In my previous post, I looked at how parents can learn their baby’s elimination cues.  In this post we’ll look at some of the more practical aspects of going diaper-free.

The Benefits of Going Diaper Free

There are many benefits associated with practicing diaper-free:

• saves the environment – less disposable diapers, less washing of reusable diapers.
• saves money – you don’t have to pay for diapers.
• bonding between parent and child – learning to read a baby’s elimination cues is a relationship building process.
• eliminate problems associated with diapers – such as diaper rash.
• increased comfort for your baby – it seriously can’t be enjoyable wearing a diaper with pee or poop in it.
• easier cleaning for parents – it is definitely easier to wipe just the anus than to clean a whole bottom smeared with poop.  If your baby poops straight into the toilet, there is no need to deal with poopy diapers – definitely a plus!

The Issues with Going Diaper-Free

Despite the many pluses of going diaper-free, the practice might still seem rather daunting for many parents.  Indeed, it did for me.  Peeing and pooping an infant in public especially when you’re on your own and handling a pram and the baby bag at the same time is a rather complicated act.  Add to the fact that infants have smaller bladders and will have to go to the bathroom more regularly – well, this certainly presents an extra challenge for a parent who is always on the go.

Not only is the actual practice messier, but trying to read the signs of a baby who hasn’t quite learned to communicate with you can be difficult, especially if you are a parent who is sometimes a little slow on the uptake (I know I am).  Toddlers who are being potty trained have usually learned words like “potty”, “wet”, and “dry” which is definitely a lot easier to understand.

Practicing the Diaper-Free Movement Part Time

The diaper-free movement doesn’t necessarily have to be an all or nothing approach.  If the thought of going completely diaper-free sounds too much for you, then try doing it part time.  Some parents have their babies diaper-free at home and diapered when they go out.  And if that is still too difficult, then try having your baby diaper-free for just a few hours a day. As your confidence builds, you can increase the duration that your baby goes diaper-free according to your level of comfort with the practice.

If you do intend to practice part time, a good time to start is in the morning immediately after waking.  Since most babies usually eliminate quite soon after waking, this is a good one to catch.  Having a few successes under your belt will also help to build confidence.

The first time I caught Gavin’s pee in the morning was quite an exciting moment for me.  It was almost as if I didn’t really believe in the whole diaper-free movement until that point.  It sounded like a practice that only some parents could achieve but definitely not me.

When to Start

Ideally, the earlier you start the better.  I made the mistake of waiting until Gavin could sit up (with assistance) before I started potty training him.  Since I had no experience nor did I know anyone personally who had practiced EC, I wasn’t quite sure how to go about it.  In my mind, I could only picture the process once Gavin could sit assisted and I could help him sit on a potty while he did his business.

In actual fact, you don’t really have to wait that long.  You can start reading your baby cues from birth and let your baby pee or poop lying down on a mat (diaperless).  You don’t have to physically hold him over the toilet or the sink.

Positions for Eliminating

1. Lying Down

Newborns can practice eliminating while in the lying position on a mat.  The important thing is that your baby gets the opportunity to eliminate freely without a diaper and the waste is removed immediately.

2. The Cradle Position

Once your baby has more control over his neck, you can cradle your baby as he lies along your forearms with his head in the crook of your elbow and one thigh in each hand.  Hold your baby in this position over the toilet bowl or a receptacle for the poop and pee and make the cuing sounds to encourage your baby to eliminate.

One of the problems with this position is that it can be a strain on your back as you stoop over the toilet bowl.  As your baby grows older and gets heavier, this will only get worse.  Alternatively, you can allow your baby to pee or poop into a receptacle that can be adjusted to a height level where you don’t have to bend down.

The other problem with this position is that some babies may find it difficult to poop with their legs in the air.  Some infants and young children need to brace their feet against something solid to poop.

3. Sitting on a Potty

You can also wait until your child is able to sit assisted and use a potty.

4. Sitting on the Toilet

You can hold your baby sitting on the toilet with a child seat or you can position yourself behind your child and seat your child in front of you.

Poop-Training is Easier

At least it was in my experience.  I have also read testimonies from other mothers that they felt the same.  Even if all you succeed in the end is to poop-train your baby, that’s still a good achievement.  The benefit is less poopy diapers to deal with and that was one thing I really enjoyed about practicing the diaper-free movement.

I was never really very successful with the peeing part.  I managed to catch Gavin’s pee on occasion but it would usually be a fluke.  I think it was because it was harder to read Gavin’s peeing expression, whereas his pooping expression was very clear to me.

Gavin was pooped-trained by 6-7 months.  We even had one experience where Gavin pooped in the aeroplane toilet while we were flying to Melbourne to visit my parents.  Hubby joked that Gavin had joined the mile-high club.

Regressions

As far as I understand, these will also occur as your baby grows older.  There are any number of reasons for this.  For instance, Gavin’s first regression occured in Australia because he wasn’t used to exposing his bottom in the much cooler Melbourne climate.  He would rather poop into a warm diaper than into a somewhat drafty toilet.

Likewise, as your baby moves into toddlerhood regressions can and do occur.  It may be because your toddler is suddenly distracted by the many tasks he is now trying to accomplish or simply because he is trying to make a show of autonomy.  Whatever the reason or the cause, just be patient, understanding and keep trying.

For more information on practicing the diaper-free movement, Clarissa from Idyllic Youth has been much more successful at it with her 1 year old daughter than I ever was with Gavin.  Do wander over to her blog and take have a read of her experiences.

Continuing on from my earlier post on the Diaper-Free Movement, this post examines how parents can learn to read their baby’s elimination cues and practice the art of going diaper-free.

How Do You Learn a Baby’s Elimination Cues?

There are essentially four ways you can do this, although a combination approach is usually the way to go.  The first two methods relate to your baby’s signs and communication.  The second two methods relate to parents’ instincts and cues.

1. Following your baby’s timing patterns and rhythms.

This involves knowing when your baby is most likely to eliminate. Although there will be variation between babies, there are some general patterns you can look out for. For instance:

• after waking up (in the morning and after naps)
• during or after a feed
• frequent and regular periods in the morning
• less frequent and regular periods in the afternoon

As you practice keeping your baby diaper-free, you will eventually learn which pattern your baby follows.

Personally, I found following cues to take Gavin to the toilet immediately after waking offered the greatest successes.  It is interesting to note that babies usually pee less during the night because of an anti-diuretic hormone that is secreted.  This allows them to hold off going to the toilet until they wake.  If they do need to pee during the night, a baby will normally stir and fuss in his sleep, which is another cue you can follow.

Unfortunately, as I have since discovered with a two and a half year old toddler, this practice doesn’t survive the toddler years.  Nowadays, trying to pee Gavin upon waking doesn’t necessarily guarantee peeing-in-the-toilet-bowl success.  Whether it is because the anti-diuretic hormone is no longer effective at night or if Gavin has been trained to pee immediately upon waking, I am not certain.

I am aware, though, of Gavin fussing at night when he has peed in his sleep as I can usually smell it when it occurs.  However, unlike in the case of when he was a baby, by the time he fusses at night now, he has usually peed and it is too late to take him to the toilet.  So I guess there is a lot of truth in the statement that we train our children to pee into their diapers when we diaper them.

2. Reading your baby’s body language and signals.

Before the age of six months (where it is believed that a diapered baby will become conditioned to pee and poop in a diaper), babies naturally show signs of wanting to eliminate. These may be:

• squirming or fussing
• wearing a look of concentration
• ceasing all activity
• increasing in activity
• stirring or waking from sleep

If you baby has been diaper-free for a while, you will also find that your baby might reach for you so you can take him or her to the potty.

In my personal experience, I could never read when Gavin needed to pee when he was a baby.  His fussing was minimal, and sometimes, to me anyway, non-existent.  No matter how I tried to observe him, I could never read the signs.

Now that Gavin is a toddler, I have caught moments of when he is in the act of peeing.  There is usually a momentary freeze in action, almost as if he is deep in thought, and then a resumption of activity.  If I am close enough, I will also detect the tell-tale signs of the pee smell.

Recently, hubby also noted that one of Gavin’s complaints of tummy owie might be related to his attempts to hold his pee.  For instance, he has been telling us of late quite often that he has a “wee wee owie”.  It had been confusing us for a while because we could not understand how peeing might cause an owie unless he had a urinary tract infection (which wasn’t the case).  Then hubby cottoned-on that it was Gavin’s need to pee and inability to hold it that was causing the owie.  If we waited a while after the “wee wee owie” it would soon go away on its own and Gavin would admit to having peed in his diaper.

In the case of pooping, it was much easier to read.  I had Gavin poop-trained before the age of one and was almost consistently catching his poop in the toilet.  The first regression occurred when we went to Australia for a holiday.  I assume that because the weather was cold, Gavin didn’t like having his bottom exposed for extended periods of time while I waited for the poop to come.

Reading the need to poop also becomes easier after your baby begins solids because it requires extra effort to push out solid poop as opposed to the softer stuff that comes from a diet consisting solely of milk.  If you’re quick enough, you can usually act on this sign and get your baby to the toilet before he has successfully pooped into the diaper.

Despite the poop-regression we experienced in Australia, it didn’t stop Gavin from seeking the bathroom when he needed to poop later when he was older.  I distinctly remember occasions when he would wake up in the morning running to the bathroom, banging on the door and demanding to be let in.  Unfortunately, this period didn’t last long and Gavin, for reasons unknown to us, stopped telling us he needed to go.

Whether this regression would have happened even if we had fully practiced the diaper-free movement, I can’t say.  All I do know is that two and a half year old toddlers are extremely adept at pooping and often the sign of a strained face is usually too late to act upon.  These days, by the time I recognise Gavin’s look of concentration, it is usually too late – the poop will be in the diaper faster than you can say, “Stop pushing Gavin!”

3. Using mother’s (or father’s) intuition.

Some parents will have a natural instinct for knowing when their babies need to eliminate. Even if you don’t have the instinct naturally, you will develop it as you continue to practice natural infant hygiene with your baby. Here are some examples of intuition at work:

• a sudden thought wondering if your baby needs to go
• just knowing that your baby needs to go
• feeling an urge to pee
• feeling the sensation of warmth spreading over your lap even though your baby is dry

I’m afraid my intuition skills never really kicked in.  The one and only time I felt the sensation of warmth spreading over my lap, it was because it really was.  Somehow, Gavin’s diaper leaked.  Then again, I never fully practiced going diaper free so maybe that had a role to play in my failure to develop the instincts for it.

4. Creating mother’s (or father’s) cues.

To help communication with your baby regarding elimination, you can have a routine “position” and sound associated with each elimination experience. For instance, always holding your baby a certain way over the toilet and making the same cuing sound to tell your baby that it is time to eliminate.

We’ll take a look at the practice of going diaper-free in the next post.