a while ago i posted this:
nope, everything i'm reading tells me that we instinctively do not want to soil ourselves. i know i didn't, as a baby (according to my mom). so why not give my baby the opportunity to stay clean by offering a better place to go than her pants, and thus also avoiding confusion later?
the beauty of this idea is that ultimately it is not about having a non-diaper-wearing baby; it's about communication, awareness, and meeting your child's instinctive needs, as well as vastly reducing the amount of hassle/expense/whatever from using diapers. i'd rather wash 5 diapers from "accidents" when i fail to catch her signals than 18 because i let her wallow in filth 24/7. also in developing your own awareness of the baby's bodily functions--and signaling them with a sound--helps them develop their own awareness of the same functions. supposedly babies are born with the awareness of elimination acts (and instinctively try to avoid doing it on themselves, hence "he peed as soon as i took the diaper off!"), but through conditioning via wearing diapers for 3 years, they lose the ability to recognize their own urges. they can just go anywhere, anytime, so why spend attention on it? it happens and they don't even realize it, let alone control it.
it sounds crazy but i really recommend reading up on it... it seems to work universally. and btw 85% of babies in the world do not wear diapers, so this isn't some crazy new-age idea... it just takes attention, patience, and some amount of tolerance for not getting it right 100% of the time.
(as for the idea of having to be totally in-tune with baby and reading subtle signals that she may have to go--well, i always know what my cat wants or is trying to say, and she's a cat. i can read her like a book. i would expect much more from a human child, especially considering she will be made of half my DNA... intuition may serve us well here!)
anyway, i see nothing wrong with having her in diapers as a "backup plan" to avoid messes while focusing primarily on EC. should be interesting!
some resources:
tribal baby.org - nappy-free (site)
mothering.com - elimination communication (forum)
the diaper-free baby (book)
WOW. i don't know why it never occurred to me, but why the hell shouldn't you try to keep your baby diaper free? apparently there is a whole method for essentially potty-training infants to go over a bowl or the toilet (of course you have to get them there in time). just think of the water and hassle that would save, not having to wash diapers... i am definitely going to try that. this whole childcare thing literally seems to get easier the more i read. why on earth have we made this process so built-up and complicated? so full of useless stuff and gadgets and disposable necessities? it's madness i tell you.and i am now seriously reading up on "elimination communication" because i am convinced i want to try this. think about it: we teach our babies that they are expected to soil themselves and sit in it until convenience allows us to change them... and then, abruptly, around 2-3 years old we expect them suddenly to understand that is a bad thing to do? huh?!
nope, everything i'm reading tells me that we instinctively do not want to soil ourselves. i know i didn't, as a baby (according to my mom). so why not give my baby the opportunity to stay clean by offering a better place to go than her pants, and thus also avoiding confusion later?
the beauty of this idea is that ultimately it is not about having a non-diaper-wearing baby; it's about communication, awareness, and meeting your child's instinctive needs, as well as vastly reducing the amount of hassle/expense/whatever from using diapers. i'd rather wash 5 diapers from "accidents" when i fail to catch her signals than 18 because i let her wallow in filth 24/7. also in developing your own awareness of the baby's bodily functions--and signaling them with a sound--helps them develop their own awareness of the same functions. supposedly babies are born with the awareness of elimination acts (and instinctively try to avoid doing it on themselves, hence "he peed as soon as i took the diaper off!"), but through conditioning via wearing diapers for 3 years, they lose the ability to recognize their own urges. they can just go anywhere, anytime, so why spend attention on it? it happens and they don't even realize it, let alone control it.
it sounds crazy but i really recommend reading up on it... it seems to work universally. and btw 85% of babies in the world do not wear diapers, so this isn't some crazy new-age idea... it just takes attention, patience, and some amount of tolerance for not getting it right 100% of the time.
(as for the idea of having to be totally in-tune with baby and reading subtle signals that she may have to go--well, i always know what my cat wants or is trying to say, and she's a cat. i can read her like a book. i would expect much more from a human child, especially considering she will be made of half my DNA... intuition may serve us well here!)
anyway, i see nothing wrong with having her in diapers as a "backup plan" to avoid messes while focusing primarily on EC. should be interesting!
some resources:
tribal baby.org - nappy-free (site)
mothering.com - elimination communication (forum)
the diaper-free baby (book)
Posts
March 4, 2009 at 10:09 PM
makes so much sense! when i was a baby, i hated to be soiled... i made life very unpleasant for everyone. michael has always talked about how his friends had their infants trained to potty... they'd hold the baby over a bush and give a little shake and the baby would pee! now, that is probably not the best description of the process... but i thought it sounded pretty amazing.
i hope you get your birthing location worked out. and i love the name!