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Elimination Communication

I tried “potty training” my newborn for one day

Kelsey Breseman
Modern Mothers
6 min readDec 23, 2024

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A blue plastic baby potty sits in front of a pile of disposable diapers and a reusable one.
Photo by Kelsey Breseman

“He probably peed.”

Robert and I give each other a familiar exhausted, dead-eyed stare. I’ve just laid down after feeding the baby for an hour. Again.

He was peaceful, sleeping. I put him in his cot. He was fine. And then, suddenly, the fussing.

It’s a loud squall: surprise. Then uncomfortable sobs. But our baby generally doesn’t cry for no reason. Either he’s hungry, or he needs a diaper change. Again.

So one of us gets up, because that’s what parents do.

Having recently spent some time in diapers myself after giving birth, I can empathize with the baby. It doesn’t feel good to have plastic against your skin all the time. Much worse if it’s dirty or wet.

Mostly, we use disposable diapers. It’s easier to toss the dirty and grab a clean one than it is to fold the cloth nappy, pin it around him, and velcro the waterproof cover. But I try to use them when I can: less plastic garbage, and I’m convinced the cotton feels better around his little body.

And there are practical reasons. A jumbo pack of 80 disposable diapers costs about £25 (~$30 USD) and we go through it in a week.

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Modern Mothers
Modern Mothers

Published in Modern Mothers

Dedicated to exploring motherhood through articles, personal essays, and a bit of fiction.

Kelsey Breseman
Kelsey Breseman

Written by Kelsey Breseman

An adventurer, engineer, indigenous Alaskan writing the nitty gritty. See my recent posts for free on Substack: https://ifoundtheme.substack.com/

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