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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Katherine Ryan reckons her eight month old is toilet trained

220 replies

WheelieBinPrincess · 13/02/2022 15:31

Now, if I held my baby over the loo for a couple of hours for want of something better to do on a rainy Sunday, I reckon eventually he’d use it. I could then clap and proclaim I had started toilet training Hmm

AIBU to think she’s off her rocker? Apparently, putting your baby in a nappy means you are teaching them to always go in a nappy.

I know she has a nanny to deal with all this as well, who Im sure rolls her eyes at the proclamation that her baby is fully potty trained at 8mo.

Reminds me of a friend of mine who claimed her newborn learnt to use a hand signal for hunger from day 2 or 3 so she didn’t need to cry. She was apparently fluent in baby sign from two months old.

OP posts:
OP posts:
sadpapercourtesan · 13/02/2022 15:33

She's probably using elimination communication? It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it is a legitimate practice. No need to sneer about it.

Canaloha · 13/02/2022 15:34

I just don't see why some are so keen to highlight how quickly their child has done x, y or z (especially when it's a lot of rubbish anyway); it's not a race and it's evidently as they want to feel like they're 'winning' when it's not a race.

AllThatFancyPaintsAsFair · 13/02/2022 15:35

I don't have a view on how she potty trains her child but what I do want to know is why for someone not really well known is she always in the media?

Does she have the world's best agent? Is she strapped for cash? There was a period of time when she cropped up weekly it seemed with non stories

Very strange imo

Thesearmsofmine · 13/02/2022 15:35

It’s called elimination communication and is really common in some places. Maybe read up on it before being scornfully things that in other parts of the world are completely normal.

Original poster
WheelieBinPrincess · 13/02/2022 15:36

I have no idea how you would tell when your baby needed a wee though. When my baby needs a wee I presume he just…has a wee. Could you tell if your baby needed a wee?

OP posts:
cherryonthecakes · 13/02/2022 15:36

It's called elimination communication and isn't the same as potty training.

She must have a lot of time to go through the hassle.

Avarua · 13/02/2022 15:37

Pretty much everywhere in the developing world uses some form of elimination communication method. It's legit.

Original poster
WheelieBinPrincess · 13/02/2022 15:37

Well that’s not what she calls it in the article! She says potty training.

OP posts:
cherryonthecakes · 13/02/2022 15:37

@WheelieBinPrincess

I have no idea how you would tell when your baby needed a wee though. When my baby needs a wee I presume he just…has a wee. Could you tell if your baby needed a wee?
I imagine that they grab a potty as soon as wee starts leak.
Original poster
WheelieBinPrincess · 13/02/2022 15:38

From birth?

OP posts:
VladmirsPoutine · 13/02/2022 15:38

Why sneer at it? I can't work out how it would work in practice unless you spent all day in the bathroom hovering baby above the toilet but let mothers do what they think is best for them.

Original poster
WheelieBinPrincess · 13/02/2022 15:38

Yeah, she’s pointed out that you can’t possibly do it if you need to go out to work (or leave the house, presumably)

OP posts:
Svara · 13/02/2022 15:39

When I was home I held DS over the loo at nappy changes from eight months and he would go in response to a psss noise. Saved heaps on nappies and time spent in wet nappies as he'd then be dry for a while (not wet wet, but cold and squishy isn't nice either). He wasn't fully toilet trained until two and a half but I think it did make the process easier for very little effort and it saved money (young single parent).

Simonjt · 13/02/2022 15:39

@Avarua

Pretty much everywhere in the developing world uses some form of elimination communication method. It's legit.
Yep, it’s done by most parents where I was born as nappies are simply a luxury that are out of the reach of many parents. I don’t do it as frankly we can’t be bothered.
TheWayTheLightFalls · 13/02/2022 15:40

It’s a thing in other parts of the world, as PP said. My husband was raised in the USSR. Nurseries wouldn’t take kids who weren’t toilet trained. MIL needed to work. DH and his bro were trained by 12 months, she says.

MaverickSnoopy · 13/02/2022 15:41

My grandmother used elimination communication when her babies were 6 months old. She had 7 children so wanted them out of nappies ASAP. I couldn't have even done it with 1! I think it's an amazing thing to want to do and am intrigued as to whether it aids potty training.

Heronwatcher · 13/02/2022 15:41

I think she has very strong views on this, I remember her talking about it with her first. As others have said it’s a totally legitimate practice and I have heard it said that it definitely does work- for example in places where it’s not normal to use disposable nappies. That said I think you must have to be pretty evangelical about it to go through the time/ hassle and I don’t see it as a problem if you want to wait until they’re 3 as most people do. It’s just a case of priorities I guess.

BearOfEasttown · 13/02/2022 15:41

Yeah, she is wrong.

NiceTwin · 13/02/2022 15:41

My nephew hated toileting in his nappy, he would get really distressed.
Consequently, he was potty trained by 12 months old. It was was dsis's 4th child, the other 3 were toilet trained at gone 2 years, so it wasn't my sister being over zealous.

BearOfEasttown · 13/02/2022 15:41

AND deluded.

Original poster
WheelieBinPrincess · 13/02/2022 15:42

Okay fine, I didn’t mean it to be sneery actually although I do think KR can be a bit strange.

She doesn’t mention elimination communication.

Yes I realise nappies are definitely a luxury, however not everyone would use or have access to disposable ones so I presume they’d wash out clothes nappies.

OP posts:
Wildrobin · 13/02/2022 15:43

Like svara we did elimination communication (sometimes part time ) and it was incredibly easy to get into the rhythm a lot of the time (eg there’s always a wee after a nap so soon as nappy was off if I held baby over a pot or over the toilet they very quickly learn the ‘sssss‘ noise ). It wasn’t competitive in any way , just much more environmental and energy saving ! I did it after googling how people managed in countries who didn’t have nappies or money for them

Simonjt · 13/02/2022 15:43

@WheelieBinPrincess

Okay fine, I didn’t mean it to be sneery actually although I do think KR can be a bit strange.

She doesn’t mention elimination communication.

Yes I realise nappies are definitely a luxury, however not everyone would use or have access to disposable ones so I presume they’d wash out clothes nappies.

Lots of people don’t have the luxury of washable nappies or the facilities to wash or dry them. Communal handwashing is a very common practice in many countries, things used as nappies wouldn’t be accepted.
Totalwasteofpaper · 13/02/2022 15:45

My grandma had 9!!!! And did this.

All her children were toilet trained by 1 Shock
I will prob be too lazy Blush

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