Potty Training as Easy as Clicking the Remote
Davé, A., Potty training as easy as clicking the remote. (2007). AAP News, 28(7).
Dr. Davé wrote this publication in response to an article entitled “Toilet Training 101” (May, p.16). Though written in 2007, the information remains pertinent to potty training today. Training must begin at 12-months of age or sooner. A potty chair must be in the home for the child to explore with the diaper off.
• Four step potty training guarantee by Dr. Davé:
1. Role model: Take the child to the bathroom every single time any family members goes to the bathroom
2. Ritual: Take the child to the bathroom to clean each time he or she voids or stools and place them on potty chair
3. Catching-in-Action: Upon sensing the child is going to pass stool or urine, immediately take the child to the potty chair to finish the deed
4. Physiology: Place the child on the potty after every large meal (large meals cause gastrocolic reflux aiding in digestion and propulsion), making use of normal physiologic processes
Food for thought: What age did you place your child in his or her high chair? Did they know why you placed them there? Most likely not. However as parents we habitually place the child in a high chair three or more times a day and place food in front of them. Use the same habitual rituals when it comes to toilet training.
Breast Feeding
Since the advent of mammals on planet earth, breast-feeding has effectively met the nutritional demand of babies in the early period of their life.
Breast-feeding is safe, nutritionally sound, conveniently available and inexpensive. No other source of nutrition can come close to breast milk because of the unique contents like live white cells and antibodies from the mother’s body. These unique contents confer protection against infections, allergies, cancers, etc. Breast-feeding contribute to optimum brain growth with far reaching consequences for intelligence.
Current technological advances have failed to copy the colostrum uniquely produced by mother for her infant during the first few days of life. Colostrum is loaded with infection-preventing cells and antibodies.
Dr. Davé endorses breast-feeding as the most appropriate source of nutrition for a baby in its first year of life on earth.
