How I did it: My son is five months old and potty trained.

Before you start thinking this is ridiculous, think about this:

1. Before disposable diapers, women didn't spend hours and hours washing cloth diapers.

2. Before cloth was mass-produced, women didn't spend their whole pregnancy weaving cloth diapers.

3. In most of history and in much of the modern world, babies didn't/don't wear diapers. In fact, when you think about it, diapers, practical as they are, are kind of gross.

4. No diaper use means no diaper rash.

5. Friends, relatives and pediatricians who haven't heard of elimination communication will be in awe.

Anyone can do this. Babies are practically born potty-trained. That's why they "go" when you take the diaper off for the first month. In diapering cultures we train them to go in the diaper and then have to train them to go in the toilet years later. Teaching them to go in a potty just involves learning to listen to a baby's cues. You learn how to tell when your baby is hungry or tired, elimination communication is no different.

You can do it full-time or part-time. You don't need to put your baby in underwear; you can still use diapers in case of accidents. In fact, diapers are easiest to remove for the potty training phase.

I did this part-time, off and on, even then it only took 5 months. His diapers stay clean all night and most of the day now.

Some people put their babies on the potty from birth, or hold the baby in their arms over a toilet. I was unable to do this because my son was in the NICU and they had to weigh his diapers. Instead, I cued him with the ASL sign for "toilet" and mimicked the grunts he made when I knew he was "going". The nurses were confused as to why we were happy he started going after we opened the diapers, ha ha ha!

We spent a lot of time traveling and a lot of time in hospitals over the summer so while we occasionally hovered him over the potty when we caught him about to go, we primarily concentrated on getting him well instead of switching to the potty. It didn't help that his bottom was too small for the hole. While he sometimes went in the potty it was awkward holding him and uncomfortable for him so we stopped for awhile.

About the middle of September, when he was holding his head up on his own and I noticed his legs were long enough to reach the floor, I started putting him on the potty in the mornings whenever I took off the diaper and cuing him with the little grunting noise and the ASL sign. It was only a few days before he decided he preferred the potty and we were using it all day.

I put it on a schedule of every hour (as well as when he cued me) and moved up to every 2 or 3 hours depending on time of day to get him to learn to "hold it".

By the time a month had passed he was already holding it while he slept. I may not even have to worry about him wetting the bed in a few years!

Lessons & tips: Most importantly, the potty should be a positive experience. Don't make faces at what comes out, whether it's in the diaper or the potty. When your baby uses the potty, it's a "catch". When he doesn't, it's a "miss". He shouldn't be punished in any way for having a miss.

Learn to follow your baby's cues. We decided to use the very dramatic grunt he uses when he goes. Other parents use a more subtle "pssst" sound. The ASL sign will be helpful for when your baby is older. He or she will be able to signal you the same way they wave "bye-bye".

"Potty pauses" are normal, whether they are a few hours long or a few days. Our son will sometimes prefer to use the diaper for pee rather than interrupt playtime. At this point he ALWAYS prefers the potty for "poopies" or if he's wearing underwear. If he has a miss it's usually because we didn't register a cue.

We sometimes use cotton training pants and vinyl covers after baths and after "poopies". Other parents use prefolded cotton diapers. Being slightly uncomfortable when they get wet reinforces that using the potty is preferable. Disposables and high-tech cloth diapers wick away moisture too quickly for some babies (and toddlers), making it difficult for them to notice when they need to go.

If your night-time potty training is anything like mine it will require either cosleeping or at the very least keeping the crib in the room. Our baby doesn't cry when he has to go, he's more likely to cry after he's gone if we miss the cues: he grunts and does a kind of "pee-pee" dance once a night after about 6 hours of sleep. He goes right back to sleep afterward.

Resources: The Baby Bjorn Little Potty is closer to the ground than the Baby Bjorn Smart Potty. Both have a splash guard, which is a must for boys. The splash guard also serves as a place for your baby to put their hands for balance so you may want to consider it for girls as well.

I also got a foldable toilet topper for travel but he's way too small for that since he can't bend his legs when he sits on it. A cushioned toilet topper I found at the grocery store with a splash guard works better but takes up more room in a diaper bag.

I was able to get size 18T cotton Gerber training pants to fit an 11 pound baby by washing in hot water and drying in a hot dryer. Carters didn't shrink as well.

Diaper Free Baby is a good book for ideas. It's partly instructional and partly tips from parents using different tricks and approaches.

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Nov 02, 07:05PM PDT | 2 comments | 12 cheers