ( strollers, cars, etc..)
The idea of holding them out when they pee doesnt seem to me a way of 'potty training" a child, but training a parent.

It sounds likea wonderful idea when you take into account the costs of diapers , wipes, rash creme etc..
But in the end, as soz said, it would cause all kinds of guilt and frustration between parent and child when cues were missed and things went wrong.

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Look, Ma, no diaper!

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