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Nappy Free Baby: A Practical Guide to Baby-Led Potty Training from Birth
This unique book shows parents how to break free from nappies and tricky toilet training. By recognizing and responding to their baby's natural reflexes, parents can help them to stay clean and dry from birth, while reducing the cost to the family budget and the environment. Baby-led potty training can help to avoid nappy rash, prevent constipation, calm fussy babies, reduce landfill, and save time and money. Families have been using baby-led potty training all over the world and now the approach is growing in the UK. In this book, Amber Hatch guides parents through the method, explaining the practical things you need to know from getting started to completion. You'll also discover how to adapt the approach to your own family's needs and routines, how to overcome common problems and how to encourage confidence and independence in your child. The Nappy Free Baby is a flexible, no-pressure approach to potty training that will benefit any family and strengthen the bonds between parents and child.
- GenresParentingNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
First published June 4, 2015
15 people are currently reading
36 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 4, 2019
'Nappy Free Baby'. I have to admit that when I saw that title, I thought this book would be a lot of hippie nonsense however I was intrigued enough to want to find out more as I am about to embark on potty training. I have to admit that the author won me over and she does speak a lot of sense. The rating I have given is not related to whether the method worked (my baby is 17 months now so past the golden period for baby-led potty training) but for the fact that the author is trying to provide a different perspective to the traditional Western in-nappies method. The baby industry is huge and worth a lot of money and the cynical part of me thinks that nappy manufacturers want parents to keep on buying nappies for as long as possible in order to line their pockets so anything that challenges this gets the thumbs up from me. If I have baby No. 2, I will try BLPT at a much earlier age.
4 stars.
4 stars.
September 5, 2019
Very simple, and very practical.
I initially wanted a very quick and simple overview of how and why one would raise a child with minimal use of diapers. This book seemed a little overkill, and it was a little longer than what I needed; but it is written for a very lay audience, making it easy to skim the second half of the book, when the main points had already been made.
It also gave me exactly the impetus I needed to actually try out the potty for my son, then just over 2 months old. We have had the potty since before he was born, but I always put off using it; how do I hold him? how do I know when to use it? can I do anything wrong? Of course, I didn't actually need an entire 230 page codex to answer these basic questions, but the first morning I finally got around to opening the first page, it quickly gave me everything I needed. The author made it clear that starting sooner is usually easier; but quickly assured me that any time before three months was a great time to start (babies start losing some basic reflexes around month three, though a little parental perseverance goes a long way until 6 months -- after which the experience might be more frustrating). She soon started explaining how to hold the baby, with accompanying drawings and reassuring suggestions for any possible worry ("don't worry much about hurting him -- babies are tough!", "pee splashes everywhere? Just use one finger to aim his penis, as shown on this drawing."). Timing can be difficult, and optimally relies on cues from the baby; but "right after waking" and "right after feeding" were given as particularly opportune times.
Well, I was reading this early in the morning; and shortly after finishing "Chapter 4: Getting Started" I was called upon from the bedroom to help out with our young one, who had just woken up after his morning milk. I felt like I already knew everything I needed, so I gave the theory a shot -- and succeeded on the first try! (Although the shot somewhat missed its target, forcing me to quickly clean the floor.) Although I don't really have a strong ideological apprehension towards diapers, this early victory motivated me to read through the rest of the book and to regularly offer my son the potty.
Chapter 2 gave me a crash course in the biology of human digestion, and I am now more comfortable with previously hazy words such as "sphincter" and "colon". The author also went quickly over the history of potty training infants, and reasons why parents might want to do it (she is not preachy about this, or about nearly anything else; but as you can imagine, the word "landfills" appears regularly). But this book is really not focused on theory, so this part of the book mostly served as an introduction.
The bulk of the book is practical advice for every conceivable combination of familial circumstances, including for parents who start from day 1 and from day 366. I skimmed a lot of this, but apart from useful potty advice, there was a lot of useful general parenting advice spread throughout. Concepts like "insisting" without "badgering", and teaching a baby through "impacts" (sudden and surprising interventions that make the child focus immediately and intensely), seem applicable to many situations.
Overall, this book was useful and interesting, and it covers every practical base. I still feel I personally might have been just as well off with a well-designed pamphlet; I usually expect more rigor and theory from a full-length book. Most people will want to skim or skip large parts of it. But it is an easy read, and a good choice if you just want to get started.
I initially wanted a very quick and simple overview of how and why one would raise a child with minimal use of diapers. This book seemed a little overkill, and it was a little longer than what I needed; but it is written for a very lay audience, making it easy to skim the second half of the book, when the main points had already been made.
It also gave me exactly the impetus I needed to actually try out the potty for my son, then just over 2 months old. We have had the potty since before he was born, but I always put off using it; how do I hold him? how do I know when to use it? can I do anything wrong? Of course, I didn't actually need an entire 230 page codex to answer these basic questions, but the first morning I finally got around to opening the first page, it quickly gave me everything I needed. The author made it clear that starting sooner is usually easier; but quickly assured me that any time before three months was a great time to start (babies start losing some basic reflexes around month three, though a little parental perseverance goes a long way until 6 months -- after which the experience might be more frustrating). She soon started explaining how to hold the baby, with accompanying drawings and reassuring suggestions for any possible worry ("don't worry much about hurting him -- babies are tough!", "pee splashes everywhere? Just use one finger to aim his penis, as shown on this drawing."). Timing can be difficult, and optimally relies on cues from the baby; but "right after waking" and "right after feeding" were given as particularly opportune times.
Well, I was reading this early in the morning; and shortly after finishing "Chapter 4: Getting Started" I was called upon from the bedroom to help out with our young one, who had just woken up after his morning milk. I felt like I already knew everything I needed, so I gave the theory a shot -- and succeeded on the first try! (Although the shot somewhat missed its target, forcing me to quickly clean the floor.) Although I don't really have a strong ideological apprehension towards diapers, this early victory motivated me to read through the rest of the book and to regularly offer my son the potty.
Chapter 2 gave me a crash course in the biology of human digestion, and I am now more comfortable with previously hazy words such as "sphincter" and "colon". The author also went quickly over the history of potty training infants, and reasons why parents might want to do it (she is not preachy about this, or about nearly anything else; but as you can imagine, the word "landfills" appears regularly). But this book is really not focused on theory, so this part of the book mostly served as an introduction.
The bulk of the book is practical advice for every conceivable combination of familial circumstances, including for parents who start from day 1 and from day 366. I skimmed a lot of this, but apart from useful potty advice, there was a lot of useful general parenting advice spread throughout. Concepts like "insisting" without "badgering", and teaching a baby through "impacts" (sudden and surprising interventions that make the child focus immediately and intensely), seem applicable to many situations.
Overall, this book was useful and interesting, and it covers every practical base. I still feel I personally might have been just as well off with a well-designed pamphlet; I usually expect more rigor and theory from a full-length book. Most people will want to skim or skip large parts of it. But it is an easy read, and a good choice if you just want to get started.
September 7, 2022
This book provides an abundance of information on what is called Elimination Communication in the US, and Baby Led Potty Training in the UK - from basic baby physiology, different time points for initiation, advantages and drawbacks, to simple and practical examples helping parents embrace this journey if it appears to be the right path for them. Illustrations facilitate visualising the process - extremely helpful if you are starting early when the baby is couple of weeks old. Written in a very factual, but loving and kind manner, this book is one of my favourite parenting books so far.
July 19, 2022
Read ATY 2022: book with fewer than 5000 goodreads ratings (true at time of writing)
Well laid out it acknowledges BLPT is not for everyone but argues it’s case with a good discussion of benefits and clear discussion of technique and age adjustment. However it at times got repetitive like feeling the need to list the downsides of nappy use multi times and came apart on it critique of the traditional nappies at night phase
Well laid out it acknowledges BLPT is not for everyone but argues it’s case with a good discussion of benefits and clear discussion of technique and age adjustment. However it at times got repetitive like feeling the need to list the downsides of nappy use multi times and came apart on it critique of the traditional nappies at night phase
November 14, 2024
This book is useful if you want to start introducing the potty to your child at any age whether from birth or as a toddler. It gave me the confidence to continue potty training my daughter at an earlier than conventional age.
October 3, 2018
A very informative, well researched book. Gives lots of different options on using the BLPT technique to ultimately help parents understand their baby's toileting needs.
October 10, 2018
Technically, I had my husband read this, but we discussed it all the time. In the end, we are to let things unfold without goals, focus on understanding each other, and be contagiously confident.
May 4, 2020
A practical and inspirational step-by-step guide for those interested in Baby-led Potty Training. Useful guides on starting at any age.
May 19, 2024
Very helpful & thought provoking.
February 21, 2025
Highly recommend this book to all parents and parents to be! I wish I had read it while pregnant or in the early months so we could have got started sooner! Such an interesting read as well!
February 28, 2025
Practical instructions on BLPT. Can’t wait to try them out in a few months with our new addition! I found this to be more prescriptive than the American EC book which is helpful as a first time mom.
August 15, 2016
An educational and practical guide on how to practice Elimination Communication (EC) / Baby-led potty training and much more. It covers all stages until final toilet independence, 'how to' and what to consider for different starting points i.e. starting from newborn, between 6-12 months and 12-18 months, it also covers how to practice EC occasionally, part-time or full time. In addition it contains a lot of information regarding baby physical, mental and even emotional development that affects Elimination Communication and several interesting facts e.g. sigh language, EC in other continents/cultures... Definitely worth reading and trying especially if you consider the impact of nappies on the environment, do not want to waste to much energy and time on reusable nappies, get closer to your baby (one extra way in understanding/responding to your baby's needs) and of course save some money.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews