The smelly baby problem

https://www.worksinprogress.news/p/how-disposable-diapers-conquered

by dionysou • 3 months ago

215 144 3 months ago

worksinprogress.news

IncreasePosts• 3 months ago

Is this the first written reference to having a poop knife?

evulhotdog• 3 months ago

Asking the hard hitting questions.

speed_spread2• 3 months ago

It was always implied in the expression "cut the crap"

dekhn• 3 months ago

Hmm, I thought the other poop knife apocryphal story was older, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352409X1... but the oldest reference I could find there was 1953, while the Spock book is older.

cogogo• 3 months ago

Our kids have been out of diapers for a couple of years. We loved these bamboo diapers[0] Nearly as good as pampers. Much softer and much better for the environment. I have no relationship to the company.

And disposables dropping at 10cents a pair. Holy crap! I thought they were expensive now.

Finally we had a crazy trustee in our condo assoc that wanted us to scrape the poop off before we threw diapers away in our community barrels (in sealed bags of course). We just smiled and nodded.

[0]https://dyper.com/

philwebster• 3 months ago

That site is worth visiting just for the wavy scrolling marquee text that's actually selectable. Very satisfying!

sokoloff• 3 months ago

We just smiled and nodded.

I’d have skipped the nod.

jonathanlydall• 3 months ago

I enjoyed the article. Nappies are very impressive and something I never really thought about before becoming a parent.

Reminds me of something I often slightly chuckle about as a parent.

I’ve often encountered non-parents, particularly teenagers, who remark how the thought of changing nappies horrifying and a really big deal. But as any parent knows, changing nappies is really one of the easier parts of looking after babies and toddlers.

Andrex• 3 months ago

A soldier adjusts to the horrors of war in the same way, fwiw. ;)

mcphage• 3 months ago

Oh, there’s definitely hard parts of having kids—but changing diapers isn’t really one of them.

munchbunny2• 3 months ago

But as any parent knows, changing nappies is really one of the easier parts of looking after babies and toddlers.

For sure, probably because stinky diapers are visceral but psychological challenges aren’t, yet I think most parents would agree about having to dig far deeper into our inner resolve to deal with age-appropriate behavioral issues.

Neikius2• 3 months ago

I find smelly things easy to deal with as the solution is clear and the path to it is simple.

Other problems may not have a clear path to solution and are not as simple.

ignoramous• 3 months ago

But as any parent knows, changing nappies is really one of the easier parts of looking after babies and toddlers.

When you have twins, or triplets, or more... Nothing at all is easy. Unless you're privileged (or have help), their early years become your living life's only work.

... encountered non-parents ...

One reason why I hold anxiety for infants at orphanages or under care.

Aurornis• 3 months ago

I had read so many casual internet comments about infants being horrible and how unbelievably difficult it was that by the time I actually had kids, it seemed almost mild by comparison.

It's not an easy thing, but some of the histrionic claims about child raising on the internet are really out there. It's no wonder kids are horrified by the thought.

arjie6• 3 months ago

One similar funny experience I had was that I've never had any trouble with poop or diapers, but a family member said "Just wait till she starts eating solids!" and then she started eating solids and there was no step function in experience. Changing her was still the same.

acuozzo• 3 months ago

It's not an easy thing, but some of the histrionic claims about child raising on the internet are really out there.

Have you considered that objectively difficult infants/toddlers/children exist? Children with O.D.D., for instance, show symptoms early, but diagnosis usually doesn't come until much later.

Perhaps the comments you came across online were from the parents of those kids.

-A parent of a very challenging child with Level II Autism

rustystump• 3 months ago

People have different personalities and so do infants. Parents can find one child easier than another and this changes from person to person.

How strong the family and well situated the family is also likely plays a factor.

verisimi• 3 months ago

It's not an easy thing, but some of the histrionic claims about child raising on the internet are really out there. It's no wonder kids are horrified by the thought.

Could 'the horrors of parenting' be something that is promoted to younger people, to discourage then from having children? A sort of governance marketing to help address the perceived issue that there are simply too many people?

dibujante• 3 months ago

I’m on hour five of putting this child to bed.

le-mark3• 3 months ago

who remark how the thought of changing nappies horrifying and a really big deal

It’s a similar experience to changing parents diapers when you are an adult and they are end of life. Seems horrific, then you just do it.

jrumbut2• 3 months ago

Babies are easier because they leave the faintest stain on the diaper the first week or so.

Then it becomes more but not much scent, like a training period. And it's really only 4-6 months that it begins to get foul.

Another advantage for the baby side is a hack I can't believe more people don't do. Just notice when they make a very recognizable face or start grunting then hold them over the toilet.

False positives are no big deal (just a fun change of scenery for the baby), for false negatives you change the baby as normal.

gwbas1c2• 3 months ago

When I had my first, she pooped in her diaper as I was holding her at the dinner table.

Then I looked up and my mother came running towards me, all excited to be able to change a diaper for the first time in seven years.

madcaptenor• 3 months ago

It also helps that newborn poop doesn't smell particularly bad. It only starts smelling like poop when they start eating real food.

scuff3d• 3 months ago

Was just talking to my wife about this yesterday. Our son is 10 months old so we're still in the diaper stage, and it's really not a big deal. Since disposable diapers and baby wipes became a thing, not really sure why anyone complains about it.

Compared to trying for hours to get him to sleep, or dealing with the sheer panic we felt when we had to have him rushed to the hospital, a poopy diaper is nothing.

the_af• 3 months ago

Nappies are no big deal but I honestly think it's simply some switch in the parents' brains that goes "let's not worry too much about this, it needs doing". You filter out the gross and you simply do it on autopilot.

I sometimes wonder about the people who must clean messy public restrooms. All of the gross, none of the "but it's for the sake of a cute human that I love".

pmulv2• 3 months ago

I used to clean bathrooms in a Manhattan shopping mall. I now have a tiny human. Cleaning the bathrooms was much, much more disgusting. It has been nearly 15 years and I still think about the horrible things I witnessed at that job. Changing my daughter’s diaper doesn’t even register to me as a gross thing to deal with.

wolrah• 3 months ago

I sometimes wonder about the people who must clean messy public restrooms. All of the gross, none of the "but it's for the sake of a cute human that I love".

I worked "maintenance" at a local outlet mall back in college so I was that guy, and after the first couple of times it was just a matter of "this needs to be done, I'm the guy who does it" turning my brain off and getting the job done. I remember basically nothing from those evenings, I would just put my headphones on and mentally be somewhere else.

It was a shit job in a lot of ways, figuratively and literally, but at the same time I had amazing work/life balance. From the moment I clocked out until the next time I clocked in what happened at the outlet mall was not my problem in any way and I didn't have to think about it at all.

Auracle2• 3 months ago

Eh. Apart from sleep/scheduling it's probably the worst part about babies. We just had our first boy and we're adjusting to the whole penis spraying piss everywhere...thing. I didn't realize just how far they could spray. Also, somehow the back of his clothes keep getting wet while he's fully dressed in and in a diaper which completely boggles my mind.

Personally I'm really bad with smells, though. Even with hundreds (thousands?) of diapers changed I still really have to focus on not losing my lunch on the bad smelling ones.

Toddlers...yeah.

lurking_swe• 3 months ago

I didn't realize just how far they could spray.

i’m assuming you’re the mom? ;) Yes the pressure starts off strong, can easily fly onto their face lol. happened to me…fun times.

somehow the back of his clothes keep getting wet while he's fully dressed in and in a diaper which completely boggles my mind.

We just solved this recently with our baby boy. I can try to offer some tips. He likely needs a different diaper size, or (more likely), his penis isn’t correctly facing downward when putting the diaper on. 1st secure one side, and before you secure the other, peek at his penis (looking into the diaper from the side - near his hips). Make sure it’s pointed straight down and adjust if necessary. then quickly strap the other side. Basically you want the diaper to gently and firmly keep that penis pointed down all day. When boys are about to pee, the penis becomes briefly erect. If the diaper is not firmly holding that penis down, the penis can easily drift sideways and shoot urine in a weird direction. When this happens the urine can leak around the hips and up the back - instead of going into the absorbent pad. A quick test - when you change his diaper, is his penis still pointed down? If not then that’s the issue. If it is, try other troubleshooting steps.

Girl diaper changes are “easy” in this regard.

manwe1502• 3 months ago

I think our baby boy peed on his face once when getting changed and decided never to do that again. While I think our daughter might take it as a matter of pride to pee and poop while being changed, after the diaper is off.

Also, if he’s still healing from birth, that problem solves itself over time as swelling reduces and it starts to naturally point in the preferred direction on its own

wombatpm• 3 months ago

If you have a pee-er, the make a pee-pee tee-pee to place over the wenis to protect from errant spays.

com2kid2• 3 months ago

Size diapers based on the amount of pee not on the size of the baby.

That was life changing advice for me.

lotsofpulp• 3 months ago

We just had our first boy and we're adjusting to the whole penis spraying piss everywhere...thing. I didn't realize just how far they could spray.

I assume this is a penis with the foreskin removed. With the foreskin, it should not be an issue.

Markoff2• 3 months ago

Before I had children I've never even think changing nappies is a big deal, I've noticed the movie/TV show mentioning the sleep and didn't realize how bad is it, you have practically no proper sleep for a year, that would be the main reason why I didn't want third child.

dismalaf2• 3 months ago

Agreed. Baby stage has sleep interruptions but is otherwise super easy. Changing diapers is easy. Feeding is easy. Trying to figure out why they're crying is easy (almost always hungry, tired or poopy). The problems start for real when babies start crawling, walking, having opinions and talking.

Our son is 3.5 years old and it's super fun and rewarding but I'm not going to lie, it's hard to get lectured by a toddler about the difference between a Majungosaurus and Carnotaurus or a T-Rex and Giganotosaurus. Or have him ask me why the Velociraptors in Jurassic Park don't look like the paleontologists' current consensus on what they looked like... Or the million other super specific questions I need to come up with answers to (and I don't really want to discourage him as my parents did me). So even though he can currently use the washroom 100% independently, infant stage was still 1000x easier.

n4r93• 3 months ago

Feeding is easy.

Mileage may definitely vary on that one.

bregma2• 3 months ago

Baby stage has sleep interruptions but is otherwise super easy.

Your assertion does not correlate with my lived experience. But dirty diapers was definitely not the biggest issue.

Neikius2• 3 months ago

Haha I love explaining things. It gets challenging and sometimes you have to stop the train...

What kills me is when I have to convince them of sometand they just are incapable of listening to any kind of reasoning. Sometimes you can let it slide but some issues are just too big like road crossing for example.

dlenski• 3 months ago

Same. This is the kind of HN content that I'm here for.

But as any parent knows, changing nappies is really one of the easier parts of looking after babies and toddlers.

Agreed. I tell friends that, for me, changing diapers is much less frustrating and gross than watching my toddler feed himself.

schnitzelstoat• 3 months ago

This was really interesting! I’d never considered how challenging it is to manufacture and mass produce them.

The books it mentions of business/corporate histories look worth a read too.

dllu• 3 months ago

Nowadays some parents went back to opting for cloth diapers. Apart from the obvious environmental aspect, there's the idea that ultra absorbent and comfy diapers disincentivize babies from signalling that they are about to poop. Apparently, babies can communicate when they need to go even quite early on, in what's called "elimination communication". This also makes them a lot easier to potty train later on.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elimination_communication

mikestorrent• 3 months ago

I used cloth diapers to great effect with my two kids. We'd use disposable ones when going out, but for around the house (and at daycare, bless them!) we were able to use cloth. I think we saved a pile of money, and yes, they were both trained pretty early.

Nobody wants them, even free... I guess I'll just throw them all out eventually, I've offered to new parents and they're all horrified by the concept

yen2234• 3 months ago

Haha, we got second-hand cloth diapers. Figured it can't be worse than what our little one is going to do to them!

shawn_w2• 3 months ago

My parents used cloth diapers for me, and then later reused them for years around the house as rags.

sysworld• 3 months ago

pop them on ebay. lots of other sellers selling 2nd hand ones.

danielodievich• 3 months ago

We had cloth diaper service for our two children, where they'd deliver a huge stack of nice soft thick cotton squares, and take away the dirty ones, once a week. They barely smelled, especially in the beginning before solid foods start. They were excellent as burpy cloths on the shoulder too. Disposable diapers were more excellent for outside, and at later times for sleeping through the night when we realized that the absorbency was better for sleep. We definitely felt better about the environment with the reusable cloth ones.

hermanb• 3 months ago

Our baby was capable of sending these signals when she was a few weeks. So most pees she does hanging above the sink. This saves so many diapers, crazy. And much more comfortable for her to never have a wet butt, not even a minute. Would recommend!

I think within the next few months we can actually get her to go to the potty by herself. She’s 15 months now.

This industry wasn’t just good. It did destroy babies sensitivity to soiling.

DonHopkins• 3 months ago

I thought "Elimination Communication" was the technical term for Trump tweeting from the toilet.

samch• 3 months ago

Agreed - like the sibling comment, we also used cloth diapers with our two kids. They were actually great. The ones we had were basically two-part construction: there was an outer shell with adjustable snaps for appropriate sizing, and an inner liner that absorbed the moisture. Both were easily washable. Like other parents we knew who did this, we added a small hand-held sprayer / bidet wand to one of our toilets and used it to hose off the diaper and liners. We would then toss them in the washing machine. I think these also provided more cushion for the kids’ bottoms and they both ended up sitting and scooting on them pretty fast. Also like the others here, we used disposables on the go / on vacation. Just my two cents, but we loved our cloth diapers.

arjie6• 3 months ago

Spock! A classic. My parents, when raising me in the '80s and '90s, had a copy of his book and tried their best to follow what it said. I still recall the cover with the smiling baby. An amusing anecdote my father now has retold many times over (as fathers do) is that despite Spock's best advice there was something that I refused to do. His friend, a psychologist, pointed out that while Spock's advice might be good, my father could not expect me to behave as described because I had not read the book.

Another thing that's interesting here to me is the two fingers below the diaper to avoid sticking the infant with the pin. Two fingers under the diaper is still standard enough guidance that we and others we know received it at the hospital when diapering our child, though the reason expressed was one of tightness. I wonder if perhaps the former is the origin and the latter is a backformation.

And finally, the environmental question. Since my wife and I are quite old[0], and I want us to have more than one child I have pushed our household to the extreme end of consumerism[1]. We live in a 2 story flat in San Francisco, and until recently we had a changing station downstairs and two upstairs, with a diaper pail by each.

Here I encountered the problem that plagues anyone who has many battery-powered appliances - what convenience you gain in use, you lose when it comes to replace batteries. The Diaper Genie tall can we have is a very effective device at keeping smells in, but multiple cans means the time between replacement is doubled - something which you are rapidly made aware of by your senses[2], when it's time to replace the bag. The convenience is still worth it.

I do have a friend with more children than us, who will probably continue to have more children than us, whose family uses cloth diapers. So it is not an impossible task, and for someone adequately concerned about the environment and appropriately disciplined, perhaps quite straightforward to do.

0: if you want to see what happens when you have a baby near 40, https://wiki.roshangeorge.dev/w/Pregnancy

1: my rationale was that by easing the difficulties of pregnancy, I might reduce any resistance my wife might have to having the next child.

2: "Pain, even agony, is no more than information before the senses, data fed to the computer of the mind. The lesson is simple: you have received the information, now act on it. Take control of the input and you shall become master of the output" - Chairman Shen-ji Yang.

m4632• 3 months ago

plagues anyone who has many battery-powered appliances

costco sells these AA+AAA coast lithium ion batteries that are 1.5v and seem to have high capacity and long charge time.

Seems better than either duracell disposables or the nimh rechargables that I use.

XorNot2• 3 months ago

Oddly enough I have a whole bunch of the lithium-ion ones with a USB-C connector in the side. Keeping a specific charger around for batteries sucks but I have a lot of Anker chargers so this works quite well.

arjie6• 3 months ago

I've got the duracells from Costco. I've go to try these. Thanks for the tip.

sikozu• 3 months ago

Thanks for the link! I've never seen this documented in a wiki format on the internet before, truly cool.

arjie6• 3 months ago

Glad you liked it!

firesteelrain2• 3 months ago

Favorite memory of diaper genie was after the pail is full, and you slice off the captured diapers, was slinging the long sausage link like string of diapers into the apartment dumpster. Ah the memories

arjie6• 3 months ago

Haha! I'm still living this. Down the garbage chute you go, diaper sausage!

FarmerPotato• 3 months ago

Oh yeah. I slinged it into a high-floor garbage chute. Then I felt it was wiser to bag the whole thing.

shawn_w2• 3 months ago

Checking to see if you're able to fit two fingers underneath a dressing to make sure it's not too tight and won't cut off circulation is standard practice in health care; not just diapers.

arjie6• 3 months ago

Ha, much simpler explanation then.

laurencerowe• 3 months ago

FWIw I’ve had no problems with smells from our Ubbi Steel diaper pail which uses regular garbage bags. (Do use thicker bags though.)

msuniverse2026• 3 months ago

Seems easier to just sit em in the backyard and hit em with the hose

speed_spread2• 3 months ago

This has interesting side effects below freezing temps. Icicle babies don't smell at all until they thaw.

drfloyd51• 3 months ago

They hold their poses better when they are frozen too.

mrcsharp• 3 months ago

This is the first thing I read this morning and I'm not even a dad yet (or maybe never).

I miss this side of HN nowadays.

greekrich92• 3 months ago

Great read. Being an engineer in the mid 20th century must have been fun and satisfying.

We pay for a diaper service. The price is comparable to disposables. The population density where I live helps with the price I'm sure.

fsckboy2• 3 months ago

it is recommended (search, you'll see) that at home you don't wash your underwear with your other clothes because there is a nonnegligible amount of fecal matter and associated bacteria remaining after washing.

extending that notion to nappies being community washed in large vats (separated by mesh bags and kept separable?) is horrifying. I suppose they put in some chlorine bleach to sterilize? Still, chlorine bleach might whiten the masticated corn kernels but...

xyzzy_plugh• 3 months ago

I think your imagination is much worse than reality. While your home laundry is arguably questionable (a lot of the sterilization occurs in the drier!) industrial laundry is a different ballgame altogether. How do you think hospital bedding gets cleaned? Most if not all industrial laundromats do regular testing of cleaned items to test for bacteria, organic matter, etc.

A nappy service is very likely to do a much better job than you'd do at home.

nmbrskeptix• 3 months ago

They're bleached

wodenokoto• 3 months ago

I’ve seen the cotton diapers my parents used for me and I don’t see how they could have competed with any lackluster version of the disposable diaper mentioned in the article.

yen2234• 3 months ago

I use cloth diapers, but modern disposable diapers can hold a lot, a lot of pee. Significantly more than any cloth diapers can. This means a lot less blowouts with disposables.

forcedfakelaugh• 3 months ago

Our family uses cloth diapers (except when we’re traveling). We chose them because we don’t trust the chemicals in disposable diapers that come into contact with such a sensitive area. They’re a bit labor-intensive, but having a washer and dryer helps a lot.

intrasight• 3 months ago

We did as well. We were fortunate to have a good diaper service in the neighborhood. I think it was less expensive than disposables.

vscode-rest• 3 months ago

Is there a pre-cleaning step at all? Or do you toss them right in to the washer? Do they get their own load?

gwbas1c2• 3 months ago

It's explained in the article. First quote:

You want a covered pail partially filled with water to put used diapers in as soon as removed. If it contains soap or detergent, this helps in removing stains. Be sure the soap is well dissolved, to prevent lumps of soap from remaining in the diapers later. When you remove a soiled diaper, scrape the movement off into the toilet with a knife, or rinse it by holding it in the toilet while you flush it (hold tight).
You wash the diapers with mild soap or mild detergent in [the] washing machine or washtub (dissolve the soap well first), and rinse 2 or 3 or 4 times. The number of rinsings depends on how soon the water gets clear and on how delicate the baby’s skin is. If your baby’s skin isn’t sensitive, 2 rinsings may be enough.

The technique hasn't changed much.

pbhjpbhj2• 3 months ago

We had a lidded bucket, dump any solids into the toilet, fold any remaining mess inside, put in bucket. We primed the bucket with water into which we put tea-tree oil (for scent and disinfectant purposes). Some people will use the toilet as a pre-rinse; never did it myself.

We used nappy liners, a piece of paper to catch the worst of the poo. And 'wraps' on the outside. The nappies had poppers; you could popper them differently as they grew.

On wash day, empty the water from the bucket into the toilet, lift the nappies individually into the [front-loading] washing machine.

We bought our cloth nappies on eBay, already second-hand. We passed them on still usable years afterwards.

I did start potty training as soon as they went on solids, well before they could sit unaided! We used baby-sign, and I tried a couple of elimination communication techniques. Baby-sign was great, they could tell us they needed potty before they could talk; first child even made a new toilet sign to differentiate between wee/poo.

We had compostable nappies for times when we needed them - too rainy to dry clothes, too sleepy, backup for when they wee/poo on the nappy as you're putting it on them when you're out and about.

Only thing we'd wash with the nappies was soiled clothing (baby grows) or towels we'd lie on the bed to change their nappy on. A month or so in we got a changing table (Ikea).

paulhebert3• 3 months ago

If there is poop on them you need to scrape it off.

We bought a pack of thin disposable diaper liners. These go inside the diaper and catch most of the business. They then get thrown away (but it’s much less waste/garbage than an entire diaper)

They do get their own load. The ones we have tell you to run them in the wash twice.

stevekemp• 3 months ago

We did the same thing, more to avoid throwing away the plastic waste and keeping things reusable than out of any paranoia about chemicals.

But they worked well. We just did laundry every day for the first year and a half. Whether that's a net positive for ecological impact, or a negative is an open question.

leonidasv• 3 months ago

When my mother gave birth to my younger brother, she started using cloth diapers on him, worried about the environmental impact of disposable diapers like the ones she used on me during my childhood. She went back to disposable in less than a month.

onionisafruit4• 3 months ago

You were definitely worth an environmental catastrophe, but your mom wasn’t so sure your brother was worth it. I hope you hold that over him.

uma_ch• 3 months ago

Interesting side note. In some countries such as Japan the sale of adult diapers has now overtaken baby diapers. Pretty sad to think about. Wonder how manufacturers in other countries are thinking as birth rates drop.

crmd• 3 months ago

As an American, I’m embarrassed because it’s a thought-terminating cliché, but I hear great “modern marvels”-type stories about innovation like this and think, “we used to be a country…”

Procrastes• 3 months ago

Diapers are no problem, as other folks have mentioned. The hard part for me is the over-the-top hypervigilance. One little breathing change, and I was halfway across the house to her room before I realized I was even awake. I could feel every sharp corner and tripping hazard in the house as if they were gouging my own skin.

XorNot2• 3 months ago

There was no feeling like the night my son started crawling on his own and we suddenly realized everything needed to be baby proofed even more.

Suddenly you couldn't put him down and he'd roughly stay wherever you left him.

onionisafruit4• 3 months ago

Everybody thinks they baby proofed until their kid goes mobile.

Markoff2• 3 months ago

Do people claiming cloth diapers have lower environmental impact just ignore the vast amounts of water and chemicals you use to wash and reuse them? I'm not so convinced they are that much better than disposable ones.

Same goes for financial aspect, washing (water/electricity)+washing gel vs picking them up in the store where I'm going anyway. Daily expenses on disposable ones are negligible to outweigh the convenience.

I can see only good reason for cloth being health reasons since there were cases when materials inside irritated babies skin sometimes, even famous brands had this issue and you have to figure out which brand works best for your kid.

I would make same argument about murdered Christmas trees vs artificial ones, I'm using my artificial Christmas trees for 9th year, meanwhile neighbors have their murdered trees transported by trucks to shop, then they transport them by car to their homes, then they throw them away after 2-3 weeks at home making mess on street expecting waste collection service collecting them (from everyone's money) with trucks and dispose them.

deaux• 3 months ago

I can see only good reason for cloth being health reasons since there were cases when materials inside irritated babies skin sometimes, even famous brands had this issue and you have to figure out which brand works best for your kid.

The large amount of plastic in disposable ones seems like another mark against them health-wise.

rogual• 3 months ago

First few paragraphs I was trying to guess how this was going to turn out to be a metaphor for AI. The modern disposable product is the LLM, right, and the cloth diaper is doing things yourself? But, no, it really is just an article about baby poo.

Good read!

cycomanic• 3 months ago

If you look at many other cultures, e.g. African mothers carrying their babies on the back. They don't have need for diapers. What many people in the west where we have been so trained on diapers don't know is that babies can be potty trained very early (<3 month). There are quite a few resources on this (search for infant potty training).

AlecSchueler• 3 months ago

Have you had success with this? I was aware of this when I became a parent but it was impossible to find the space or energy amongst everything else.

Also, where in Africa?

omikun2• 3 months ago

I read several books on this topic but had no luck until about six months in. I also never tried the bottomless for a day or week approach so

evdubs• 3 months ago

With the hope of receiving a reply with proof....

There is absolutely no way a 3 month old is potty trained. As in, the 3 month old infant can communicate and use a toilet. They likely can't even hold their head up at that age.

https://www.babycenter.com/baby/diapering/infant-potty-train... indicates that a potty can be introduced from 4- to 6-months old. Potty trained by 18 months is much more reasonable.

naejin• 3 months ago

That's what we did. Our baby was doing the well known spraying right after removing the diaper the first few days. So we decided to put him on the potty on his second week following advices of parents who did that too: timing, sound cues... In his second month, he already understood the patterns. Since then, he will sometimes pee in the diaper as we are not doing the zero diaper method and he understood it's not that uncomfortable to pee in the diaper. He will poop in the diaper once a week when we are too distracted or when he is having digestive issues with a newly introduced food. No smelly trash, never waking up with a diaper full of poop, no red skin, happier baby. Highly recommended if you have the right environment to implement this method.

tonfa• 3 months ago

Bloomberg has a long read about this: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-05-01/why-uk-gu...

(pottty training strategy changes were apparently somewhat pushed by researchers close to disposable diaper industry)

smallmouth• 3 months ago

Spock Spock the baby doc

Leads a peace March around the block

Around him, everywhere you look

You see kids he messed up with his book.

-- Rhyme from Mad Magazine, circa 1970s

The smelly baby problem

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