The Diaper-Free Baby_ The Natural Toilet Training Alternative - Christine Gross-Loh [64]
—LAMELLE, MOM TO NESHAMA, 12 MONTHS
TROUBLESHOOTING
Q. I just don’t want to go diaper-free. Is this even necessary?
A. No, going diaper-free is not necessary. Some diaper-free time does help raise your awareness and your baby’s, and usually motivates parents to tune in a bit more than if baby were in a diaper, but it would be counterproductive to go without diapers if the idea stressed you out. Having a relaxed, patient attitude is paramount to EC, so it’s important to do what you feel comfortable with. If you are interested in trying just a bit of diaper-free time, try what my friend Marie did: restrict diaper-free time to the kitchen or in other places that are easy to clean in case your baby has a miss. If Marie’s son started to wander away, she simply put a diaper on him.
HOW TODDLERS SAY THEY HAVE TO GO TO THE BATHROOM
Saying toilet or pee
Looking down at legs
Clutching self between legs
Running toward toilet
Pause in behavior
Signaling or signing
Playing with or trying to sit on potty or toilet
Pulling off pants
Heavy breathing or grunting
Getting whiny or asking for attention or to nurse
Asking to be picked up
Your toddler may attempt to sit on the potty as a sign she has to go.
STRATEGIES FOR EC’ING A ONE-YEAR OLD
EC’ing a one-year-old is much simpler than EC’ing during the baby stage in some ways. The mobility which can sometimes make EC challenging also makes toddlers much more independent about using the potty. It’s not uncommon to see toddlers rush to the bathroom when they feel the urge to go. Boys can now pee standing up, unlike when they were babies. This is really useful. My own experience with my sons revealed the particular merits of the standing-up stage; whenever the boys were too engrossed in their play to take a potty break, I could just let them pee, standing up, into a little bottle or cup. It was also useful if we were in a strange bathroom (at a friend’s house or out in public) and my children felt shy about using a new toilet. And if you have a daughter, she can pee anywhere too, squatting into a container or bowl. This ability actually would come in handy in the event that your child has to produce a urine sample at the doctor’s office!
Because toddlers are older, too, their bodies are bigger, their bladders are bigger, and they are able to go longer periods in between pees. This sort of sphincter control can come about remarkably rapidly even if one only just started EC’ing. Two weeks after my son had started using the potty, we were in the car on a highway and he suddenly signaled “toilet” to me. Although he was in a backup diaper, he didn’t want to use it. I had nowhere to stop and felt very bad about it. It ended up being twenty minutes until we got home, but he waited until we arrived, then went to the bathroom happily!
If your child is still in diapers but you’re having very few misses, consider taking the plunge and moving into training pants. (Disposable pull-ups are another option, but they can get expensive.) It might feel a little nerve-wracking at first, but pack a change of clothes as a backup, and see where it takes you.
Aidan had been wearing underwear at home for a while, but we were using diapers to go out. One day when we were rushing to get to the grocery store, I tried changing him out of underwear and into a diaper, but he insisted on underwear. I took a deep breath. I didn’t want to discourage him and I had to start sometime, but why today! I got a bag ready with extra clothes, underwear, and plastic bags, and filled my mind with all the accidents that might occur. But he made it dry through that outing and our next one, too. One time after that, however, we had a bunch of errands