How to Raise Babies without Diapers?

There are many different ways to parent your baby and there are many different cultures where parenting is still done traditionally and the trend has been continuing for generations. One of the many practices of nurturing the new born baby in a gentle manner includes natural weaning, co-sleeping and raising the baby without diapers. These practices are more common in traditional societies which have not been impacted by ‘westernization’ and therefore the mothers are more accustomed to keeping the babies clean without diapers and providing early toilet learning skills to their little ones.

There are many infants around the world that have been trained this way and have experienced no difficulty in controlling body functions and becoming aware of themselves. In fact the results in such babies are quite encouraging as it has led to an intimate bond between the mother and child, a strong trust and the child has become more conscious of his own body.

The cultures that rear children hygienically without using diapers are those found in Africa, Asia and South America. Recently, parents have started developing interest in following this practice as they are becoming more aware of the necessity of providing natural comfort to the baby and avoiding diaper rashes at the same time. Furthermore, the need to switch from diapers is gaining more ground for environmental reasons to prevent the massive use of diapers which leads to delayed toilet training and increases the use of diapers further.


There are many ways in which a mother can develop elimination patterns and timings for the baby. From observing the baby’s body language and signals closely to timing the baby’s pee sessions at regular intervals- there are many ways in which a mother can develop a set pattern. Once this happens, parents would be amazed to see their little ones indicating when they need to relieve themselves such as squirming, frowning etc.

Parents often cue their baby to relieve themselves by using sounds like ‘shhhh’ and holding their babies in a particular position which indicates them that they need to go. Eventually, babies start identifying with the sound and position and thus begin the traditional method of toilet training.

With this method, a lot of infants become pretty much toilet training between 10 months to 2 years of age. However, the main motivation in raising a diaper-less baby is the eagerness to become closer to their child and develop a stronger bond.