Children: the final frontier. For centuries man has attempted to figure out what makes them tick, how best to raise them (or more importantly how to not harm their developmental process), and why they seem so attracted to a certain purple dinosaur. There have been literally hundreds of books written on the subject of child-raising. Just like fad diets, there have been fad child-rearing techniques that promise much more than anyone could hope. Early reading abilities, higher IQs, the skills of a musical prodigy are all at the fingertips of parents who are willing to pay the price. Fads of the past decade include the Little Einstein tape series, Leapfrog hand-held videogames, and the Mozart Magic Cube (God help us all, they have put Amadeus into a cube).
It has recently come to my attention that there is a new epidemic in the realm of childrearing: toilet-training before the age of one. Proponents of the so-called "diaper-free babies" have set up Internet groups in 35 states. Authors, such as Ingrid Bauer, author of Diaper Free! The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene (doesn't the title just make you want to go out and buy it?), have sold over 50,000 copies of books written on the topic. So far, the nucleus for the movement is http://www.diaperfreebaby.com, which allows parents from all around the world learn about "elimination communication." All I can say is that the last time I heard elimination "communicate," it was from Mr. Hanky on "South Park."
The fact is that newborns' ability to eliminate waste products is a reflex, not some sort of learned behavior, without which neonates would be stuck in a constant state of constipation and agitation. According to Spencer A. Rathus, the aggravation of having to change diapers along with familial pressure can make parents believe that potty-training earlier is better.
"Parents, in turn, may pressure their children to become toilet trained. And so toilet training can become a major arena for parent-child conflict," Rathus says. This pundit's opinion directly contradicts the key argument used by mothers of diaper-free babies: that toilet-training during the first year "strengthens the parent-child bond." Keep in mind that these children are too young to speak even in holophrases and most of then cannot even stand up yet.
Dr. T. Berry Brazelton, famed creator of the Brazelton Neonatal Behavioral Assessment test, supports the idea of early toilet-training so long as the child is ready and little pressure is applied to the situation.
"The thing that bothers me about it is today, probably 80 percent of women don't have that kind of availability," says Brazelton. The current authority on the subject, the American Academy of Pediatrics, currently released a pamphlet on the subject of waste elimination amongst youths; therein it is stated that "children have no control over bladder or bowel movements when they are younger than a year and little control for six months afterwards."
Dr. Ann Statler, a Boston Children's Hospital pediatrician agrees that the diaper-free baby concept is an inane one. "Children are not motivated at that point to be going on the potty," she says.
Mothers who support the movement say that early elimination education is "more sanitary, environmentally friendly and can save money on diapers." In my opinion, having to spend a few dollars on a box of Huggies is much less damaging than the emotional trauma and negative associations that can form when a human being who has not yet maturated is forced to toilet-train. Also, what happens if after all of this hard-work by the parents, the child continues to have accidents and does not adopt potty-training practices? Surely the parent-child bond will suffer. I know that I would be rather disturbed even at that age if my mother dangled me above a toilet at the time when my stepping-reflex was still present. Let us only hope that parents come to their senses and discard the idea of diaper-free babies just like they did the concept of giving diet pills that were actually a form of speed to obese children to help them lose weight.
Jay P. Singh is a freshman who has yet to declare a major.
