Going diaper-less

My son received some adorable little boy undies (boxer briefs?) for Christmas and the last two days I've experimented with having him go diaper-free. I haven't been brave enough to attempt letting him sleep without a diaper, but when DS is awake, I've been putting him into the underwear. This actually only amounts to about six or seven hours a day. So far we've had two accidents and three successful eliminations. The first day I found out something I'd long suspected, that DS likes to pee when he's sitting in his high chair. Actually, both accidents took place in the high chair. But I learned from that, and now when he gets the glazed over look and stops paying attention to the food, I know he's about to go and can whisk him to the nearest potty.  This is something I wouldn't have figured out if I hadn't attempted to go diaper free, so I feel like it's already paid off, especially because the cleanup from the accident was minimal. (There is very little carpet in my home.)

I recommend trying this out when you have a couple of days where you don't have to leave the house, I think it would be too stressful to try to watch for your baby's signals when you are out and can be distracted by any number of things. Actually, if you could turn off cable and the Internet, that would help too. Seriously, though. I found that being right with DS the whole time he's diaper-less made me less anxious because I was able to really look for his signs.

I also realized that I want to find a physical sign for him to use to tell me he has to go. Sometimes he pounds on my arm or chest repeatedly - it's a very specific tapping sort of thing - and I think that has to do with his potty needs, but be doesn't do it every time he needs to go, so I need to either encourage that more or start my own sign and start using it consistently. Any ideas?

The Diaper-Free Baby Experiment

Huh? What? Potty-train my 6-month-old? That was my initial reaction when Morgan asked me to join her in an experiment to potty train our infant DS's. She described how she used a sss-sss sound and held her DS over the toilet before he eliminated (learn more about Elimination Communication).

The next day I tried it. After my DS ate a helping of pureed apple mixed with rice cereal, he started his pre-poop grunting. I snatched him out of his high chair, rushed to the bathroom, but alas it was too late. He had already finished his poo before I could undo the third onesie snap. Not only did I discover that my boy is a quick crapper, but I also found that he is too heavy to hold over a toilet safely with one arm.

I poked around the DiaperFreeBaby website for guidance and clicked on the Take the Diaper-Free Challenge link but wasn't convinced to take the challenge based on the site's info about checklists and support groups. What did pique my interest was a Toronto Star article from one of the sites: "This Mother to Try Potty Training at 3 months". The comments are worth reading as you can get a sense of the opposing camps on the topic of infant potty training. (Some people really think it's a stupid idea.)

The following ideas from the article helped set my expectations about trying the diaper-free experiment:

• It takes commitment and time on the part of the parent(s).


• There are success stories in developed and developing countries.


• If it works for your baby, great! If it doesn't work, don't sweat it.

Since I have the required pre-potty-trained infant and some time to spare, I'm going to give it a shot. Next step--to search for a baby potty seat.