Potty Learning at 15 months

I know early potty training has developed a bad rap here in the West but let me share our reasons behind our decision to start now rather than "when she tells you she's ready..."

1)In many other parts of the world there are no diapers, from early on mothers read their baby's body language and assist them in elimination (held over a bowl or tiny potty). This is called Elimination Communication (EC) and it's a positive early potty training that is really more "parent training" since it is the parent's reading the cues. We started doing EC with Sarah when she was about 10 weeks old to minimize her eczema prone skin's contact with urine. We purchased a BabyBjorn "Little potty" which you can find at Amazon.com and BabiesRus. We now have three.

While not crazy diligent with EC, Sarah has been doing the vast majority of her #2's in potty chairs since about 9 months. In between trips to her potty she was cloth diapered.

2)My daughter did not tell me that she was ready to learn how to use a spoon or learn how to climb down safely from things. She didn't tell me that she wanted to brush her teeth or bring me a story book but these are all things that she loves to do. Why would I wait for her to tell me she's ready to use the potty if I've taught her many other things before she told me she was ready? I believe if it's a positive outlook there's nothing wrong with starting early.

3)I have discovered that especially while she is teething she is prone to redness in the diaper area which again leads me stait to the conclusion that it is not natural for a child's skin to be in contact with their waste.

4)Even in the US babies were consistently potty trained between 18 months and 2 years before the mass usage of disposable diapers. Feel dry technology may be great for getting babies to nap longer and be more comfortable than a wet cloth diaper but it is not great for early potty learning.

5)Research shows that babies and young toddlers are more open to potty learning than children nearing the 3 year mark.


Here goes nothing! I came across this article and followed some of it's advice (I really don't believe we will be letting her run around naked for 3 months): http://www.babycenter.com/0_potty-training-in-three-days-or-less_10310078.bc

Pre-training:
We have been talking about mommy and daddy using the potty for a while now. (At least a month or so). We also regularly read "The Potty Book for Girls" which depicts a cute story about learning to use the potty. This book has given Sarah some exposure to what the potty is for and the idea that we will soon be done with diapers.

Day 1:
Today was the perfect day to start Sarah's potty learning. She started the day waking me up because she needed to use her potty for a #2. I stumbled across a "method of potty learning" that advocates for a naked bottom half. Allowing parents to see accidents quickly and allowing children to sit on the potty quickly. I started letting Sarah run around the house (baby pee is incredibly easy to wipe up, even from carpet). She had a couple of piddles on the floor and I had her help me pat the towels to clean it up. I didn't use any negative words just told her that pee goes in the potty. I also took her to sit on the potty at regular intervals. Most of the morning went by without a successful potty hit (I was starting to think that she wasn't ready yet) but now (at 4:30) she has had 2 #2's and 4 #1's in the potty! The most interesting thing to me was that shortly after lunch she started finding me and saying "uhh ohh! uhh ohh! uhh ohh!" If I asked her what was wrong she would point to a puddle on the floor. The puddles throughout the day went from full-blown puddles to quarter size puddles (leading me to believe that she was stopping herself from emptying completely.) Several of her pees that made it in the potty were after she said uhh ohh and showed me a tiny accident. Then I had her sit on the potty and read a story to her while she finished. She is currently napping diaper free on some waterproof pads but I am still planning on using cloth diapers for night time as she still nurses at night and usually wets about twice a night.

She was dry at the end of her nap and used the potty right away.
By the end of day 1 we had 11 successful potty trips! **We stopped using stickers as a reward about half-way through the day, she became disinterested with them after getting 8... I'm going to use them at random for a while.

Day 2:
Sarah woke me up this morning and we immediately went to the potty. She had a tiny bit of pee in her diaper but finished in the potty. We used the potty twice more throughout the morning and went outside the house for the first time wearing our cotton pants. She bounced her ball up and down the sidewalk and then we went on a short stroller ride to watch the construction workers and their "go-gah's" (ie: machinery) She stayed dry and went as soon as we got home. It is still me predicting when she needs to use the potty, she's not telling me yet (other than body language) but no puddles so far and it's 11 a.m. :-) Sarah did wet the waterproof mat during her nap but continued to use the potty in the afternoon. Around 3 I got brave, we went to the grocery store without a diaper on. I put a plastic bag and a couple of cloth diapers over her car seat and slung her in the store. She waited until we got home and went. In fact all day long with the exception of when she was sleeping she has been perfect at using the potty. This evening at bed time she threw the biggest fit over having a diaper put on her. I gave in and let her fall asleep naked. I decided I could put one on her when we go to bed. I'm interested to see what tomorrow will hold!

Day 3 - Sarah's 15 months today!
My day started at 3:30 a.m. Sarah woke me up (still dry) even while wearing her diaper and she used the potty for #1 and #2. I let her go diaper free and she went back to sleep until 6:30 when she got up (still dry) and used the potty again. I was floored. My baby turned 15 months old today and she didn't wet herself overnight. We did have an opps on the way to Grandma's house (she fell asleep in the car) but the whole day while we were out she used her little pottys and was fine on the way home. So in the last two days she has only had two "accidents" both while sleeping. That is an impressive 48 hours for such a little gal. I'm proud of her and consider this early learning a testament to our relationship - the fact that I could read her body language to assist teaching her something so basic as keeping herself clean and dry. She is not using words to tell me that she has to go but she has carried a potty to me when she needs help. I have found that she only likes to go about every 3 hours (when I offer more frequently she says "no" and walks away). Hopefully the rest of the process (verbalization, manipulating clothing, washing hands independently) will follow smoothly when she's developmentally ready. I'll try to edit this post to add when she reaches these mile stones or add interesting moments along the journey. I don't see us as being done but we are completed with our 3 day kick-off and from here we will just continue to work at her pace :-) (And I will enjoy a break in my diaper laundering :-)