On Poops and Pees

As I was fixing Ava's diapers early Sunday morning, I realized how much she's grown. I wonder how much longer we'll be using these diapers. Our little girl has begun showing signs of readiness physically and emotionally.

For the first time, Ava said "poopoo" about a month ago. We thought it was just coincidence, then it happened again, until it became a routine without us even training her to say it. About 80% of the time we check, there's poo on her diapers. And about 60% of after doing no. 2 she would actually say "poopoo". We've also seen other signs of readiness like there was this one time, about a couple of weeks ago, when her bum was red (without rashes) all over. We let her sleep without diapers and woke up to a dry and clear bum the next morning. Predicting when to use liners (to catch poo) and what type of inserts and boosters to use for a specific time of the day are both easier now.

Ever since we learned and understood a baby-led approach into feeding Ava, our whole parenting style kind of followed. Instead of the parent-led ways that we both grew up with, we are following Ava's cues instead. We didn't do sleep training, we didn't schedule her feeding time, we didn't even made a special schedule for her activities. Surprisingly, she lead us to our own routines that fit our lifestyle as a family.

So we are doing the same again. Follow her cues and do Elimination Communication (EC). No running to and from the toilet with a bum-naked toddler. No accidents, no cleaning up the mess. There are studies explaining why traditional potty training could be bad for children (there should be one telling it could be bad for parents too. Lol!). A fellow mom shared this article to me during one of our breastfeeding meetups when Ava was just a few months old. It explains a lot of the misconceptions in potty training. It was an article written by a doctor in response to a case where a baby was already potty trained by 6 months. After reading the article, everything just made sense to us. All babies will be physically and emotionally ready eventually. And this, not only applies to their potty issues but to all their milestones as well. They just need opportunities to practice these things and when they are both emotionally and physically able, they'll do it. So, we'll just try to encourage Ava's cues instead of stressing out on timing and schedule. I don't think I'll have the patience for that. Lol.

I don't believe in toilet training children for the purpose of meeting the requirements for a school or because Mom and Dad are tired of changing diapers or because it seems cool. I believe in potty training when kids are ready -- when they show an interest and can tell you when they are peeing or pooping -- and I believe that few kids are genuinely ready before age three.

Maybe it's just one of my nanay sentiments, realizing how fast my baby has grown. So I'll just try to keep myself focused on how we can prepare ourselves for Ava's next milestone, instead of flashbacking all the way down memory lane and miss my baby being a baby. I'll just enjoy every nappy (with wiwi only because Papa takes care of the stinkies) change for the mean time. :)