Elimination Communication

Minnie - posted on 06/24/2010

Oh- see- we frequently took walks to water the shrubs when Adelaide was still happy being carried and held to pee. It helps when baby is not amused being taken to the potty or the sink.

Noreen - posted on 06/24/2010

LOL!! No we don't take a walk to water the shurbs. Although I am sure my boys will get their share watering the plants and trees when we go camping next week in the Rockie Mountains. hahaha

Geralyn - posted on 06/24/2010

OMG, Noreen! I just saw the video of Abby on the toilet! That is amazing! Awesome job, Abby! She is doing so well, and no toilet insert or anything (whatever the heck they are called).... Great video, and that proud smile!

You mean you don't take her out for a walk to "water" the shrubs? - my attempt at humor referencing the EC portion of the videos you posted... lol.

Minnie - posted on 06/16/2010

Excellent, Noreen!

Noreen - posted on 06/15/2010

Caught Abby on camara while peeing in the potty! She's only 8months old!

Minnie - posted on 06/11/2010

Yeah, some babies don't give as obvious clues as others.

And yay! What a big boy that he's picking up on that!

April - posted on 06/11/2010

ps...yesterday at a restaurant he randomly said "pee pee" and signed pee pee for the first time. i think he peed 1st though....

April - posted on 06/11/2010

i'm actually terrible at that...at reading his cues for needing to go. as far as i know, he doesn't make a face or make a noise. maybe
he makes a noise but i'm not not sure...i def know he doesn't make a face. wish he did...making noise is not helpful for me! i have heard my mom say that he moans like he is in pain and that's how she knows he is about to go. maybe she can point it out for me when he is "moaning" and then i can try to memorize what that sounds like? (sometimes i can "hear" when someone shows me the sound in the act)

Minnie - posted on 06/11/2010

April- it doesn't matter with age with EC- it's just about being aware of your child's cues and then being responsive to them.



But it is EASIER to read the cues and catch the pees when you have a baby who is in-arms and not desensitized by wearing diapers.

Anne - posted on 06/10/2010

Wow another great technique introduced on this forum. Didn't know about it before but wish I had done. I do let my 15 month old little girl go diaperless at times of the day I'm fairly certain she's not going to go and she does give warning before a poop. I'm going to learn more about it for the purposes of potty training. April I think it wouldn't have worked for us entirely either in the past - most of the activity was at night like with your son although she has usually pooped in the day. Now she does go for a wee too. I'm not sure how we do much potty training when they need to go overnight. I guess we will have to wait until they get themselves out of the reverse-cycling. It's a pity they can't have the freedom of being diaperless though.

April - posted on 06/02/2010

ah..would love to try this but my son is too old. like lisa, we found out about it late. i didn't learn of EC until my son was 10 months old. also he hardly pees at all during the day. he's reverse cycled (only nurses at night and for nap). due to nursing at night so much...he pees all night long too. i have NO idea how i will toilet train a kid that does all his business in his sleep.... (he is 17 months old right now)

Julia - posted on 05/29/2010

We've been ECing since one day after I heard about it, it made so much sense to me and the perspective of communicating even more with my son made me all hyper thrilled :D

So from this first day on he went poopie in the potty, we've had maybe 10 full diapers since. He obviously was more than happy about the opportunity to get rid of his poopy straight away.

Peewise it went up and down and up again and down .... and we now have seemed to have settled at an up! A week ago or so with 18months we've had the big breakthrough!



But what I have learned from our ECtrip is that you really gotta stay relaxed. If it's going well don't be too disappointed when all of a sudden it's not working so well anymore, I think I sometimes ended up bugging my son a little too much"do you need to go?" and he would have one accident after the other. As soon as I let go and relaxed and thought, "he knows how to do it so if he wants to he will let you know", it worked again! As Lisa says they go through so many phases, especially when they gain yet another superhero ability (like walking) .... this is just too overwhelming, there is just so much more important things to do! I had phases when I thought "alright, that's it I just expected too much" and tried to convince myself that it wasn't about him being diaperfree and all "pottytrained" but about our communication and him feeling heard and respected (which it really is all about but I guess the perspective of having a little toddler out of his diapers is just very nice...) "at least he tells me when to go poopy, that' really is something!" put diapers on him and just gave up. And believe it or not, there after a couple days was the little wiggle finger telling me he needed to go peepee!

So also here this is all about trusting and not pushing them. Once they have the tools it's up to them. Well it's always up to them really, you know what I mean. I have always put him on the potty on fixed times like after his naps though, just to make sure he won't loose his awareness.

Right now he wears diapers during the night, most of the time he wakes up in the morning with them being totally empty though. He didn't use to wear one and we would take him potty during the night but at some point he became upset when doing so, so we immediately put a diaper on him ... and haven't tried to take it off since,... shame on us, it's just too convenient ;-) I should give it another shot though, the thought that his little butt is all free also during the night is just too appealing.

Oh this turned out a little novel, heehee, better stop (for now ;-)



Edit:

Oh forgot to say, we started at 5 months

With our next baby I will start right after birth...



@Lisa: Yepp only the looks of the people would already totally be worth to do EC ;-)

Vicki - posted on 05/28/2010

I managed to catch his poo from about 4-7 months, but that was about it. To be honest I wasn't really trying, it was more of a fluke. I love the idea and kind of wish I had stuck with it.

My SIL is from Burma and was telling me about nappies there. The rich use chinese made disposables and all their babies have nappy rash. The poor use old towels or old longyes/sarongs for 6 months then they ec (although she didn't call it that of course). No nappy rash at all!

Minnie - posted on 05/28/2010

I only wish we had started at birth!

And it really cracks me up, the strange looks I get from people, and how they think I can't do anything/go anywhere because I'm a slave to her bathroom habits, lol...

They tsk tsk how 'hippie' I am, failing to realize this is how most of the world cares for it's children. But of course, we are modern and enlightened here in the US.

Geralyn - posted on 05/28/2010

That's great, Noreen! And thank you, Lisa, for the longer term perspective so I know what to expect...



We fully intended to... the months have gotten away from me. We are working on toileting now with my 25 month old, but we haven't gone diaper free. He is communicating to me about poops - pee not so much. We flush his poop after removing it from the diaper, and its a real incentive to let him flush the poop. He is enthralled by the whole process. He'll tell me "big poop" (after the fact - with EC, perhaps we can shape that to when he gets the pooping sensation). Today, he said "big poop" and we rushed into the changing area with glee. When I opened the diaper, there was a poop the size of a pencil eraser. lol... When I showed it to him, he said "baby poop," I was cracking up... We flushed the baby poop anyway, and he was thrilled. So I am excited about our baby steps with training.



I am definitely going to do EC with the next one....

Minnie - posted on 05/28/2010

We use EC. I feel it's respectful of my daughter's needs and honors her awareness of her body. We found out about it late and started at 6 months with her.



She's 19 months old now, and usually lets me know when she has to use the potty. I pay attention to time frame mostly now, because she's so busy, and usually she's more than willing to make a little pee even if I take her to the potty.



She makes her cue sound now when she goes, lol: pssssssss!



Just to let you know: things will ebb and flow as your daughter grows in her independence- there might be times when she goes through a phase where she really does NOT want to be brought to the potty, or wherever you have her go. These pass, and may resurface again later. Don't let days of refusal or frequent misses discourage you! EC can always be revisited even if you have to put diapers on for a few weeks while she comes around again.