Diaperless Baby (E.C.)?

Question

I have just had my second child (Josh) & was intregued by an artical on "elimination control"
I would love to hear from moms (or dads) who practice this for tips / experiences on how to do it? at home, when out,car journeys, on vacation ect...
I would love to try it but dont see that it would be practical.
Any advice please?

Answer 1

Hello! I started EC with my fourth child when he was 7 weeks old. I wanted to try it for several reasons:
1. my first child had severe "potty phobia" when we first showed it to him. We didn't use any pressure, but for some reason he was scared. He didn't learn to use the potty until he was 38 months! I wanted a more gradual, easier method.
2. I was sick of changing diapers after 3 kids. I was ready to give EC a try for the novelty of it.
3. Sensitive skin. I liked the no diaper rash benefit for my baby.
I didn't really know if it could actually work, but after reading all the articles I could find (very few at that time!) I figured it couldn't hurt!

I LOVED it, my baby LOVED it, and we definitely benefitted from it. When he was entering the 2yo "independent" stage, the potty was never a struggle for him. It was part of his daily routine. We could fight over whether he got to wear a tank top in winter, or his heavy coat and mittens outside in summer, or whether or not cookies were an OK breakfast food, but the potty was just a "given" to him.

I am enjoying EC again, this time with my baby girl. People say it's "parent training" and I ask why is this a "bad thing?" I am trained to know when my baby is hungry, and feed her. I am trained how to soothe her when she is tired and cranky. I am trained in how to change a diaper, and how to scrape poo out of every crack and crevice so she doesn't get a rash... I just prefer to try and "catch" the poo in a potty instead! I will freely admit, I am a well-trained parent (as I would hope any loving parent is, regardless of their diapering/EC choices)!

As far as it being "practical" I know it's not for everyone, but I feel if I can make it work with 4 kids and a baby, it can be adapted to fit almost any situation! It's not an "all or nothing" type of deal, and it can even be done part-time by parents who work outside the home!

To get started I recommend taking the diaper off for a few hours when you have some time to observe. Use a waterproof pad if it will help you be more relaxed. Watch your baby, see if you can notice any signs he gives off before he goes. Boys will often have a slight erection just before peeing. If you think "He probably needs to go now" try holding him over the potty or a bucket. He might surprise you!

Whenever he goes, make a "cue noise" like "Psss!" or use a cue word you are comfy with. Soon he will associate the feeling of peeing with the sound or word. He will more readily "release" his bladder when hearing the cue sound, though he will not be ready to hold his bladder for any extended time for a while yet.

Answer 2

Training the parent to take the baby to the potty is better than training the parent to change a diaper! It is wonderful when children and their parents have such great communication.

If you want to start EC with your child, a good time to start is when you know they will pee - after waking. Take them to the potty when they awake, or anytime they have been dry for longer than usual. EVentually they will associate the potty with eliminating, without pressure.

EC does not need to be messy, there is no reason you can't use diapers! But once you get into the swing of it , you might like not using diapers! So nice and free for the baby :)

Answer 3

"Elimination communication" is the usual term used. I believe that article was kind of sketchy and inaccurate in its details.

I have practiced EC with my son since he was 8 weeks old, and I lead our local Diaper-Free Baby group. (http://www.diaperbaby.org is a good resource, by the way).

No way would I change a thing, it has worked out GREAT for us. My son was out of diapers at 15 months, and at 2.5 years old I can't remember the last time he had an accident. He uses the potty on his own. I compare this with all of my friends who didn't use EC, and they all have 3, 4, and even 5 year olds still in diapers with huge complexes about pooping in the potty, wet the bed if not in Pull-ups....it's a REAL nightmare.

It's a little more work at the beginning, but let me tell you, changing the diapers of a kid who can walk is a way bigger and nastier task than I have ever taken on. I have changed maybe 20 poopy diapers at most since my son was 8 weeks old, whereas my friends have changed THOUSANDS. My son has no weird complexes about pottying, it's just a normal part of his life.

I wrote an article about practicing EC part-time, that's what we did for the first year. I was a working mom (still am), and it's entirely possible to work and have a life and still practice EC. You don't have to sit and stare at your baby all day, obsessed with every pee and poop. Your baby doesn't have to be diaperless, either, thought it does help to offer diaper-free time during the day to observe elimination frequency.

Check out my article about doing part-time EC, it's also a good way to get started if you're not sure how to go about it:
http://www.viviente.com/2005/10/how_to_do_parttime_pottytraini_1.html

Hope that helps, good luck!
Laura

Answer 4

I'm doing this with my 3rd child (since 6 weeks old; now 9 months).

I love it! He soon began fussing for me to take him to the toilet. He will begin 'pushing' the pee out when I hold him over the toilet.

He's not diaperless (I have two other children to run after :) ) but he does use less diapers! :D

I wish I had known about it for my first two.

Don't listen to people who haven't given it a good college try. It's not an all or nothing deal. Even if you only do it when the baby wakes up from naps, it does wonders in speeding up the process by which the baby can acknowledge his/her own bodily functions. It's amazing and marvelous to witness how young a baby can be and still be so cognizant of bodily functions.

Answer 5

EC (elimination Communication) involves listening to your child.

I've been practicing this method with my daughter since she was born (over 2 years now) and she has been wearing training pants since she was about 20 months (because mommy was a chicken about misses before that and kept diapers on). She was consistently dry at night by 9 months and consistently pooping in the toilet by 6 months.

My friend's 1.5 month old son was spending 30-45 minutes farting in a diaper before pooping and sometimes his poops were pretty spaced out. I tried holding him over the potty one day after some gas and he had a huge poop right away and was so much more comfortable than the day before in his diaper. His mom has noticed a much happier child now that she holds him over the potty when his 'gassy time' comes each day.

There may be some intuition involved, but knowing your child needs to go to the washroom isn't much different than knowing when your child needs to breastfeed.

Give EC a try! You may love it like we did, or just save a diaper or two per day.

There are some excellent resources on line as well as a Yahoo group devoted to the topic (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eliminationcommunication/)

Good Luck!

Answer 6

We've been practicing elimination communication for the past 4 months. It's been awesome. My now 9 mo old is dry through the night and has on average maybe one miss a day. When we go out we babywear, he merely wiggles when he needs to go. TIming has a lot to do with things too, and I've also noticed that rubbing his eyes is actually a sign that he needs to pee, rarely that he's tired.

I knew EC was for us when he was just a newborn. He'd fuss the second his diaper was wet (in retrospect, maybe he was fussing to let us knew we had to go BEFORE he went??), he'd wait until his dipe was off to poop.

If anyone wants to try I'd give 'er a whirl upon wakening and a few minutes after a big feed. Jus thold your babe over the tub, a potty, sink, bush, wherever and encourage a pee with a gentle "pssss" sound. Any skeptics- go ahead, prove it wrong- TRY IT!!

Answer 7

EC, in my experience, stands for "Elimination Communication", not "Elimination Control". The emphasis here is the Communication part.

Most people are easily able to tell when their newborn needs to have a bowel movement due to all the grunting and squirming generally involved. There are signals for having to pee also. Signals for both vary for each baby.

People who practice EC do so for many different reasons, some of which include having increased closeness/communication with their child, believing that children should not sit in their own waste, believing that diapers are a less-clean and less respectful way of caring for a child's elimination needs, wanting to avoid the difficulties of traditional potty training (the age for which, at least in the U.S., is going up and up and up thanks to ultra absorbent disposible diapers), wanting to save money on diapers or time and effort washing cloth diapers. . . the list goes on and on.

It's true that EC is not always convenient or easy. But then, neither are diapers or traditional potty training. I look at it this way: I can work with my child regarding her elimination needs now, or I can put it off a few years and in the meantime spend a lot of money and time cleaning poop off my child's butt.

People also practice EC in a variety of different ways. Some are truly diaper-free from birth, inside and outside the home. This is probably not very many people. Some people use disposibles, some cloth, some training pants, some special EC clothing, and MOST probably a combination of some or all of these things depending on the baby's age and the situation. We personally use disposibles, cloth, trainers and naked time. We take her out in disposibles but try to use cloth or trainers or nakey-butt at home. There is no hard and fast rule about how to do EC.

I strongly recommend joining the Yahoo Elimination Communication Group (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eliminationcommunication) if you'd like to meet TONS of people who practice EC, in lots of different ways, and with children of lots of different ages.

Congratulations on your new baby and good luck no matter what you choose regardng EC! :)

Suzy
Mama to DD Eun-Bi (03/15/2006)
EC'd from 10 weeks

Answer 8

I've heard from many people who have tried it that you have to be completely commited to cleaning up a lot of messes. The concept or E.C. was developed by people in countries where they generally live outside, so mess is not really a big problem. However, if you do decide to stick with it you can purchase a portable potty seat. I think they sell them at most stores in the camping section. Good luck to you, I myself would not have the patience for it. Diapers are so much easier, and children seem to potty train themselves, when they are ready. You can take a child to a potty but you can't make them pee. That part is up to them.

Answer 9

I have done EC with both of my sons... they're four and one years old now... and I can't imagine how people *don't* do it! Once you get the hang of it, it's faster, easier, cheaper, cleaner, and far less work than conventional diapering. Sure, there's a learning curve, but there's usually a learning curve when something's worth doing!

I know our culture has all these barriers up about why diapers are better... but once you start really, really looking at the idea of wrapping your precious baby up in plastic all day, EC starts looking better and better.

I know moms who work fulltime who do this, moms who stay at home, dads, grandparents... it's not nearly as hard as it sounds, and the rewards are incredible. Finishing up with, of course, *never* having to deal with potty-training a toddler! What's not to love about that? =)

Answer 10

We used this with our third son in 1979 and he turned out just fine, lol. After using diapers with the first two, we wanted to try something else and much preferred EC (also called infant potty training, trickle treat and natural infant hygiene).Here are some links for more info:

www.TimL.com/ipt
www.pottywhisperer.com

I highly recommend EC to anyone who wants to give it a try. It doesn't have to be overly time comsuming since you can make just a few potty visits a day if this is what fits your schedule.

Cheers,
Laurie