Former "Bachelor" contestant Bekah Martinez has recently shared an intriguing update about her 9-week-old son, Ernest Allison Leonard, affectionately called "Nesto." In a surprising revelation on her Instagram stories, Martinez announced that Nesto has been successfully using the potty, a milestone rarely achieved at such a young age.
Martinez attributes this early potty training success to a method known as "elimination communication." She expressed her amazement at the effectiveness of this technique, noting that every time she placed Ernest on the potty after waking up, he immediately peed and often pooped as well. This method, relatively unknown in mainstream Western parenting, involves identifying and responding to a baby's natural elimination cues.
Breaking Conventional Parenting Norms
In her Instagram stories, Martinez shared her initial skepticism about infants' ability to use a potty and her surprise at discovering it's more than mere coincidence. She mentioned that while her other children were potty trained around 22 months, she is curious to see if Ernest will be out of diapers earlier due to this method.
Martinez also cited Andrea Olson, an "elimination communication expert," whose Instagram account provides extensive information on this approach. Olson, a mother of six, claims that all her children were out of diapers by the age of one, without traditional potty training.
Elimination communication is a practice used in various parts of the world, including Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. It involves parents learning to interpret their baby's cues for needing to eliminate and then holding them over a potty while making a specific sound. Over time, the baby learns to associate the sound with elimination, reducing its reliance on diapers.
Despite the success she's experienced, Martinez has faced criticism and negative feedback. In response to a comment labeling her actions as "weird and abusive," she pointed out that many cultures practicing elimination communication might find the Western norm of letting children sit in diapers for years equally strange.
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Martinez's History of Challenging Norms
Martinez is no stranger to controversy and she often uses her platform to challenge societal norms. From her surprise pregnancy early in her relationship with now-husband Grayston Leonard to her decision not to shave her legs for a red carpet event, she has consistently made headlines. She has openly discussed breastfeeding her toddler and infant simultaneously and raised eyebrows by letting her children interact with rabbits that were later slaughtered.
Bekah Martinez's experience with elimination communication offers a fresh perspective on infant care and potty training. It challenges conventional Western parenting practices and opens up a dialogue about different approaches to child-rearing. As Martinez continues to share her journey, she not only provides insight into alternative parenting methods but also sparks important conversations about cultural norms and practices in child upbringing.
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