![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Diaper-Free before Three
Sep. 19th, 2011 01:42 pmI am coming to think, second time around, that starting earlier with potty training might be better. This is based entirely on personal and circumstantial evidence – friends who started their kids young telling their stories with smiles versus friends (and myself) starting at the currently recommended age and having horror stories. Now that my daughter has been using her potty a couple times a day for nine months or so, I thought it might be time to do some actual reading on the subject. She’s almost two, so this isn’t really early start anymore. Still, we started as early as we could, given her personal circumstances. Time will tell, and of course the sample is small to tell the difference between method and personality. So far, though, I’m going to say that early start does seem to lead to more fun with the process. I picked this book to read scientifically because the title called out to me from the library. The only other potty training book I have read is The No-Cry Potty Training Solution, which is decidedly the modern late-start approach. If you have other favorites, please do let me know.
Diaper-Free before Three by Jill Lekovic This book was for me a strange mixture of my favorite and least favorite styles of parenting books. It started off with a history of toilet training over time. She looks at literature describing when children used to be trained, advice for mothers from the Victorian era on, and studies of toilet training practices and the ages of beginning and completion from the past century. ( Read more... )
This is a concisely written book meant for parents in a hurry. I really loved the history of toilet training, but those less interested in the history could skip that and go straight for the methods, which are even briefer. Ignore the bits where she is very dismissive of other methods. You might want a more comprehensive book if you run into problems or want to start potty learning at a different age than she recommends, but overall, this is a book that makes a convincing argument for earlier toilet learning and provides a simple, manageable method for doing so.
Originally posted at http://library-mama.dreamwidth.org .
Diaper-Free before Three by Jill Lekovic This book was for me a strange mixture of my favorite and least favorite styles of parenting books. It started off with a history of toilet training over time. She looks at literature describing when children used to be trained, advice for mothers from the Victorian era on, and studies of toilet training practices and the ages of beginning and completion from the past century. ( Read more... )This is a concisely written book meant for parents in a hurry. I really loved the history of toilet training, but those less interested in the history could skip that and go straight for the methods, which are even briefer. Ignore the bits where she is very dismissive of other methods. You might want a more comprehensive book if you run into problems or want to start potty learning at a different age than she recommends, but overall, this is a book that makes a convincing argument for earlier toilet learning and provides a simple, manageable method for doing so.
Originally posted at http://library-mama.dreamwidth.org .
Cinnamon Baby by Nicola Winstanley. Illustrated by Janice Nadeau Miriam is a baker. She sings and bakes every morning in her bakery, all different kinds of delicious bread, always finishing with her favorite cinnamon bread. One day, Sebastian rides by on his bicycle. Lured in by the smell and Miriam’s sweet voice, he buys bread from her every day for a year. Then, they marry and have a baby. Though it’s not noted in the text, Sebastian is dark-skinned and Miriam pale; their baby comes out the color of cinnamon. After a few blissful days, though, the baby starts crying. Nothing either Miriam or Sebastian can do soothes it. Finally, Miriam wakes the exhausted Sebastian early in the morning to bring the baby with her to the bakery. When the sweet smell of cinnamon and the sound of its mother’s voice fill the air, the baby is finally soothed. 
