by Shen-Li Lee

Created on: July 03, 2009

The diaper-free movement, also referred to as elimination communication, natural infant hygiene, or infant potty training, is the practice of potty training a baby from infancy rather than waiting until your child is two or three years old to begin. The general theory is that babies have a natural instinct for elimination and do not want to soil themselves. If parents are able to understand the baby's elimination cues, there is no need to wait until that baby turns two or even three to begin potty training.

The theory of the diaper-free movement believes that the main reason why potty training toddlers can be so difficult is because we have already conditioned our children to pee and poop into their diapers. When potty training a toddler, what we are really attempting to do is put a stop to a habit that we created in the first place. So rather than train your baby to pee and poop into a diaper and then have to un-train him or her again at the age of two or three, why not capitalise on the elimination instinct from birth and save money on diapers?

How Do You Learn a Baby's Elimination Cues?

There are essentially four ways you can do this, although a combination approach is usually the way to go.

1. Following your baby's timing patterns and rhythms.

This involves knowing when your baby is most likely to eliminate. Although there will be variation between babies, there are some general patterns you can look out for. For instance:

- after waking up (in the morning and after naps)

- during or after a feed

- frequent and regular periods in the morning

- less frequent and regular periods in the afternoon

As you practice keeping your baby diaper-free, you will eventually learn which pattern your baby follows.

2. Reading your baby's body language and signals.

Before the age of six months (where it is believed that a diapered baby will become conditioned to pee and poop in a diaper), babies naturally show signs of wanting to eliminate. These may be:

- squirming or fussing

- wearing a look of concentration

- ceasing all activity

- increasing in activity

- stirring or waking from sleep

If you baby has been diaper-free for a while, you will also find that your baby might reach for you so you can take him or her to the potty.

3. Using mother's (or father's) intuition.

Some parents will have a natural instinct for knowing when their babies need to eliminate. Even if you don't have the instinct naturally, you will develop it as you continue to

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