Learning to Use the Potty

We are trying to "potty learn" our son. He is 18 months old. Yes, I know he is young. Yes, I know it will be a difficult path to take, especially at this age. Yes, I know most kids don't learn to use the potty until at least age 3 in the US. Yes, I know. We are trying it anyway.

Why, you ask? From day 1 my son has had sensitive skin. The hospital had us use the Pampers stay-dry and within a week, his diaper area was covered in red, open sores that made me feel like a horrible mother. We tried a different creams. Nothing worked for more than a day or two. I had thought about using cloth diapers before giving birth, but I didn't know where to start. As his rash got worse, we looked into what is in a disposable diaper. They have some pretty nasty stuff. Chemicals you would never put on your own skin, so why would I put it on my son's tender tush? So we started using cloth diapers.

Our first cloth diaper. 8/4/2011

The rash cleared, for the most part. For months we used a natural cream, CJ's BUTTer. It worked great. For a while. As the months passed, we just let him go naked as much as possible. We sort of practiced E.C. and the rash was pretty much gone. Then I had to go back to work full-time and we had to put him in daycare. It was a hassle trying to figure out cloth diapering laws and in the end it just wasn't cost-effective for us to use cloth. We tried Huggies, Pampers again, Target, 7th generation, and the Whole Foods brand. He peed right through Huggies and WF. We used 7th generation for a while, but then the rash was just as bad as the Target diapers and way more expensive. So in daycare he used Target diapers with lots of cream. I hate using chemicals on anything, let alone my son's skin.

Buddy has shown interest in the potty for months. He was saying, "pssssssss!" and waving his finger (his variation of the sign language sign for potty) every time before he needed to go and we could catch almost all of his pee and all of his poop in his potty chair. Then when we started thinking about potty learning Buddy decided he would tell us afterward. Then we actually took away the diapers, put him to bed and spent all day in underwear and he decided he wouldn't tell us at all. After 3 days of going diaper-free, his rash cleared up and it doesn't seem to hurt to pee any more. His poor daycare teachers change his clothes 3 times a day with a smile on their faces (at least when we pick up Buddy). They're awesome for working with us. Let's hope Buddy picks this up soon.

Picking out Buddy's first pair of underwear! (He chose Elmo.)