Diaper Free!

Discussion in 'Parenting' started by lunar forest, Jun 3, 2004.

  1. lunar forest

    lunar forest Member

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    It's actually a book, based on the traditions of more natural cultures than ours. ( If you've read the continuum concept you've heard about such things.) I would absolutely recommend the book if you plan to practice this with your baby, because of all the practicalities of it. But let's talk about it!


    Has anyone ever heard of Natural Infant Hygiene, Elimination Communication, or anything like that?

    Wonder why anyone would do this?


    I didn't know about it until my son was about 14 months old, at which point he seemed to have learned to ignore his need to go, and just go in his diaper. I tried it with him, and he really wasn't going for it!

    So when Lavinia was born I started doing it with her. Actually I waited till she was five days old, I didn't need to, but I'd never done it before so I thought I should. The first time I took her and held her over the she peed!!! It was so amazing, I was hooked on it from then on!

    Jonas, my son who is 2 1/2 is learning to use the potty chair just as a part of life because his little sister is doing it! It's wonderful because they can both be naked whenever they want (at least whenever they want at home.) What freedom they have!


    To simplify it, it's basically taking your baby to a place to go (like a potty chair, toilet, sink, bowl, bushes, bath tub, little patch of grass and tree in the parking lot, etc.,) instead of letting them use a diaper as their toilet.

    Now, like I said, that is simplifying it. There is so much more to it! It is a whole new way to connect with your child, a whole new level!


    There are basically four "tools" of NIH, which are:


    *Responding to baby's cues

    *Timing

    *Intuition

    *Cuing the baby


    All of which are as important as the rest, and you'll use them all at different times.


    **The MOST important thing is to remember NOT to be attached to outcomes.**

    This is a new way of life, NOT potty training. It is a way of communicating with your child. not using as little diapers as possible. You have to adjust your thinking, and remain open minded - you'll be surprised what you learn from such a small creature! All these things should be fairly easy for you mamas! Hippies are notoriously open minded, after all!

    I'm not going to go into any more detail in this post, because I just want to talk about it! I'd love to answer any questions, too, and at all!


    (I sound like a teacher.... that's not really how I mean it. I just have some knowledge and experience with it, so I want to share what I know!)


    Does anyone else do this, or am I the only nut out here?


    peace - LF
     
  2. Strawberry_Fields_Fo

    Strawberry_Fields_Fo RN

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    What do you do if they poop/pee at night, while they sleep? Then you'd have to totally disinfect everything. And if you don't mind me asking...What's so wrong with diapers? I mean, obviously the disposable ones are expensive and create waste, but not if you use cloth diapers. Besides, its not like the baby is self-concious to be humiliated by sitting in their own waste. I just don't get it...

    -Kate
     
  3. nimh

    nimh ~foodie~

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    i think elimination communication is an excellent idea. like you (LF), i didnt hear about it until my little guy was too old to really get into it, yet ironically, when he was an infant we were so in tune that i always knew when he was going/going to go. so, ya...he never sat in a dirty dipe, but it would have been really cool to know that there is an alternative. :)
     
  4. lunar forest

    lunar forest Member

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    oh no, I don't mind you asking at all sff. There is nothing wrong with cloth diapers. I use them with my ds, and when we're out dd wears them, and sometimes goes in them. But there is a (dare I say it?) better way. With a diaper a child's signals are ignored, and the learn to stop listening to their body in a way, and just pee and poop on themselves. Later, they must relearn these things. Also, often it is just all to easy to leave that baby in the dirty diaper until it is easier to change. This is not just gross, but it can be harmful to their skin. My ds has a nasty little skin irritation on his bum right now, poor guy.

    *side note* disposable diapers contain harmful chemicals that even kill sperm (among other awefulthings) as well as being waistful.

    At first I just had dd in diapers at night because I thought it was crazy to get up at night to "pee" her. But I couldn't just let her sit in her pee all night! So I was changing diapers at night, as most mamas do, and I found it was SO much easier to just sit up, put a bowl under her, and then go back to sleep. So dd sleeps naked and we put under she and I, and kind of around her. She starts wiggling and I pee her. Sometimes I'm not thinking and she pees, but with diapers under her (protective suff under the sheets) it never really makes it to the bed. Besides, urine is staril, (with exceptions of children who have recently been vaccinated with live vaxes.)
    She gets to sleep naked, and doesn't get those little marks that hurt, and her skin isn't subjected to the harsh humid enviroment of a diapered bum.
     
  5. mosaicthreads

    mosaicthreads Member

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    well, lunar forest has said what I was gonna say. Great minds think alike I guess.;)

    I dont' think there is anything wrong cloth diapers, but really that is missing the point. It is kind of like saying that one would choose to live off the land only because there is something wrong with living in the city, where in reality it just a different way of life. Or like choosing to birth at home, or breastfeed only because of the "wrongness" of a hospital birth or formula. Again this misses the point! One chooses to birth at home because it is a completely different way of giving birth, and more in tune with the birthing woman. If you have followed me so far, then I hope you can see that Natural Infant Hygiene is simply a different way of relating to one's baby, and one chooses it not because other options are bad, but because one wants to persue a different way of living, more in harmony with nature.

    It is late so I'm not so sure I'm making my point clearly here. Mostly I want to say that it isn't a diaper vs. EC kind of thing. Just like many attachment and continum concept pratices, EC is an acient art that has become forgotten in our society. It isn't for everyone, but a few are reviving the pratice and discovering the lost joys of relating to one's baby so naturally and intimately.

    peace,
    mosaic


     
  6. Maggie Sugar

    Maggie Sugar Senior Member

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    There is a really nice poster named Hotmama who practices this with her children. Maybe she will answer the post, too.

    I never tried this with my children, but I can see why people do.
     
  7. lunar forest

    lunar forest Member

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    ahh, well said, mt!
     

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