Elimination Communication AKA Baby Potty Training
Posted on | April 2, 2011 | 11 Comments
As I mentioned before, we are starting elimination communication with Zebby. That is a silly sort of name (while accurate) for infant potty training. Since just a few weeks old, Sebastian was frequently waking up dry from naps. By 6 months he can sit up comfortably without assistance, so we got him a Little Potty. It is the perfect size and he loves to sit on it without pants! The first time we had him sit on it was after removing a wet diaper. I made a little “psssst” sound in his ear and we played with some toys. When I picked him up, he had peed!
I started doing this after reading inspiring tweets on the subject (#ECchat) and also because the idea of toddler poop in a diaper grosses me out. My friend has a two year old and I have experienced that foulness firsthand. As they say, it’s when the child switches from mostly boob to mostly solids that it stops being poop and starts being shit. I have heard of starting EC with newborns but I feel like the best time to start is when Baby is able to sit comfortably on the potty with little or no assistance. For us, that started at between 5-6 months of age.
There is quite a lot of research around baby potty training. It’s interesting to note that our culture’s late training (Many parents don’t even start training until 2 years old) is a new thing – Up until the 50′s, most babies were potty trained by 18 months of age. Pediatricians changed recommendations, but I blame the disposable diaper companies! In other cultures, babies still potty train a lot earlier. My husband’s sister was adopted from South Korea as a toddler and was fully potty trained when they brought her home.
How-to start EC:
Get a baby potty. Or a pot. Or maybe even a sink. Just remember, comfort is key here. They have to be able to relax enough to go. (We like the BABYBJÖRN Little Potty.)
Put Baby on the potty when you suspect they need to pee or poo. Sebastian kicks and acts like he has a wet diaper before he actually pees, for instance. Within a few minutes of eating or waking are also good times to offer the potty.
While Baby sits on the potty, play with some toys, read or sing songs. Make some sound effects or use baby sign language if that is something that you do.
It’s really that easy, and it isn’t an all or nothing thing. We definitely still use diapers, but we do a lot less diaper laundry than we used to. Some days are more lazy than others. When you are not at home you can either bring your own potty, try to cue your baby to go in the grass or on an adult toilet, or just not worry about it and let them go in their diaper. (Although a baby who is used to the potty may get upset at being forced to go in their diaper, just a warning. Not really a bad problem to have most of the time.)
Our Experience
Sebastian peed on the potty his first ever time sitting on it, and continues to pee on the potty at least half of the time he goes. I love putting the same dry diaper back on and I especially love catching poo in the potty – Much easier cleanup than a diaper! He clearly prefers the potty. He yells at me in the morning until I put him on his little blue potty and typically goes immediately upon being placed there. Reading his cues makes me feel extremely close and connected to my baby and he is so much happier not going in a diaper most of the time. My husband loves EC as well and Sebastian’s grandparents are totally impressed.
For more info, you can read Diaper-Free Before 3: The Healthier Way to Toilet Train and Help Your Child Out of Diapers Sooner
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Alternative Housewife is about maintaining a fabulous and eco-friendly household on a budget. My name is Janine and I live in Portland with my husband Donny and our son Sebastian. {We are expecting Baby Boy #2 in May 2013.}
I believe in the glory of thrift shopping, and in voting with our dollars to raise non-toxic families.
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April 2nd, 2011 @ 11:01 PM
Awesome! As you know I LOVE ECing … thanks for the linky
Sounds like you and Sebastian are rocking it with ECing! I love it because it makes me feel in tune with BiP and it really is cleaner, and GREENER! Potty Power!
April 3rd, 2011 @ 11:29 AM
Dear God this lady I occasionally babysit for has a 3 YEAR OLD… BOY! that is still not potty trained…. it’s like granted her mom watches the kids during the day while she works and she just got divorced but changing his diapers is like changing a DINOSAURS diapers… i swear 3.5 years of age and I am going to start charging for a diaper change. It’s horrible. And then the little girl is already 7 months old and there is no sign of doing any of this…. your seriously the best Janine… any other babysitter should beg to watch sebastian at 1 year old… he’ll be potty trained, shooot he will probably be feeding himself!
April 3rd, 2011 @ 4:07 PM
I figure if you’re 2-3 years old and have always just gone potty in your pants, you’re used to it by that point. A lot of people say that elimination communication is not the same as potty training but really it is, because I’m forming that association with the potty seat. I really don’t think it’s an accident that he lets out a big baby poo right when I sit him down!
I feel your pain on the dinosaur toddler! They use disposables too, right? Disposable diapers make everything smell one hundred times worse too.
April 3rd, 2011 @ 6:04 PM
Daphne has the same potty in white! I love it and so does she. We worked on potty training for her when she was younger, but the habit broke when we started traveling across the country and seas to visit family. I really wish we had continued it, because it’s way more difficult now.
April 4th, 2011 @ 1:11 AM
babies are born with the instinct to eliminate away from themselves which is why so many babies pee when you take their diapers off. We then TRAIN them to go in a diaper and then 2-3 years later the average person has to UN-TRAIN them … so, whilst ECing is not really potty training, it is, but its not … oh I don’t know! Maybe that’ll be my next post! LOL!
It’s great because they don’t fear the potty/toilet, makes them aware of their elimination and it’s so much kinder on our noses and their butts!
April 9th, 2011 @ 8:05 AM
Nice page on infant pottying/ec. We used it with our third child and much preferred it to traditional delayed toilet training. We finished sooner and needed fewer diapers.
Here are some resources for further info:
http://www.TimL.com/ipt
http://www.pottywhisperer.com
Book: “Infant Potty Training: A Gentle and Primeval Method Adapted to Modern Living”
DVD “Potty Whispering”
We found a transparent potty to be especially helpful as we could see exactly when our baby went and were able to learn some of his elimination patterns that way.
April 9th, 2011 @ 7:03 PM
I had thought of that idea actually! Where did you get a transparent potty?
Also, at about what age did the EC-ed child end up fully potty trained? At what age can they get themselves onto the potty themselves for the first time?
Thanks for visiting/commenting!
April 30th, 2011 @ 7:05 AM
Hi,
We got the transparent potty in Europe. I don’t know if you can buy one in the USA. This shop sells them but they are out of stock http://www.theecstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=26&products_id=493&zenid=3ff629477d9ffb037afcec373e8f284f
Our son was fully potty trained (day and night) at 25 months. One of the best things for us is that after we started at age 3 months, he never pooped in a diaper or his pants again.
April 30th, 2011 @ 12:54 PM
Thanks! The next potty I was looking at is a biodegradable one, although a transparent one would be really helpful too. Maybe I’ll get both – I do want one for downstairs and another for the car.
It is the grown poop I am afraid of – Changing pee is no big deal to me – so your story is inspiring!
May 6th, 2011 @ 8:34 AM
I had never heard of a biodegradable potty until you mentioned it.
Do you know approx how long such a potty would last, and is the main benefit that when you finally throw it away, it will eventually biodegrade in a landfill? I wonder how long that would take. I have read that biodegradable diapers can take 500 years to biodegrade, so imagine a potty might take longer.
Interesting topic!
Is there a way to sign up for email notification of replies to this thread? Thanks.
September 2nd, 2011 @ 12:05 AM
[...] for any baby on solids. Sebastian actually really likes having his little teeth brushed. Like infant pottying, it is a good habit to get them used [...]