‘Bachelor’ alum Bekah Martinez says her newborn son has already used the potty

Potty training is no picnic for most parents, but it seems Bekah Martinez is trying a new method with her newborn son. In a since-expired post on Instagram Stories, the Bachelor alum says her son Ernest, who is nine weeks old, has already taken to using a potty. And if you’re scratching your head in confusion, allow us to explain how that’s humanly possible.

Sharing a photo of Ernest breastfeeding, the mom of three wrote: “Elimination communication is wild. Never really tried it with the other two kids but I’ve sat Ernest on a little potty about a dozen times after he wakes up and every. single. time he’s peed immediately and usually poops too.”

“I always thought it was just coincidence when I hear people talking about getting their infant to go on a potty,” she continued. “But no — idk how to explain it but it’s like he knows — right away when I undress him and put the little potty underneath he starts going.”

Back up, because we have some questions. Turns out, elimination communication is a method that has been commonly used for centuries in certain parts of the world, though it’s less common in the United States, in large part due to the prevalence of disposable diapers.

Essentially, it involves figuring out the cues your child gives off when they need to pee and/or poop, and then you position them over the potty. Eventually, they figure out that’s where they should go, so they do, and diapers become more of a “back-up” situation instead of the default.

Advocates for the practice note that it is both budget- and environmentally-friendly, allowing parents to opt out of buying and using diapers much earlier than they might if they waited until the child was a toddler to start potty training. It also helps reduce the chances of diaper rash.

Still, parents will need to support their infant on the toilet, as well as remaining consistently in tune to their baby’s cues. For parents who are not able to be by baby’s side much of the day, this could be an understandable deterrent to trying it.

As for Martinez, it seems she’s game to try the method with Ernest, as she succeeded in early potty training with her son Franklin, 2, and daughter Ruth, 4, both of whom she shares with fiancé Grayston Leonard. “We’ve potty trained the other kids around 22 months because it’s our personal goal to have them out of diapers by 2,” she wrote. “But we’re super curious to see if Ernest is out of diapers earlier if we keep this up.”