Getty Images
OPINION
For most parents toilet training is an issue to be dealt with around the time their child turns two.
But one mum has chosen to toilet train her baby from birth and refuses to put her in nappies.
Cindy Lever, from Queensland, says her two-week-old daughter Chloe has never worn a nappy. Using a process called “elimination communication” Cindy says she knows when Chloe needs to poo.
But where do you think she takes her to do her ablutions?
Yes, the sink!
As her pictures show, her daughter does both number ones and number twos in the bathroom sink where presumably Cindy and her husband wash their face and brush their teeth.
Writing for the Daily Mail about her decision, Cindy says babies don’t want to soil themselves and using a nappy is something they get used to when their cues to go to the toilet aren’t heard.
‘A lot of people think it is too hard or don’t believe a baby can communicate its need to do a wee or poo,’ says Cindy. ‘However, just as they can let us know when they are tired, hungry or when they have wind, if we slow down and tune in it is possible to read their toileting needs too.’
Cindy says she uses a combination of common sense, instinct, timing and listening to work out when Chloe needs to go. As she says: ‘Often if I get it wrong and we have an accident it is because I haven’t listened.’
Now I’m a great believer in parents following their own instincts but I’m not sure a two-week old has the nous to communicate exactly when they need to go.
Also what happens at night time when a baby is deeply asleep? Will Cindy and her husband rise from their slumber and be able to determine exactly which cries represent hunger and which denote needing to do a pee.
Look all credit to her for trying something new but it sounds like a lot of hard work. And what happens if she has a second baby and is trying to juggle a toddler as well? Will it be as easy to be attuned to each cry?
What’s more, what happens when someone else such as a grandparent or a childcare worker is looking after her child – will that person be able to understand the signals?
Cindy says the practice helps her develop a closeness to her baby which is “intense and rewarding”.
Good on her – but she’s only two weeks in.
I’d love to see how she’s going in six months. Will Chloe be fully toilet trained or will the experiment have simply resulted in excess washing, frustration and the purchase of industrial quantities of disinfectant?
Related stories
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
Native ad body.
