Potty Training

Several people have asked me why/how I am potty training Lua so soon. Well, everybody except my mom who actually encouraged me to potty train Lua since birth! She swears by this simple technique, the one I "finally" started using regularly when Lua was 9.5 months old.

Potty training seems to so many people as such a big deal, that why not take the anxiety away and start doing it already?

So, here is what I did. I went to the store and bought a cheap, plastic basin (it cost me $5 here in Mozambique, where things are generally more expensive than in Perú or the US). After that, what I basically do is sit Lua on the basin (give her a toy to play with or a magazine to look at) and just wait. She pees pretty much every hour, so sometimes (not always) it coincides when she is sitting at the basin. Most times, she pees in her diaper just because I don't always take her to the potty on time or she is squirmy and does not want to sit for more than 15 seconds. It's fine.

The poops are easier just because they are more predictable. For example, Lua poops every morning either shortly after waking up or shortly after her breakfast. So, as soon as she is up, I plop her down on the potty. If nothing happens, then I repeat after her breakfast. Most of the times, she poops right in the basin and when she does, I say "muy bien, Lua!" and that's it.

Her other poops during the day are not so predictable but still they are easy to spot because they happen around a meal and I can see that she is getting ready to do something (she turns red, makes grunting noises, etc...) Whenever I see this (and when possible) I quickly stop what I am doing and take her to her potty and she will poop there (or continue pooping if she had started already).

That's it! It takes a bit of patience but it's kind of fun too and so rewarding to see your little one doing something so "grown up". It's even happened at least 3 times that Lua is playing in the living room and suddenly she stops and starts crawling towards the bathroom where her basin is. I realized and took off her diaper and voila... she peed or pooped. Pure coincidence? May be, but I will choose to believe that my baby was trying to tell me something!

Here are some websites I found helpful:

http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/
http://www.babycenter.com/0_infant-potty-training-what-it-is-and-how-to-do-it_1745035.bc

Gracias mami por ser tan inteligente y darme esta idea aunque no te hice caso (s0me things never change, no?). Gracias Nando por mandarme el primer link que me motivó a hacerle caso a mi mamá (por fin!) and thanks Hanlie for your comment that prompted this late night post. I better get to bed now. Yikes! Almost 11pm.