Once the baby has become accustomed to passing waste when held or on the potty, parents are able to adapt the method to suit their lifestyle. They can offer the potty just occasionally to help relieve an unsettled baby, or they can offer regularly throughout the day in order to drastically reduce the reliance on nappies. When continued through to the baby's second year, the method is adapted to help them transition to complete toilet independence. Historical usage The method of holding a baby out to trigger the reflex to urinate and defecate has presumably been used by mothers since the first homo-sapiens. The English doctor Pye Henry Chavasse suggested in his 1839 book "Advice to a Mother on the Management of her Children", that the baby should be held out over a pot at least a dozen times a day at 3 months old; if this were done, there need be no more nappies at 4 months. In 1912 Edward Mansfield Brockbank advised that babies should be supported on the pot from two months old. The practise was commonplace up until the fifties, when Dr Spock's method of delaying the start of toilet training until 18 months became popular. This, coupled with the advent of disposable nappies meant that the practise of BLPT diminished. Although some mothers still used the method, learning about it either by accident or intuition, or from knowledge passed on by grandparents, the method dropped out of common usage. From the nineties until the present, official UK health advice suggests that it is counter-productive to start toilet training before 18 months, and the standard advice is to wait until children showed signs of "readiness" (but not before 18 – 24 months of age). Amongst some health professionals there is a received wisdom that babies have no bladder or bowel control under two years. See also Elimination communication Nappies Open-crotch pants Toilet training References Toilet training Babycare