Why the interest in potty training an infant in China?

Question

My friend mentioned something about potty training webrings suggesting potty training starting from infancy...
She said Chinese do it & some from other countries.
Was it out of necessity, from years ago? Is it a modern idea there?
I cannot see any benefit... potty training my 3 children was not so horrible that I would do something so extreme. My 3rd child was most difficult, but come on....

Answer 1

I've seen that too. It isn't such a big thing in China, as it is big other places too. I think it is called "Elimination Communication" the PARENT notices that the child needs to go and takes them to a toilet, their for no fuss over a diaper. Their theory is we "train" a child to use a diaper and then confuse them by "training" them to use the potty!

It is really about attachment parenting and NOT for working parents. Really a stay at home mom with a TON of patients!!!

Answer 2

Most of the world does not use diapers. There are simple methods to 'empty' baby at regular intervals. It is growing in popularity in the US due to the trash created by disposables and the severe skin problems developed by some infants. Babies never get diaper rash with this method as they aren't wearing any. Babies are trained within a week or so to eliminate at short intervals vs. potty training where the child recognizes a need to go. Most kids who use this method can also be potty trained much earlier, on average. The method described in China is the same as in India. Actually, it was from an Indian woman that I learned the method in the first place.

It is difficult to do if you work outside the home. I was surprised to find out that a fair number of farm women who raised kids in the 30s and 40s in Minnesota and the Dakotas did this but never told others because they were afraid of being thought odd. Sure saved on the wash though.

Answer 3

In most parts of the world, babies are completely potty-trained by one year, and they don't wear diapers at all after that. This is partially because they are less dependant (or less able to get) disposable diapers that make diapering so conveinient in our part of the world, and partially because every mammal is born with an instinct not to soil itself. If you give an infant the opportunity to potty somewhere besides in his or her diaper, he or she will accept it, because even baby ANIMALS don't want to sit in their own waste...baby humans just aren't able to get away from their waste as easily or as young as most baby animals.

Elimination communication makes a lot of sense if you are going to be spending a lot of time with your child. You'll spend a lot less money on diapers and wipes and all that, and the child will grow up knowing that there are places to go besides in his or her pants, and he or she will be able to retain the bodily awareness of knowing when to go and what muscles to use which is lost in diapering, when we teach our infants to go whenever, wherever. If you just put your infant on the potty when you sense he or she needs to go, or just at certain times of the day, or even just a few times a week, and be encouraging when he or she uses the bathroom in the potty, the idea of a toilet will not be foreign. This often leads to children being potty trained at an average of 18 months, rather than the current US average of 30 months. This means less diapers, less stress (it may not seem like it, but it's a lot easier to show a child how to use a potty from a very young age than to convince the same child to start using a potty after the age of two), more money saved, and more time bonding with your child. You know when your baby is about to make a poo, right? Instead of taking the same amount of time to change a diaper, ECing parents set the child on a potty and have no mess to clean up. It puts no stress or pressure on the baby, whereas introducing the potty at an older age and just expecting the child to know what to do inevitably will.

I don't think it's necesarily "better" than conventional potty trainning, but it certainly gets the job done faster. It isn't something that's for everyone, though, so if you're not comfortable with it and another person is, you're both just doing what's right for you and your baby.

Answer 4

i think they are too cheap to buy diapers or too strick on their kids. thats all i can think