IPT - Infant Potty Training

Timothy's Story- 15 months to 23 months

   IPT doesn't seem to be a hot topic. I very seldom hear any one talk about it. When I read about it it seemed so natural, and back to the basics, I couldn't help but take up the challenge. Even though my "infant " was 15 months old, I had to try! In fact that is one of the reasons why I started this blog. I wanted to write about our journey, problem was, I wanted to make a short trip of it, heaven forbid that we stop and....yes smell,  on the roses. So I wrote posts about starting the project and expressing my opinion about it, but, as a new blogger, I quickly became frustrated in documenting. I deleted my posts and kept our floundering to ourselves.  As hindsight is 20/20, I can't help but think about what I might have done to make it all more relaxed. I really believe in this, it worked for us, and I would do it again.  Timothy is my last baby, otherwise I would look forward to getting better with this method.

 So as soon as I read the book  Infant Potty Training we got started with the idea EC- elimination communication. This isn't the same as IPT. EC is when you understand your baby's signals for elimination. Once Timothy peed we would "talk" about "Psssssss". Always near by, I had a bucket of rags to clean up the messes, and which, I would do as we "talked" about what just happened. The book teaches how mothers from all over the world "understand" or "know" when their baby needs to go. Modern doctors have seemed to convince us that babies do not have bladder control. This is simply not true in most circumstances. I saw it with my own eyes, as Timothy quickly caught on to the communication part! He soon was telling me when he had to and when he did "ppsssss". That was the fun exciting part, to see that Timothy did not want to pee in my lap, realize that he could hold his bladder for hours. The next part wasn't so certain...how to convince him where to poo & pee! This is where I got hung up.

   I look back at myself and laugh. I was way too intense. All I could think about was how I wished that I had started when he was so much younger...say two weeks old. When they are wee babes they don't get up and leave the room and pee somewhere you don't know of right away! I felt like I might have started too late. This I'm sure added to my nervousness. I mistakenly thought my window of opportunity was closing in and that I didn't have much time. This caused me to rush. I was getting seriously tired of focusing on him for hours on end! I needed to do school with the other children and I started wondering if my couch could handle another scrubbing. Two weeks of EC turned into three, which doesn't sound bad until you think of all the everyday things that go on. And there soon came no patience for a walking peepot. 

 I felt like I needed to make hast and move on to the potty training part.

    The suggested position to use in holding a baby comfortably, as they eliminate, applies to babies who do not sit up alone, crawl, or walk. I, of course, couldn't get Timothy to even think about hanging over a toilet, or the sink, or the tub. I concluded that this was another reason to start very early...say three weeks old. I held him, oh so carefully, and securely, but no way was he going to relax. We tried the mirror, singing songs, playing, and nothing could I think of would distract him from thinking about how he wasn't going to be happy hanging his bottom over any thing. I have a friend with a 8 month old, a first time mom that is trying this out and her baby loves to go, and has no trouble with hanging over toilets. I decided to get a potty chair.

 We went south from here! 

  We still drug on...I would have Timothy drink a lot of watered down juice,  set the timer for 20 minutes then set him on the potty chair, sometimes he would pee and sometimes he wouldn't. Here is the thing...he didn't see the point of peeing in his potty chair, to him there was no need. Sure we had such good times reading storybooks (I even took to reading in a silly English accent to amuse myself) and munching on animal crackers and drinking juice, but sitting on the potty chair meant nothing. It actually got to the point where he stopped having intentionals - (lets face it at this point in our project that is what they are! In his mind he was not having accidents!) in the potty chair! By now he was spending a lot of time out side and that was where he peed! Not in a potty chair! Timothy would sweetly sit on his beloved potty chair, read a book and then get up and go somewhere else to poo&pee. I see now that he probably didn't want to mess in it - it was a chair to him -flat! I just couldn't convince him that this was where it all was supposed to go! This is where the poop deck and pee porch came into play.

     In the book, Laurie lets us know from many angles that putting a diaper on does not mean that you lost all the progress you've already made. I decided to trust the experts, I had to, I was loosing more patience than ground, and I absolutely didn't want to turn this into a you-are-a-bad-boy-mama's-yelling-you-peed-on-the-couch-again situation...and I was very good, I'm proud of myself. My solution was to work with Timothy a few hours in the morning when my energy is at it's peak. So in the afternoon when I'm trying not to fall apart, sweet Timothy was safely filling his cloth diaper. That soon wasn't enough. I then decided to take a break all together. For 1 month I promised myself that I would not even mention the potty chair or "psssss".

I really had to work on my promise. I believe that I was obsessed and completely had it all out of proportion! This break proved itself to be the solution. I needed to back off and leave the kid alone.

      It was one day about two weeks back in the saddle I finally convinced Timothy to poo in the potty chair. We danced all the way to the toilet to flush a million times and clean out the potty chair. A minute later, I looked out on the deck and Timothy had a wad of toilet paper "cleaning up" a little mess on the floor. We made another dance to the toilet to flush and wash up. Then maybe another minute later, I had turned my back again, I heard the toilet flush , so I went in to check on the fisherman. He was emptying a considerable mess from pottychair into the toilet all on his own. I almost cried. That was the day he let me know that he understood that poo&pee go in two places consecutively. And that you need rags, toilet paper, and lots of flushing! It really doesn't take much to turn poo&pee into a sport for a boy. By now Timothy was about 19 months. No way was he an infant, but he considered his responsibility to do his business in the designated places.

     The story from here on out was fairly routine. An accident here and there. Mostly dry through the night, and steadily I really could forget about potty training except that Timothy insisted on emptying the potty chair himself, and that made me very nervous! I packed the diapers away. Timothy even switched to using the toilet. I declared myself most victorious and project done and successful!.

Until...

    For almost an entired month, Timothy decided that he would not pee in the toilet at church, nor at home for that matter. This was most humiliating! I will spare you the details on how he would try and hold back from peeing (but he had never had a poo accident -ever!). His screaming echoing down the hall at church was most unbearable. I even tried to take him outside to "go on a tree", but  to no avail. Besides my ego being severely damaged, I was getting very worried that there might be something medically wrong...or worse, emotionally! Once, while he was asleep he even peed in my lap while I was holding him...in church! This phase (as I claimed it to be) completely climaxed, at church of course, going through all his outfits and into another little boy's spare pants. I blushed and smiled, at my helpful friend...what could I say: he's too young?

"This too shall pass." 

    Today we have a dry boy, day and night. The toilet refusal remedied it's self by a few talks from Papa, and encouraging the potty chair. Timothy seems to have forgotten all about the episode, I haven't yet but, I'm glad it's over and no more damage was done. In a few weeks he will turn two. And I think now we are done.

  And yes, I would do it again. Maybe not so intensely. I would probably use diapers more- keeping with the cloth, and using ones with Velcro to be taken on and off easier. It never really hurt much, and it did save on laundry having him spend most of his time running around neckybutt. But, better yet, I really got to know my baby and he really loves to read books with us!

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