Since I just added a few "Nurturing the Baby" links about being diaper free, I thought I'd tell you a little of my experience with that idea. For years now, I've been the kind of person to "take what I like and leave the rest," so I can't say I've followed any of EC guidelines verbatim. But the idea of making potty training as gentle as possible and respectful of the child's readiness makes total sense. And mostly, I really don't relish the idea of a week of "potty training bootcamp," which is how many parents approach it. I'm too lazy for that!
I read once about someone's Russian grandparents teaching that you can simply hold an infant over the potty, making a "shh-shhh" sound (like the sound of water), and eventually they associate being over the potty with peeing, and can be reliably potty trained by one year old. This coming from a generation of people who didn't have the luxury of diapers, so this is simply what was done.
Well, of course, I thought. What did the rest of humanity do before cloth, then paper disposables? I'm sure they managed to keep their babies and selves and houses clean from constant pee and poop.
With my older 2 kids, I didn't understand any of this, but being too lazy to organize a potty training week, I simply waited until they were good and ready. That maybe took a little longer than it needed to. With my 2 year old, I've been putting her on the potty since she was about 8 months old, and she can pee on it whenever we do that. Poop is another matter, but it will come. What it comes down to is that it has been a gradual thing, but started early, and she's showing signs of being *really* ready soon here, and she's barely 2 years old.
And my methods are still a long way from "diaper free," but incorporate the parts that work for me. What about you?
~s~
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I have to say I've never tried EC. The idea just seems too overwhelming to me (read: too much work). Which some people claim cloth diapering is, and I generally correct them and inform them that it's really not that much work. So maybe it's a misconception on my part, I don't know. But like I said, I haven't tried. I usually wait until my kids are ready (I'll start offering the potty, and at some point they'll accept and are willing to try), and then I do potty training boot camp. Yep, that's right. And it's worked amazingly well for my kids, especially my second and my third. Both of them were completely potty trained day and night within a week. They were between 2.5 and 3 years old. It was actually a pretty smooth transition, no forcing things, no tears or anything. They wanted to learn, so we put on the underwear and stayed home for a few days. :o) Our experience in a nutshell. :o)
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