toilet training

We’ve started Joy-Anne’s potty training.

Actually we intended to start only around 3-4 months. This early start came about by accident when she was 2 weeks old. After feeding one morning, my mum gently rubbed her tummy downwards while making the “umm ummmmmm…” sounds and to our surprise, she poo-ed! We tried it again the next day, and the next…all with positive results.

When she turned 2 months old and could hold her head more steadily, we used the potty.

Joe looked at this and said, “big, medium, small”.

Hence Joy-Anne is a very clean baby. No soiled diapers, no bum rash and no diaper change thru the night.. When she starts walking, we will start training her to pee in the potty and then the toilet.

In comparison, Joseph poo-ed all the time, everywhere. I always kept at least 4 diapers in the bag every time we went out. He particularly liked to poo in church, There was a time when he poo-ed in church for four consecutive weeks and up to twice during a 2-hour celebration.

We started him on the potty when he was about 5 months old.

Now he routinely sits and boms every morning after his bottle of milk. It is a good habit.

He was off diapers at 23months old, in March 2007. Up till end of 2007, we still put on a diaper for him at night. But I always had to wait till he was sound asleep before putting it on for him because he insists that “big boy cannot wear diaper!”. He wet the diapers about once every 10 nights. Several times he actually woke up to say he wanted to shee shee. Eventually we took him to pee at about midnight before we went to bed, and again at about 4am when I got up to use the bathroom. Waking up in the middle of the night wasn’t a problem because Joy-Anne put so much pressure on my bladder.

We’ve saved tones of ringgit with Joe’s early potty training. My sister says that in the USA, some people wait till their kids are 3 or even 4 years old to start. In my opinion, that’s way too late. I’ve seen kids who are incredibly articulate, but still wearing diapers. Looks rather unsightly, if you ask me.

I believe Joe’s daytime bladder control was also made easier with our use of cloth diapers. Unlike disposables which can keep bums very dry for longer periods, cloth diapers need to be changed more frequently and baby feels the dampness. Even though the fleece keeps bums quite dry and diaper rash is non-existent, baby realizes something is happening when he passes urine. It made our task easier.

I’ve been told that girls achieve their toddlerhood milestones earlier than boys. If that is true, I’m hoping Joy-Anne can be free of diapers by 18-20 months. Oh well, time will tell!