This was news to me too. When we were expecting our first baby we were talking about nappies and my husband said that babies in China don't wear nappies. I was like "What, I thought babies need nappies?" Apparently not. @mikeill has experienced the same.
Did you know that the global nappy industry was worth $46.5bn (£36.7bn) in 2016? Did you know that in developing countries like China and India parents have to be 'convinced’ by nappy producers to actually use them? Companies such as Pampers cunningly use promises such as better and longer sleep for babies who use nappies. Every tired parent would buy anything that promises 30min more sleep at night. The nappy industry is successful in increasing its sales in the developing world to the detriment of the health of our planet. According to the UK Environment Agency: “The use of disposable nappies by an average child over two and a half years is equivalent to between 0.1 and 12 per cent of the emissions from one average person in one year”. That's big numbers.
How is it possible that elimination communication - which is also labelled infant potty training, natural infant hygiene, baby-led potty training or baby-led pottying – the natural way for human babies to eliminate and widely practiced across the globe is actively being ‘forgotten’? Humans have only used nappies on mass in the developed world for the past 40-50 years. In evolutionary terms this is a negligible amount of time and can’t undo human’s natural instincts. A newborn signals when they need to eliminate and it’s up to the parent(s) to read and interpret those signs and facilitate for the baby to eliminate in a specified (and socially acceptable) place like a potty or bowl. I find it shocking that infant experts, who give advice about child-led parenting, advice to not practice this with the justification that it might cause constipation. In the article Dr. Steve Hodges writes himself that this is a WEIRD (Western, Educated, Industrialised, Rich and Democratic) countries phenomenon rather than something to do with human nature.
In summary:
- Babies don't need nappies
- The nappy industry wants you to buy nappies and are happy to promise you the world for doing so
- Parents, don't be scared of the unknown and try a hybrid model. We use reusable nappies at home, disposable when out and at night. Older boy was dry in the day at 14 month and we've just put pants on our second son at almost 12 months (in the house).
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