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Imagine infants free from painful diaper rash, new parenthood without thousands of dollars wasted in diapering costs, toilet training that is natural and non–coercive, and, most importantly, happier babies and parents. As Christine Gross–Loh reveals in this progressive, enlightening book, all this is possible and more. Infants are born with their own methods of communicating their need to "go" just as they communicate hunger or sleepiness.

Sudden restlessness, squirming, arching of the back, and vocalization ... all infants display these common behaviors. But what parents may not realize is that these seemingly random actions have a purpose and meaning. Using the tenets of Elimination Communication (EC), Gross–Loh, a mother of two children who were diaper–free at eighteen and fifteen months, respectively, teaches parents how to identify and respond to their baby or toddler's natural cues. Unlike the extreme approach of some parenting books, The Diaper–Free Baby addresses three categories of parents: Full–Time, Part–Time, and Occasional EC'ers. Parents can practice EC as much or as little as fits their family and lifestyle–even busy or working parents and their babies can benefit from the book's techniques.

Diapers. We're so used to thinking of them as the ultimate symbol of babyhood that the thought of a baby without diapers seems awfully strange. It's practically a rite of passage for parents to get their toddlers and preschoolers out of diapers. Advice abounds on getting your two- or three-year-old to ditch those diapers and begin to learn to go in a potty or toilet. The current trend is to let your child wait until he is "ready," and as a result, many parents find themselves involved in power struggles with their toddlers and preschoolers day after day because they missed crucial earlier windows of opportunity. The average toilet training age in the United States is now at an all-time high at around three years old. It makes sense, actually, that after a couple of years eliminating exclusively in diapers, a child will be inclined to hang on to them as long as he can. How odd it is, in fact, that our society expects a child to change gears midstream and suddenly stop using the diaper as a toilet when he has been doing so all his life!

Believe it or not, your child was not born wanting to go to the bathroom in a diaper. Like other mammals, human babies are born with the instinct not to soil themselves. It is not a natural or pleasant feeling for them to sit in their own waste; they are born aware of the sensation of going to the bathroom. Even the tiniest newborn will give off signs before and while she goes to the bathroom. This book is going to teach you how to read those signs, how to respond to them, and how to engage in a process of joyful communication with your baby at a pace that feels right for your family, whether this means once a day or more often. Through "elimination communication," or EC, your baby will benefit as you help her retain her bodily awareness and assist her with a basic biological need. The benefit for you? In addition to parenting a happier baby, you're likely to need fewer diapers overall—great for your wallet and for the environment!

For those who have spent time with older babies or toddlers who seem oblivious to a dirty diaper, the idea that they are born with the instinct not to soil themselves may seem preposterous. Being sprayed by newborn pee and poop as soon as a diaper comes off during diaper changes are a common occurrence throughout a baby's first weeks (another common rite of passage for most parents), but this happens less and less often as the baby grows older. Why? By putting our children in diapers and changing them only after they have gone, we condition our babies to use the diaper itself as a toilet!

Some people might think, so what? Isn't diapering a part of babyhood? Aren't diapers a sign of progress, modernity, and affluence? Perhaps that would be so if we did not expect our little ones to stop using diapers at some point in the first few years of their lives. Since this is the case, many parents are faced with double work: training a child to go to the bathroom in a diaper, and then training her to stop doing that and use a toilet instead! This means twice as much work for parents and twice as much adjustment for the child. The later this gets—especially if you're waiting for all the signs of "readiness" described by conventional toilet training experts—the more of an adjustment it can be for your child, and the more diaper changes, diapers, and diapering accessories you've gone through in the meantime. (If your child is training around age three, this means up to nine thousand diaper changes and diapers, over three thousand dollars in diapers alone [not to mention wipes and other accessories], and according to a New York Times article on elimination communication, a contribution to the...

Christine Gross-Loh is a freelance writer with a PhD from Harvard University. Her writing has appeared in Mothering, Shape, and Parenting. She is very involved in DiaperFreeBabyTM, a nonprofit organization founded in 2004 to promote awareness of EC. She has appeared on The Early Show and Paula Zahn Now, among others. Gross-Loh lives in Tokyo, Japan, with her husband and children.