This method of responding to babies' needs works. It is not foolproof, and it is not always practical, but it does work. Babies do have some bladder control, and they can release when signaled. "Experts" who say otherwise just haven't had the experience.

I don't know about a diaper-free nation, but how about millions of babies and toddlers using slightly fewer diapers, and using diapers for fewer years? We used these diaper-free techniques only intermittently and part-time. It saved us some diapers, and it helped my daughter to potty train earlier than otherwise. She already knew what a potty was for, so the training was a matter of degree instead of a whole new concept.

This doesn't have to be a revolution. Parents can benefit just from giving their babies the chance to eliminate somewhere other than a diaper once in a while. Thanks for publicizing the topic!

I've never heard the one about seatbelts causing miscarriage. I still don't wear a seatbelt throughout pregnancy.

I'll start buckling up pregnant when seatbelts become halfway comfortable for pregnant women. Pregnancy is uncomfortable by itself, without a strap squishing the belly.

My three-year-old asked her father the other day what his penis was for. He told her that it was for peeing and for making babies. She replied: "But babies come from coochies!"

Large studies indicate that vaccination is not the cause of autism. However, even the CDC admits that in some children, vaccines trigger autism. Maybe it's a metabolic disorder or a certain combination of genes, but some children become autistic after vaccinations.

As the post pointed out, it is mostly upper-income families (read: well-educated) who are choosing not to vaccinate, or to vaccinate selectively. The current standard of slamming tiny children with many vaccines at once is not the healthiest option. Do newborn babies born to healthy parents need a vaccine against a sexually transmitted disease (Hepatitis B) in their first day of life? Does a two-month-old need her brand-new immune system swamped with all those viruses at the same time?

If vaccines were available individually, and if more pediatricians were more flexible about working with parents who want to be involved in these decisions, more parents would choose to vaccinate. In my major metropolitan area, a parent found that to get measles, mumps, and rubella separately costs $1000 each, because it's a special order and the parent must pay for the whole batch of ten. This is ridiculous.

Educated families like mine (we're engineers) don't think the CDC's one-size-fits-all approach is optimized for our family. Give us more long-term research on the safety of each vaccine and each combination. Give us more information and more options.

Calling us stupid fear-mongers simply reveals that you have not read as much material on the topic and put as much thought into it as we have.

I'm a Missouri voter who will be disenfranchised if this passes. As a citizen from birth who happened to be born in Canada, I won't be able to provide proof of citizenship in November.

Is this what my state legislature is wasting its time on? There are important bills up for consideration right now, bills that would improve life in our state instead of degrading it. Let's not waste resources on keeping people like me away from the polls.

One writer brought up a good point: requiring proof of citizenship for drivers' licenses.

Missouri already requires proof of citizenship to get a driver's license. And we already require ID to vote. So requiring proof of citizenship to vote only matters until our licenses expire and we can't renew them. That makes it all about the current election cycle.

Which makes it an even bigger waste of time! ugh.

Of course they resort to violence against Americans after we've mistreated them so grossly! That is evidence of everything that is wrong with Guantanamo, and with the Bush's strategies in general.

Barack Obama is a Christian.

Barack Obama is a Christian.

Can we just see that in print please?

The Missouri state legislature passed a law this year (and the governor signed it) requiring that all US flags flown by government offices be made in America.

This sounds like a big waste of legislative time and a small waste of taxpayer's money to me.

What, are we concerned that if we don't support the US flag-making industry, that we'll forget how to make them?

We have the letter and animal magnet toys that are much like the vehicle one you describe. They are excellent.

Our favorite Leap Frog toy is the Learning Table. It's a small table with lots of buttons and other noisemaking and light-flashing gadgets. Does it teach anything? Not really, but the babies love it from about 6 months to walking. They can pull up, stand holding the table, and play with it at the same time.

thanks for the interesting column. The "how annoying is it to adults?" information is particularly valuable.

I think it is a beautiful statement.

Anyone can make mistakes. It sounds like he's even learned something from this one.

There's a difference here: a man says, "I feel aroused, but don't get an erection." Clearly, there's a physical dysfuction here. A woman says, "I don't get aroused." Where's the physical problem? Is there a physical problem at all?

A testosterone patch will be a useful tool in certain cases, where a woman's lack of arousal is caused by insufficient testosterone. But in some ways its existence may be a negative: "You don't want to have sex with me? There's something wrong with you. They make drugs for this."

... or just get the babies (and ourselves) some sunlight. We get Vitamin D from the sun. It takes about fifteen minutes a day of indirect light.

Maybe the real culprit here is too much sunscreen.