Born Naked

Coco's Potty Journey - 14 month old, she points at the potty and verbalizes her needs This is definitely an exciting and intereting movement in her potty journey! And they all come at once - yesterday morning she pointed at the potty and screamed for her needs to pipi, yesterday afternoon she made the sound "errrmmm.." several times intentionally to express her needs to caca, and she was right about her own needs both times! Several days ago she mimiced the cuing sound (shhh...) I usually make for her when she was sitting on the potty, and she bursted out of laugh for that! In the past couple of weeks there were times she couldn't hold her urine anymore and wet her back-up diaper just a bit, and when she was finally put on the potty for the rest of her urine her face was hilariously relieving! Couple of weeks ago I started to put her on the big toilet at times, and she's been so proud of it. She points at the toilet paper roll when she's done her business, and she tries to flush the toilet and waves bye bye..(haha, i know..) And yes she tries to put her pants back on, or try to get rid of all her pants and socks at once...(that's true too haha) Since she started daycare at 11 month old she's been using only an average of two back-up cloth diaper everyday, and these couple of days even less. She still needs help setting her up, and she still has "accidents" here and there, but she's fully aware of her elimination needs and the concept of elimination communication. As I said in my earlier posts, I am not aiming at any specific goals and simply enjoying communicating with her for all her needs. I hope our story can raise some attention of infants' instinctive elimination awareness and the ancient enjoyable practice of elimination communication.

Coco's Potty Journey - 11 month old. She got her potty routine back the second day at the day care Yesterday when I went to pick Coco up at her home day care, her care provider was very thrilled to tell me that Coco had 4 pipi and a caca in the potty! She was so happy and proud. I totally understand her excitement as I experienced the "winning a lottery kind of" happiness when she did her business on the potty for the first time at 26 days of age. As moms and care givers, one... of our biggest pleasure happens when we are able to satisfy our babies / clients needs in a timely manner. As bizarre as it may sound like, coco's care provider had a glow on her face when she was describing the moments she saw wastes eliminated in the potty from an 11 month old. She admits that it is so much easier than cleaning dirty bums, and it gives a more positive feedback. She said that the schedule I wrote for her helped, and she was also starting to learn her cues - the special fuzziness she makes when she needs to use her potty. I was very amazed by the speed they adapted to each other, and how lucky we are to have a passionate and connective day care provider. See more

Coco's Potty Journey: 11 month old, Starting day care. Yesterday Coco started her first day at her home daycare. Surprisingly, she didn't cry all day. I packed all the stuff she needs or may need for her first day, including some back-up clothes diapers and one of her favorite potty. The home care provider is very nice and is willing to work on coco's elimination needs the way she's already used to! Yesterday Coco did not void in the potty at the day care, but she did after s...he went back home in the evening. She may need some time to adapt to her new "second home" as anything like teething, sickness, new people around, can all affect her potty routine. As cosette cant go on the potty on her own yet, I wrote down a 5 times potty schedule for her to be sit on the potty just to help both the care provider and Coco adapt to each other, and the 5 times are before morning snack, before morning nap, after morning nap, after lunch / before afternoon nap, and after afternoon nap. These are the usual times she goes on the potty, until the care provider get in tone with her or her starts to use words to indicate her elimination needs, whichever comes first. The care provider is happy to work with us in this habit as its not more work than changing dirty diapers, and we both believe she will be fully potty trained soon especially after she starts walking. The photo is one day after bath she indicated me that she needs to sit on the potty, so I simply wrapped her in the towel and put her on. Even if the days I dont need to put her on the potty after her bath, we never had to put her on the change table naked first to put on diaper first before putting her clothes on. This is really nice as she doesn't have to cry for the experience of coldness. Hope Coco will adapt to her home day care soon and continue the fun and great potty journey !

Coco's potty journey: 7 month old. No more backup diapers other than when in bed or car seat. Now summer is finally here! I've decided to use less cloth diapers as backups as they can be really warm in the summer for the little bum. Even if she wet her little pants occasionally, in the summer it's not that big of a deal. Summer is making a lot of things easier, isn't it! Plus pants and underwears are not harder to be washed than cloth diapers, and she doesn't really caca on h...erself anymore since the beginning of her potty journey. One of my friend hold her baby girl over a bucket for caca since she was 6 days old and she is almost 2 month old now and hasn't cacaed into her diaper since. Thinking about those full back caca and stained cute little outfits, there's no looking back. But for now anyways, I will still use backup diapers on her for sleeping, car rides, and visiting places with carpets. Coco has been sitting on the potty without my support since 5 month old (always supervised within arm reach unless when she's surrounded by soft pillows) and now she tries to stand up (by pulling something) from the potty when she's done. She gives me a smile when I ask her "pipi? " if she does needs to go and I can't wait for her to tell me that by herself. Since she's five month, every morning after a feeding I let her sit on the potty in my bed and I go dress up myself in the same room, and that's when she has the caca of the day. There were days when she's a bit off (sick, growth spurts, etc) that our elimination communication can get a little frustrating, but so far it's been working and progressing very well. It's not just the convenience and comfort make it special, but also the connection I am able to have with her through this practice.

Coco's Potty Journey: 3 month and 3 days, first time using the potty in the car. I have always known that I could use the potty for her in the car, but I never practiced it as I prefer to feed het in a mall or a restaurant then bring her to the public washroom. Today we came out to this little snow hill in Long Sault for tobagening, and there's no public buildings nearby. Thankfully, I predicted this situation and brought her little potty with us. While her father and big bro...ther playing on the snow hill, I fed her and put her on the potty in the nicely heated car. She had a nice pee and poo inside the car without feeling the cooling air out there. As all Canadian parents may know, it is very difficult to change a baby's diaper inside the car especially in the winter, because we usually need to stand outside the car and change them on the seat. Meanwhile, the cold air goes in the car on their naked bum and they starts to cry or scream. By using a potty inside the car in the winter, my baby had a nice pee and caca without suffering the extreme weather. It also reduces the "accidents" rate that a baby may dirty the car during a diaper change. As a mom, I am really happy and proud. How did I cleaned the potty after? Well we were in the snow covered wild, clean the potty by snow and then dump them into the woods is the way to go, lol. See more

Coco's Potty Journey: 2 1/2 month of age, papa starts to practice elimination communication with her Coco's papa has put her on the potty before, and he's always amazed by how she would actually go on the potty. But by 2 and 1/2 month, her papa has really started to put her on the potty as needed without my instructions. It is really amazing to see how she sends signals and her papa recognizes it as his second instinct. It's a fun practice to have the whole family involved. Her papa is very proud for his growing understanding to his daughter, same as me.

Coco's Potty Journey: 2 month and 2 days, sleep through the night and wake up dry. As I know she needs to eliminate after feedings, I stopped putting her to sleep by drinking milk since she was 26 days of age - the beginning of our potty journey. She would peacefully laying in her bed to fall asleep by herself after a pee and occasionally a poo, and I feel she's very content as all her basic needs are satisfied at that point. She usually lays there and makes some bird-like co...o coos and fall asleep by her own. If she is exausted, she would cry and fall asleep after 1 or 2 min the most of crying. I would love to rock her to sleep, however she prefers falling asleep by her own. At 2 month and 2 days of age, she slept through the night for a good 9 hours, and woke up with a completely dry diaper. I still like to use backup diapers as I know if I get up 5 min after she wakes up, she would stop holding on that pee and just go onto herself. I try to put her on the potty ASAP after she wakes up but occasionally I may would not be there for her in time. After all, I am really happy that I have figured out her elimination patterns and I feel this has helped the quality of her sleep as well. Sometimes when she is really tired, she would fall asleep during feedings and I don't wake her up to pee, as I know she would wake up 10 min or so after I put her down, and that's exactly the time to put her on the potty. I feel sorry for those parents who have never figured out why their babies wake up soon after they put them down to sleep and start to rock them or feed them again while they are actually peeing in their diapers, as I did to my son. I would be glad if someone can learn from my posts that babies have one more needs that a parent can help them to meet in a timely manner, namely the elimination needs. See more

Coco's Potty Journey: 2 months, adaptations to grow spurts After practicing elimination communication (EC), I have learned that grow spurts not only change a baby's mood, sleeping and feeding patterns, but also elimination patterns. Coco used to pee right after feedings by each side of the breasts, but not anymore since and after this big grow spurts at 2 month of the age. I assumed that it's due to the growth of the capacity of her bladder and the length of her GI tract, s...he would wait about 5-15 min to pee afte feedings, and the frequency has reduced to only once after fed by both breasts. She is usually happy and vivid after feedings, and would make those little complains as the way she requests for the potty. It took me a couple of days to adapt to her new pattern, but it worked out just fine and the number of times she needs to go on the potty has reduced significantly since this 2 month grow spurts. See more

My reply to a question asked by a friend today:" If baby is born with elimination awareness but can forget it, is it too late to start at 6 mos? Also, do you have a recommendation for a specific type or brand of the baby potty?" Before I answer your question, I'd like to spend some time firstly to further explain the word "forget". The elimination awareness that babies are born with is an instinct, which means they have the awareness of knowing they are going to pee or poo wi...Continue reading

My reply to the comment I received yesterday: "Infant potty training - that sounds so unnatural." Thanks for your comment. You are right, "training" does sound very unnatural. I actually do not think it's a type of training, instead it's really respecting and responding to infant's natural elimination awareness. I use "infant potty training", the dated term, because I think most people never heard of and probably would have a hard time understanding what the newer terms for t...Continue reading

Don't wanna waste money and harm environment by using disposable diapers? Tired of doing laundry everyday and dealing with diaper rash with cloth diapers? Have to face the reality that most day care centers are not cloth diaper friendly? Here's the solution: infant potty training / elimination communication (EC) - Get your baby diaper free by first birthday, if not earlier! Born Naked is a local service for personal coaching in infant potty training / EC. Like us on Facebook ...and book a coaching session this month with free unlimited follow up visits! The mission of Born Naked is to protect infants' elimination awareness as well as our environment. Our goal is to help parents master the knowledge of infant potty training and establish their own unique elimination communication with their babies. Born Naked, Born Perfect. www.facebook.com/protectperfection

Coco's Potty Journey: 56 days old, the habit before we hit the road Do you enjoy the habit of emptying your bladder right before a road trip? If so, so would your baby. I like to put coco on the potty after I dressed her up for outings, especially if she didn't go right after that last feeding before we hit the road. I like the fact that I know she would not soil or wet herself in the car seat until she wakes up and make that little complain as a signal. Now she would hold on... longer after she started sending me signals so I can get a fairly decent amount time to set her up on the potty. This is really a rewarding feeling as she has grown that trust on me in caring for her elimination needs. I love the fact that I can stay on the bright side of her elimination situation, instead of being in the dark side and alway wonder / worry if she is feeling uncomfortable staying on a dirty diaper. This definitely made our road trips more relaxed and enjoyable for both me and coco. I still put on a diaper as a backup for now as she is still young and I may not always be available to put her on the potty in time, but at least I know the backup diaper is clean for most of the times. If it gets wet, usually it happened only seconds ago, as the wetted diaper would still be moist and warm.

Coco's Potty Journey: 53 days old, first time using a public washroom 7 weeks and 4 days...Coco went in a public washroom for the first time!!! And it was kinda her own choice.. Well we were out somewhere with friends so I decided to let her go in the diaper after feeding, but she was fussy and crying. So my inside voice said, fine, I will bring you to the toilet. I took off her diaper and held her over a sink, and she stopped crying. I was like, well at least she stopped c...rying!...Then, in half a minute or so, she really went, both No.1 and 2, which really surprised me!!! (As you may know, coco is exclusively breastfed and a breastfed baby's wastes are really non stinky and watery) Unbelievably, she really has her preference now!! It is the way I taught her so I think I better be consistent with it, even when we are outside of home :) It's not really more work for me as otherwise I would probably have to go to the washroom and use the change table anyways!!! I found its less work to take care if their elimination instantly, and it does make me feel more pleasant than wiping a dirty bum after, let alone the mommy guilt of noticing a little diaper rash if left for too long. Next time I will make sure to hold her over the toilet instead of a sink as she can really go!! And I like that she doesn't really have to come in contact with a public change table anymore, and at this age I can easily hold her over the public toilet without any physical contact between her and the toilet seat. If I have to make that trip to the washroom anyways, using the change table or the toilet, I choose the latter. I'd rather deal with it promptly than later for my own "convenience". Most of the time, my personal needs can wait after my baby's elimination needs. When you gotta go, you gotta go, as they say :)

Coco's Potty Journey: 52 days old, sleeping without a diaper at night Aha so coco wasn't wearing any diapers to sleep last night from 9 pm to 3 am and she was completely dry! The secret, for her patterns anyways, is to put her to sleep after a pee, and pick her up and put her on the potty ASAP after she starts to wake up. Sounds familiar? Haha yeah most people don't believe baby's are human beings just like us! They are not incontinent with no elimination awareness like we thought they are, and they do enjoy not having waste on themselves too if we offer the prompt and responsive care of natural infant hygiene (AKA infant potty training or elimination communication)

Coco's Potty Journey: 52 days old, she has been responding to the potty If she needs to go, she is very quite on the toilet. If she is fussy as she's having cramps or feeling urgent, she would stop crying soon after she is put on the toilet. By common sense, sitting / squatting position helps with constipation thanks to gravaty and the way how our pelvic musles work, but there's lack of solid research to support that. Well, researches are uaually done in areas where financial benifits can be made. In the elimination world, financial benifits are made mostly by the diaper companies. It would only be good for them if your kids are potty trained later, or never! But how about us parents' financial benifits? How about our children's sanity? And how about our one and only mother nature's cleaness and sustainability?

Coco's Potty Journey: 46 days old, the dry diapers during nights Interestingly, antidiuretic hormone (ADH) explained why coco can stay completely dry from 1 am to 5 am at age of 6 weeks young - as human beings we produce more ADH during the night to avoid waking up for urination. It is incredible, but it is very possible, and very scientific. Born naked, born perfect. The nature has an amazing design for our body and we should try our best to respect it, listen to it, and protect it.

I potty trained my two Kids in different ways and I couldn't tell you how much I prefer working with an infant than an toddler in this matter. Gogo was a typical reluctant toddler when I started potty training him shortly after 2, a conventional age for the readiness of potty training in western world. Now I really doubt if this is the diaper company's suggestion: to train someone at a age when their favorite word is NO...and pull-ups? They are just another style of diaper re...ally. I have tried everything in the traditional ways and they didn't really work well for us. Then I read about elimination communication and I decided to start that route - to know his pattern first and stay in tone with him. Although we already way passed the best time to train him this way, it still worked, with more battles. To get in tone with his elimination pattern, I simply needed to go for diaper free. Therefore I removed all the carpet in the house and set my mind ready for a heavier duty in the laundry department. Surprisingly, Gogo enjoyed being diaper free. The freshness of not having a bulky diaper between the legs and no battles to keep him still when changing a diaper made him realize this is the way he prefers. Then there's the wet pants and messes, and I then tried to make him understand the association between using a potty and staying dry and clean. It is much harder than training an infant, I would say. The busy toddler doesn't wanna make an effort to sit down and had an tendency of keeping his waste inside until last minute, making it impisible to walk to the washroom in time. It is actually because he simply lost the elimination awareness until he is actually going, as he was trained to retain his waste inside then unload them into the diaper when the bladder is full and the sphincter muscle is stimulated. Instead of learning to relax the muscles and release into a proper place before feeling urgent, the typical diaper wearing kid learned to retain them inside, as he naturally would not want to soil himself until he has to. Then I told him a diaper has to be put back which really upset and frustrated him. I was lost, but I decided to give him the trust by not putting it back, and he really appreciated my trust by being a little bit more cooperative. For months, I had to remind him to go, using bonbons to lure him, and being company with him on his trips to the washroom. Finally, almost half year after the training process, especially after seeing his baby sister gose on the potty, he finally started to take the initiative to go to the washroom independently and no more need that last diaper at night. All these battles and fuss could have been avoided if I practiced natural infant hygiene (AKA infant potty training or elimination communication) with him. See more

Coco's Potty Journey: 44 days, the baby's potty habit helped her toddler brother's potty training By feeling the presure from seeing her baby sister using the potty, coco's big brother gogo (2 year and 10 month old) is now finally saying farewell to that last diaper during night time sleep! Can't believe it worked this way - oh well, we will take it, and cheers for the big boy!

Coco's Potty Journey: 1 month old, beginning of the joyful habit She has pretty good elimination awareness and she enjoys using her potty while awake.

Coco's Potty Journey: 28 days old, the patterns start to show In the past two days we be been catching a lot of pees, and only wearing diapers for naps/sleeps. When she wakes up she will have a pee the potty then start drinking without a diaper on - she doesn't go again until she's done drinking. After another pee in the potty she then go nap with a clean diaper (sometimes the diaper doesnt even get diety when she wakes up). Today at 28 days of age she cacaed in the potty for the first time :D so awesome to get to know her elimination pattern and reduce the time her little butt contact a dirty diaper, and contribute to our invironment at the same time :p

Coco's Potty Journey: 26 days old, the exciting beginning So coco pipied in the potty for the first time at 26 days of age!!! Just as the book I read in the summer called Diaper Free said, "Elimination Communication opens another avenue for parents to tune in and respond to their baby's primal needs. Yet, Natural Infant Hygiene offers much more than just another patenting 'technique' for dealing with a baby's elimination. Ideally, it is fundamentally a way of BEING with one's... baby. This way of being focuses on relationship and communication; it is a lifestyle, rather than a chore." I felt she was going to have a caca so I put her on the potty just for the fun of it. Its the second time I put her on the potty, after a bad experience when she was yelling on it at 3 days old. Today she was chilling on it for half minute or so then she started to cry - I thought she had enough so I picked her up. Suprisingly, I noticed a big pipi in the toilet. We all cheered for her and Hugo even cleaned the potty as an amazing helper (when he wants to be :p) This experience brought pleasure to my parenting journey just as breastfeeding. It's a successful feeling of "I knew what she needs and I offered the right thing". It's less frustrating (and less work) than clean a dirty diper after what has already happened. The optimal outcome is that an infant starts to go on potty when she starts to crawl. For now we are simply gonna try this and enjoy it as we go.