Preparing For IPT

If you're pregnant and think you'd like to do IPT with your little one, then it's a really good idea to prepare. It's best to prepare:1) Your house: A waterproof mattress cover is a great idea if you'll be co-sleeping, because accidents will happen, (and even if you never have a miss in the bed, chances are, your breasts will probably leak). Over at tribalbaby.org, Charndra describes how she

Oh, What a Night

Infant Potty Training at night sounds daunting doesn't it? Do you envision waking up every 15 to 20 minutes to take your baby to the potty, all the while listening to her screeches that can only mean "how dare you take me out of my nice warm bed?" Well, in my experience, that's totally not the case. Let me tell you about the experience I had with my first baby.Baby E is a very high need baby. The

Using The Sink

I love the bathroom sink when doing infant potty training. Yes, it may sound gross, but it's just oh so handy. I have used the sink much more extensively with my daughter than with my son (boys make more of a mess with the sink, unless you're good at aiming), and we're just now starting to use the sink less often, but here are the top 10 reasons why I love it:1. My babies like the security of

Baby, It's Cold Outside

The weather is turning cooler now, and while you and I may love this change in the weather, your baby might not. Especially when it comes to the potty. If your baby usually loves sitting on the potty, but has recently started arching her back and yelling at you for having the nerve to put her on there in the first place, a cold seat could be to blame. (Side note: potty protests are frustrating

A Gross Post

For many of you today's post will definitely fall under the category of TMI. This post is only for those of you whose sensibilities aren't easily offended.For a variety of reasons, I cccasionally I like to try to look at the world through my baby's eyes. Sometimes I do it to see if my disciplining makes sense, or just to take a trip back to my own childhood, and other times, I do it to see how

FAQ

What is IPT? IPT stands for Infant Potty Training, and it's the process by which parents or caregivers teach their babies to eliminate in a potty, bowl, toilet, sink, or other receptacle, rather than in a diaper.Are IPT and EC the same thing?It depends on who you ask, but the short answer is yes, it refers to the same thing. From what I gather, some people don't like the word "training" as it

A Shot In The Arm, A Pain In The Butt

I have a love/hate relationship with vaccinations. On the love side, they protect my babies from horrible, horrible diseases that have, thanks to immunizing programs, have been eradicated from our country. Thanks to our scientists and doctors, my children will never have to fear polio, Hib meningitis, or whooping cough, to name a few. I am incredibly grateful for all that.Now, the hate part is, I

Mama Said There'll Be Days Like This, There'll Be Days Like This Mama Said

Okay, so maybe mama wasn't talking about a day where IPT seems to just go out the window. It's only 11 a.m. and we've already had 3 misses. What on earth?!?! One when I was actually holding her, which also never happens. Days like this do happen, and though they're rare, they're nonetheless frustrating.This is a time when I do some detective work, see where I'm going wrong. Two things immediately

Why Doesn't Everybody Do This?

I love doing IPT with my babies. I love that I get a little bit more into their world by potty training them from birth. I love the fact that I save soo much money by doing this. I really love that I'm not sending tons of disposable diapers to the landfill. I am really starting to get a kick out of the look on people's faces when I tell them my 6 month old poops on the potty. So, with all this

Staying Out Of Your Comfort Zone

Ah, the comfort zone. We all love it don't we? Well, maybe we do, or maybe it's kind of a love/hate relationship. We all love to be comfy in our lives, but then on the other hand, we can begin to feel like we're in a rut. Personally, I like to stay out of my comfort zone. Or at least, after I've been in it a while, I try to break out of it. It's kinda been a repeating theme through my life. I

Camping While Potty Training Your Infant

So, we just got back from a nice long weekend at Mt. Pisgah Campgrounds, and we had an awesome time! I was a bit apprehensive about taking a six month old camping, but she was a trooper. I wondered how IPT would go, since our routine would be completely out of whack, and there would be times when she might need to "hold it." We did have more misses than we normally do...about 4 over the course of

WHOA!

Do you remember Blossom? I loved that show when I was a kid. Well, she's all grown up now, and guess what! She potty trains her babies too! Here is a great video of her take on elimination communication, aka infant potty training. Thanks, Lil Mama Karen for sharing it!

The Poop Miss-tery

So, my daughter is an IPT champ. I mean, we've had much quicker progress with her than her brother. Misses are rare in general, but poop misses are like extremely extremely rare. Except...when my mom holds her. And it's not like every time that my mom holds her she poops, because that's certainly not the case. But in probably 3 of the last 4 poop misses we've had (over a span of a couple of

Not Fitting Into The Mold

I don't fit in. That's why I started this blog. I don't fit in with "mainstream parenting" especially here in the South, because I breastfeed (exclusive, extended breastfeeding at that), I don't use pacifiers, I start solids late, and I co-sleep.But I am so not of the hippie/crunchy persuasion. I have very strong Conservative Christian values. I do vaccinate, my son was circumcised, and I do use

The Biggest Lie We Tell Ourselves

"I don't have time..." I've come to the conclusion that this little phrase is the biggest lie we tell ourselves. It is an excuse we use all the time. In looking through some of the blog posts I wrote before I had kids, I realized that back then I was always making the excuse that I was just so busy, that I didn't have time to do A, B, or C. It's easy to see in hindsight that I did have plenty of

As the Church Lady Would Say, "Well Isn't That Convenient? "

So, an argument I've heard from people who think you've gotta be nuts to try IPT is that it's much more convenient to just let your baby do her business in her diaper and then clean her up. And why not just wait till she can take herself? Wouldn't that be more convenient?Well.....no. That's the short answer. But since it's always better to "show your work," I'll devote this space to argue my

What Happened?!?! Teething Frustration

I always want to portray IPT or EC if you prefer, in a very positive light. I do this because 99% of the time, it is a very positive experience. But I would be leading you on if I didn't warn you about those frustrating times that you will inevitably go through when you potty train your infant. You will have days when you wonder "what happened?" Some days, rare though they will be, you will think

The Public Bathroom Boogie

One of the most daunting tasks of IPT is using the public restroom to potty your infant. I avoid it when possible, and just use this wonderful thing instead (in the comfort of our minivan):However, sometimes there's just no getting around using those public restrooms. And when it comes down to my baby pooping on herself or using a public restroom, I'm all for the latter option. While it's not

Book Review: Infant Potty Basics

Infant Potty Basics, by Laurie Boucke (pronounced Boo-kay) is an excellent source for all people who practice IPT. This book is a simplified version of Infant Potty Training: A Gentle and Primeval Method Adapted to Modern Living. I read this book after I had my second baby, and I wish I had read it before my first was born. Since you are going against the grain of what is "normal" in Western

Bribery---Er, Postive Reinforcement

There may come a time during your potty training adventure where your child begins to miss for no apparent reason. Usually you'll figure out what the reason is; normally it's either teething or hitting a developmental milestone. But occasionally you might not figure it out, and you may be tempted to do what we did, and that was bribe our child. Our firstborn had started having some poop accidents

Progress

When you are trying to decide whether or not to potty train your baby, you might wonder how quickly your baby will progress. You might wonder if it's worth it. Now, I can sit here and tell you that every baby is different, that every parent is different, that it depends on the temperament, etc. I know that you'd rather hear what results we've had, and how quickly we've had them. So while those

Product Review: bumGenius 3.0 One Size Diapers

The world of cloth diapering can be highly confusing. There are so many choices: all-in-ones, pockets, fitteds, flats, pre-folds, covers, pins, snappis, organic cotton, the list goes on and on. With our first baby, we bought some flat diapers, a few dritz pins, and some snappis. We didn't cloth diaper him much at all, which I regret now. Part of it was feeling overwhelmed by having a newborn for

Let Your Hands Do The Talking

One of the best communication tools to have in your arsenal as an IPT parent is sign language. We used Joseph Garcia's kit, pictured here:One awesome thing about infants is that they can sign much earlier than they can talk. How much earlier? While the kit says infants around 7-9 months will sign, we've experienced it much earlier with our kids. Our son started "mabbling" (manual babbling) around

Product Review: Sweet Doll Baby AIO

Given that with IPT you'll have very few big misses, when choosing a cloth diaper, I'm more worried about comfort and durability than I am about "leakproofness" or keeping the baby feeling dry. In fact, I prefer it if the baby does feel the wetness, as discussed in my post about awareness.I ordered my two Sweet Doll Baby AIOs from Ebay. I got factory seconds because I am a cheapskate. The

A Word About Awareness

With our second baby, we've decided to go with cloth diapers to help with awareness. In other words, we want her to know when she's peed her diaper. We want her to feel the cause and effect relationship. That's the bad thing about disposables these days: they're so incredibly absorbent, a baby doesn't really feel the consequence of going in her diaper. To take it one step further, many times a

Speaking The Lingo

When you enter the world of Infant Potty Training, there are many terms you'll want to become familiar with if you cruise other sites and forums. With that in mind, I've come up with a list that will help you understand what they're talking about.Infant Potty Training-The process of teaching your young infant to use the potty, instead of using their diaper as a potty. This is the terminology I

The Scoop On Poop

One thing about IPT is you will become very familiar with your baby's poop. This is good because it can give you a heads up about changes your baby is experiencing. You'll become well acquainted with how often your baby poops and the consistency thereof, which sounds gross, but it's a good thing to be up on. It can help you know if a certain food you've introduced causes a digestive reaction.

Infant Potty Training...At night???

Should you try to practice infant potty training at night? Our first baby was very "high need." In the first few months of his life, we had lots of trouble getting him to go to sleep at night. We had decided right off the bat to put him in a diaper and try to get as much sleep as we could. Until he was three months old or so, he was extremely fussy at night. In hindsight, I wonder if maybe he

Can You Start With An Older Baby?

In case you were wondering, it doesn't matter how old your baby is: you can still start IPT (or EC if you prefer the term) any time you want. The principles still apply. Start watching her cues, though you probably have already noticed a pattern of when they go. A great way to start would be after naps and first thing in the morning. Go off of timing while you're learning your baby's cues.It

Commitment

You might be wondering if this consumes every waking moment of a mom's life. The answer in short is, no. It does take some time and commitment, but I look at it as an investment. You put in a good bit of effort up front, but as your baby grows, they become more independent, and it saves you time. The way I look at it is, whether you do IPT or not, you are training your baby. If you do IPT, you're

Safety

There are a few safety precautions you should take when practicing IPT:1.) NEVER potty your baby in a porta-potty, as drowning could occur. This danger is one reason why I highly recommend the Potty on the Go (about $20), found in my Amazon store. It's nice to always have a safe potty place available for your baby!2.) Never leave your baby alone on the toilet, as they could fall off. Of course,

Distractions

Distraction can be a good or a bad thing when it comes to IPT. On the good side, distraction can help your baby to relax, which means they can "go" more quickly. If your baby is crying or fussing, you don't necessarily need to take them off right away. It could be the reason she is fussing is that she needs to go potty. There are many good ways to distract your baby in order to get them to calm

How long do you hold them there?

When you're starting out, it can be difficult to know how long to keep your baby on the potty if she's not going. It all comes down to trial and error, and your own judgment. The quicker potty trips are, the better. If your baby is not going right away, even after being cued, you should probably take the her off and try again later. However, there are those times when baby is stressed out and

IPT: The Ecologically Friendly Choice

We all care about the environment, even (gasp) conservatives like me. I think it bothers everyone how much waste comes with disposable diapering. And while the jury is still out on whether cloth or disposables are better for the environment, IPT is definitely a better alternative than either one. If you do cloth only with IPT, there's no real waste, and with so few dirty diapers, your laundry

Listen To Your Baby

Your baby can communicate from day one when they need to "go"! Sound impossible? Parents know from instinct when their baby is hungry or tired, so why not when they need to go? And if you really think about it, most parents are aware of when their babies are "going", they just don't do anything about it. But some might argue that by the time they realize their baby is going, it's too late. Not so

Saving Some Serious Moolah

One awesome thing about IPT is the serious cash savings. The average traditionally diapered baby goes through 5,000-8,000 diapers before being potty trained, which adds up to around $1,600-$2,300. Cloth diapering be expensive too, with costs between $800-$1,100 (source: http://www.surebaby.com/costs.php). Multiply these costs by how many children you plan to have, and we're talking about a load

Consistency

Consistency is very important when practicing IPT. The more consistent you are, the more successful you will be. This doesn't mean it has to be an all-or-nothing endeavor; plenty of parents do this on a part time basis for a variety of reasons. If you can't commit to doing this full-time, whether for work related reasons, or just your own comfort level, do try to be consistent with those times

Misses

Misses can and do happen, and the best thing to do is to get over it when it happens. With our son, I was pretty hard on myself when we'd have a miss. Ironically, the tension I would feel made him tense, and we'd have even more misses. But once I would relax, we'd get back into the groove. It's best to just say to yourself, "whoops a daisy, we had a miss," and then get on with life. Don't beat

What will other people think?

The main concern I had starting out was, what on earth will people think when I tell them I'm potty training my infant? Will people think I've lost it? We all say that it doesn't matter what other people think, but we all know that deep down we do want the approval of others. While some people do give you strange looks, or a skeptical eye, many people think it's fascinating. With my son, we

Which Potty?

Where to take your baby potty depends on your own comfort level and your baby's age. For young, exclusively breastfed babies, the bathroom sink can be a great option. Simply hold your baby over the sink, and after she's finished going, rinse it all down the drain. Some people might be uncomfortable doing that, but like George Costanza said, "It's all pipes!"As your baby grows, a potty is a great

Having trouble getting baby to go?

What about those times when your baby just won't go, even though you know she needs to go? The key to fixing this problem, more than likely, has to do with your attitude. Babies are extremely sensitive to our emotions, and if you're stressed, your baby is stressed, and won't be able to relax and go. So many times I have found that if I just smile at my baby, my tension is released and she will go

Dress Your Baby For Success!

The best clothing for IPT is the one that you can get off and on the easiest, because, especially in the early months, you'll be taking your little one to the potty frequently. It's much easier to pull off a pair of pants and undo a diaper, or unsnap three snaps of a onesie than it is to undo and redo one of those full bodysuits with a million snaps. Most of the time our baby wears just a diaper

Cuing

One of the best ways to have success with IPT is to cue your baby consistently. Whenever you take your baby potty, communicate what you want them to do by making the appropriate sound. Use ssst for pee, and a grunt for poop. This helps your baby know exactly what you're wanting. You can also try blowing on the top of the baby's head, which is what the Eskimos do. It helps our daughter relax,

Starting Out

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. That's how IPT is. You just have to try, and then you'll be hooked. No matter what your reasoning for wanting to do this, the biggest barrier will be your own fears of failure, or of being viewed as a loony. I know that I certainly felt silly the first time I held my 4 day old son over the sink and grunted to try to get him to poop.

When Out And About

One of the main problems I could foresee was going out and about with a potty training baby. Sure, at home it's easy, but when you're away there are several factors: nasty public bathrooms, lack of changing tables in said nasty public bathrooms, and baby being unfamiliar with/scared of the public toilets. The answer, I found, lies in the Potty On The Go. Here are the great things about it:1.