EC Update #7

I didn't want to lose the progress Eva made while Graham was staying with us in July, so I had a potty sent to my moms house and brought Eva's underwear. As soon as we arrived, I put her in panties. She is dry overnight and during naps. If she is bare-bottomed, she gets everything on the potty. In underwear, she sits on the potty without pulling them down and pees through them. To me, that counts! She got it on the potty. I just need to pay attention so I can get them down until she figures it out on her own. In underwear, sometimes she just pees and doesn't get to the potty, so I have her with a bare bottom in a dress, mostly. She is really doing well. I even took her to Borders in underwear. She fell asleep in car and was dry the whole time.

I don't know when she'll be at potty independence, but we've only used 1 diaper in 4 days!

Read about Amy's EC journey with 3 week old Stella.

Peer Pressure Potty Learning

Friend A and her 2 year old son have been staying with me while waiting for her baby to make his/her appearance. Before they arrived, I had successfully gotten Eva to use the little potty (she usually goes on the big toilet with a seat reducer but she can't do that herself). She never liked to sit on it before. She even went a few times on her own initiative. Then, G came and he uses a little potty. Eva has taken a giant leap in potty learning! If she is diaper-free, she will go to the potty on her own. If she is wearing underwear or a diaper, she will go sit on the potty and pee into her underwear/diaper. So, the next step will be getting her to take her underwear off before she goes.

As long as G is pants-free, he goes on the potty, but he seems to have the same problem as Eva when he has underwear on. He goes on the potty sometimes and sometimes he doesn't. He actually started to get interested in peeing standing up when he saw Ian do it. Unfortunately, Ian has been at school all day so G hasn't fully gotten it. Ian has a school break now, though, I am sure A would rather have her baby soon and go home than stay and have her son move on to the big potty. I think once he does it successfully a few times, he will be hooked. That is the way is seems to go with little boys.









I try to assist her dumping so the contents actually make it into the toilet and then I wash it out and let her carry it back. The interesting thing is that she stopped peeing in her diaper overnight and during naps months ago. Since she has been going to the potty self-initiated, she has been going in her sleep!

EC Update #5

We've continued to do Elimination Communication (EC) part-time since Eva was 7 months old. Lately, Eva has been waking up with a dry diaper overnight. It isn't every night, but it is more nights than not. Today, she went into the bathroom when she had to go and walked right up to the toilet. That is a break through. I hope she continues to do it and it was not a fluke. I have had more baby sitting recently so we haven't worked on it as much, but I am going to try to keep her diaper-free as much as possible when we are home. It makes it easier for me to tell when she has to go and she will make the connection better. So today, I got her on the potty quite a bit and she took herself once. She also peed on the floor a few times, but I don't mind. It is very easy to clean up. Every time she did, I took her to the potty and set her on it while I cleaned it up.

Baby Unders

I ordered a pair of babyMISHA infant underwear from Diaper-Free Baby to try with Eva. They come in plain and prints in sizes S (0-6 months), M (3-12 months) and L (6-18 months). They are just small underwear without any absorbent layers.

I ordered size L because this summer I think I may put her in dresses and let her go diaper-free as a continuation of our EC journey. I compared them to Baby Gap underwear size 2T-3T (Ian's) and they are a bit smaller and definitely have smaller leg openings. The size L fits her now and should fit her through the summer. I also have Hanna Andersson size XS (also Ian's) and those are much bigger. Most of what is available in EC wear seems to be made by small companies, so you need to custom order or wait for stock to come in. I may ask my sewing teacher to help me make some myself.

She was very comfortable in them. In fact, she took off running. I had her diaper free (not in the underwear) for a long time time evening and she did pee on the floor but it shocked her and she cried. I took her to the potty immediately. It was too late of course, but I am hoping to strengthen the association.

EC Update

I started part-time EC (Elimination Communication) with Eva back in October. We are still doing it and still doing very well. Of course, it started out great and I got cocky and said,"Dirty diapers are for other people."

Of course, the two weeks that followed that statement were filled with misses!

But, we carry on. She pees on the potty a few times a day and I catch quite a few poops. Ian caught poops yesterday and today, which was very nice because they were very loose! Today, as she was pooping, I was saying,"Poop! Yay!" and she was making a "pa" sound. Wouldn't that make a hilarious baby book entry if her first word was "poop".

My Girl Wants to Potty All the Time, Potty All the Time, Potty All the Ti-ime!

I haven't changed a poopy diaper since I started part-time Elimination Communication with Eva. Doing it part-time really takes the pressure/stress out of it. I've been catching pee by putting her on the potty as soon as she wakes up from night or naps, if she is fussy, and just periodically throughout the day. She seems to understand what she is supposed to do now and she pees pretty quickly when I put her on. I think if I put her on when I have to go, I can increase the # of pee catches without much effort. I tried to do it when we were out by holding her over the toilet, but that didn't work very well. I set her on the edge, but I don't her bottom on a public toilet seat so I think we will stick to doing it at home for now and maybe get a travel potty for the car later.

Boy! I sure was wrong about EC. With the right attitude anyone can do it part-time. I need to do more reading and research, to refine our process, but with very little reading and research, we already have success.

EC Day#4

For the past 3 days, I have put Eva on the potty when I picked up her signals. She nurses several times a night, but this morning, when she woke for her first nursing session of the morning, I put her on the potty and she peed for about 10 seconds. I caught a poop late morning before we went to pick Ian up at school.

Part-Time EC, I'm Going for It!

I always though that Elimination Communication (EC) was too much work and not for me. However, since I haven't really had any problems with Eva (like breastfeeding issues or colic--let me knock on wood after typing that) and she often has very loud signals for when she needs to poop, like grunting, I have been thinking about trying EC with her for awhile. Before we moved, I did about half a day of experimentation which involved observing the patterns around when she goes. However, the moving process was crazy and stressful and long and caused regression in Ian's potty training, so I shelved EC.

A few nights ago after an e-mail to an expat mom who practices EC part-time, I got thinking about it again. Then, while in the bathtub with Eva, she started to grunt. Oh, no! Not in the tub! I jumped out and put her on the potty. I made a grunting sound and she pooped! Encouraged by that success and the fact that it doesn't have to be an "all or nothing" choice, I have decided to start trying to catch some poops and work with her on the potty.

Yesterday, I put her on (on the big potty with a potty insert) and Ian and I grunted for her and she put a woman-sized poop in the potty! Ian and I cheered for her. It is nice to have Ian help "teach" her.

Today, I her the signals but was busy so I missed the poop, but caught a pee.

Why do this?
Even if you do EC full-time, your child will probably not be completely independently potty trained until at least 18 months, but often later.

Why start early then?
Well, for every pee/poop you catch, you save a diaper from being used, which is better for the environment. Also, listening to and responding to a child's attempts to communicate their elimination needs, develops communication with your child. EC advocates talk about demonstrating respect for the child in this way so they are not sitting in waste. The child understands earlier what the potty is for and as long as your expectations are reasonable and there is no punishment or trauma involved, this can result in easier/earlier potty training. The Diaper Free Baby website has a long list of benefits and tips for getting started.

Eva is 7.5 months old and sits really well. She can sit on the potty by herself. I sit close with my hand on her leg so she doesn't jump off, but I don't have to hold her. Since she prefers to sit rather than crawl, she enjoys sitting on the potty. It is fun for Ian and I to encourage her. We are just going to start slowly. I will put her on the potty first thing in the morning, when I hear her signals and after eating. I will try to observe the times of day that she makes dirty diapers and maybe add potty time in if I can establish a pattern. I want to build up our commitment to EC because I don't want it to be stressful for either of us. Also, there are benefits to be reaped from occasional or part-time EC. Even though I potty training Ian was easy and gentle, even with the moving-related regression, I think Eva would really appreciate EC since she hates to be wet or dirty.

Anyone out there practice EC? How did it go for you?