I have been searching my blog this morning for an old post on ECing, but apparently I never wrote one. I could have sworn I did. In fact, there's even another old post saying as much and thinking I'd posted a pic of Abi on the potty or toilet. Clearly I was/am mistaken.
I did find this in a post from Sept 2007 (preggo with Abi). I think it's pretty funny now. And the KW Knit Mob who frequently teased me about my quick growth when I was first preggo this time around (and denying it could be twins) should find it funny too - oh, my denial.
And here is my big fear... twins. I can't wait for my ultrasound in 6 or
7 weeks to tell me I don't have twins! And that it's a girl :P (Robin
says boy, but I write the blogs!) Twins run in my maternal line and
skipped the birth of my generation. I used to think twins would be
great. Then I had a reality check!
(Also note that when I wrote that I was not aware that my cousin had a womb-twin who did not survive.)
Anyhow, the topic for today is Elimination Communication or Diaper Free or "Nappy" Free babies. Now that the babies are older (almost 6m!) and more stable sitting up, we practice this more often. We started when they were newborns, but it is rather more awkward to hold a floppy baby on a potty (even a specially designed little potty) - especially when there's another floppy baby nearby in need.
There are plenty of web discussion (suppoort) groups and basic FAQ/myths/how-to web pages on the topic. Just google "elimination communication" or "diaper free". I don't recall what resources I used when we started with Abi - web ones for sure as I have never read any of the books on the topic. (They exist too.) We also did not encounter any difficulties with the practice, so I never needed to follow up further beyond the basics, although I am aware that there are good discussion/resources concerning kids who revert (usually due to other things in their lives), transitioning to full toilet use (when it's no longer about cues but about 'holding it' as we expect of bigger kids), etc. Consequently I cannot recommend any particular sites or resources. To be honest, once I learned about the basics (from another mom I encountered) it was all pretty intuitive.
For me, it all began before Abi was born when I met Kim at a festival. She was practicing EC with her youngest and I overheard her describing it to another mom with a baby. Kim and I have since become friends (sadly for me, she lives far from me - thank goodness for the Internet). From there I did a little research on the Net and by the time Abi was born, EC was part of my child-rearing plans (alongside cloth diapering).
Technically speaking, we practiced "part-time" EC because we also used (cloth) diapers. Some folks go entirely diaper free. I didn't feel confident enough to recognize every "cue" (sign from baby's behaviour that she's going to have a bowel movement) to practice full time. I also enjoyed being out of the house a lot with Abi (oh happy days when I had only one smiley baby to wear around) and did not want to have to worry about practicing EC in public or at a friend's. (Needless to say, we are practicing part-time with the twins too - not exclusively diaper-free.)
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| Abi - July 2008 |
Abi would have been 4 months or so old in the picture above - sitting on her little baby bjorn potty. Before I bought that I used an old plastic bowl. Any basin will do (including a sink). Preferably one you know will not tip over easily. You simply (at least, it's fairly simple with girls) hold the baby over the basin and wait a half minute - it doesn't take long. I would rest her back against my belly/chest and hold her by the knees so that her bum was lower than her knees. This is a handy skill also as the girls get older and need to pee in the bush without peeing all over their pants. When baby is over the basin or on the potty (a basin one can sit on), the parent typically makes a cue sound of their own such as "pssssss". We make the same sound when we catch them peeing on the change pad so that the associate the sound with the sensation of peeing.
That's the basic physical aspect of the practice. As for 'when', we provide them with opportunities to use a potty (or basin)
- when we are changing a diaper
- when we pick up on a 'cue' such as a really wiggly baby
- when baby wakes (and we are about to change a diaper anyhow)
Often, if you offer an opportunity to a baby as soon as she wakes, she will still have a dry diaper and will happily use the potty. Et voila, you've saved yourself from another dirty diaper.
I have discovered lately that Claire is especially eager to use the potty and much more likely to give me signs (not actual ASL signs or anything) to indicate this. I'm slowly catching on.
Update:
I neglected to speak of the "where" of ECing. The shortest response is "everywhere". The practical realities of it for us were that I would keep a potty nearby. That little red potty above (we have a second green one now for the twins) was always close at hand with Abi. She and I typically would hang out in the living room, have diaper-free time rolling around on a large change pad (same as the type used in hospitals, only with a cuter pattern - available from Dri-Line). Abi was rolling, not me. (We were, technically, both diaper-free.) As she grew older she wasn't simply rolling around on a soaker pad. By then I think I'd added a wooden potty chair to the living room furniture. The red potty was typically found in other rooms where we were. Even when she had technically outgrown the red potty, she could still squat on it and it made a very handy portable potty for camping and so forth. By the time she'd outgrown the red, she was big enough to sit on the fold up, portable toilet seat with support and then by herself. Sometimes (before the seat or if it wasn't nearby) I'd sit on the toilet behind her and let her sit between my legs. And as I said before, if you're in the bushes (or at a park in TO...) there's the option of holding baby with knees up.
The reality is, Elimination Communication is adult training - we need to be trained to recognize the cues, to pay attention, and offer an alternative to dirtying a diaper.
Simultaneously the child learns to associate the sensation of having to pee/poop with actually doing it and they teach themselves to wiggle etc to get your attention so that you can help them. As they get older they can travel to the potty by themselves when they feel that sensation.
Additionally, they learn about
not being in a dirty diaper and not relying on a diaper. And thus, it is so much easier to transition them to full-time potty use (if you're still part-time diapering as we do) when they are ready. I never had to "potty train" Abi. Once she could walk, she'd just walk herself over to the potty. When she was bigger we had a portable (folding) toilet seat that prevented her from falling into the toilet (much easier than expecting kids to hold themselves up). For her, this was normal behaviour (that she'd had the opportunities to do since she was a wee babe), not something we had to teach her.
And once the kid has physically developed enough to "hold it", they're ready to be completely diaper free (if you are part time ECing). Abi still needed a nap and bedtime diaper after she was completely diaper free in the waking day because she was not yet ready to wake up and take herself to the toilet in the middle of sleep. But one day she did it all on her own and we knew by the pee in the potty in her room that was not there when she went to sleep. After that she'd regularly pee after a sleep. (Keeping in mind this girl slept for over 14 hours at night - she'd wake around 11am - and we were not about to force her to get up to use the potty. No thank you - I'd much rather she sleep and sleep and sleep...)
That's why we practice EC with the twins. Fewer diapers is excellent. Earlier start to full-time potty use - priceless. Some folks will talk about other benefits such as bonding (tied to paying attention and learning baby's cues), but for me it's all about the diapers and the lack of potty-training!
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