Give Infant Potty Training a Try!

by Claire C. McKiernan

    I began researching Infant Potty Training (IPT) eight years ago. Perhaps it was that first poop that shot up to my firstborn’s armpits that made me put my skepticism aside.  I wound up buying Infant Potty Basics by Laurie Boucke (about 100 pages) along with the 500 page companion Infant Potty Training by the same author which covers potty training around the world. There are other books and websites on the topic, but these cover the basics.

    IPT is unconventional in America: I didn’t try it until my firstborn was eleven months old. On that glorious day, I showed her the new potty and she happily sat down and peed in it.  That day she peed six times on the potty!  Two months later, I introduced the potty ring on top of the toilet and she used both potties. By 14 months she was pooping twice a day, but I was only changing one or two poopy diapers a week.

    When my son came along 2 ½ years later, I couldn’t wait to put IPT to the test. I started him at 6 WEEKS old! Now this was real infant potty training!  I bought the smallest, simplest potty I could find. I gently placed him on it with his back resting against my belly while we happily gazed at each other in a mirror. That first day, he peed five times in the potty, and the second day he pooped for the first time in it. A week later we were catching three of his six poops a day in the potty.  I only held him on the potty for a minute or two at a time, and only if he was content. He quickly associated pooping with the potty and enjoyed being clean in his diaper. By the time he was 4 months old, I was only changing one poopy diaper a week. By 8 ½ months, he would let me know he had to go. By 10 months, he rejected his potty in favor of a potty ring.

    I also started my third child, another son, at 6 weeks old with much the same success. According to my baby journal, by the time he was 4 months old, I had only changed one poopy diaper in the space of three weeks!

My fourth child is now 19 months old. She did equally well early on, but more recently went through the longest potty strike of any of them: nearly three months! My other children went on strike for periods lasting 1-3 weeks. Strikes correlate with transitions, learning to walk, teething, illness, or anything that puts potty training on the back burner for either parent or baby. When I’m sick or stressed, I’m not as in tune to the baby.

    Yes, IPT takes some effort, but there is very little about babies that doesn’t.  IPT is, above all, a very gentle, loving method.  Really, it isn't any more trouble to put the baby on the potty before she goes than it is to change a diaper afterward. A baby will immediately convey that he doesn’t want to sit on the potty by crying or stiffening his legs. That’s your cue to say, “Okay, we’ll try again later.”

    IPT is practiced extensively throughout much of the world, and by both stay-at-home moms and working moms. Infant Potty Training was the norm in the U.S. until about 1950. Unfortunately, a few harsher methods had come into practice and this, along with the advent of the disposable diaper, put a stigma on early training in this country.

 That’s a pity because:

1. IPT respects the baby’s natural sense of hygiene (some hate being dirty more than others, but keeping them in diapers teaches them to ignore the sensations of a dirty diaper.)
2. It’s economical and earth friendly—I’ve saved countless diapers and wipes, and for cloth diaper fans, it saves washes.
3. Virtually no diaper rash!  No rash means greater comfort for baby.
4. It’s a bonding time—the other end of breast-feeding! My kids have spent many happy moments on their potty while we read books and sang songs.
5. There’s some luck involved, but little frustration. You don’t expect much control yet, so there’s no pressure on baby.
6. Being accustomed to a potty early on makes for fewer tears later. It’s far less likely to become a stubborn control issue than it is for a child who exclusively used his diaper the first couple years.
7. Over time, you intuitively know when she has to go, even if it’s not her usual time.

Consider giving IPT a try with your little one!