Elimination communication - reducing nappies in landfill

There is a growing following for a concept in childcare called Elimination Communication. This is a toilet training practice that uses timing, signals, cues and intuition to help a baby to eliminate waste, therefore avoiding completely or partially the need for nappies.

With the large volume of disposable nappies put into landfill, this is an interesting and perhaps logical solution to the problem. Elimination Communication may allow parents to use less nappies each day or potty train their children earlier.

The term elimination was first coined by Ingrid Bauer who after travelling to India and Africa noticed that babies were carried about without nappies and yet did not have “accidents”. She rasied her own children with minimal use of nappies and then began sharing this method with other mothers. She wrote a book on the subject in 2001 titled Diaper Free! The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene. There were also a number of books on similar subjects written by different authors prior to this including Conscious Toilet Training, by Laurie Boucke (1979).

There are however some that warn against potty training too early, saying that it is not beneficial to the child because too many developmental challenges too early may overload the child’s system and affect other areas of development. Also  because the expectations to perform may result in a feeling of failure which could make the potty training even more difficult.

As with so many childcare issues, when and how to potty train your child will depend very much on you and the child. It is up to an individual parent to decide but for those with the time, commitment to environmental issues and will power, complete or partial use of this method could be a consideration. There are also other ways to reduce the number of disposable nappies in landfill and their impact including using washable or biodegradable nappies.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimination_communication

http://parenting.ivillage.com/tp/tppotty/0,,3wr3,00.html

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,177890,00.html

http://www.inhabitots.com/2009/12/10/eliminate-diapers-with-infant-potty-training/?utm_source=Inhabitat+Weekly&utm_campaign=5d632e4a7f-Inhabitat_Weekly_November_19th11_12_2009&utm_medium=email

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