Have you ever considered that you could begin potty training your child right from the get-go, right after they're born? You probably haven't because it sounds pretty bizarre, right?
Well, Bekah Martinez, an alum from The Bachelor, raised a lot of eyebrows when she announced that her youngest son, 9-week-old Ernest Allison Leonard, has started using the potty. But surprisingly enough, she isn't the first mom to have gotten her child to use the potty at that young of an age, and it's all thanks to an international method called "elimination communication."
After posting the news to her Instagram story, the mom of three received a lot of outrage from parents who thought she was fabricating the whole thing. But, elimination communication is a real thing.
While a baby that young obviously can't crawl or walk over to a potty and use it when they need to, the goal of this method is for parents to become attuned to their baby's cues. They then position the baby over a potty to catch the pee or poop.
More from LittleThings: What All Those Parenting Books Aren't Telling You About Potty Training
According to a study published in scientific journal Pediatrics, parents strive to find a pattern and predict times that their baby needs to go, rather than assuming they relieve themselves randomly throughout the day. Though there's no specific person credited for creating this method, it has been common in Asia, Africa, and parts of South America.
Bekah referred her followers to Andrea Olson's Instagram page, the founder of GoDiaperFree.com. All six of Andrea's children were out of diapers by their first birthdays.
"What mammal soils themselves in the wild consistently for years?" the mom asked in an interview with TODAY.com. "Babies give cues for eliminating, just like they do for hunger, sleep, and comfort."
Disposable diapers have made it easy for infants to relieve themselves whenever needed. And according to healthychildren.org, most US parents don't start potty training until between the ages of 2 and 3. Most children are fully diaper-free by the age of 4, yet some still need diapers at night.
Dr. Jenelle Ferry, a neonatologist at Pediatrix Medical Group in Tampa, Florida, warns that starting potty training too early can potentially lead to problems, such as "delayed bladder emptying" later on. Though she notes that EC isn’t “harmful,” she shares the muscles that control the bowel and bladder are "dependent on brain development."
According to her, there is a "wide range of appropriate ages to start potty training." What do you think? Would you ever give EC a try?
