give the go ahead to potty train at 12 mths?

[merely]

My daughter Uma is 11.5 months along ;She was cloth diapered and wears disposables during the night. I moved to India with my then 4.5 month old daughter on work. She is watched over by maids during the day whilst I am at work.

When my daughter was around 8 months, I was repeatedly told that I should move her to underwear.. yup panties. I noticed Indian children are toilet trained very early. Nowadays, most of the time during the day she is in underwear( panties). They take her to the bathroom, stand her up( she was able to stand by herself by 8 months) and go - " Muchaaa, Muchaa, Pssssssss" . It means " pee, pee" and the sound is supposed to trigger the peeing. Long story short, she now consistently pees when this is done. They take her every hour she is up. She does pee in her pants around 4 times. I think that too they will be able to anticipate shortly. They read her cues very well. Poop- we know when she will- soon as wakes and has her first big feed, lunch, dinner etc. They have been asking me if they should sit her on the potty for it. This is where I am clueless.

I have a potty cause I inherited it amongst other things from the lady I replaced at work. Any opinions ? Any thoughts? Should I give the go ahead to the potty?

Thanks
Merely
UJ 02/13/2007

[BC-daisymae]

Gosh it is awfully early, but I guess only you know if she's ready. I guess if you try it, you can always back off and give her more time if she needs it.

[merely]

I have been thinking about this a lot and I decided to hold of the poop training. She is doing very well with peeing. I met with some local mums this AM and they were all telling me it is normal for the kids to start around now. They said they started doing the sound and holding them up much much earlier than the maids started with mine. Most Indian babies don't wear diapers. So cotton underwear and the wet feeling help them identify and learn the concept faster apparently. My daughter sure has.

Merely

[BC-daisymae]

That's very interesting the cultural difference!
I'm glad you've made a decision about it!

[jan21]

I think the key to this is maids bringing her to the bathroom every hour. Most moms (and daycare workers for that matter) don't have the time, patience or inclination to do this. She is not potty training - the maids are trained. And she's still having 4 accidents a day?

If YOU want to continue doing this, I don't see why not. To each his own. But for me personally, WAY too much work/time spent going to the potty. NO THANKS - I'd rather be interacting with my baby in other ways (and I had 2 babies - which means I would have been pretty much spending all day working on peeing).


Janice
Laura & Elizabeth 11/29/00

[BC-daisymae]

that's true. that is a lot of work.

[merely]

Originally Posted by jan21

She is not potty training - the maids are trained.

Thats what all caregivers do here( India). It is not training but reality. Either you keep wiping the floors or reduce the number of accidents.

Originally Posted by jan21

And she's still having 4 accidents a day?

Yes she is! She is 12 months old. And the pee training has been happening for around 2.5 months only. So I dont think that is overboard.

Perhaps, like you, if I had two or more babies it would have been different. But I don't and I live in India. underwear and Cloth diapering is what they do here and so early toilet training happens.

Originally Posted by jan21

NO THANKS - I'd rather be interacting with my baby in other ways .

I/We do interact and all it takes is 30 seconds or so every hour and that in our frame of time here is not all that hard.

My original post was actually regarding using a potty chair, but hey it really does not matter. Like I said earlier I have decided.

[jan21]

I was just giving my opinion. I'm not sure why were you posting if you already made up your mind?

Again, I think the key here is that you do have someone else doing it for you. I had 2 babies, a dog and a house to take care of by myself. Reality was I had no maids to pop my kids on the potty every hour.

Janice
Laura & Elizabeth 11/29/00

[BC-daisymae]

I think as moms we all do what we think is best.
Cultural difference play a huge part here.

[merely]

The reason I intially posted was to find out from experienced mothers who may have used similar methods - as early as they do here. Once again my original question was regarding using the potty chair.Two days later I posted here, clearly I must say, that I had made up my mind regarding use of the potty chair.

For people who perhaps are curious as to why they start so early here- When I was searching for information on whether to use a potty chair or not this is what I found- A practice called Elimination Communication. Elimination communication (EC) is a process by which a caregiver uses timing, signals, cues, and intuition to address an infant's excretive needs, partially or completely avoiding the use of diapers. Diapers can be used but usually tend to become extraneous and unnecessary after a point. The emphasis of EC is placed on Communication. ( This a quote from Wikepedia.)

From my reading up, this is what my maids seem to be doing.

I am not interested in this becoming a discussion about my having maids or others not having maids to do the same. Reality is - Maids exist and that's how life is in India.

BC-daisymae- Thank you for your support.