Attachment Parenting

Elimination Communication- Yes? No?

So I've come across this elimination communication method and on youtube it looks very promising but it's such a foreign idea! I'm already going to cloth diaper but I'd much rather not need to change a bunch of diapers and wash them and all that if I don't HAVE to. Have you tried this and have any feedback? Is there a great go to book/film anyone suggests?
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Re: Elimination Communication- Yes? No?

  • I have a friend who did it and LOVED it!  I did some Googling about it, and I think there's a diaper free baby site that has some good resources.  Good luck!
  • I read Diaper Free Baby.  I thought it was a good book.

    You don't have to go "all out" to do EC- which is what I liked about the book.  Our little one still wears diapers-  We sit our LO on the potty every morning and he goes pee or poop most of the time.  We also leave him diaper free for a little bit every night.

    If you're interested go for it! If it's not for you it's not like you can't go right back to how you were doing things.

    BabyFruit Ticker


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  • We do part-time EC. Ditto to PP about reading Diaper Free Baby.
  • I don't think it is for me. A baby isn't physically developed enough to be toilet trained until they are much older. They don't have the capability of recognizing the need to go because their muscles and nerves aren't mature enough. So that seems like a lot of needless pressure and extra work on the parent's part. I'm fine if others want to do it, but I don't have the time to dedicate to that. 
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  • imagekdjudd:
    I don't think it is for me. A baby isn't physically developed enough to be toilet trained until they are much older. They don't have the capability of recognizing the need to go because their muscles and nerves aren't mature enough. So that seems like a lot of needless pressure and extra work on the parent's part. I'm fine if others want to do it, but I don't have the time to dedicate to that. 

    It's not actually potty training.

    You can't actually expect your child to hold it and go when you ask (if they don't already have to go). . . however, if you can read their cues or catch their timing they can learn to go when you put them on the potty.  According to my reading, the bolded part is actually not true.   Living creatures, be it human or animal, do not naturally want to be in the own pee/poop.  Babies are aware of when they need to go and can wait a very short time before they go.  (Like long enough to get to a toliet.) We train them that it's okay to go in a diaper and sit in it. 

    I'm sure I'm coming off like I'm on a high-horse.  We don't actually EC all the time and my kid does go in diapers.  But, we do EC some of the time and I've had to expalin to to family who initially gave me the side-eye and insisted we were wasting our time.  It sure is nice not to change a poopy diaper every morning! Depending on how you go at it- it doesn't have to be a ton of extra work.

    BabyFruit Ticker


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  • imagefredalina:
    We did part time EC. I think it's great if you have reasonable expectations. It's important to keep it pressure free. It shouldn't be a big deal at all. Here's how it worked for us:

    Started at 3 months using a ring on the regular potty. Put her on it after naps or sleep and a few minutes after a feeding when we were home. TBH I really didn't see her cues for peeing until she was much older, but those times I mentioned were pretty good times for catches. We sang songs and read books etc the same as we would have done in the living room, we just did it in the bathroom. At 4 months I had enough successes to win over my skeptically DH and he started doing it too. We used disposables at the time and he loved saving a quarter every time he had a catch lol. At 5 months I started catching poops and it was awesome. I rarely changed a dirty diaper again.

    At 8 months she started signing potty. At 14 months she spoke the word. Somewhere in between she started walking to the toilet to tell me. She had some potty pauses, but again they were NBD. We just backed off a week or so and just put her on when she asked (usually poops). At 18 months we put her in underwear and potty trained her. She did awesome.

    This is awesome; thanks for sharing. Did you use any particular resources (like Diaper Free Baby?)  

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  • My daughter is 3, and for almost all over her walking life, we just let her go diaper free. Her cues are grabbing herself, and hiding. We are also part-time with Owen. Hi just turned 1 today though. But he will (not to sound weird or creepy) get an erection and grab himself. Good luck. Its a pretty effective method imo
  • imagefredalina:
    We did part time EC. I think it's great if you have reasonable expectations. It's important to keep it pressure free. It shouldn't be a big deal at all. Here's how it worked for us:

    Started at 3 months using a ring on the regular potty. Put her on it after naps or sleep and a few minutes after a feeding when we were home. TBH I really didn't see her cues for peeing until she was much older, but those times I mentioned were pretty good times for catches. We sang songs and read books etc the same as we would have done in the living room, we just did it in the bathroom. At 4 months I had enough successes to win over my skeptically DH and he started doing it too. We used disposables at the time and he loved saving a quarter every time he had a catch lol. At 5 months I started catching poops and it was awesome. I rarely changed a dirty diaper again.

    This has been our experience too.  If DD is not distracted, poops are much easier to catch. 

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  • YESSSS DO IT!!

    I have done EC with our baby since he was 2 months old.  It is seriously the best decision I ever made!!  It's really not hard at all, saves money, no diaper rash, won't ever have to potty train and my baby doesn't have to sit around in his feces.  

     Babies are born with the instinct of knowing when they need to go and not wanting to wet themselves.  EC is practiced in half of the world (China, Africa, India, South America...)  and has been practiced for centuries.  It works.  Why else would an African woman put a naked baby in a sling on her back??! 

    Anniversary
  • We EC very part time for a little bit each day. It's just too much with twins for me to worry about it all the time. I'm not obsessed or pressured by it, but when I know the babies need to go and I put them on their little potty and go, it's such a pool feeling. I recommend reading Diaper Free Baby to get a general idea of how it works. It is informative and not pretentious at all. Then I would go to ECsimplified.com. It is a site and downloadable book that is SUPER helpful for implementing EC. It breaks it down to steps to follow, lots of pictures and descriptions whereas the other is more vague/general. There is also a forum for book owners where you can chat with other ECers and the author herself if you have questions. HTH!
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