Book Review - Infant Potty Training

Infant Potty Training: A Gentle and Primeval Method Adapted to Modern Living

by Laurie Boucke

Rating: 5 stars

This book was very different from what I was expecting. I was pleasantly surprised.

I avoided reading this book because 1)the cover is so ugly, 2) I saw it first on a website that was poorly done, and 3) I thought it would be opinionated and preachy.

However, I found that if one can get past the cover and the unprofessional pictures, this book contains an amazing wealth of information. Not only does it describe the process of infant potty training per Ms. Boucke, it also contains a history of potty training, personal accounts of modern-day people using the method (including a physician), and a vast survey of potty practices in dozens of cultures. Some of these cultures use a similar method, some use a very different one.

It's written in a way that presents possibilities and allows for imperfections. It gives ideas for partial utilization without being judgmental.

Each part was important in my mind, since this method is completely different from everything we are taught through "modern medicine" and is almost unthinkable in our culture. The detailed research is necessary to allow someone living in an industrialized culture to slowly absorb this method and even the possibility that something like this could work.

Basically, the idea is that from birth, infants signal their need to eliminate. Caregivers can learn the signs and help the child eliminate in a proper place. As the adult responds to the child and signals back, the child learns where and when is proper to go. This creates a back a forth communication that allows even a very small infant to go only where and when he should.

This book was eye-opening, but you have to be ready to read it.