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Toilet Training Babies in India

© Laurie Boucke

"I don't get it. How do they do it?" my friend Lisa asked me. We were walking along a dusty country road in India when something resembling a pick-up truck rolled gently past us. The back of the truck was packed with bearded Indian Sikh men wrapped in colorful blankets. Also present were two small children and a woman. The adults were all singing or chanting. All of a sudden, one of the men took the baby in his arms, leaned him against his chest with the baby facing outward (towards us) and made a sssshhhh sound. The baby boy peed over the back of the truck, somebody said "Shabash," ("Good!"), and the baby was passed back to his mother.

That was it. "Amazing!" I said. No big deal for the Sikhs but a miracle to us Westerners visiting India for the first time. Lisa and I were surprised to discover that babies in India don't wear diapers and that they are toilet trained from about one month old. Since Lisa was pregnant, she was dying to know more!

We hung out around one of the Sikh temples until we heard a woman speaking English. Lisa approached her and explained that we were tourists and would she mind if we asked her a little about child care. Luckily for us, the woman, who was dressed in simple, modest clothing, spoke excellent English. She took us to a tailor's shop in the nearby bazaar and invited us in for tea. "This is my cousin's shop," she explained.

The tea was so sweet and strong that it was hard to drink, but we did. We asked the Indian lady some general questions (didn't want to jump right into toilet training in case that might seem strange!). When we finally got to toilet training, the woman said, "Tomorrow you must come to my house for lunch and I will show you about the toilet training." Cool!

Well, we went, and we learned a lot. There were three women, two toddlers and three infants living in the home as an extended family. The women were all excited to have Western visitors in their home and were extremely hospitable. The babies and toddlers were not wearing diapers, so it was easy to steer the conversation there.

We asked the ladies what they do when the babies have to go. "We take them to the bathroom." Okay. But how to you know when to take them to the bathroom?

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