Posted on 02/24/2007 12:08:15 PM PST by WestTexasWend
I cam across my ex's baby book, once. His German=American Pennsylkvania Dutch schoolteacher mother said she sat him on a potty at 3 months every morning until he produced.
I agree. But I do think this is an indication of the worship of third world cultures. There are cultures where women wear their babies, and it becomes a shameful thing to have not learned your baby's cues in a few weeks, and still be getting soiled.
I don't find it disturbing. I believe each parent has to work out what is best for their child. As long as the method chosen is done with patience, understanding and a willingness to clean up the oopsies I see no harm.
I agree a strong mother child attachment is essential to sucess. If a child has developed the confidence that mom is always there for him. That she is responsive to his cues. Then potty use will not be stressful. I think it is stress about it that causes most problems.
Of course one could always take a cue from that wonderful National Lampoon spoof Negligent Mother Magazine's ad for 5 day diapers.
" With the arrival of my twins, my mantra became, "when they're 21, they'll both be able to use the toilet, tie their shoes, ride a bike"
Mine used to be " when they get married it will be their spouses problem"
"I'd love to be that thin...only without the flies and death and stuff"
Again, the "hyper-educated" conveniently forget about the disease brought about by lack of sanitation systems that kill lots of third world infants and their moms.
My 2 children are barely 12 months apart.
Within 1-1/2 hours after eating breakfast my oldest, 4-6 months, could be seen turning red in the face and grunting.
Suffering from acute morning sickness, one particularly bad morning I decided to try the potty approach.
It worked like a charm and we were BOTH happy we did not have to deal with that nastiness. Yes, I repeated the process when/if caught in time or was convenient.
A few months later said child had figured out that not only could the nasty diaper be avoided, but wet ones as well by running to the potty and pointing saying "potty".
Long story short...out of diapers before first birthday except at night, but usually dry in the morning. Continued night time diapers until the new baby was a few weeks old. Once I determined there would be no reversion, to imitate the new baby for attention, diapers were abandoned all together.
Imagine, I did it without a book, or organization, or movement, or "experts" telling me anything. Some folks felt the need to tell me "I" was potty trained, not the child. My response; "Of course! Who cares? My puke time has been cut to less than half."
The American Academy of Pediatrics tells parents that children younger than 12 months have no control over bladder and bowel movements and little control six months after that.
Idiots!
I think the disposable ones are a lot better now. We had to do all that and make our own formula, sterilize the bottles, it was just part of having a baby then. And I worked most of that time after six weeks or so, too, except waited longer with my youngest.
My son will be 15. When was he trained? Like I remember. I now have a different problem. His need to vocalize his intent.
:o)
"But EC parents insist that very young children are aware of their bladder and bowel movements"
Why would anyone need to *insist* the child is aware? Of course they are aware. It's not like they're numb from the waist down.
I see by your screen name that you are raising daughters. Vive le/la difference!
Vlad's thoughtful picture looks very much like many pics of the VPOTUS. Of course I can't find those pics at the moment. ;*)
Congrats to you and Vlad! You survived. ;*)
Your experience is like my Mom's -- she had all of her children out of diapers by the time they were a year old. She says that once you get a little girl excited about her new frilly panties, they don't want to do anything to mess them up.
Personally, I think that babies are way smarter than we give them credit for, and just because they can't talk and communicate to us in words does not mean they are understanding and absorbing a lot of what they hear and see. How else do you explain the ability of many children to learn words and sentence structure by the time thy are two years old? They understand what we say to them well before they can repeat it back to us.
Toilet training is probably happening later than it used to because of the use of disposable diapers. The kid feels dry, even when the diaper is full of urine, so there is no discomfort, no feedback, and no incentive to prevent wetting the diaper. Put a kid in cloth diapers, and they'll learn more quickly that going to the potty avoids wetness and discomfort.
Thank you very much! Did I mention he can walk, too? Right out the door and down the driveway, just this afternoon, following a Bad Example (James). He probably wouldn't mind sitting on the toilet, but there's always a line around here.
I think Vlad does have a resemblance to the gentleman who shares his birthday, but it's becoming less pronounced as Vlad grows more hair.
"I agree. But I do think this is an indication of the worship of third world cultures. There are cultures where women wear their babies, and it becomes a shameful thing to have not learned your baby's cues in a few weeks, and still be getting soiled."
Uh, my kid is in the Third World right now. With his Third World relatives -- on Mrs. Flash's side. And they aren't letting him squat and go wherever he wants.
It isn't the worship of third world cultures. It's the worship of fake Western fantasies about third world cultures.
The "early potty traning" fad is as ridiculous as the "baby sign language" movement.
Did I mention we only had cloth diapers. ;*)
Your life sounds full and fun!!!
This isn't training the baby it's training the parents. If you are with your kid 24/7 and have the mini-potty ready it's not hard to learn to catch the baby in the act. However I have trouble believing that an infant actually can grasp what is going on let alone control their bowels or bladder. I'm sure in about 20 years these kids will all be in some kind of therapy.
LOL!!!
It makes sense. If a child under one can relay when they are hungry, hurting, why can't they understand the urge to use the bathroom?
Son potty trained fully about at about 1.5 years old. Daughter at about 14 months.
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