Since Simeon was just a week or so old, we have been taking him potty. At first, it was a struggle, because we hadn't figured out how to hold him properly and he was uncomfortable. But now that we have found the proper holding technique and Simeon is used to being taken potty, he is calm and it works! Often times, he is the initiator. When he is calm and suddenly gets fussy, we know he is ready to be taken to the potty. If we follow his cues, we are almost always successful. Simeon has gone almost entire days and nights keeping dry.
The benefits for us are so many:
- We are starting to save diapers! In the long run, this will be an enormous savings.
- We can fit the potty time and diaper changing into our schedule for convenience. When it has been a couple of hours and he is dry but we know that changing his diaper later will be inconvenient, we just take him to the potty and relieve him on our time table. This helps us with our routines.
- We avoid the unexpected "fountains" that soak his outfit, the changing table, and us. If we have to change his diaper because of poo or an earlier pee, we can put him on the potty to make sure he isn't going to surprise us with anything more.
- Poo that ends up in the potty saves us from some major messy blow-outs.
- He already knows that the potty is where he should go to relieve himself. He fusses when he needs to be taken. It is my hope that this will translate into full potty training success very early on so that we don't struggle with regular potty training.
I have read a couple of books on infant potty training and the one I most recommend is "Diaper Free: The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene" by Ingrid Bauer
