baby toilet training

Baby Toilet Training

Sometimes called Elimination Training or Elimination Communication, this is a method used in most non-Western cultures. It does away with diapers in infants as young as three weeks old. (Some parents continue diapering babies at night, however.) The method is intended to potty train a child completely before they are 18 to 20 months old.

The approach involves tuning in closely to your infant during the first few weeks of life, learning when and how frequently your baby needs to eliminate.

The parent learns to recognize the facial expression or other physical cues the baby makes before or during elimination.

The parent is then able to anticipate when the child needs to go. At those times, the parent holds the infant over the toilet, a pot, or some other receptacle while making a comforting, hissing sound.

The infant learns to associate the hissing sound with elimination and, in time, the parent can initiate the child's elimination by making the same sound.

Later the child will begin to signal the parent in a clear way (such as a hand signal) before he or she needs to use the potty.