'I started toilet training my baby when she was 10 days old'

“I was hooked straightaway. I would never have thought about it but once the idea was in my head I couldn’t unsee it and I was motivated to make it work.

Cindy Lever

4 min read

September 27, 2023 - 1:54PM

My daughter stopped using nappies at 2 weeks old & is now toilet trained

Family Life

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When Alice Herrison rocked up at a café and put her little baby on a potty, people looked at her very strangely.

But the first-time mum got used to the staring.

“People would stare when I carried my top hat potty around and probably thought I was a bit crazy. I’d often take it to friends’ houses,” the Byron Bay mum told Kidspot.

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“We are used to seeing mothers breastfeed in public, but we are not used to seeing a baby go to the toilet in public.”

Alice and her husband, Andres, have been practising elimination communication.

Elimination communication (EC), or natural infant hygiene, is practised by many cultures around the world, but has been lost in the west.

It works on the idea that babies are no different from adults and don’t want to soil themselves.

Using a nappy is something they get used to when their cues to go to the toilet are not heard or understood. This instinct is then lost altogether at about six months old if it has been ignored.

Alice started toilet training her daughter Elena when she was just 10 days old. Picture: Supplied

"I thought it would be more complicated"

Wanting to be more eco-friendly, Alice began stocking up on cloth nappies when she was pregnant. It was while researching using them that she stumbled upon elimination communication.

She said lots of people using cloth nappies were also practising it to avoid extra washing and having to deal with pooey nappies.

“I thought that was pretty smart,” the 33-year-old said.

“I was hooked straightaway. I would never have thought about it but once the idea was in my head I couldn’t unsee it and I was motivated to make it work.

“I thought it would be more complicated than it was.”

Alice quickly learned her daughter's cues for when she needed to go to the toilet. Picture: Supplied

"It was exciting and motivating"

Alice bought a tiny potty when her daughter Elena was born and first held her over it when she was just 10 days old to do a wee.

“Every time I breastfed Elena, I put the potty underneath her because she’d often poo or wee at the same time,” she explained.

“It was really easy. I was so happy the first time I caught a wee. It was exciting and motivating.”

Andres was not enthused with the idea to begin with, Alice recalled. He thought it was too complicated.

“It felt like another headache to add to parenthood for him, but when he saw it worked, he was onboard,” Alice said.

Elena spent much of her time playing outside on their property with nothing on her bottom so she could just wee and poo as she needed to.

Elena spent a lot of time playing in the backyard nappy free, meaning Alice had no messy nappies to clean up. Picture: Supplied

"We spent a lot of time in the garden"

Many people doing elimination communication work by using cues which let the baby know they can go to the toilet, however, Alice said she decided to keep it simple.

Although she would hold her over the potty while breastfeeding and first thing in the morning, she didn’t have a routine either.

“One of my key things with motherhood in general is to be flexible and not try to fit in every box because it won’t work for everyone. It avoids putting unnecessary pressure on yourself,” she said.

“People should do what suits their lifestyle and what feels right for them.

“We spent a lot of time in the garden, so it was easy knowing we didn’t have to clean up.

“We would always congratulate her, even at a very young age, giving her a clap or cheer.”

Elena sitting on her Top Hat Potty. Picture: Supplied

"My husband could read her face when she needed to go"

By the time Elena was three months old, her bowel movements were so regular that Alice knew exactly when she’d do a poo each day.

“It’s almost like she knew it was time for a poo. I didn’t need to wait for her to tell me she wanted to go, I’d just offer it and she’d go,” Alice said.

“I wasn’t fussed about missing wees. I just wanted to catch the poos.

“My husband said he could read her face when she needed to go.”

Alice would also sit Elena on the potty while out at cafes, which attracted strange looks from those around her.

“My friends would say it was unnatural to train a child to wait for the potty. But she’s not waiting, she just associates it with going to the toilet,” she said.

“It is not like sleep training. She enjoys the potty.

“What is unnatural is to have a baby in a stinky nappy and have poo all over her body.”

Alice had Elena fully toilet trained before she was two, and plans to use the same methods with her second child. Picture: Supplied

"She was the only one in her class that was potty trained"

By about 18 months, Elena was nappy free and just wore pants.

“When she could talk, she’d say, ‘pee pee’ and ‘caca’, which is poo in French,” Alice revealed.

“When she started daycare at two, she was the only one in her class that was potty trained. Even the kids in the class above her still wear nappies.

“The first couple of weeks every teacher came to me and told me how amazing it was. They said, ‘she told me she needed to go to the toilet, we took her, and she went’.

“She hasn’t had an accident since she started daycare.”

Alice believes elimination communication is a natural process and gentle if you don’t become overly obsessed and get upset if you miss a catch.

She is due to give birth to her second baby in November and can’t wait to start elimination communication straightaway again.