I chanced upon
this article today, and I was thinking that even in countries where diapers are the norm, they try. Infant potty training was a normal thing in Kerala where i was born. Newborns had nappies made of squares of cloth, and around three months, a
caregiver (someone in the vicinity-mothers, grandmothers, maids) would put the baby over their feet and they would 'go'.
Backtracking here, not long ago, in kerala, expectant moms would go from her husband's house to her parents' house for birthing. This journey, usually accompanied by a ceremony, would be in the 7th month of pregnancy. From then on, she could relax in her parents home and be taken care of. She has a special diet rich in proteins and green leafy vegetables, she will have ayurvedic medicines to prepare for birth, and she has a readymade support structure after birth.After birth of the baby, the new mom will have ritual baths involving massages and medicated oils, more ayurvedic medicines to increase milk supply, ward off anemia, special foods to make fat and mineral stores for roughly 2 years of breastfeeding . Beansprouts,whole lamb soup , desi ghee, fenugreek, fresh coconut, etc were spewcially prepared for the new mother. The newborn would sleep in a cloth hammock hung from the roof, covered by a light muslin dress that covered only the front. The climate in kerala is always hot and humid, so this is ok. So, I went rambling there. I promise, i am getting to the potty training part. The tiny infant was bathed every morning, after the air had warmed..around 10 am. Before the bath, he has an oil massage. After the massage, he is laid down on (let's say postpartum doula for the sake of clarity.actually , a usually old lady trained in massaging the new mom and baby, and skilled in babycare..) the doula's feet. baby's body on her legs, bum at her ankles, almost like he's sitting in a chair and he's free to pee or poo without hitting anything. Amazingly, all these babies poo at this time, before their bath. During the day, he is in the hammock, pee just falls through to the floor below and and onto a rag lying there.see, no diapers at all.
Once baby hit the 28 day mark, his father and the whole extended family will visit . This visit is accompanied by a ceremony of tying a hip chain on the baby. When the baby gets to 90 days old, there is a ceremony marking it and mother and baby were dispatched off to her husband's place , the new mother now armed with a lot of hands-on babycare skill. In this period that she spent in her own parents place, she is not obliged to cook, or clean, or do anything except take care of the baby so by 3 months, she is really attuned to baby's cues and confident of her mothering skills.. this was invaluable in the era before telephones or the internet. hey, i am not from that era, though my parents were. The very first newborn i ever held was my own, so mom tried her level best to teach me at least the basics of babycare before i left home with the said newborn after two months. Flash forward to amy.
With babe-of-4-weeks in my arms, i flew to Doha because the older girls could not miss more class. Having many things to do, i decide to let sleeping babies lie..just put a pampers on and remember to change it... and, it was winter, i can hardly put her in a muslin!
Fast forward again. At 6 months, she has not spent one full hour without a disposable diaper, after we left kerala. Suddenly, the rash i have ben seeing on her shoulder is red and matching rashes form in her diaper area. Seeing it spreading, we consult a dermatologist. "It is not fungal", he says after testing. "Just baby eczema." he prescribed the usual . I am convinced that she is allergic to the stage 1 wheat I fed her last week. So before applying any medicine, I discontinue that. My friend, a gifted homeopath, suggests oil massage before bath, a good moisturiser after, and that she go diaper free.
Diaper free?! I look out the window..it is spring. Where has winter gone? Anyway, perfect weather for IPT. So i pull out all the tiny bloomers and little Tshirts that dont have snaps at the diaper--no hanging tails to get wet. The first day, she pees in every little bloomer i have. pooed in the thick aio that takes so long to dry. In the night, I put her in a disposable diaper, and load up the washer.It is such a tiny load, full of teeny knickers. The second day, i remember to put her in poo position after the oil massage and guess what? she did it!!
So these days, she is diaper free in the daytime. After a few days, I am remembering old methods of predicting when she has to pee. I have a much smaller load of disposables to throw away, her rash is looking better, without medication, and i dont even have a big load of laundry.
if you want to know more about elimination communication (aslo called infant potty training), you can go
here or
here. or
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/Did you have experiences with baby eczema? if so, i'd love to hear them. please comment.
Has anyone tried infant potty training?
ignore the goofy smiles, we were having a funny face contest.
