The Diaper-Free Baby: The Natural Toilet Training Alternative

Imagine infants free from painful diaper rash, new parenthood without thousands of dollars The Diaper-Free Baby The Natural Toilet Training Alternative.
Table of contents

I prefer the subtitle "Natural Toilet Training" because I feel like that more closely aligns with what is actually going on here. Anyway, I read through the newborn and toddler sections thoroughly and found it to be pretty complete. I am not one to find quotes from su My wife insisted I read it well before we ever have a baby. I am not one to find quotes from successful users overly compelling, but I suppose that works for some folks. However, I do find the appeals to logic convincing--e.

I also liked the parts that explained how to get others in your life on board with the philosophy. To me, convincing grandparents and other close people to understand why you're doing it and what it is can be difficult, so some guidance there was great. Jul 17, Rebecca rated it really liked it.

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This book doesn't break new ground, but it does lay it down gently for the uninitiated. If you've never heard of Infant Potty Training or Elimination Communication, this book is a great introduction for you. If you're curious about how you might go about trying it for yourself, this book is encouraging and full of helpful hints, tips, and lists of where to get or make the few essentials a potty, training pants or baby panties, etc.

There is a subtle humor in the book and none of the alarmist o This book doesn't break new ground, but it does lay it down gently for the uninitiated. There is a subtle humor in the book and none of the alarmist or conspiracy-frightened about it. If I were asked by someone to recommend a book about EC to a total stranger, this would be it. If I wanted to recommend a book about EC to someone who was convinced conventional diapering was not helping their child, I would suggest another Jun 29, Emilia P rated it really liked it Shelves: I have a friend who is doing EC and though I do not have anywhere near the discipline to do so exclusively myself, this book did a really nice thing by saying "hey, you can do this part-time like, even once a day, if you want!

Potty: Recommended Resources

Aren't Indian grandmas on to something? Maybe I will attempt this a little more with hypothetical infant 2. Jun 21, Lindley Walter-smith rated it really liked it Shelves: I really appreciated that, unlike many parenting books, this isn't all-or-nothing. Gross-Lo provides three tracks to EC and a number of starting points, from never using a nappy from birth to giving a toddler some nappy free time and cueing once in a while. It's gentle, encouraging and nonjudgmental. My major criticism is that, like most single theme parenting books, it stretches a little content a long, long way.

It's heavily padded with anecdotes, true or invented. The information on baby weari I really appreciated that, unlike many parenting books, this isn't all-or-nothing. The information on baby wearing also promotes cross body slings while failing to warn of their dangers. Sep 19, Margaret Heller rated it liked it Shelves: Zero intention of making a lifestyle of this, but some very good ideas for a realistic approach to introducing baby to standard toileting practices. Throughout history and in many other countries including China and India the methods discussed in this book are standard practice, and the American way of doing things is the aberration.

This is the lightweight offering in this genre, and you literally could not pay me to read one of the thicker tomes on this subject. Jan 26, Bethany Zimp rated it liked it. A detailed text on teaching Elimination Communication. Yep, these are the people that have their babies use the toilet just like the rest of the non-developed world. Written in a very compelling way that explain techniques, history, and problem-solving in a very non-judgmental way.

My kids are a bit old for most of the recommendations, but it was still an informative read that offers ideas for early potty-trainers. Jan 28, Caitlinleah rated it really liked it Shelves: Parenting is so hard, I thought EC would be another thing that was impossible with an actual baby. But the author is great about showing how any steps are good steps and it's all about communication, not about results. I plan on continuing to use cloth diapers and I feel like there's still so much I learned from this book. I hope even awareness will make toilet learning easier, whenever it ends up happening for us.

Jan 25, Dawn rated it it was ok. Some intriguing concepts, but it could have been a lot shorter. Feb 19, Jessica rated it did not like it. It has enough content to support a single blog post, and the rest is all useless rambling and parent testimonial after parent testimonial. I read this book because I had an 18 month old who doesn't really speak yet peeing all over my house, and someone suggested that elimination communication was a wonderful, respectful way to help young toddlers and even babies learn to use the toilet.

It's more like clicker training your dog, though. The one thing I got out of the book was they do give a few physical signs that indicate your child may need to poop or pee, and that at least helped me some with our peeing plight. Still, would not recommend it. You can find that information for free on google with a little bit of digging I know, I did.

Sep 13, Shannon rated it liked it Shelves: I read this way back when I was quite intrigued by the idea of my child just potty training himself. This really does happen with some precocious, fastidious - both elements must be present - babies. I remember liking it. But alas, my baby sat happily on the potty - even pooped! We stopped soon with this after. Jan 01, Katie rated it liked it. I felt like the author was my cheerleader in trying EC! She offers lots of advice for all stages and ages.

I would totally recommend this book to someone who was interested in tying EC, but not your average parent. Jul 07, Joyce rated it really liked it. I'm glad I read it. It has lots of testimonies from other EC parents, which is encouraging for those many-misses days.


  • The Communication Connection Book;
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  • The Diaper-Free Baby: The Natural Toilet Training Alternative;

I also appreciated that the book stressed that EC was primarily about communication and not about a perfect score of no misses. May 02, Amy Etzel rated it really liked it. Very informative, covering a wide range of ages and situations! Mar 01, Alicia rated it it was amazing. Wonderful resource and talks thoroughly about everything you could think of relating to EC, whether starting at 0 days old or 3 years, whether part time or full time doing it.

Dec 12, Janie rated it really liked it Shelves: My brother-in-law recently told me about Elimination Communication. I didn't like the idea right away. However, BIL is a person of some sense and sagacity, and I am a person who takes it upon herself to investigate ideas new and possibly disturbing, particularly when they challenge my beliefs how else to counteract confirmation bias?

So, intent on no contempt prior to investigation I secured some materials about EC. This book was the first. Gross-Loh writes in the manner that I fancy I would u My brother-in-law recently told me about Elimination Communication. Gross-Loh writes in the manner that I fancy I would use if I were trying to introduce people to something unusual and important. The myriad parental 'case studies' are really valuable. I think she compiled a great introduction.

I'm now going to depart from the book and discuss the method. Many parents hate bloviations of the babyless. Nevertheless, here are my two babyless cents. Despite my initial quirked-eyebrow hesitation, this method makes all kinds of sense. I had no idea that this could be done, but it is done, and all over the world; it's mostly only here in America that something so sensible is so taboo.

I like to think that I have a high aptitude for thinking outside the cultural box, and this method never occurred to me. In hindsight it's so sensible and intuitive. Here's the conventional method for dealing with the waste of a baby You train her to ignore her instinct not to soil herself. Even a newborn wants not to sit in her own pee. You train her to sit in her excrement. Then two or three years later, you decide you want to train her out of all this that you've trained her into. If that's the only way, then why fight it?

Here's the EC method: You observe your baby; you eventually learn when your baby is about to pee or poop many parents using the conventional method know their baby's signs without any special effort to observe them ; when you observe your baby signaling it's an opportunity to take your baby to a potty. By the time baby is toddling she's probably toddling herself over to the potty when she needs to go. If you can't or don't observe every opportunity, that's fine.

Diapers are a tool you can use and not the only one , not a necessity you must rely on at [literally] every moment. It's not stress-free, but neither is conventional diapering. I actually had to remind myself of this, when I at the beginning found myself comparing the dirty details of this strange, new method to my straw-man imaginings of a glossy, easy, zero-cost zero-stress conventional method.

I unintentionally idealized and discounted the costs of the familiar. Parents who've done both report it's less stress and much less mess. EC beats conventional diapering in all but one measure.

Elimination communication

Widespread cultural support is a powerful thing; it's a big drawback to this method. But be the change, right? I don't request that anybody use this method. Not Joe and Bob next door.

I do insist that those who use disposable diapers are the first to live next to their diaper-filled landfills in the future, but I thought that before this book. Take responsibility for your shit. But anybody could use it. Single parents, working parents, babies with developmental delays or health concerns, families in apartments without individual washers and dryers — all can potentially benefit from some measure of EC. Some families have advantages Swedes, Finns, Indians, Koreans, folk of leisure everywhere , but EC is designed to flexibly serve any family.

If anything, it evens the playing field, because housing amenities and the kind of diapers you can afford are not limiting factors. Probably as smart as dogs. I happen to know. P Even with a puppy you can do this. Dogs, like infants, can't talk, and their signals can be inscrutable. Yet within a couple months you can get a system down. This book does not compare dogs and babies. It's much too sensitive. But I am not; the only creature I've ever pottied is a dog and the parallels do not escape me.

Mar 12, Hallie Amatullah rated it really liked it. Tons of great tips. May 10, Abigail rated it really liked it Shelves: I've actually read a book on this topic before, but for the life of me I can't remember what the name of the book is. Anyway, I was super excited to read this.

The Diaper-Free Baby

The idea of training your child to use diapers, only to have to untrain them when they reach 2ish has never made sense to me. And now finally I've been presented with an alternative. This book is also eas I've actually read a book on this topic before, but for the life of me I can't remember what the name of the book is. This book is also easy to read. It's broken down into manageable chapters, and is only pages long.

Although I am a fan of shorter non-fiction, help books, TDFB didn't get bogged down and wasn't too repetitive. I really liked that this book presented the method of diaper free babies for more than one type of people. It gives you the option to go through a less rigorous method if you're a working mom or if the method just seems a little too overwhelming.

I loved that this method is so flexible. In the end I gave the book 4 stars and if you're an expecting parent, or just curious about this topic I would definitely say give the book a try! Jan 13, C. I first stumbled across the phrase 'Elimination Communication' on a blog some point during my pregnancy. I had never heard of it before so I looked it up on Wikipedia, thought 'that looks interesting but I don't know if it would work for me' and put it to the side.

It was my son who actually started me thinking about it again as I begin to realise that he really didn't like wet diapers. This reminded me of the idea of elimination communication and the fact that it really did seem silly to me to train children to go in diapers only to train them out of diapers later on. So I began to look for some books to read to see if there was a way this might work for us. I was attracted to The Diaper Free Baby because it felt as if the author addressed the idea of 'part-time' elimination communication, something I was pretty certain we would have to do because of work schedules and the like.

I may eventually come back and change the star rating on this book after I've tried some of the things that it suggests, but for the moment I feel encouraged by what I've read. I've ordered a Baby Bjorn toilet and already begin some of the cueing and communication suggested in the book with my son. While she suggests using cloth diapers because it's easier to tell when babies are going I've also found that disposables with the line that indicates when the diaper is becoming wet can also work to help you maintain awareness of when they are going. I'm looking forward to offering 'pottytunities' after I get one of those 'sort of wet' diapers that frequently is followed up by a fully wet diaper.

I also know that at this point in his life my son almost always has a diaper within ten to fifteen minutes after a feeding. I very much appreciate that the book is not so much an emphasis on training, as an emphasis on communication and keeping young ones aware of their bodily functions. This is something that feels very healthy to me and I'm excited to try out.

We'll see how it works! Dec 09, Wendy rated it really liked it Shelves: Don't let the title scare you. This book is not actually advocating never putting a diaper on your baby. Instead it's about Elimination Communication EC which is a different way of toilet training. What it amounts to is watching for your baby's signs when they need to go just like you learn when they are hungry or tired and providing a "cue" when they go which can then be used to let them know when it's a good time for them to go, like once you have them positioned over a potty.

This system Don't let the title scare you. This system makes sense to me because: Gross-Loh, a mother of two children who were diaper-free at eighteen and fifteen months, uses the tenets of "elimination communication," or EC, to teach parents how to identify and respond to their baby or toddler's natural cues. Unlike the all-or-nothing approach of some parenting books, The Diaper-Free Baby addresses three categories of parents: Parents can practice EC as much or as little as fits their family and lifestyle.

A support group within a book, The Diaper-Free Baby also includes inspiring testimonials throughout every chapter. Parents who have successfully practiced EC identify common struggles, share experiences and problem-solving tips, and provide encouragement for those new to the technique. Their motivational stories together with Gross-Loh's practical advice will appeal to all parents interested in a fresh alternative to traditional toilet training.

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The Diaper-Free Baby: The Natural Toilet Training Alternative by Christine Gross-Loh

About Product Details Imagine infants free from painful diaper rash, new parenthood without thousands of dollars wasted in diapering costs, toilet training that is natural and noncoercive, and, most important, happier babies and parents As Christine Gross-Loh reveals in her progressive, enlightening book, all this is possible and more. William Morrow Paperbacks On Sale: Kickflip Boys by Neal Thompson.

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