On the Subject of Diapers, How about Diaperless Child-Rearing?

[MineralMan]

Check this out:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/19/nyregion/babys-latest-going-diaperless-at-home-or-even-in-the-park.html

Baby’s Latest: Going Diaperless

When Jada Shapiro decided to raise her daughter from birth without diapers, for the most part, not everyone was amused. Ms. Shapiro scattered little bowls around the house to catch her daughter’s offerings, and her sister insisted that she use a big, dark marker to mark the bowls so that they could never find their way back to the kitchen.

But “elimination communication,” as the diaper-free method of child-rearing is called, is finding an audience in the hipper precincts of New York City.

Ms. Shapiro, who is a doula, a birth and child-rearing coach, says it is practically now a job qualification to at least be able to offer diaper-free training as an option to clients. Caribou Baby, an “eco-friendly maternity, baby and lifestyle store” on the border of artsy Greenpoint and Williamsburg, has been drawing capacity crowds to its diaper-free “Meetups,” where parents exchange tips like how to get a baby to urinate on the street between parked cars.

Eww....just Eww! But, do read the entire article to get the whole story.

Your comments?

[pnwmom]

1. That might be just fine for an at-home parent with unlimited time. It's not realistic

for most families, however.

And I'm not too thrilled about the idea of people training their children to go to the bathroom in the street.

[MineralMan]

4. I'd think it wouldn't be realistic for almost anyone, really.

Unless one lived in a hut on the plains, it doesn't seem practical to me. Especially not in an urban area.

As a dog owner, picking up the blessings it deposits on our walks is tedious enough. I do it, though, to prevent dog feces from contaminating the environment. I haven't figured out what to do with the pee, though, so there it stays.

[antiquie]

7. In Laguna, you would bag the beach sand.

Truly.

[MineralMan]

9. Seriously?

I suspect that's a rule honored mostly in the breach.

[antiquie]

21. My sister lived there for 40 years.

Even at the water line, a "lady" insisted she curb her dog, even tho' it was only pee.

[jberryhill]

28. What do they do with the fish pee in the water?

[antiquie]

30. Not certain,

ignore because it's natural and pretend it doesn't exist?

[lumpy]

99. About 50 years ago I met a mother who was using the no diaper method. God awful method.

She spent most of her day on baby toilet checking. That was the only occupation/interest she appeared to have. It was such a pain, not too many people wanted her visiting. Poor soul.

[JaneyVee]

2. New York, our smugness will soon be viewable from space.

[MineralMan]

6. And, perhaps, noticeable from its odor

from New Jersey.

[JaneyVee]

11. NJ smells like a diaper-less child.

Seriously though, sometimes it's as if NY is competing with San Fran in a smug off.

[MineralMan]

15. LOL! My baby's more natural than your baby!

So there!

[Nuclear Unicorn]

95. Then the mother in the OP should do like the mama cat in my shed

and lick her offspring's butt clean.

[jberryhill]

3. Yeah, we had a ceramic floor and a hose in the nursery....

...with a drain in the floor.

Just hose 'em down every two hours or so, and they do fine.

[MineralMan]

8. There ya go!

[tazkcmo]

27. That's what we do with Grandpa!

And here I thought I was the only one...

[antiquie]

5. No baby bottoms on pubic toilet seats in my family!

Yes, cloth diapers are a nuisance, but there is little diaper-rash (duh, you change them more often) and you aren't contributing to the mountains of disposables. Disposables should be a travel convenience. End granny rant.

[LuvNewcastle]

25. I agree, travel convenience.

How many disposables are in landfills already? I wish I had a dollar for every one. If people must breed, they should at least be responsible about it.

[tabbycat31]

52. I know people who would use cloth

But their laundry situation makes it cost prohibitive. My sister's apt complex charges $6 to wash and dry one load of laundry, so it's cheaper for them to use disposables.

[antiquie]

53. Do coupons make disposables affordable?

I know laundromats are expensive but I thought diapers were even more so.

[tabbycat31]

55. I'm not sure her exact situation

My niece celebrated her 1st birthday a few weeks ago. I know that for the first few months of her life, she was fine on diapers because it was the default shower gift.

I think my sister orders them through Amazon's subscribe and save program and has them delivered.

If she had her own washer/dryer, she would probably use cloth. I've seen on other forums saying that for a first child, the costs are about the same and cloth is cheaper after the 2nd child (assuming you save the diapers from the 1st child). Knowing my sister, she probably made a spreadsheet with diaper costs to figure out her decision.

[pipi_k]

77. I saw something on

TV a month or two ago where young women were drying out disposable diapers for re-use, or leaving their kids in them longer before changing because they are so expensive.

Their excuse for not using cloth diapers is that many don't have washers and dryers and laundromats don't allow dirty diapers.

I have no sympathy for them now after asking my mom how she dealt with my diapers 60 years ago when she and my dad lived in a crummy little two room apartment.

She washed my diapers by hand. In the bathtub. With a washboard and bleach, then hung them outside.

Just like her mother did for her...and her mother's mother...etc.

And when my own kids were young, I also had to do laundry in the bathtub, only I was lucky and had an extra room where I could dry it all.

I think maybe young people today do not want to piss and moan about how hard they have it when so many generations of women did what they had to do because they had no other choice.

[Aerows]

87. It's excuses

That's all it is.

[lumpy]

101. Many people are living beyond their means for convenience sake.

[tabbycat31]

115. I have no kids

Therefore I don't have a dog in this fight. But in case you didn't notice, the world has changed in the last 60 years.

I personally line dry all my laundry (my skin reacts to dryer sheets) or use a drying rack, but most of the time it is indoors because I (as of 2 weeks, I was just transferred to another city for work) ago lived in an apartment complex without a yard (on the 3rd floor). There are many communities where you can't hang laundry (many HOA forbit it, which I think is insane). She lives in a major city and outside drying is unrealistic. I've seen older movies where clotheslines were between high rise buildings, but I think that would be illegal today. Laundry (let alone diapers) hanging outside is considered an eyesore today.

And my sister's apartment does not have a bathtub, it just has shower. I don't think I've ever seen a washboard in person (just in movies and TV).

I never thought I'd be defending my (staunchly Republican, married into money) sister on this board (money is not an issue for them), but I guess I am (I barely get along with her, but I maintain a relationship with her so I can have a relationship with my 1 year old niece).

I'll get off your lawn now.

[antiquie]

126. If money is not an issue

diaper service works. Rethinking, staunch Republicans may think land fills are good things.

[Freddie]

120. Day care is the problem

Very few if any day-care centers will allow cloth diapers.

[antiquie]

129. That's terrible. I hope they help potty train.

I was lucky enough to work evenings while my dad watched my son so I was able to stay home with him days until he was three.

[RebelOne]

109. Many, many years ago when my kids were babies,

disposable diapers did not exist. I used a diaper service. I dumped the baby shit in the toilet and put the dirty diapers in a diaper pail provided by the service, which they picked up, and then delivered clean diapers the next day. I doubt that diaper services exist now.

[HappyMe]

54. I was a single mom

of twin boys with a 9-5 job. Just when the hell was I supposed to wash all those diapers?

I used disposable ones. I would rather my evening be spent with the boys rather than dragging them to the laundromat.

[antiquie]

56. Moms of twins get special dispensation to use whatever works.

I was a single mom at 15, put the diaper pail on the back of the stroller, put my son in the seat, the rest of the laundry on top of the stroller and walked three blocks to the laundramat every other day. But it was only one. I am in awe of all mothers of multiples who keep it together.

[HappyMe]

59. Thanks.

Once you get into the groove (and get used to little sleep) it's wasn't too bad. My laundromat was was about 2 blocks away. I had one of those 2 wheeled grocery carts. I would push the stroller with one hand and drag the cart behind me with the other.

[lumpy]

98. I'm with you. Without a washing machine I used boiling method ( excellent sterilization),

Changing diapers often when wet makes the whole process easier and baby gets used to being dry/happier.
Washing machine was a snap, used bleach, soap. No dryer, hung in sun or on racks. Very little diaper rash, didn't need powder or ointments, happier bottom. The cleaning diaper process was not that time consuming for me. I worked out methods that worked for me.
Letting the baby get sopping wet is a nono; changing often is important. All 4 kids were potty trained by year and a half. I have known babies using disposables that have nasty diaper rash. I suspect they need changing more often.
I would probably use cloth dipes if I were raising babies. All those dirty diapers in land fills, plastic that doesn't degrade, the expense. Wow

[antiquie]

127. "baby gets used to being dry"

You are so right about this making it easier to potty train.

[Nye Bevan]

10. Stupid hipster new-age nonsense.

Let your kid shit all over your house so that you can be all smug and superior towards the other parents down at the natural organic wholefood cooperative.

Diapers were invented for a reason.

[MineralMan]

12. Yup.

So I judge, also.

[MicaelS]

19. You got it.

I thought that Indigo Children / Crystal children bullshit was the height of Woo-Woo stupidity, but this tops that.

[HappyMe]

24. I agree.

Even worse is letting the kid crap and piss all over somebody elses house. They would be shown the door after they thoroughly cleaned up their little darling's mess.

[cleanhippie]

32. New-age hipster nonsense? Ever stop to consider just how the majority of the rest of the world

Manages to raise their kids without diapers? This is the way much of the planet has done it, and how everyone did it before diapers came along, a relatively new invention.

[MineralMan]

36. I've seen it in action. It won't work in an urban setting.

Truly.

[cleanhippie]

45. I've seen it in action, too. It worked as advertised right here in our little slice of urban heaven.

Truly.

[HappyMe]

40. If both parents have to work,

what happens then?

[cleanhippie]

43. What does that have to do with this wing called "new-age hipster nonsense"?

[HappyMe]

47. If both parents have to work,

would you expect the babysitter, day care worker or whoever to follow the kid around waiting for the dearie to gift them with a bodily function?

[cleanhippie]

58. Again, what does any of that have to do with this method of dealing with poop and pee

Being labeled as "new-age hipster nonsense"?

[HappyMe]

60. I didn't come up with that phrase.

I see you have no answer to my question.

[cleanhippie]

63. Yet you responded to my questioning that label with an unrelated question.

Do you agree or disagree that it is accurate to label it as "new-age hipster nonsense"?

Of course it may not be the best solution for working parents, but it can work. My wife is a school teacher an I work full time and we managed to do it.

[HappyMe]

64. Obviously I agree.

Since that is what I posted in response to NB's post.

I assume you expected the day care person to follow your kid around with a bowl? Or did you diaper when you weren't there?

[cleanhippie]

65. I expected the child-care provider to care for my child in the appropriate way.

I urge you to educate yourself on this method before continuing.

No one need follow a child around with a bowl. It about observing the child and recognizing the signs that a poop or pee may be imminent, and then curing the chd the acknowledge that sensation and go when it is appropriate.

It's funny how when something that costs nothing and wastes nothing meets such resistance from consumers. It's as if we have been programmed to think we need disposable diapers and all the other crap we think we need to raise a child. YMMV.

[HappyMe]

66. I'm 55 so there are no babies in my future.

I was a single mom of twin boys with a 9-5 job. I did not have the luxury of alternative methods.

[cleanhippie]

69. Sure you did, you just chose not to utilize them.

That's not a negative, it's just what worked for you. This works for many here in this country, and it works for most everyone else in the rest of the world where Proctor & Gamble products are unaffordable (which is a majority of the planets population).

[Gormy Cuss]

73. Just curious, but how did you manage this when both of you were working?

Were you second shift or something?

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

62. why not?

We have folks with that function now. They're usually called the press corp, usually the ones following that other party.

[lumpy]

110. Some women with children making minimum wage have decided they could save money by staying

home while the spouse works. More time to do their own household necessities and, more importantly, more time for their kids to teach and nurture them. We see kids shuttled to babysitters, wide eyed, confused while in a sea of hurry hurry, hanging on to Mom while she tries to catch up on doing her necessary errands. Children should have the comforts/advantages of a mother or father at home instead of someone else. Children then just become a sideline.
Of course there are those who have no alternatives and struggle with life and are to be applauded for carrying on for their children.

[lumpy]

103. In some of those countries people have no other choice. We do have choices in this country

that other people just might dream about. We don't use twigs to brush our teeth either.

[cleanhippie]

104. It seems that you really just don't understand what's actually going on with this.

The article in the OP is very misleading and not a very old example of how this really works.

[lumpy]

111. And I don't need to know

[Xipe Totec]

13. I know a real life case. Children now fully grown

Raised without limits (in the 1960's).

Short story:

All three kids are now bums, thieves, and drug addicts. A real danger to themselves, their parents, and society. They lived in a huge well-to-do upper class neighborhood. They turned their house into a total sty.

[cleanhippie]

42. All of that is because of "communication elimination"?

Not using diapers caused that? Really?

[Xipe Totec]

44. It's a pattern.

Of letting kids grow "naturally" and find their own way.

This is not new, its a throwback to flower children.

[cleanhippie]

46. You seem to be lumping not-using-diapers in with a whole range if other alternative parenting

Methods.

Communication elimination alone did not lead to hat happened to those people.

[Xipe Totec]

50. You seem to think that this technique can be adopted in a vacuum

As if a decision to use this technique was decoupled and uncorrelated to any general child rearing philosophy.

I would venture to guess that those who adopt this method of toilet training do so as part of a more general child rearing philosophy.

[cleanhippie]

61. We used it successfully, and without adopting any other parenting methods that would be cause for

Controversy.

Now we have a happy 4yo that lives in a "normal" household. The only difference is when she goes to school, she is one of the few in her age group that can use the toilet alone, doesn't wear pull-up "big kid" diapers, and sleeps through the night without wetting the bed.

YMMV

[leftynyc]

71. Really?

4 year olds that are not toilet trained? I find it incredibly hard to believe your daughter is "one of the few" that is. Incredibly hard.

[cleanhippie]

72. Maybe look a little closer. You may be surprised to find how many 4-6 year olds

Are wearing "pull-up" diapers, just in case they have an accident. Doesn't mean that they are not using the toilet, just that they aren't fully in control of their bodily functions just yet.

Look at the advertising. Diaper companies make diapers for kids up to 7 years old and sell a lot of them!

[leftynyc]

74. All the schools in our area

have the rule that the kids must be toilet trained (as do many of the day care facililties). For any child 4+. Some people nurse their children until then so I know there is some weird parenting in the US but regardless of what the parents do, the schools and childcare facilities have those rules in place. My own sister told me when my nephew was 3 that she had to get him toilet trained very soon (and was upset he wasn't already) because he wouldn't be able to start school if he wasn't.

I read your opening post that said that it's a communication thing - that the kids will recognize the feelings of having to go and overcome them. How does that work with a 1-2 year old?

[cleanhippie]

79. For us, it worked like a charm.

We started on day 5 of our daughters life, when it had been a couple of hours since he had last peed. I held her from behind and under her knees so whe was in a sitting position and I hovered her over a large Tupperware bowl (conspicuously labeled as her potty bowl) an made a psss psss psss sound and viola! She peed right there! We have a picture of that moment with me looking up at my wife taking the picture and I had this "WTF? This really works?" Look on my face. Priceless!

Soon after, we just started to recognize her gestures that indicated she needed to go, so we would hover her over the toilet and make the sounds and she went! By 6 months, she would sleep through the night without peeing herself. We would have her go before she went to sleep, then a few hours later we would get her up as we were going to bed and put her on the toilet an make the sound an she would pee. She went right back to sleep and didn't need to go again until the morning.

Thinking back, I'm still amazed at how easy it was, how few diapers I actually had to change, and how much money we saved. It was incredible!

[leftynyc]

112. I'm guessing you were able

to stay at home with your daughter. It sounds like a great method if you have the time to dedicate to it.

[kestrel91316]

86. It's called "elimination communication". A type of communication, and NOT a type of elimination.

I happen to think it's BS. If the stay-at-home moms want to do this in their own home, fine. If they try to do that with their darlings in my vet clinic, they will be discouraged. It's a public health hazard.

[cleanhippie]

92. Haha, you're right! My dyslexia must be working overtime today!

Good catch, thanks.

As to your othe comments, understanding this better may change your opinion. Learn more about it if you care to, the article in the OP terribly mischarachterizes it.

[kestrel91316]

97. I'm not interested. I can't stand babies of diaper age. I'm past childbearing age.

And I really do think it's a public health hazard, along with being disgusting.

I have a degree in microbiology. I do know poop.

[cleanhippie]

102. What is The public health hazard?

The article in the OP is very misleading a d does not accurately represent what is going on.

[MicaelS]

14. Disgusting, really disgusting.

where parents exchange tips like how to get a baby to urinate on the street between parked cars.

[MineralMan]

17. Yes. That line caught my eye as well.

Amazing...

[pnwmom]

20. The best quote's near the end.

“I have absolutely been at parties and witnessed people putting their baby over the sink,” she said. One client took her baby and her bowl to a party, held her naked baby over the bowl, “and she just did it at this person’s party in the corner, but obviously they were close friends,” Ms. Shapiro said.

[MineralMan]

23. Well, Uff da! That's what I can say about that.

Not at my party. "Out the door, mom, and don't come back." Amazing.

[Arugula Latte]

93. It's my party and I'll throw you out for having your baby pee in the punch bowl if I want to!

[dixiegrrrrl]

75. that's to prepare for living in San Francisco, I think.

A city where LOTS of people use the street for body waste.
I used to have to put Vicks in my nose every day when I worked there.

Never could figure out why teh Health Dept. did not seem too excited about gutters being used as urinals...

[MicaelS]

76. That is awful.

You would think a Progressive city like SF would care more about cleanliness.

[bluestate10]

131. Well, it could get worse, they can starttrading tips on how to get the kid to solid waste

between parked cars. Agree the practice is disgusting.

[Mariana]

16. My grandmother did this with my father.

My dad was born in 1938. I don't think she started from birth, but she had him out of diapers very early using the same techniques. My mom thought the idea was ridiculous and wouldn't do it, and my grandmother gave her a hard time about it.

[badtoworse]

22. Look on the bright side. They'll be ready if Occupy starts camping in public parks in the future

[laundry_queen]

26. Not really 'latest' as my oldest is 16

and I knew a few parents trying it even then. It wasn't my cup of tea - I tried it but I royally sucked. I caught my baby a few times and held her over the toilet, but I thought holding her over the sink or tub was gross, so I never continued. I can see it working with some babies - some babies ARE predictable. My oldest was but I didn't try it with her, I tried it with my second but she was totally unpredictable, as were my next 2 (but I didn't bother trying it with them).

I think that if you can hold your child over the toilet or potty, it's no more 'ew' than changing a diaper, emptying a potty or wiping a kid's butt which is something all parents have to do anyway. I'm not a fan of sinks and bowls all over the house though. blech. And on the road? all kinds of wrong....I don't even like it when dogs pee on the sidewalk or street - my dog has a designated spot in the back yard and that's the only place she's supposed to go, unless I order her otherwise.

Oh, and this is totally not doable for people with jobs. And you generally have to 'wear' your baby 24/7 to be successful. And you have to have a predictable baby. So, it CAN work for some, but it's not feasible for most people anyway. If you WANT to do this though - go ahead - the environment will thank you - just keep it in your house TYVM.

[JEFF9K]

29. Thinking outside the Pamper. I like it!

[cleanhippie]

31. We did this. Elimination communication works as advertised.

On our daughters fifth day of life, she peed in a bowl. We never looked back. While we did use a few disposable diapers for when we might be in a place where getting to to go would be inappropriate, and we did use reusable pre-fold diapers at night, we changed very few dirty diapers for her first two years. When she was 25 months old we took the plunge and removed the diapers altogether and she has been using a toilet ever since.

Watching your child for the cues they give when they new to go an responding to those cues is the key.

[grantcart]

33. There is a middle ground. The Thais use significantly fewer diapers.

From a younger age they will keep diapers on at night but significantly reduce the hours during the day.

If there is an accident the floors are wooden or tile and easily cleaned.

Part of it is based on the past where almost no diapers were used and some on the searing heat that makes them uncomfortable.

The result is that Thai children are potty trained months and months before Americans although the actual process takes longer.

Our daughter stopped wearing diapers during the day on her first birthday.

Thais who see visitors walking around with kids 3,4, and even 5 wearing diapers will stare in amazement.

I am guessing that the prolonged use of diapers in the US is based in part on heavy advertising from commercial interests who want to see the longest possible term for diaper wearing and that the amount of diapers could be reduced by 60-70% if we wanted to.

[HappyMe]

38. My sons were potty trained when they were 11 months old.

I just don't think that this no diapers thing would work for families where both parents have to work.

I can't believe that there are kids 3+ that still wear diapers.

[grantcart]

51. I agree but it seems that a lot do.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_age_do_babies_stop_wearing_diapers

[deurbano]

68. You're dead on about the commercial interests.

I remember when my son was young, there was a commercial with Dr. Brazelton about how parents shouldn't "rush" toilet training. I liked that doc, and given his other parenting tips, I'm sure he honestly held that point of view, but his advice was featured within the context of a Pampers commercial! (I believe it was introducing a larger sized pamper for bigger toddlers.)

I think the way Thai children are raised is probably similar to other less Westernized/wealthy countries. I saw toddlers in China squatting on the street. My younger daughter was born in Vietnam, but I didn't notice how the Vietnamese coped with that particular issue. All I know is that in an oppressively hot (for me, coming from San Francisco, anyway!) environment, with high, high humidity, the custom was to wrap young babies (my daughter was only six months old) up like they were in Antarctica when going "outside"! (Outside is in quotes because the orphanage was kind of "open air," anyway.) I have to say she immediately seemed to prefer wearing much less clothing, back in our hotel room with the AC blasting. (I rationalized that I needed to prepare her for her new environment in SF!)

At any rate, I think my son, my younger daughter, my own interests and the environment would have been better served by foregoing Dr. Brazelton's advice in that area.

[grantcart]

91. Interesting

BTW if your daughter was born in Vietnam and left on a visa she probably left on the ODP (Orderly Departure Programme)

I started that programme working for the IOM in November 1989.

[deurbano]

107. Well, thank you VERY much, then! She has brought so much joy to our lives!

[pnwmom]

100. And another is to use significantly MORE diapers, cloth diapers without a waterproof cover.

My mother says that because she used cloth, she knew the second I was wet and she changed me immediately. Supposedly this meant that I never got used to wet or dirty diapers, and supposedly this is why I was "trained" at about a year old.

Or maybe my mother was just really well trained!

I didn't use her method, though. I just waited till for some warm weather when my kids were around two, explained about the potty and let them run around without any pants or diapers on. It took just one or two accidents before they got the idea.

[lumpy]

114. That is the clue, check and change immediately. My 4 were trained at 1-1/2

It was no big deal.

[LiberalEsto]

34. Oh, just use a big litterbox!

[dem in texas]

35. What do you do? Housebreak them like a dog?

This is stupid and disgusting. Think of the germs with urine and fecal matter all over the house in open bowls. yuk!

Teaching a child to urinate in the street? It's crazy town!

[HockeyMom]

37. How many mothers work?

Do they expect Day Care with many kids, a Sitter, or Grandma to do this?

[MineralMan]

41. No idea. I suspect that the women doing this

don't work. Otherwise, I can't see how it would be possible. How it would be desirable, I don't know, either.

My mother said that I was completely toilet trained by 15 months. Since I was walking everywhere at 12 months, and talking a blue streak, she tells me that she talked me through toilet training, explaining it to me. Apparently, I caught on quickly.

[LuvNewcastle]

48. I can just see these kids running around shitting all over everything.

Who would take the job of watching these kids? Probably the wrong kind of person.

[cleanhippie]

80. A common misconception held by those that do not understand this method.

It's not magic. It's not new-age nonsense. It's not naked kids running around pissing and shitting themselves.

It's the opposite of all of that.

[murielm99]

49. This is ridiculous.

We used cloth diapers, even though they were hard to find. The disposables were saved for travel and similar situations.

I found that my babies got more diaper rash with disposables. But everyone has to use common sense. This lacks common sense. It is lacking in courtesy to others, too.

[Proud Liberal Dem]

57. I know that there is a certain school of thought about doing this during potty training

but it makes no sense for infants and children nowhere near ready for potty training not to mention being EXTREMELY unrealistic!

[cleanhippie]

82. Except that none of that is true at all.

We started on day 5 of our child's life and worked as advertised. YMMV.

[Iggo]

67. LOL..."rearing."

[MineralMan]

70. Yes. It does bring new meaning to the word, doesn't it?

[yawnmaster]

78. As long as one has a fenced yard that can be child-proofed...

it can be done.
Just let the baby run ( or crawl or roll - depending on age) free in the back yard!
An adult (or sibling, perhaps) can move the poop to a specific area when they go out to feed the child.
It would probably be best to bring the child in at night, though.
Maybe put the child in a room with newspaper on the floor? I haven't thought that part out yet.

Oh...in cold weather...I'll have to think about that one, too...
maybe this isn't a good idea.

[d_r]

81. people come up with the dumbest things

[cleanhippie]

83. This is what humans have been doing for eternity until diaper companies came along.

This is how most of the worlds population does it. It's not new, it's old, and it works. What's dumb is paying thousands of dollars for disposable diapers that clog landfills ad harm the environment.

[d_r]

85. If you are a Digo in Africa

you have different child rearing practices that make perfect sense in your environment and culture. In NYC this is dumb. Sorry, its my opinion.

[cleanhippie]

90. You can have your opinion, but it seems to come from ignorance not knowledge.

You seem to actually understand very little about what Elimination Communication really is about. Perhaps if you really understood the concept your opinion would be different.

[d_r]

121. call me ignorant then

I'm not argue with you over it. More power to them. Peace.

[cleanhippie]

125. Just to be clear, I'm not calling you ignorant, just your opinion on this subject.

And it really just comes down to personal and responsible choices. YMMV

Peace to you as well.

[ForgoTheConsequence]

106. Older isn't always better.

People did lots of things until sanitation practices became better. I would be interested to know the rates of disease and infection in the majority of countries that still practice this.

[lumpy]

117. We like to think that we have advanced from using Mother Natures methods of waste control.

I advocate for cloth diapers if they are not affordable. Doubt if the US is going to go for the bare bottom method.

[cleanhippie]

119. Don't discount Mother Nature. She has been at this much longer that we have.

You may be surprised to find how much more sanitary it is to void one's self into a receptacle and not into a diaper where it's smeared all over the skin and such.

[dem in texas]

84. Way back in the Dark Ages

Back in the late 1950' and early 60's, I used cloth diapers. Disposable were available but were expensive and really bad, couldn't hold the urine. I only used them when we traveled. I would not start to potty train my kids until they were waking up dry in the mornings. What you did then was put them in the little cotton training pants. The reason was that when they did have accident, it would be unpleasant for them and therefore make it easier to get them to use the potty. it worked very well for my 3 kids, it usually took 2 or 3 week to train them. My daughters did this for their kids as well and now the little cotton training panties have cute designs printed on them and the kids love to wear them. I can't image a 4 year old wear those disposable pants.

[hunter]

88. My mom bought us cloth diaper service for our kids...

... it wasn't something we could afford ourselves.

My wife or I, one or the other, was always home. We let the kids run around naked in the back yard a lot.

I was changing diapers when I was ten years old. That kind of experience will make a teenager pay a whole lot of attention to that birth control stuff...

[Arkana]

89. Uh...how exactly do you do this unless you never leave your child alone?

Or with someone else?

I mean, seriously, what a goddamn mess.

[jeff47]

118. That's the point.

You can't.

The entire point of this is to show off how much you don't work for a living and how much more you devote your life to your child. It's a way for some parents to "one-up" other parents.

[Arugula Latte]

94. Adding fuel to the fire: Here's an account of the prevalence of this practice in urban China:

http://www.travelbugjuice.com/06/world-travel/baby-butts-chinese-split-pants-phenomenon/

[MineralMan]

96. I think that's something we shouldn't import from China.

Maybe we can sell them diapers?

[Avalux]

105. If people lived in nature where baby waste could just be absorbed into the earth...

and then the little one could be dunked in a river afterwards, would be great.

[jeff47]

108. There's a lot of fads designed to exclude working mothers.

This is one of them.

[MineralMan]

113. I suppose so. It's an alien world to me,

frankly. I can't imagine it as part of my life.

[ileus]

116. maybe if I was rentijg or living in a home

I didn't give two shots about.


Glad those years are behind me...

[JI7]

122. are these the same ones who think it's great to give birth in a pool with dolphins

[lynne]

123. Well, Mom gets trained -

- and that's about it. Mom is turned into an excrement look-out station and, of course, will soon be able to identify when the baby needs to poo/pee. Most all mothers do the same thing except they know it will soon be time to change a diaper and not to go grabbing a cereal bowl for catching. Ewwww . . .

Seems to me that Mom is going to be with the child 24/7 until it's potty trained. I know I wouldn't babysit in that situation!

[Blue_In_AK]

124. I let my kids go diaperless much of the time when they were potty training,

i.e., at around 18 mos.-2 years, for everyone's convenience, but I can't imagine doing it any earlier than that.

[MadrasT]

128. I have a new agey friend who did this and just HELL NO

Eight of us were out at brunch and her daughter stood on a chair in the restaurant and peed all over the place.

I was flabbergasted and everybody else was like "no biggie" (or maybe too embarrassed to say anything).

It was fucking DISGUSTING and ruined my meal.

Hell. No.

Fucking hippies. Grrr.

[cleanhippie]

132. What your friends child did is NOT Elimination Communication at all.

I'm not sure what that was, but EC it was not.

[Boom Sound 416]

130. The wheel we have is round enough

[cleanhippie]

133. This is the wheel.

This is how humans have done this for all of time before diapers came along. Its how most of the rest of the world still does it.

[Boom Sound 416]

134. The world also used smoke signals

And I'm betting those fine folks who crossed the Bering strait and then later built the penthouse on top of Peru probably had their babies wrapped up in something.

And definitely for the first family with four walls and roof which I think was way back in the realm of "all time"