It’s amazing how much attention people will give to kid’s bathroom habits. If you don’t believe me you may not have heard the news about the “latest trend” in parenting, diaper-less babies, using something called elimination communication.
Of course, this isn’t a new thing. It’s actually a trend that people have been trying for awhile, but it is suddenly in the media after a New York time article explaining the idea. But more importantly, it seems to be in the media as a way to ask whether modern parents have gone to far or are crazy.
We use cloth diapers, as I’ve mentioned before, and we quite like them. Washing them isn’t a big deal, and I think we’ve probably saved money by not having to buy disposable diapers. It’s said cloth-diapered babies train earlier, and considering Miss E. is nearly potty trained already, only going through one diaper a day, I think we’re doing fairly well.
But even I think some people get a bit too uptight or involved in proselytizing about “the right way” to get your baby to do what is one of the most natural of body functions.
The question of diapering (or not, as is the case) can get people pretty riled up, or at least take up a lot of air (or screen space). Within the past two weeks, I was involved in two conversations, at least 20 minutes in length, about different types of diapers. Before I was a parent, I didn’t think I would ever see that day…mostly because I didn’t give much thought to diapers at all.
For the majority of people, those who use disposable diapers, it’s not really much of a discussion point. But when you go down the rabbits hole of cloth diapers, it’s an entirely new world. Even deciding on the right diaper system is difficult. And there are a lot of them: prefolds, contour, fitted, all-in-one, hybrid. Do you want cotton or bamboo? What kind of covers do you want? It can take a lot to figure out what’s best. And you do want to make sure you have a system you like.
We like the system we use, but we kind of fell into it. We were using a diaper service for the first few months, and when Miss E. grew out of the first size, we just bought some of the retired diapers the service had for cheap, picked up a few night diapers of a similar design and viola, we had selected our system.
And once you’ve selected the right diaper, there is all sorts of questions about cleaning, and storing…and on it goes.
And while we’re talking about “alternative” parenting methods, I will mention baby-wearing.
Again, we are baby-wearers, in that we have slings and an ergo-baby carrier, and we think it’s pretty handy. It can free up your hands, keep your baby nice and close and it seems pretty comfortable for the kid as well. Sure some people might think it makes you look kind of silly, especially if you have a giant winter coat over the carrier to keep the baby warm (believe me, I walked around Berlin like that, and I felt odd), and it is the focus of some stupid sitcom jokes now and again, but it’s a good method all around.
But I don’t think it gives me any particular connection to a “true method of parenting”, or any secret tool for your child’s development, but other people believe it, and like cloth parenting, they can get pretty uptight about it.
In the end, we’re happy with the choices we made, but, (aside from a blog post now and again) I don’t think I’m going to be screaming at parents about how they should be raising their kid.
A dad going off the track(s) 