Does Anyone EC?

My thoughts are, don't push it.. especially with a boy.. they tend to do things later than girls.. Ec'ing is just training the MOM to know when your child will "go" and placing them on the toilet for it. Let the baby be a baby. You need to devote a lot of time to this too and if you have two other kids around, you won't be able to. My son was in diapers for a lot longer than my daughter, but he PT'd himself when he was good and ready. He made the decision and ran with it and has only had two accidents.. it depends on the kid, but 7 months is such a tiny baby still.

Try contacting Diaper Free Baby: http://www.diaperfreebaby.org.
I didn't know about it myself until after it was too late, but I might have done it if I had known. A friend of mine has done it with her son, now 2 1/2 and is a big fan. Good luck.

J. (-:

Sorry to be so blunt, but it is really unfortunate that some people have responded to your request so negatively when they obviously have no idea what they are talking about. I started EC with my daughter at 10 months and only wished I had learned about it sooner! I'm sure you have already read up on it and are aware that in many countries and cultures where disposable diapers are not available it is completely normal to start potty training at birth. People do not realize how brainwashed our society is! The reason it is so hard for us to potty train is because we've trained our babies to be comfortable eliminating in their pants from the start! Don't get me wrong, I do believe every child is different and will train in their own due time...however I know from experience that the earlier you start, the sooner they learn. My daughter is 18 months now and almost fully potty trained, she only wears diapers at bedtime and when out of the house. Many people cannot believe how well she's done, but I've read of so many mom's who have been able to train by 4 months! Its all about how much time you are willing to spend/how consistant you can be. To start all you have to do is bring him to the potty every time you go and have him try. Its much easier if you have a little potty. The other thing I learned along the way is that they seem to learn a lot faster if you don't use diapers during the day...yes it can be messy, but I don't think we had more than a handful of accidents. Make a big deal about it when he goes on the potty and nothing of the accidents other than calm reminders. Stickers/rewards work well for older children. I will cut this short for now, but feel free to contact me if you need anything. Good luck!

I have never done this, nor agreed with it. From a Psychological stand point humans are required to go through different stages of psychological development. Whether or not you believe in Freuds developmental stages oral, anal, phallic, latency and genital, it is believed that if you do not complete all of these stages in the correct order that you can develope problems as an adult. I am not sold on the idea of an infant not needing diapers since it is believed that children won't reach that phase of life until at least 1 1/2 years. So I will stick to the traditional method of allowing my daughter to decide when she is ready. If you want to read more about Freuds theories here is a link that gives better explanations. I will worn you that he does take a somewhat sexual approach to it and some of his "theories" can be controversial...but I think the basis of some are relevant.

http://www.victorianweb.org/science/freud/develop.html

I wish I could help more. I do know of a group in West Hartford that practice ECing and have a support group. They are located at the Papaya Patch on Main Street. Their website is www.papayapatch.com. I would give them a try.

H.

Sorry, no advice, but I WISH I'd done EC with my boys. There's another study out connecting disposable diapers with later infertility in boys and I will always regret that I didn't at least use cloth diapers. I know that this practice is becoming very widespread in the UK, so you might want to go to google.co.uk and do a search.

By the way I nannied both before kids and with my first in tow and loved it. Best luck.

I do some EC w/my 11 mo. old son. I started at 4 mo. and he took to the potty pretty well. When he switched to solid foods he refused to use it, would cry if I put him on it and so I never force it. I've found what works best is to put him on it when he wakes up, I do make cuing sounds, psss for pee and a kind of grunt for poop (this has become a joke in our house). I've found it's good to have toys around while he's on the potty and first thing in the morning his favorite blankie. He will start to get off the potty when he's done.
Sometimes he's totally into it and I have no poopy diapers all day and other times (usually if he's not feeling well or going thru a transition) he refuses to use it. I have not tried to use the potty when we're out and about, i only use it at home.
Good luck, it's absolutely worth trying.