Just some theory, why we started this.

So My husband was reading all these websites about Infant Potty Training or Elimination Communication right after our baby was born, but I just wasn't up for it at the time, but the theory made sense. We learn to interpret our child's biological behaviors as communication from the time the child is born. The new born roots around for a breast, we assume he/she is hungry. If he cries, he must need something. We soon learn to distinguish between those cries to give the little one what they need.

Well, from the time our baby is born (or soon after) , they also make distinct biological behaviors when they are using the restroom (a grunt, a certain body movement, or expression of discomfort, etc). Most of us just ignore these communication attempts, believing that a child cannot be potty trained until they are at least age 2 or so. What we Americans do instead of listening to/ responding to these communication attempts, is teach them to go in their diaper. The child learns to ignore that biological sign. He/she will get changed sometime. What happens later, just seems cruel to me.... we teach him/her to go in their diaper for 2, 2.5, 3.0 or so years and then, suddenly, we change the expectation on them. They haven't been taught much at all about the process of elimination, but yet, suddenly, they are supposed to go in the potty and only in the potty. Children are often expected to sit on the potty for long periods of time waiting for .... well, they don't really know.... to happen. Then when they don't figure it out for for a few days, a few weeks, or a few months- they get punished or reprimanded for it.

Huh????? So we teach our kids to go in their diaper for 2.5 years and then suddenly expect them to have it all perfect. That just sounds preposterous to me. (No offense to all the normal parent's out there. )