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/
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