I may not have a sleep trained baby, but I think my little man is almost potty trained. It all started when he was only a couple of weeks old and we noticed that he cannot poop unless he is sitting up. Things only got more complicated when he started to eat solids. He couldn't do it with his diaper still on! It wasn't a pretty picture. And I was a little concerned because I have seen many babies, including my nephew, poop regardless of how they were sitting.
I told friends at work about it and one told me I was lucky that he gives such clear signals. She recommended that we start putting him on the potty. She said parents in Europe start potty training their children at a younger age than here in the U.S.. I was intrigued and did a bit of research of my own. According to Baby Center, most parents train their babies before their second birthday. In the U.S. they aren't completely trained until their third birthday.
It turns out there's even a name to potty training infants. It's called elimination communication. Parents who do it actually start at a very early age -- from birth to four years. And by 18 months the baby is usually fully capable of going to the bathroom on his/her own and not relying on a diaper.
Now, I don't think I could have started this before my baby turned six months. It seems too complicated to hold him over a potty at that age. But by six months he was generally sitting up on his own, so we bought a potty and every time he gave us the poop face (moms, you know the one I'm talking about) we just put him on the potty. And for the last month that's become the norm. In fact, he has not pooped in his diaper once. Just last week, there was an article published on the Huffington Post about a six-month-old who says "boo boo" when she needs to go to the bathroom. We're not quite there yet. But I'm proud, nonetheless.
For more of Reem's experiences as a new mom check out her blog, "Real Moms of OC and DC."