Elimination Communication?

Question

Has anyone ever tried this method of potty training?

Does it work?

For those of you who haven't--how do you feel about it?

Here's a link that discribes it:

http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/

Thank you for you input!

If you don't know what it is I suggest that you go to: "Frequently Asked Questions"

I'm so sorry if I annoy you...if thinking annoys you--I suggest you don't answer my questions at all. Obviously you can't think or you may find my questions interesting. This site is called "Answers" so, I ask questions--to get "answers"--imagine that concept! Sorry I don't feel like giving my whole life story, asking for sympathy, and advice I won't use anyway.

Answer 1

I've been doing elimination communication (EC) with my baby since she was 7 weeks old. It is a MYTH that babies have no control over their bladders-- every single morning my baby squirms and fusses until she wakes me up so I can take her potty! And she goes the second I put her on the potty. She doesn't calm down until she's peed once, pooped once, and then peed at least one more time. Then she goes back to sleep for a couple more hours. If that isn't controling her bladder, I don't know what is. She is a week shy of 4 months.

I have it to the point where she can tell me by her body language and by vocalizations that she needs to go, and I can respond immedately. When it is safe for her to go (i.e. she is over a potty) then I make a signal noise (tsssssss) and she goes.

So yes, it works.

And no it is not forcing a baby to be something other than a baby, or insisting that the baby grow up faster than developmentally reasonable. Many other cultures practice this type of "infant potty training" including most places in Africa and Asia, and throughout history this is how most babies had their elimination needs taken care of. No other animal has their young sit in their waste. It is so perplexing that people equate EC with forcing a baby to grow up too quickly. Read about it, learn about how it is done, then you can make an assessment of what it actually is.

Answer 2

I have used both EC and "conventional" potty training. My first three were potty trained at or past age two. That's a lotta diapers!

By the time #4 came along I was ready to try something different. I heard about EC at just the right time to get me curious. By all the info I could find, my 7 week old was at the prime time for starting EC, and what did we have to lose? If it was really as "nuts/labor intensive/impossible" as all the nay-sayers claimed, I had plenty of diapers already on hand. Well, as it turned out:
EC is not "nuts" babies really are aware of when their bladders are full, and are capable of peeing on purpose when offered the opportunity.
EC is not prohibitively labor intensive. Otherwise I'd never have been able to pull it off while caring for the rest of my busy family.

As for impossible, I tossed that word out of my vocabulary long ago ;-)

I am currently ECing my 5th baby, and really enjoying it. She is 5 months old and she woke up in a dry diaper this morning. I took her to her little potty and she peed. Later she made her favorite "communicating" noise, which is like a cross between a THTHTH as in wiTH and the "razzberries," and when I responded by taking her potty, she peed again.

According to several "potty readiness" sites:
Your child is ready for toilet learning when your child:
- Stays dry for longer periods (does most of the night count?)
- Recognizes when diaper becomes wet or soiled (doesn't take a rocket scientist to tell that)
- Uses consistent words or gestures to communicate (the "razzberry" noise always means she's either already wet, or needs to go, pretty darn consistent)
- Demonstrates interest in the toilet (she's very interested!)
Children are emotionally prepared to use the toilet when:
- They can communicate the need to urinate or have a bowel movement; (again, that's what the razzberry noise means)
- They understand what is expected of them when on the toilet;(every time I put her on, she either goes, or she arches her back to tell me she isn't interested right now)
- They are willing to urinate or have a bowel movement in the toilet instead of in a diaper. (willing?! Heck she prefers it!)


Having been there done that with all the major potty learning methods, I am confident when I say EC is the bomb!

Answer 3

Oh if I had this much time!!! I dont see anything wrong with this approach but I don't see anything wrong with not using this either. I know a lot of people made comments about letting a child sit in his/her waste. Well yes they do BUT most parents I know will change a child often so they really aren't just sitting around in their poop all day. I think you should do what is best for you. Every baby is different therefore different methods should be considered.

Answer 4

I didn't try that way, I did however have my daughter completely trained by the time she was 1. I had started putting her on the potty when she was abotu 5 months old. I would take her every time I went. By the time she was 10 months, she would go to bed dry and wake up dry. She ended up regressing though because we had her sister a week before she turned one. Once she saw me changing her sister's diapers, she wanted to be the baby too. She's 29 months now and has once again been potty trained.

Answer 5

I have been ECing my 17 month old daughter for two months with great success. At this age, we are considered very late for ECing, but I love the gentle approach and intimate awareness I now have with my daughter. I plan to start a lot earlier with the next one.

It is not about saving money, doing less diaper laundry, or getting rid of diapers. It is about teaching your child that there is an appropriate place for her waste and letting her know that she can communicate that need to you.

I also had the "ugghhh" mentality when a friend of mine first told me she was going to try EC with her little boy, but once I started reading about it, it just made so much sense! It finally dawned on me two years later while reflecting on a mission trip to Africa that you didn't see mothers walking around with diaper bags nor were their clothes soiled from the babies they carried on their backs. The only natural conclusion is that they practiced EC with their babies. Now that I think about it, I remember at a church meeting itty bitty kids that were probably no older than my daughter is now, going outside by themselves, doing their business and coming back in. They could only know how to do that if they had been ECed as infants. You could write this off as these families not having the money or resources for diapers whether cloth or disposible, but even in societies as advanced as ours, EC is a normal way of life.

No it is not for everyone as it does require spending a lot of time with your child and really cluing in to their signals, but the rewards are worth it, even part-time if you choose to do it.

I would really encourage other posters to just read about it before making such harsh and judgemental comments. I was one of you, but now I am an EC success story!

Answer 6

EC is NOT TOILET-TRAINING. Often, toilet-training starts at 2-3 years, but EC should start at birth though it can start later and one can apply the philosophies of EC to toilet-training. EC is gentle, and it’s about respect and communication from birth.

80% of children world-wide are potty-trained by the age of 12 months, but most US children aren’t getting started until 2, or even 3 years of age! Even into the 50’s most US children were cloth-diapered and still potty-trained at 18 months. Now with the advent of disposable diapers, pull-ups and other disposable training pants the children are still using diapers much, much longer than elsewhere in the world.

Most of the world doesn’t have the luxury of diapers, and EC is practiced instead of diaper-training for three years and then a struggle with toilet-training. You can see images of kids in China and other Asian nations where babies and young children don’t wear diapers at all, but wear split-bottom pants to facilitate easy ECing.


Going diaper-free relies on a couple of basic things: 1) Signals, 2) Timing and 3) Intuition.

Babies, even newborns, are as aware of the need to relieve themselves as they are of the need to eat. Just as a mom knows when her baby is hungry because he roots at the breast (signal), it’s been so many hours since he last ate (timing) and because she ‘just knows’ he’s hungry (intuition), and can then feed him, so it works going diaper-free.

EC should begin at birth since the longer you wait to EC, the more accustomed your baby will become to relieving himself in his diaper, and he’ll stop signaling because those signals aren’t being respected and those needs are not being attended to. There’s no reason to communicate the need to go, if that communication is ignored.

I can count the number of soiled diapers I've changed on one hand, and my son is 12 months old. Most days, we're 100% on target.

Answer 7

EC is amazing and it does work. I totally have to agree with all the other pro-EC'ers that a baby does understand when it has to pee or poop. Those that are against it obviously have not read about it and are going off misinformation...there is a lot of it out there on EC'ing. We have been cloth diapering/EC'ing our son since he was born and he LOVES it. As other mamas have posted, he wants to pee on his potty and I DO NOT force anything upon him. Of course EC is not manditory and should not be. It takes a lot of time and close contact with your child. Each parent should make their own decision as to what is best for them and their child.

To those that posted harsh and untrue statements about EC, just as I don't slam others for using disposable diapers, please don't completely disregard our methods of diaper or no diaper use.

Answer 8

I've done a relaxed form of EC with my daughter since she was 7 months old and with ds since he was a few weeks old. (We EC at home and at work. Out on errands or in the van, we use cloth diapers.)

Aside from saving on diapers and time, it's cut way down on skin irritation from being in a diaper all the time (not a natural state of being). It doesn't make any sense to me to teach a baby to urinate and poop in their clothing for the first year or two and then turn around and tell them not to do that any more. No wonder so many kiddos find potty learning so stressful! My daughter's 21 months old and out of diapers nearly full time now. I haven't ever pushed pottying. I simply give them the opportunity. If they have to go, cool. If not, cool. No punishments no rewards, it's just an option if they need to go.

Answer 9

1

Answer 10

Lets do some math:

Stupid people in large numbers+ too much time on their hands-
common sense= Cult parenting trends like these.

Babies cannot talk or say "Hey, I need to go potty". This seems like a genius plan all around unless someone really enjoys cleaning up poop 100x a day. I think it's BS. This stems from the more primitive mothers who do not have access to diapers, and they get tired of little Goobooboo soiling their slings and their backs, so they periodically let an older baby out after meals to allow it freedom to poop and pee.

Once again, it's one of those things that are not really appropriate in developed society, but leave it to the crunch bar granola heads to fight to make this the sterling standard of parenting. Whomever applies this to modern life, in a home with carpets and linoleum floors, furniture and wood...needs to go get their head checked. There are cloth diapers if you want to be eco friendly, also Earth friendly disposable options.

Also lovato...I think you ask great questions. You are like a more PC me. You usually ask the things I want to ask to further understand why some people do and beleive the things that they do, and what they think is the benefit long and short term, of what they are doing. I appreciate your point of view and how PC you manage to remain despite the crap that gets flung here. Very cool.