# How did ancient humans deal with baby poop? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 15, 2016, 12:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-ancient-humans-deal-with-baby-poop/759969 "2016-07-15T12:47:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-ancient-humans-deal-with-baby-poop/759969/41 "2016-07-17T21:34:10Z")
Nm ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-ancient-humans-deal-with-baby-poop/759969/42 "2016-07-17T21:34:56Z")
Three Clam Shells. I’m guessing that the first circumcision came about in the middle of the night after a sleepy loss in a “Its your turn” session. ---
**Author:** ![Nippless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/df788c/32.png) [@Nippless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nippless)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-ancient-humans-deal-with-baby-poop/759969/43 "2016-07-19T17:15:36Z")
> [@jtur88](#): > > Ancient mothers carried their ancient babies on their back all day long, and could quickly learn to tell when the baby was about to shit, and just took the baby out of the snuggli and held out a safe distance so it didn’t shit all over mommy. > > In some “uncivilized” parts of the modern world, they still do. Mothers riding on speeding buses and trains hold the baby out the window. They never drop them. Mothers are very proficient at holding babies, and never drop them. Okay I can dig the idea of mom knowing when baby is about to shit when everyone’s conscious, but what about at night? Do we know if babies slept in close proximity, generally? And no, I don’t have a baby or ever will so bear with me here. ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-ancient-humans-deal-with-baby-poop/759969/44 "2016-07-19T20:05:09Z")
Co-sleeping is still the norm in much of the world, so one presumes if was common in antiquity. In Africa, women always seem to know when their babies needed to urinate. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2016, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-ancient-humans-deal-with-baby-poop/759969/45 "2016-07-19T23:25:03Z")
> [@Nippless](#): > > Okay I can dig the idea of mom knowing when baby is about to shit when everyone’s conscious, but what about at night? Do we know if babies slept in close proximity, generally? Well, they’re gonna poop on you sometimes. We’re awfully squeamish about human waste, which is important in food preparation and particularly in high population density environments, but it’s not that big a deal in many cases. Grab some leaves and wipe yourself off, and in the morning go rinse in the local water source. And elimination communication totally works, although it’s more effort. My wife and I have been doing it with our 3-month old for a few weeks and we catch about 1/3 of his eliminations in the toilet now. If we didn’t have jobs and things to distract us, and we didn’t have clothes and diapers to get off him when he starts indicating he’s about to go, I bet we’d pretty easily catch 90%. Our friend (who told us about it), has an 18 month old who doesn’t wear diapers any more. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-did-ancient-humans-deal-with-baby-poop/759969.md?page=2)