Resource of the Week: Go Diaper Free with Andrea Olson

One of the decisions you’ll have to make around potty training is when to start. As a new parent, you may not even be aware that one of your options is to start at birth with Elimination Communication! While it may sound crazy to put your baby on a toilet, it works well for lots of families. If you are interested in learning more about elimination communication or early potty training, you will want to take advantage of the resources provided by Andrea Olson at Go Diaper Free.

Andrea is a mom of six and has experience working with thousands of parents to provide information and guidance on elimination communication (EC). Her platform includes free guides, digital books for purchase, online courses, a podcast, board books about the potty, and more. You’ll find a wealth of information if you decide to go the EC route or even just want to potty train at a younger age than typical. She believes that nonverbal toddlers in the 12-18 month range can smoothly be potty trained, which also aligns with the Montessori method’s timing of the sensitive period for potty learning.

She talks about the history of potty training, especially how the average age in the United States (and similar Western countries) is significantly behind other countries. In 1957, 92% of American children had completed potty training by 18 months. Now, it’s 36-38 months. An article on “Toilet Training: Common Questions and Answers” in the journal American Family Physician supports this with further statistics1. One study of Vietnamese and Swedish children found that 89% of Vietnamese started toilet training by six months, and 98% completed by 24 months. In Sweden, only 5% of children had started toilet training by 24 months. That’s quite a cultural difference! This article also cited an interesting statistic that in the United States, black children began at an average age of 18 months, while white children had a much later average age of 25 months. Parents’ attitudes about the “correct” time to start potty training seem to have a drastic effect on the timing in different geographical and socioeconomic areas.

With this in mind, your family could choose to begin pottying with your baby or anytime after birth. Andrea also gives lots of support and practical tips for how to do it part-time, coordinate with daycare, and transition to more independence as the child grows. One of the appealing aspects of her method is how it forces you to observe your child and learn their toileting behaviors. With diapers, we don’t need any awareness of their habits or cues. With EC, parents become students of their children, to better understand and help them. If you prefer to stick with diapers for your baby, you can still benefit from the Go Diaper Free strategies for potty training around 18 months.

If you have a toddler with developmental disabilities and are looking for strategies to help them, her resources could also be relevant. One of the podcast episodes is devoted to discussing EC & Down Syndrome. She has a great point that for children with delays, we start early with other therapies to teach them basic life skills. Why not potty training? 

The decision of when to potty train your child is a very personal one. It’s important to consider where it falls into your family’s priorities and values, and what kind of capacity you have as parents. Without knowing your options, though, it’s hard to make that decision! This article from the Go Diaper Free blog is a helpful summary of what potty training at different ages would look like. We encourage you to do your research and explore Andrea’s content if the ideas of EC and early potty training intrigue you! Even if you ultimately decide to pursue a more mainstream potty training timeline and approach, you will have learned more about your child and how their ability to use the toilet develops along with their many other budding skills.

¹ Baird, Drew C, Bybel, Michael, and Kowalski, Adam W. 2019. “Toilet Training: Common Questions and Answers.” Am Fam Physician. 100(8):468-474. Accessed March 19, 2024. https://www.aafp.org/pubs/afp/issues/2019/1015/p468.html#afp20191015p468-b2