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