Rebecca Mottram is a children’s nurse and potty learning expert, offering gentle, child-centred and evidence-based guidance to make potty training playful, practical and tailored to your unique child’s needs and temperament. She advocates for parents and caregivers of potty learning babies and toilet training toddlers by highlighting harmful misinformation in the mainstream. She is a published author and podcaster and creates content to make the science of potty training accessible to all. At Little Bunny Bear, she has also created a range of clothing and accessories to help parents to work in partnership with their children to reach toilet independence. Here she talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the passion behind what she does, the pros and cons of running her own business, and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
When I was pregnant with my first child, an antenatal teacher mentioned that babies in China don’t use nappies and that sparked my curiosity about how toileting is managed. As a children’s research nurse, I quickly discovered that the way we approach potty training in western cultures differs hugely from the majority of the world. I became fascinated with baby pottying (or “elimination communication”) and when my son was born, this is what we did. It was such an instinctive approach and a great bonding experience, and since I also have a degree in sewing, I was able to whip up some cute outfits to help make the process easier! Babygrows – with their multiple and impractical poppers – were out; split crotch pants and washable nappies were in.
Friends saw my designs and were curious. When they understood what I was doing and why, they wanted some too, and so I opened my Etsy shop Little Bunny Bear. But this was far from the end of my creative adventures as my curiosity about why potty training approaches were so different between cultures pushed me to use my clinical research skills to find out the answer.
I found evidence showing that disposable nappies had a huge influence not only on how we manage our babies hygiene, but also how we think about potty training. I found that disposable nappies are a massive barrier to learning and can even impact bladder and bowel health. But most of all, I found huge differences between the clinical evidence and the advice given to parents. As an NHS-trained research nurse, I couldn’t understand why parents were being given advice that went against the clinical evidence. My quest became to help make the research evidence more accessible to parents and as I accumulated knowledge that could be translated into a practical method for potty training, I decided to share my knowledge as a potty learning consultant.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
I started out using my sewing skills to make clothing suitable for baby pottying. I also wanted to find alternatives to plastic and discovered the amazing benefits of lanolised wool for natural mattress protection. I upcycled wool blankets into baby sized mattress pads and added them to my Etsy shop. As I was learning more about the research evidence, I began writing blogs. I will never forget the first blog I wrote about the research evidence, late at night and driven by a fervent desire to tell parents the truth. I wrote about why early potty training was best and how parents had been lied to for decades. My passion quickly extended to videos and classes for parents on how to potty train earlier.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
During the pandemic, I started creating video content for my Facebook group and delivering workshops to help parents in isolation (the perfect opportunity to start working on potty skills because nobody was going anywhere!) – suddenly I had 20,000 parents singing my praises. I knew the next step was to create a professional potty training course.
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
It’s a constant challenge of understanding my limits and retaining focus on what’s most important to me. I don’t always get it right but my energy to help keeps me going. I work for the NHS and for ERIC, the children’s bladder and bowel charity as well as running my own business as a potty learning consultant and content creator. Having the support of a fantastic marriage, inspiring children, a business partner and a second potty learning consultant has been essential.
