Ditching the Diaper

We’ve long considered diapers a given in the baby-raising department, but the folks at diaperfreebaby.org are working to change that.

It’s not a group promoting reusable diapers, but rather, the elimination of them altogether. Sound impossible? Believe it or not, it follows a rather simple premise. Humans train dogs when and where to go to the bathroom in households of all kinds all across America.

We watch our dogs with skeptical eyes in their formative months, learning their mannerisms and identifying signs that tell us they are about to go to the bathroom. We hustle them to whatever place we want them to go. Most of us can, in short order, train our dogs when and where to go to the bathroom.

Very few of us slap a diaper on our pets.

The folks at diaperfreebaby.org are trying to encourage parents to expect the same ability of their babies that we expect of our pets. Like a dog, they say parents can learn to read their baby’s signals for when they need to go to the bathroom.

Infants can start this training shortly after birth, and most babies can be taught to use the toilet in their second year, the group says. The average age for toilet training is 35 – 39 months.

Critics of the idea call it over-mothering, since it requires considerable attention on the part of the parents to identify the signals. But for those willing to try it, it can mean substantial savings in diapers, and time spent changing them.