Independent Article

THE INDEPENDENT: 30 MARCH 2005

It's potty - but it works

Converts say a nappyless baby is a happy baby, and that doing away with diapers is cleaner and greener. New father Adharanand Finn meets the not-so-yummy-mummies

Little Jacob is only eight weeks old, but he's already out of nappies. "We used them for the first week," says Maggie, his mother. "The first week can be a bit messy." Incredibly, since then he has been nappy-free. As with his two brothers, Jacob is being brought up using something called Elimination Communication, or Natural Infant Hygiene. In theory, it involves being attentive to signs that your baby needs to "eliminate", and then responding by moving quickly to the nearest toilet, sink or potty, depending on your preference. A jam jar, water bottle or the nearest bush will also suffice. The baby then eliminates and there's no need for a nappy.

It sounds like a crazy idea, but Maggie and her husband, Phil, are not alone in using this technique. In many parts of the world, it's quite normal. Maggie grew up in Kenya and she says she remembers noticing that many of the babies there were carried around without nappies. The practice is also common throughout Asia. But, even in Britain, with its cold weather and carpeted floors, the method has a growing number of willing practitioners.

Not using nappies has many obvious advantages. Landfill sites are teeming with piles of non-biodegradable Pampers and Huggies (an estimated 2.4 billion disposable nappies are thrown away in Britain every year), forests are being cut down to provide the raw materials and research in Germany has linked some of the gels nappies contain to male fertility problems.

The cost of using disposable nappies can also be a considerable burden on financially stretched parents: a recent study in Pregnancy & Birth magazine found that it costs £1,126, on average, to keep a baby in disposable nappies for three years. And while the much-vaunted solution to these problems is usually washable nappies, the option of not using them at all has hardly been considered.

But surely bringing your baby up without using nappies can be a messy business? "There is the occasional wet leg," says Maggie when asked about the inevitable mess. "But then, changing endless dirty nappies for years on end is pretty messy too."

She has a point, but what about the carpets and furnishings? Maggie and Phil shrug and give me a look of unconcerned acceptance. That they can sometimes get a bit wet and messy, is how I read it. But their house is not dirty. In fact, it's pretty clean. They have wooden floors and washable covers on the sofa, which obviously help, but there are no bad smells or newspaper on the floor.

Ironically, avoiding mess is one of the main reasons people decide to use Elimination Communication (EC). When I ask Maggie and Phil why they don't use nappies, neither of them mentions the cost saving or the environment. "It's the thought of a baby sitting in its own poo," says Maggie. That a baby will spend much of its day sitting in its own mess is totally acceptable in our society, she says. "It's not even questioned." It's a point echoed by Laurie Boucke, author of Infant Potty Training, a how- to book on the subject: "Would you want to wear your toilet?"

Stronger than Maggie and Phil's concerns for their children's cleanliness, however, was their conviction that not using nappies is the first step towards helpful communication with their children. According to Maggie and Phil, young Jacob tells them when he wants to go to the toilet, even at eight weeks old. "Once we realised that our baby was telling us he wanted to eliminate, we felt we couldn't just ignore him," says Maggie. "He kicks his legs, a bit like doing the breaststroke," says Phil.

Sure enough, right on cue, Jacob starts wriggling on his mother's lap. It looks a little like he's doing the breaststroke, but I'm no expert. Maggie is quickly up and over to the downstairs loo. A few seconds later she sits down again with Jacob on her lap. "Just like that," she says, on her return. I must admit, I'm amazed. This happens about five times in the couple of hours I'm with them, and each time it takes just a few seconds. Much quicker than changing a nappy.

Many proponents of EC say that it makes them feel closer to their babies and more connected with their behavioural patterns. For others, though, including some who have tried it, being that attentive is hard work.

Heather Welford, who wrote the NCT book Successful Potty Training, says that most mothers are too busy or have better things to do with their time than sit and watch their babies' faces for hours on end. "I think it will always be something practised by a minority of parents doing it for ideological reasons such as being closer to the baby, or to help save the environment," she argues.

Phil agrees. "It's part of a general attachment approach to parenting," he says. "We carry Jacob in a sling and he sleeps in the bed with us, so we're always close to him." Without this closeness, he argues, it would be difficult to pick up on the elimination signals. "When he's in the sling, next to you, it's a piece of cake," he says. "But if he was in a cot or a buggy, it would be much more difficult to notice the signs."

Amy, from London, also used elimination communication with her baby. She is of Chinese origin, and says that her background made it seem less strange to use the method - not using nappies is common in China. "My daughter was able to communicate to me when she needed to go from a few months old," she says. "Before that I relied more on intuition and timing. Of course we had accidents, but at two months we were catching 50 per cent of pees, and at four months about 90 per cent. Poos were easy to catch with her right from the very first meconium poo on day one."

Becky, whose daughter Morgan is seven months old, says she used mainstream methods of potty training with her other children, but after three months of using EC she could never go back. "The only drawback I can think of is that I can't always dress her in the cuter clothes I find because they're too inconvenient. And you have to get creative with their wardrobe in order to keep them warm in winter."

Many parents use EC part-time, employing nappies as a back-up when they are out, at night, or in other people's houses. This half-way measure means that you can share in the numerous advantages of going nappyless, while appearing acceptable to the conventions of the outside world. Maggie and Phil were forced to go part-time with their second son, Toby, when Maggie suffered a prolapse and couldn't carry Toby around with her. They say it didn't work as well and there were more accidents because he became used to eliminating in the nappy.

Julia, another mother who opted for the no-nappies approach, says that if you use nappies as a back-up you end up paying less attention and don't learn the signs. "It's the danger of misses that makes you pay attention."

Georgina, from East Sussex, used EC part-time with her daughter, Milla. She admits it wasn't straightforward, but says being more aware of what her daughter was communicating to her made it worthwhile. "The main benefit is definitely the increased communication," she says. "The reduced use of nappies is just a side-benefit."

Whether you decide to bring your children up with or without nappies may be a question of attitude. On her website, Laurie Boucke is compiling a list of "101 Reasons to Use Infant Potty Training", as it is also known. Number 34 is: "It turns a dull shopping trip into an adventure." Many parents, however, may wish to substitute the words "dull" and "adventure" with "pleasant" and "nightmare". Going without nappies has many advantages, but it may take unbridled optimism and a sense of adventure to succeed.