The following article was submitted to us by one of our readers, Lee Smith. Lee is from Little Rock, Arkansas and the article below that she has written is going to be published in the September issue of Parenting Magazine. We hope you enjoy the article and feel free to make comments!

Diaper Free Babies! How can this be?

Lee Southall Smith

 

It was one of the most gratifying things for me to walk around the corner and see my seven month old trying to position himself on his little potty by himself. Our son, Grayson Miles, was born on July 17, 2006. He weighed six pounds, 7 ounces and was 19 ½ inches long. Of course, he is amazing, and we want only the best for him at all times! His comfort, our number one priority, was the reason my interest peaked the moment I heard about natural infant hygiene.

My dear friend Nina visited my family when Grayson was eight-weeks old. She had just gone through a tragic experience with an eight-month pregnancy that resulted in her losing her twins. Even though I am sure it was painful for Nina to hold my baby, she did so with complete grace. She had truly found peace with the loss of her twins and looked forward to becoming pregnant again.

When Nina mentioned the term “diaper-free” to me, I immediately perked up and wanted details. She explained that the more formal term is natural infant hygiene and that she had looked into it when she became pregnant. She said she knew this was absolutely the way she wanted to potty-train her twins. When she told me about Ingrid Bauer’s book, Diaper Free: The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene, we immediately loaded Grayson in the car and headed for the bookstore to buy the book and learn more about this topic that innately made so much sense to me.

It has been an incredible journey! After about the third attempt in holding Grayson over the potty, he got it. We have had many mistakes, however, over the months. The closest thing I can compare this experience to is house training a brand new puppy. In the beginning, I put Grayson over the potty, both of us facing the back and me holding him in the squatting position. I always make cuing noises even to this day so that he may continue to grasp the concept. For pee, I make a hissing sound like “pssssssss.” For a bowel movement, I say the word, “poo poo.” Now, at almost 10 months old, he has his own potty that he sits in upright. It has been simply amazing. I completely stopped putting him in disposable diapers and started using cloth diapers which can more readily allow me to see if I’ve missed something.

I have journaled over the last 9 months my different feelings of natural infant hygiene. On September 29th, 2006, I wrote: “Wow, what an exciting time for my precious son! Zach, mom and I traveled to New Jersey to see Chris and his new baby. Grayson stayed in one diaper the entire plane ride. He did not soil it in the least. Of course, I took him to the bathroom on the plane several times and during our layover more than once. Maybe that was overkill, but we used one diaper for over 8 hours during waking hours!” On Oct 8th, 2006, I wrote: “I wouldn’t say that he is completely potty trained by any stretch of the imagination but he pees and poops in the toilet all of the time. Hopefully we will have this down by Christmas.” I remember in the early months I would take the diaper off of him for many hours during the day. This meant that I would have to stay very present with him during this time. This had more benefits than just catching the need to eliminate. This created a bond in the early months that is undeniably the most precious thing I could ever imagine. Not only am I taking care of all of his other needs, but I am also recognizing the need to eliminate and helping him do that in the most gentle way possible. I have to say that the biggest milestone yet, was not him rolling over or actually beginning to crawl in the last month, as impressive as that was to mom and dad! The biggest milestone for us happened on February 13, 2007, as I wrote: “Oh my goodness!!! I was washing clothes while Grayson was playing on the floor in his room. I would peak around the corner every two or three minutes to make sure he was still in the middle with some toys. This particular time, I heard Grayson making noises that did not require me going to him but just his normal grunting sounds. After a moment or so I looked around the corner, I noticed Grayson had scooted backwards to his potty, turned his body and had one arm on the lid. I immediately took his cloth diaper off and noticed he had pooped a little bit. I put him on the potty and he finished his business!!! Momma’s big 7 month old boy!!!” I strongly feel that by the time Grayson is walking he will understand fully what is going on since he has been placed over the potty since he was eight weeks old.

I started feeding Grayson solid food at six months while still nursing three or four times a day. I didn’t realize how much things would change in the diaper when I started something other than breast milk. Of course, it makes sense but I am a first time mom. There were an unusual amount of missed messes for about two weeks as we ate different things. One thing is for sure during this transition, however, Grayson does not like being dirty and scooted to the potty every time he felt the urge or even if I missed one. He will scoot and wait until I notice. If it is not quick enough he will scream at me! We are back on schedule now. At almost ten months, I have not missed a poop in about three weeks now! Knock on wood! And I keep him out of a diaper for several hours a day.

Our family went camping a couple of weekends ago for three days and Grayson did not soil one diaper! He got a kick out of using the bathroom in the woods. On May 1st, 2007, I wrote: “Camping was unbelievable. Zach, even though he has a torn ACL, put our complete camp up while Grayson crawled inside the tent and then outside the tent and then back in. His potty was positioned right outside our tent because I thought that I should keep it familiar. I noticed outdoors he would not signal the way he did at home so I simply held him up in the squatting position while he went to the bathroom into the trees. We were successful in keeping him dry all weekend! What a kid!!!”

Mothers who are interested in this early potty training should not be discouraged when messes happen frequently in the beginning. Commitment is what has gotten my husband and I through the last ten months. I understand that traditionally it is very accepted and expected in our culture to use disposable diapers until two or three years of age. But we realized how fantastic it sounded to not have to change dirty diapers after eight or nine months. Can you imagine if every parent practiced this, how much it would help in accumulated waste in this country? I strongly feel that I am providing the most comfort possible to my baby, and I am also doing my part as a concerned citizen.

I would recommend this to anyone who has the ability to stay home with their baby. While time, patience and desire are all necessary components of this process, it is well worth the journey when I see all my baby’s needs being met. From my perspective, it has greatly strengthened our bond.

Filed under: Advice