I first heard about
Elimination Communication (EC) a few years ago. With no knowledge really about it, I thought it was totally absurd and crazy.
Fast forward now to May 2010 when Ezra is 6 weeks old. I read an article in Mothering Magazine on Elimination Communication and all of a sudden I got it! It wasn't about potty training your infant, it was about recognizing and meeting your infant's needs, just as we do with feeding them and putting them to sleep. I was hooked! I went on Craigslist and there was a recent posting for an
infant baby bjorn potty chair and book called
Diaper Free by Ingrid Bauer. A sign? I choose to think so. I read Diaper Free and LOVED it...I highly recommend it to anyone who is even the slightest bit interested in EC. It gives a great description of the philosophy behind EC as well as the practical how-to's. After I finished that book, I found and read
The Diaper Free Baby by Christine Gross-Loh at the library.
Finally, I decided to stop with all of the reading, and just go for it and start trying to see if I could read Ezra's signs of when he had to go the bathroom. At first I was not too sure of myself, so I would always have him in a diaper (without a cover) and about 4 prefolds on my lap in case he peed. The first evening I tried reading his cues, he was 7 weeks old and went in the potty 6 or 7 times in a 5 hour period! He's a pretty easy guy to read when looking for his signs. Before reading these books though, I never would've caught on that he was trying to communicate his need to go to the bathroom. For Ezra, he gets squirmy and fussy, but doesn't cry. Or, if he's nursing, he won't stay latched on...he'll repeatedly go on and off, on and off for several short bursts in a row. When we first started putting him on the potty to go to the bathroom we would make a "zzzzz" sound whenever he started going. Now, when we put him on, we start making the "zzzz" sound and he goes almost immediately.
At home, he is a diaper boy. No cover, just a diaper so that we can quickly take it off to put him on the potty. We've decided though to only do EC when we are home and awake. I know some people do it at night as well, but for now...sleep is too important for us. We have found though that he doesn't go that much at night anymore, but rather he takes a loong potty time in the morning. Although we did let him go out in the woods while we were camping, for the most part we save EC for when we are home.
On an average day he will go to the bathroom on the potty between 5-7 times. There are days though when we are totally off and it's 1-2 times...and other days when it's 10-12 times. This means some days we go through as little as 2 diapers! I've gone from doing diaper laundry every 1-2 days to every 3-4 days.
The beauty of EC is that its not an all or nothing deal. You can do it as little as once a week, and it will still teach your baby the connection between what muscles need to be relaxed/held for going to the bathroom. I also personally feel it makes for happier babies and happier parents: a.) baby's needs are responded to when they are communicating they need to go to the bathroom, and b.)mom and dad know why baby is fussing and they are able to respond appropriately.
At first I mainly was the one to read/respond to Ezra's cues. But now Ryan is able to do it with ease. And when my mom was here the other week she was able to pick up on his cues right away. I love it!
Here he is at 7 weeks, using the lil' potty like a pro!
10 weeks...note he likes to have reading material in front of him. :)
At first I was a total "closet EC'r" and would hide the potty whenever anyone came over. I have recently had a change of heart though. I think EC is soo great and would want for others to have told me about it if I didn't know...so now I'm telling the whole world! :)
