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Diaper-free at 13 months: How we took Twyla out of diapers (and what we’re doing next)

out of diapers at 13 months old

Many of you mamas and daddies doing Elimination Communication might be wondering how to take your baby out of diapers by around one year old.

What are the steps to have a potty trained 1 year old?

How do you wrap up EC by the time baby is walking? 

And, after you take your baby out of diapers at 1 year old...what do you do next?

Like, oh, this is wonderful and all! Yay we’re out of diapers! But what do I do now?

Today I’m going to share why we’re taking Twyla out of diapers at 13 months old, what we’ve been doing, step by step, our challenges and solutions, and what we plan to do, very next.

Why we are taking our 13 month old out of diapers - 7 reasons

As I’ve mentioned in previous podcasts, the goal of being diaper-free is not as important as the process. How we’re doing this is way more important than the goal of not using diapers any longer.

However, I have to share with you our goals with all of this. What is the purpose of taking a baby out of diapers at around a year old?

First, it is the parent’s decision to make as to when to take their baby out of diapers. We’ve been led to believe that the child must initiate, but this is a scheme that is meant to sell billions of $ of diapers...see my podcast A Brief History of Diapers for more on that topic!

Second, the Montessori sensitive period for toilet learning - in other words, the timeframe when the child is both interested and capable, and if missed, will not progress forward to the next sensitive period for learning until this task is accomplished - is 12-18 months! In their schools, they put babies into cloth underpants starting at 12 months old, no matter whether the child has had toileting experience up to that point, or not.

Third, my own personal experience with taking my 5 kids out of diapers at different ages has shown that the earlier the better. The longer they’re in them, even if they don’t poop in them, the harder it is to get them out of diapers later...because they are used to wearing and peeing in them.

Fourth, I want my baby to heighten her sensitivity to being wet. Putting her in Tiny Trainers during the awake hours will accomplish this, and into Tiny Undies would be even better - if I didn’t have some carpeted areas in my house! I also can continue to monitor her intervals - how often does she pee? - because I can immediately feel and see that she is wet. And, I can engage her in the process of changing wet Trainers into dry.

Fifth, I can more easily start to place “The Building Blocks of Potty Independence” with the diaper out of the way. This includes mounting the potty, signaling/prompting, moving to the bathroom and sitting with a song and dance - run, run, run to the potty! Back, back, squat on the pot! - dressing and undressing, pushing pants down and pulling them up, wiping (or pretending to at this stage), doing the whole routine including washing hands, etc.

Sixth, I hate buying and throwing away diapers! Yes, I now use the ones by Dyper that are biodegradable in as little as 75 days, but it is still WASTE and I happen to love this Earth and would like for it to be around for many, many more generations. All other diapers? They’ve never biodegraded - billions of them every single year since 1961. Yuck!

Seventh, I know my baby is trying all sorts of big girl and grown-up stuff right now, like demanding full-sized french fries and for us to not cut up her food. She doesn’t like being laid down for anything but a nap. I want to honor her developing autonomy and this is the #1 way we parents can do this.

Okay, now let’s discuss...

Taking our 13 month old out of diapers - how we did it

So, by definition “going diaper-free” and ditching the diapers can mean just in the daytime or day + night, 24/7. It means you are taking your baby out of diapers, permanently, either during awake times or all the time, awake or sleeping.

Day or night?

Typically, I prefer to tackle daytime diaper-freedom first and use a diaper “back-up” at night until a later date...if this particular baby has not yet slept through the night with a dry diaper.

For me, sleeping thru the night without a dry diaper would indicate that the bladder is not quite there yet...and I know from experience that my baby will get better sleep if we use a back-up at night versus focusing on nighttime wrap-up at this early age.

That said, there have been several mamas in our community who’ve reported their baby is dry all night, without any pottytunities, as early as 13 months of age. It depends on the baby.

I’ve personally had two heavy wetters who would sleep straight through a full-on wet-bed accident at night, one who would wake every two hours to nurse and pee, and one who fought the diaper at night at an early age and really held his own during sleep, only requiring a dream pee at around 11pm.

For Twyla (and I recommend all of you do this), I have weighed the options and decided to continue nighttime diaper backups until a later date.

Exactly what we did, step by step

1. Put her into Tiny Trainers during awake times on a set date

We set the random date of the first of the month to ditch diapers. New month, new parent settings!

After her wake-up pee, I put her in Tiny Trainers.

I developed Tiny Trainers because Gerber training pants, as we all know, are paper-thin. Like, a waterfall can pass straight through! I used to do sumo-style for diaper-free observation time with a mobile baby, and now I only use either aqua blue or blackberry purple Tiny Trainers - the color allows me to see the pee immediately.

2. Did Observation Logging for One Day

We began a day of observation logging.

When going from one backup to another, less wicking, one...I highly recommend doing observation logging with your baby. You will learn so much about how her natural timing and signals (if any) have changed since the last time you checked.

So I start timing from waking or feeding - in this case waking from nighttime sleep. I write down the wake-up time, the time at which I subtly touch and discover wet pants, and the intervals in between. At every wet pant, I offer the potty in case there’s more. And if there’s a poop signal, I definitely catch that in the toilet.

The goal of this day was not to make any pee catches, but to learn Twyla’s current natural timing.

3. Discovered her average interval and her range

What did I discover? Well, she can hold it up to an hour and 40 minutes, no kidding! She can also go 20 minutes after just going.

What I was looking for here was an average, and a range. The average is about an hour for this kid, and the range was 20-100 minutes.

I now could move forward knowing her new timing and her capabilities for holding it.

4. Day-to-day pottytunities

So after gathering some information, we’ve been offering Twyla the potty day by day.

We offer based on:

  1. The 4 Easy Catches - wake-ups, poops, transition times, and instead of “at every diaper change,” every time she has wet Tiny Trainers
  2. Whenever she screams and looks at us or walks to us - this is a poop signal
  3. At night during wakeups - she will cry because she has been constipated, and she will either go or not
  4. Whenever we need to go somewhere and it would be lovely if she went before we got into the car (final pee!)
  5. Right before bedtime
  6. All times take into consideration the range and average time she will pee...so if we can’t figure out what’s wrong with her we will offer the potty if it’s been approximately one hour since the last catch or miss.

The challenges we’ve met - and their solutions

Night - she has been waking up either dry or soaked, twice a night as per usual, and crying as I hold her over the sink. Before, she’d go with no issues. So, now, when she wakes I offer...if she bucks and straightens I just put a diaper back on her, put the pants back on, and nurse her back to sleep. Sometimes she is clearly bearing down to poop AND crying. For this, I soothe her and tell her “it’s okay to push” because she’s had some pretty gnarly constipation lately, and she will still cry but she will push and get out a little poop. Then I clean her up - which is very minimal, so just some water and soap and a towel dab - and rediaper, nurse back to sleep.

Refusal and resistance - she screams on the way to the potty. I think it’s because of the constipation making her wary of going pee or poo, both, so I soothe her and bring her fave board book. She sits on the reducer and I give her her book, sometimes run the water, but typically, I completely leave the room, for one whole minute, come back, ask “all finished” and she will shake her head yes or no (which is great!)...I check if she went by touching her bottom, and whether or not she went, I put her Tiny Trainers back on. I engage her in the process of dressing as much as possible!

Dad and sitter - we have a new babysitter, again! And she was offering every 45 min and keeping her on there for 15 min at a time! When I discovered this, I asked her to switch gears to ONLY transition times and times when Twyla screams and come to her, clearly needing to go, and then only to let her stay on for 1-2 min, with the book if it helps. With daddy, he just won’t offer anymore, really. He wants to put her in a diaper and I remind him that the goal is not to have zero wet pants, it’s to pique her sensitivity and stay the course. He luckily goes along with it! But I can tell he’s disengaged a bit in the meanwhile.

Resistance on outings - Twyla will ONLY pee in the parking lot behind the open front door of the minivan. She will NOT pee over a sink or public toilet, and she currently hates the Potette Plus. I will reintroduce it in a month or two - it has worked for all our babies, and I want it to work in the end. Since it’s cold and wintry here, sometimes I skip the parking lot pee and she has stayed dry for up to TWO HOURS, I kid you not!! So, if she’s wet on an outing I just change her. She is in a biodegradable diaper on outings, currently.

Only letting out a little pee - She doesn’t let out a full pee in a sitting anymore. I think she is both experimenting with how long she can hold it (normal for this age!) and she is also constipated which often blocks the urinary canal from allowing much pee to escape. This I am certain will pass, so I am focusing instead on getting to the bottom of this constipation thing. Speaking of….

Constipation - Twyla has struggled with giant poops that make her butthole bleed for like 3 months now. It is terrible! We’ve tried prune juice, poop “candy,” oranges, prune packs, whole prunes, massage...everything...and still not working. I spoke with one of my book owners in Australia the other day and she did the elimination diet with her baby to solve some other bowel issues (blood in stool and mucus-y poop), discovering her baby is sensitive to wheat, eggs, and dairy. Since she is breastfeeding, she has adapted her own diet as well. Following her lead, I am doing the same with Twyla to rule out a food allergy. I’ve never dealt with one with any of my babies before. We’ve started with eggs and I’m dyin’ over here! Please send me smoothie recipes, y’all! But...I’m happy to report that it seems to be working...after a week with no eggs and a cup of prune juice mixed with water per day, she is now pooping regularly and willingly, and signals strongly about it as always. Score!

Peeing in high chair - Twyla ONLY lets out a full pee if she’s sitting in her high chair during a snack or meal. It sucks. So, we do offer before and after, and if she signals during, but I know from experience of teaching this for so many years that this is NORMAL and that this DOES PASS...eventually and quickly...so I’m not worried about it. She’s relaxed...makes sense! Oh, and did you know that in the mid-20th century wooden high chairs had a whole cut out of them with a little removable bucket beneath them? Yep! Turns out, I am not the only one with this problem, and neither are you!

What we plan to do, very next

After you take your baby out of diapers, you may wonder: what now?! Well, it’s fairly simple, actually. I’ve already named a lot of the things that you’ll do as “maintenance” and “gradual wrap-up” steps...because wrapping it up, gradually, does begin now!

(Passing the Baton is podcast episode 59)

Some of these include:

  1. Not ever going back to awake-time diapers
  2. Addressing nighttime soon - we plan to change to Tiny Trainers and TinyUps at night once she comes up dry 6 of the 7 nights a week - we are also trying to help her sleep through the night for mama’s sanity, so we will address the night after that has been solved!
  3. Continuing to offer like I stated earlier
  4. Updating her natural timing with observation in a few months, if necessary - this would be necessary if we start missing a whole bunch or getting more resistance
  5. Continuing to honor her requests for more independence by offering less at those times, allowing her to initiate, and backing off without stopping
  6. Teaching her a language to signal to us with - this is a big deal for a lot of you, I know! So, we will do this by using one sign for “I have to pee” - pointing at the bathroom or potty - and one sign for “peepee” - the “t” sign, shaking - at all times. We will use one simple phrase or word consistently at the same time as signing - nothing for “time to pee” because she has an independent, resistant temperament lately, and “peepee” or “poo” when she is peeing or pooping. She has begun to say “puh” to form this sound in her mouth, usually after potty time.

And that’s it! I hope this has helped some of you wrap your head more around how to take your baby out of diapers at one year old, why it would benefit you to do so, what steps to take to make it less stressful and feel more confident, and how to proceed after the diapers have been removed.

What’s your biggest takeaway or question about today’s topic? Please share your ah-hah moments with us in the comments below!

 

PS - here’s the video version of this episode in case you prefer to YouTube it. ;)

Andrea Olson

About Andrea Olson

I'm Andrea and I spend most of my time with my 6 children (all under 12 yo) and the rest of my time teaching other new parents how to do Elimination Communication with their 0-18 month babies. I love what I do and try to make a difference in one baby or parent's life every single day. (And I love, love, love, mango gelato.)

44 Comments

  1. Avatar Hanneke on January 21, 2020 at 7:53 am

    Wauw thumwup for Twyla and her Family for this huge milestones. I have been doing EC with my youngest (I have 5 kids only did EC by my youngest). She is 16 months old now it went really well. We started to struggle around her first Birthday. Now I barely catch anything anymore. Somehow I do not get her signals anymore. I now do EC by the 4 easy catches

    Somehow I would love to just like you did stop the diaper compleet. Maybe plan a few days at home and realy be there for her and observe her. I am just doubting if this is the right thing to do. Can I ask your advice? Would you say yes go for it or would you recommend to keep going with the 4 easy catches until it goes better again?

    I feel really disappointed cause it went so well before and now I am almost alt the point of just giving up

    • Avatar Cat on January 21, 2020 at 9:45 am

      Often changing the backup can increase signaling! It doesn’t have to be trainers or undies. It can be disposable to cloth diaper, or vice versa. Or padfold burp rag or receiving blanket. Tons of options!
      Also know that signals disappearing is totally common whether it is because babe is focused on mastering other things or a phase. At 16mo, I wouldn’t wait any longer! Maybe put to mind that you will change backup for say 3 days. If you are happy, keep going. And if it isn’t good for you & tot, you always have permission to change your mind!
      -Certified Coach Cat & Mama of 3

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on January 21, 2020 at 2:13 pm

      Hi Hanneke! Your instincts are spot on, ditch those diapers! A potty pause at this age is a sign it is time to wrap up. Move to training pants, bump up to full time EC, and work on teaching skills. If you have my Go Diaper Free book you can kick off with the hybrid plan if you would like. xx Andrea

    • Avatar Jennifer Z on January 21, 2020 at 8:31 pm

      Hanneke, my 8 month old is acting exactly like what Andrea described! Wishing we could’ve made it to 12 months before he resisted and bucked. I even bought tiny undies cause it was going so well! But now I just have to take a step back and not force it too much. I (almost) always catch poo and the pees after naps and before the bath. It will come. Good job mama for even trying!!!

      • Avatar Andrea Olson on January 22, 2020 at 2:07 pm

        It sounds like you are doing a great job working through this potty pause Jennifer! You are so right, it won’t last forever. He’ll get back on track in no time! xx Andrea

  2. Avatar Sabrina L. on January 21, 2020 at 8:55 am

    Perfect timing! You’ve inspired me. We’ve been following along with you two as my daughter is a slightly younger (12/25). We also have been using Dypers since birth (except for a trial of cloth… Not for me). We’ve loved them tho. And we started with the top hat at birth and then went up to a similar tiny potty I found at a thrift store. Some similarities between Twyla and my Leona and other differences. So sorry about the constipation, what a pain in the rear! 😩
    I’ll be getting the tiny trainers/undies soon as I think we’re almost there to use those during the day. I’m going to email or IG you a pic of Leo on the potty this am I think you’ll love it. She had her bear with her ♥️
    Thanks for everything! Love following along with you!

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on January 21, 2020 at 2:16 pm

      That’s great Sabrina! I think your plan to move to training pants soon is the right idea. I’m pretty sure I saw that picture today (unless there’s another Leo hugging a bear lol), such a cutie!! xx Andrea

  3. Avatar Inge on January 21, 2020 at 12:10 pm

    Go mommy! Go Twyla!

    Thank you for your book and podcasts, never thought I could have a baby but wouldn’t have to deal with poopy diapers…

    Am i right to conclude that in the worst case scenario you are pottying Twyla every hour? Plus you have misses.
    That frightens me…

    I could do that for a weekend, but daycare wouldn’t (even though she is super into putting her on the potty at diaper changes and sudden fussiness). Plus I dread the car…

    Daphne is 16months and walking, so the moment is now I guess. We do the 4 easy catches, but rarely have a dry diaper when we offer. Nights are never dry. I recognize a few signals but she doesn’t actively tells me she has to go.

    So my question is…
    When doing e.c. part-time, can I take her out of diapers part-time? So use them at daycare and car rides?

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on January 21, 2020 at 2:18 pm

      Hi Inge! It is completely fine if daycare isn’t on board right away, you can just ditch diapers at home. I would have a talk with them though about when they will make the shift to potty learning full time. Just so they know what you are wanting to do and you know their abilities/policies. xx Andrea

      • Avatar Angela on January 21, 2020 at 4:25 pm

        Great to read about your experiences, needing some advice….my little one will be 18 months in 3 weeks! We’re catching most pees and poops in the toilet for a few months now. We haven’t ditched the diapers yet but I’m thinking we should get the trainers or real undies for daytime? Any advice on which at this point? She doesn’t always signal and it’s mostly intuition for us and guessing when she might need to go (being pregnant with my second, I take her whenever I need to go)! She’s also waking up at 3am to potty…should I be taking her in the middle of the night? I have, but Is that creating a habit of some sort instead of her learning to hold it? She’ll go if she needs to regardless but wondering what the best way is to handle it….thanks in advance!

        • Avatar Andrea Olson on January 22, 2020 at 2:05 pm

          Hi Angela! Absolutely ditch diapers, it will make such a difference. If you are wrapping up EC, you can go with training pants. If you are choosing to do a potty training experience, you’ll want to go with undies. For nights, yes take her potty. You start night training with dream pees, then phase them out if you can. xx Andrea

  4. Avatar kelly on January 21, 2020 at 1:21 pm

    So, I know you don’t pretend that you are able to catch every elimination, but this is your first post/article/podcast where I feel the most relatable to you; and that my struggles (and number of them) are normal struggles in this process. Thank you for sharing. My twins are now 18 months, and after trying at the 12 month mark unsuccessfully (too draining on me), I’m ready to give it a go again.

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on January 21, 2020 at 2:21 pm

      I’m so glad to hear that Kelly! Nobody’s perfect, there’s no reason to stress over a miss. Your twins are the perfect age to make potty training a priority. Things can be a little slower since you have two kiddos to manage, but they will absolutely get there! Ditch those diapers and don’t look back. xx Andrea

  5. Avatar Karen on January 21, 2020 at 2:46 pm

    Great podcast, Andrea! Going through the same thing with Gabriella right now and we also struggled with Dad being less interested and frustrated by wet trainers. I also reminded him that we are learning how wet feels. The first week out of diapers went fairly well but the second week was terrible. She fought the potty, fought the toilet, fought diapers… It was SO frustrating for everyone but we kept at it. She was even refusing easy catches. This week, we are already way better! We got a second potty to put in another room of the house and realized she does better being commando. She started signalling in the past two days and has even run to the bathroom right after peeing (which tells me she realizes pee should go there, even if she doesn’t get there in time). It’s been really neat seeing her start to put it all together the last couple days…

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on January 22, 2020 at 2:02 pm

      Hi Karen! Yay for sticking with it!! That resistance is pretty common, I’m glad you didn’t let it stop you. It sounds like things are going very well, keep up the awesome work! xx Andrea

  6. Avatar Bethany on January 23, 2020 at 11:54 am

    This post is soooo helpful and clears up so much for me.
    How long is typical for them to continue to have misses like this? I tried trainers for 4 days and it almost seemed like we went completely backwards. She’s always done EC but those days I could hardly get a catch! I went back to diapers and we’re catching more again. Ive been thinking I’ll just wait till we’re ready to do the full potty training experience. But if we did go back to trainers to wrap up EC what’s the expectation there? Do they just slowly start to get it that way? Thank you so much!

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on January 23, 2020 at 2:24 pm

      Hi Bethany! It can take a few weeks for things to improve when you ditch diapers and begin wrapping up EC. You won’t see an immediate click, there is a learning curve for everyone involved. If you want you can kick it off with the hybrid plan that comes with the Go Diaper Free book. Or you can start potty training at 15 months+. It is totally up to you! xx Andrea

  7. Avatar Maggie on January 23, 2020 at 2:04 pm

    This is a great episode! Our baby will be 1 in mid-February, and we do EC part time and love it. Will you guys be getting any more 12 mo and 18 mo tiny trainers in stock? There aren’t any purple or aqua 12 mo or 18 mo sizes. If not, what would be a good alternative to Tiny Trainers?
    Thank you!

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on January 23, 2020 at 2:25 pm

      Hi Maggie! I’m so glad to hear you are loving EC!! It really is the best. You can email mamas@tinyundies.com to check stock. xx Andrea

      • Avatar Maggie on January 24, 2020 at 9:02 am

        Thanks Andrea!

  8. Avatar Rebecca on February 6, 2020 at 4:56 pm

    Hi Andrea- you’re an inspiration and I really enjoy following along your podcasts etc. I have a 19m old and have been part time EC’ing since he was 6m. Basically since he could sit by himself. We were doing really well but at some stage he got sick and the diarrhoea was hellish so we had to put nappies back on a lot more often. Basically several months later we have been a lot less able to read his poop signals. It’s like they vanished and so we have been missing most poops now for months and they used to be our ‘best catches’. Have felt super disheartened for months and almost like we’ve been traveling in reverse after so much good work. Tonight, when taking my nearly 4yo to the loo bubby-boy went and sat on the potty. So, inspired again, I whipped off his nappy and he finished his wee on the potty, did his own wiping, pulled up his own pants and wanted to tip his own pee into the loo too! We may well be finally back in the game. Although, I put him in training pants and later tonight he did a potty refusal and wet his trainers instead. Right after I’d offered the potty!
    Shall we just rip the bandaid off and go totally nappy-free??? (Assuming he is ready from his display tonight; and just having a ‘moment of autonomy’ by actually *not* using the potty even when he has a wee in there, also like tonight.)
    PS, he wakes dry in the mornings maybe 50%. We have a bunch of training pants with PUL liners.

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on February 7, 2020 at 2:39 pm

      Hi Rebecca! Absolutely ditch awake time diapers!! At his age I would actually recommend doing potty training. He’s the perfect age to start. xx Andrea

  9. Avatar Saartje on February 12, 2020 at 5:25 am

    I loved this podcast! Thank you for sharing your story.

    We started EC and using cloth diapers by 8 months here. Since then on, we catched nearly all the poops and our son got used to the potty.
    By his first birthday we ditched the diapers at home and switched to trainers. On outings, for sleeps and at grandma’s house, we still use diapers.
    I hoped ditching diapers at home would make the number of pees on the potty higher, but it didn’t. Our now 13 months old son doesn’t usually signal when he has to pee, but he does signal almost everytime after he has peed: wet training pants!! So it has become easier to see and act immediately. His favourite game now is to walk or crawl away from me, giggling, and me coming after him with new trainers :)
    I’m searching here for the next step to take to have more catches on the potty instead of a pile of wet trainers every day. What would be your advice please?

    xx Saartje

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on February 14, 2020 at 3:27 pm

      Hi Saartje! It sounds like you are doing a great job with EC! Your son is building his awareness, it is awesome that he can tell you once he has gone. You can work on teaching him to signal. If he doesn’t signal, try to offer the potty based off of timing so you can get those pees on the potty. Everything will come together in the next few months. xx Andrea

  10. Avatar Holly on February 21, 2020 at 12:37 pm

    Hi Andrea, thanks for the great post – it came at just the right time for us as we had just ditched diapers at home with our then 12-month old. We are now 1 month in and it is going great at home, she started signalling (she never had before) and now even takes herself to the potty for most pees and poos (including going upstairs to poo, maybe she likes that potty better? ha!). I am wondering about taking this further to outside of home, especially because we are heading on a 2-month bike tour in 2 weeks, and our big hope with EC was to have less cloth diapers to hand wash while on the road! Do you put Twyla in a diaper for naps? We have never had much success with wake-up pees with our little girl since starting EC at 2 weeks old, unless they are ‘on the move naps’ in the backpack or Ergo. She is always wet by the time we reach her, even if she has just stirred, and refuses to pee, sometimes holding it for up to an hour after (her typical post-feeding pee interval). So I don’t want to soak her sleep sack or snowsuit… but maybe this is part of the learning? She is in cloth diapers, so quite wet when she wakes up if she has peed. Also, do you put Twyla in the car seat or stroller in trainers? Again, I am hesitant to venture there since we really have had low success with pre-departure pees and she often pees 5 minutes later when on car rides (and signals only after)… Would love some insights on further ‘passing the baton’ in situations where she can’t just walk to the potty when she wants to. Thanks!

  11. Avatar Emily on April 15, 2020 at 9:45 am

    Hi Andrea, this is really helpful! My daughter is a little over 13 months now and we’ve been EC’ing since she was around 2 days old. We have had our ups and downs, but overall it’s been a really positive experience. For the past few months, pretty much all of her poops are on the potty and about half of her pees on a good day (sometimes we don’t catch any pees, but I try not to be too hard on ourselves).

    I know all babies develop at different rates, and I feel like my daughter has always been just a little bit behind on the average developmental milestones. She just started crawling around 11 months; she now cruises on furniture a bit but isn’t walking yet. She doesn’t say words or shake her head yes/no, although she definitely understands a lot of what we say to her.

    My question is, do we just wait until her communication is more clear in general to make the transition to training pants/underwear? Or do you think making the transition now would encourage her to communicate more?

    Thanks so much!!

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on April 15, 2020 at 2:01 pm

      Hi Emily! If you are ready to ditch diapers, go for it! The only thing that could happen is you might see a slight potty pause when she learns to walk. If that is a concern you can just increase diaper free time without ditching diapers fully until she’s walking. Totally up to you though! If you haven’t been already, you might look into Baby Signing Time to help her communication. xx Andrea

  12. Avatar Ivana on April 25, 2020 at 11:19 am

    How is twyla progressing? Did you stop using diapers for outings?

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on April 26, 2020 at 3:27 pm

      Hi Ivana! Yes we did at about 15 months because of the quarantine. She’s been doing awesome on long hikes and small car rides. xx Andrea

  13. Avatar Ivana on May 15, 2020 at 2:26 am

    Hello,
    We stopped using daytime diapers at 13 months and switched to tranining pants. He would pee in them every 45 minutes. At 14 months we started using undies and now he can stay dry for 90 minutes. I still have to prompt him, is this a step in the right direction. Do pees consolidate with time. He signals by asking me to pick him up, but most of the time we use transition times and easy catches. What should i do next to promote his potty independence?

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on May 15, 2020 at 4:20 pm

      Hi Ivana! That’s fantastic!! Make sure you are using the signal you want to see/hear from him. Something like saying “potty” and using sign language. He will start to use it. Work on teaching him to sit on the potty on his own. Then you can work on teaching all of the parts of the potty routine until he is fully independent. Just pick one at a time and use your own judgment of his abilities to introduce a skill. xx Andrea

      • Avatar Ivana on May 16, 2020 at 3:18 am

        Thanks Andrea, excited today :) He woke up this morning with a dry diaper. Yay. We cut fluids a hour before bedtime and peed two times before bed. Feeling good.

        • Avatar Andrea Olson on May 16, 2020 at 4:25 pm

          That’s fantastic Ivana!

          • Avatar Ivana on May 31, 2020 at 5:45 am

            Really excited, He started using our signal word(kaka) in last few days. I think he is starting to understand when he is peeing and when he needs to pee. Ditch the diapers as soon as you can. You can do it.



          • Avatar Andrea Olson on May 31, 2020 at 9:50 pm

            That is fantastic Ivana!



  14. Avatar Ivana on May 31, 2020 at 5:45 am

    Really excited, He started using our signal word(kaka) in last few days. I think he is starting to understand when he is peeing and when he needs to pee. Ditch the diapers as soon as you can. You can do it.

  15. Avatar Alyssa on June 17, 2020 at 12:27 pm

    I know I’m late to this one! After listening to Twyla’s update I thought I’d come catch up and thought of a question. I sometimes work one day a week and a grandma will keep baby. They’re not keen on wearing trainers or undies and want to use a diaper. Would this be okay if they still offer the potty at transition times? He can’t walk yet at 14 months. I don’t want to confuse him. I really want to be out of daytime diapers though.

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on June 17, 2020 at 6:42 pm

      Hi Alyssa! Yes, you can have him in diapers there. Or a Tiny Up over training pants would be a great option. As long as Grandma is offering the potty you are good to go for ditching diapers at home. xx Andrea

  16. Avatar Ivana on June 25, 2020 at 7:24 am

    Hi, update he is using his signal word about 50% of the time, we sometimes still rely on transition times when he does not say anything. I feel this is a step in the right direction. Every time he signals and there is pee and pooh in the potty, i feel like I won the lottery.

  17. Avatar Ali on January 3, 2023 at 7:10 pm

    I’ve been doing EC since day 1. At 6 months we caught every poo. Now he can barely even look at the potty and gets upset the moment we start to take him to it. I really would love insights! I backed off but now it feels like
    We have never even done EC- mostly every pee and poo in diaper at 13 months !
    Help

    • Andrea Olson Andrea Olson on January 6, 2023 at 9:45 pm

      First off, you got this momma! Perhaps doing a reset where you spend a few days diaper free and focus on learning his signals and timings could help get you both off to a better start.

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