Originally Posted by hannajo

I realize all babies develop different skills at different ages. But today, the baby I nanny for (I affectionately call her "my baby.") pooped in the potty - twice. And she is seven months old.

I know the parents had been using the potty chair when she appeared to be preparing to poop. Well today, she was "tooting" and squirming like she usually does before she poops. So for fun I decided I put her on - she still can't even sit without a little support. And sure enough she poops. After she went the second time, I'm convinced she knows what she's doing. I'm absolutely amazed. I thought the dad was a little bit nuts when he told me he bought her the potty chair... I've never even heard of trying to potty train a child until at least 18 months for the most mature.

Do you know of other babies that potty train so early, or is my family just full of slow developers?

Originally Posted by Jan in VA

Check out this site on “elimination communication.” We had many parents using this technique with their babies 6 years ago in Austin. It’s known all over the world; the US is one of the few countries that teaches it infants to ignore the call of nature and go in their pants/diapers. Then we turn around about two years later and demand the babies stop “messing” and get “trained.”
It’s a fascinating subject actually, LOL!

http://www.tribalbaby.org/ECindex.html

Jan in VA

Originally Posted by amma

I am old school, and think we are waiting too long now to start them too.

Originally Posted by ptquilts

I came across an old (1940's ) parenting book - they talked about this technique as if it were commonplace. Even recommended, be sure to support the baby's head while you have them sitting on the potty as people were doing it when the baby was very young.

Originally Posted by hannajo

I can't for the life of me figure out why this practice was ever abandoned. I've seen the struggles my cousins have faced training their 2 and 3-year-olds. But to a 7 or 9-month-old, everything new is fun, not scary or annoying as things tend to be for the older ones. With "my baby," she loves the potty chair because it's something new and interesting, and it's a unique sensory experience.

p.s. Sorry if I'm posting too much on this thread. My whole outlook on potty training majorly changed today. I never thought I would be writing so much about pooping!