Lake Fong, Post-Gazette photos Marie Hosdil, 37, of Steubenville, Ohio, gently encourages her 6-month-old daughter, Felicity, to sit on her potty chair when the baby shows signs of needing "to go." Click photo for larger image.

Makers of kiddie equipment seem to think of everything. Recent entries into the potty-training field include flushing plastic urinals for toddlers and cartoon cutouts that turn the porcelain bowl into a cute-looking animal.

But despite the proliferation of such aids, the age of potty training in this country has steadily risen since the baby boomers were born. Even as recently as the 1980s, the mean age was 25 to 27 months. Today, recent studies show that 40 to 60 percent of children are still in diapers at age 3. As a result, size 6 disposable diapers for children 35 pounds and over are big sellers at the supermarket.

Now comes a push in the opposite direction, as a small but growing subset of American parents seeks to have babies out of diapers as young as 12 months.

In practicing "natural infant hygiene," as it's called by author and advocate Ingrid Bauer, parents engage in "elimination communication," or EC, with their babies. This means learning to read the children's signals and then gently supporting them on a potty before a dirty diaper ensues.

The goal is to establish a pattern and rhythm over time, with parents responding to the signs until babies associate bare bottoms, potty sitting and verbal cues with their bodily functions. Soon they're trading Pampers and Huggies for infant-size underpants.

It's not for everyone (babies in child care centers, for example), and not everyone who tries it succeeds. But there is an expanding body of encouragement out there that didn't exist until recently.

Books such as Ms. Bauer's "Diaper Free" and Laurie Boucke's "Infant Potty Training" offer philosophy, instructions and advice. Parents can share tips in online communities such as Yahoo's natural infant hygiene group. There's also a nonprofit organization with a Web site, diaperfreebaby.org, that supports regional self-help groups. Groups are listed in 13 countries and 37 states, and one posting seeks a volunteer to start a network in Pittsburgh.

Marie Hosdil, 37, of Steubenville, Ohio, is sensitive to her 6-month-old daughter Felicity's cues, and when the baby shows signs of needing "to go," Felicity uses the potty chair. Click photo for larger image.

The whole idea of early potty training strikes many Americans as wacky, unnecessary or even harmful. Such intense observation is viewed as impractical for parents working outside the home, and with the convenience of disposable diapers, many see no reason to rush.

There is also the fear that doing it wrong will induce in children what Sigmund Freud called an anal-retentive personality brought on by rebellion against excessive pressure and anxiety over bowel movements.

Yet early training has long been practiced in other cultures without apparent ill effect. Dr. Kristin Hannibal, clinical director of general academic pediatrics at Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, previously worked at Harvard University Health Services. She said her foreign-born students with children often had their babies out of diapers before they could stand.

"It was usually a grandparent at home training the child to use the potty because the students were gone all day. It was part of the grandparents' culture and a way not to have to wash diapers. In America, where disposable diapers are so easy, the issues are different.

"This is not taking the Pittsburgh market by storm," she added. "I've been here five years and have seen no cases of it."

For those who succeed, early potty training offers obvious pluses beyond parent-child closeness. It saves money on diapers and reduces diaper rash, nasty changes, smelly pails, laundry loads and landfill tonnage. So far, that hasn't been enough to overcome the big obstacles of time, attention, commitment and skepticism.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against potty training before age 2, noting on its Web site: "The readiness skills and physical development your child needs occur between age 18 months and 2.5 years."

Yet many pediatricians say there is no harm in starting earlier, as long as it's done gently and without making demands of the baby.

"It's gentle behavior training using observation and positive reinforcement," said Dr. Hannibal. "You're not trying to make them be independent in caring for themselves as you would at age 2 or 3. You just pick up on the child's behavior, and the children probably aren't even aware they're doing anything, except they see that the mother is pleased.''

It seems to be working for Marie Hosdil of Steubenville, Ohio, and her baby, Felicity. An at-home mom, she decided to try elimination communication when her daughter was 4 weeks old, after noticing a pattern when the baby nursed.

"She would stop nursing, look up with those big eyes and just stare at me very intently. At first I thought 'Oh, that's cute.' Then I realized it meant she was about to go."

Having already read Ms. Boucke's book on infant potty training, Mrs. Hosdil began taking her baby's cues. When Felicity gave the sign, her mom would remove her diaper, sit on the sofa with the little potty chair between her own thighs, then prop the baby on the seat while supporting her with her own body.

Sure enough, Felicity would do what she needed to do, and the cloth diaper would go back on her bottom instead of into the diaper pail. It was a marked contrast to the experience the Hosdils had with their son, now 4, who was potty trained at 3¹/₂ years old. He produced three bags of laundry a week, where Felicity produces one.

"The first time it worked with Felicity, I thought 'This is so neat. Why would I want her in diapers until 3¹/₂ if there's another way?' "

Felicity is now 6 months old, and she and her mom have moved beyond the big stare. The baby goes on the potty first thing in the morning, after a nap, before she's left with a sitter and on both ends of a trip outside the house.

Wet diapers still occur at times, but soiled ones are rare. Sometimes they get through a whole day with only two changes.

"It depends on how vigilant I am," Mrs. Hosdil said. "If I'm distracted and not paying attention, we may use six or eight."

One incentive for paying attention: The family has only 15 diapers, and Mrs. Hosdil washes them herself. In addition, she said, "It dawned on me that if dirty diapers are unpleasant for adults, maybe babies don't like them much either. It just makes sense to respect that."

Mrs. Hosdil doesn't know anyone else practicing EC, and there are no diaper-free baby groups close enough for her to join, but she does visit the online group on Yahoo. Beyond that and close family -- her own mother and pediatrician mother-in-law don't understand why she's doing it -- experience has taught her not to talk about it.

"I mentioned it to someone, and she said, 'Why would anyone want to do that? There are so many conveniences now that you don't have to.' She equated it with strapping a kid onto a potty and making her sit there, which this definitely is not. Since then I really haven't mentioned it to anyone else."

Early on, she said, "I almost lost my courage to try this because the 'normal' thing to do seemed OK, too. But now I'm glad I stuck with it."

As for Felicity, Mrs. Hosdil pointed to a sewing pattern for tiny underpants. "We'll start her in underwear around 9 months, just in the afternoons -- I find I'm more attentive when she's not in diapers. It doesn't really matter to me when she's fully potty trained in the conventional sense. We'll just work together and see when she's ready."