Nurse Rebecca Mottram

When I was pregnant with my first child in 2012, a casual remark changed my life: I heard that babies in China don’t wear nappies. It got me thinking… what did they do? How can you have a baby without a nappy? My curiosity literally changed my life from that point on. Since discovering Baby Pottying I’ve become a world recognised expert on the subject, supporting parents all over world to rediscover this vital practice.

What is Baby Pottying?

Baby Pottying is also known as:
– Elimination Communication (EC)
– Infant toileting
– Infant potty training
– Baby-led potty training
– Natural Infant Hygiene.

It is simply the practice of familiarising your baby with the potty/toilet from birth. It involves learning your infant’s natural signals or timing so you can hold them over a potty or toilet. It can be done from birth, either some or all of the time and you can use nappies as a backup or not at all.

But they’re just babies!

Exactly. Babies are amazing learning machines. Believe it or not, they begin to show awareness of their bodily functions like weeing and pooing from day 1. In fact, before a baby is even 6 months of age they are capable of communicating that they have a full bladder and bowels to you non-verbally, waking up when they need to poo and even learning to associate a sound or cue with pooing and weeing.

Just as learning to walk starts when they first learn to lift up their own head, learning to use a toilet independently starts from their very first poo and wee.

So why doesn’t everybody know this?

Well they used to… before disposable nappies were invented. Disposable nappies have been around since the 1950s, gaining popularity over terry cloth nappies in the 1970s. That’s over 70 years, or 3 generations of parents that see disposable nappies as the norm with not many people still alive that remember how things used to be.

In fact, 60% of English parents started baby pottying within the first 2 weeks of life, 47% had completed potty training by 12 months and 83% were finished by 18 months (Douglas & Blomfield, Children Under 5, 1958). Similar findings are reported by Hindley (1968), Klackenberg, (1971) and Largo and Stutzle, (1977) who document over 90% of babies began using a potty in the first year of life. In fact, baby pottying is still a mainstream practice in many cultures around the world. Arguably, the advent of disposable nappies has changed things in the last 70 years, but babies themselves have not changed.

Think about how disposable nappies work – they wick away moisture instantly, so your child has little to no awareness that they have even done a wee. They may notice they are pooing but they are taught from birth that the place to do this is in their wearable toilet, a nappy, and that someone else will come and take care of it.

So children are taught to ignore the feelings in their body, they have no connection to what the toilet is for. When parents decide it’s finally time to take the nappies away, they expect children to master 40 toileting skills all at once. Many children do not have the temperament to handle such a huge transition without any preparation.

Why is Baby Pottying a better option?

Baby pottying is the most gentle, gradual and effective way for children to learn about their bodies and support them as they work towards becoming toilet independent.

Parents love Baby Pottying because they save so much money on nappies. By the time your child is 2 years old you will have bought around 5,000 nappies. Compare the cost of that to the cost of a potty and it just makes sense.

There is also an environmental cost to disposable nappies – when sent to landfill they take around 500 years to biodegrade. Think about the thousands of nappies that the millions of parents in our country have sent to landfill over the last 70 years. They are an eco-nightmare which is completely avoidable.

Babies love Baby Pottying because they are born with a strong instinct to be clean and dry – using the potty is kinder to their skin than sitting or lying in their own waste. Using a potty even supports healthy bowel and bladder development because the ideal position for voiding is squatting – it lengthens the bowel, allowing it to fully empty.
The evidence base also shows that using the potty can help prevent colic and constipation. Parents who potty their baby have less fussy, more content babies overall.

The biggest benefit of Baby Pottying, however is about the relationship you have with your child. Psychologically it’s essential for babies to have their needs met – they need to know that when they cry or make a sound that their caregiver will respond – that they will feed them, comfort them and Baby Pottying is another opportunity to develop a healthy attachment and strengthen the bond between you and your child. For parents who are not exclusively breast or chest feeding, Baby Pottying gives you and your partner equal opportunities for connection.

Baby Pottying also contributes to the relationship that your child has with themselves. Children who are trusted to practise important skills from an early age develop healthy self esteem.

This all makes perfect sense. How do I get started?

You can learn how with my book, The Baby Pottying Guide!

Nurse Rebecca Mottram is an advocate for Baby Pottying and a potty training expert. She is the author of two books; The Baby Pottying Guide and Positively Potty, the host of the Go Potty Podcast and founder of the Little Bunny Bear shop. If you are trying to resolve a potty problem, you can explore Rebecca’s free resources, join her Facebook group or request a private consultation.