Hi Girls! I just stumbled across a book on elimination communication. I'd never heard of it before and was curious if any of you have tried it and what opinions you may have about it. Thanks in advance! I always learn so much from you all!
I have some friends who have used it, and one who teaches classes on it. The consensus is that - in general - girls adapt to it better than boys do ... maybe because they are verbal earlier? It's worth a shot. The hard part is being observant and consistent.
I have EC'd my daughter since she was 6 months old. She is now 22 months old and is almost fully potty trained. I also cloth diaper and they seem to go together alot. Alot of moms that do it start when the baby is newborn so I actually started later at 6 months. I guess you could say I did it "part time" in the sense that I didn't do the diaper free part. That means you let them go around and have naked time which can result in messes and accidents. I guess you can catch it faster without diaper already on and take them potty quicker. I never did that but still have had great success and enjoyed doing it. I am planning on doing it for #2 whenever we get pregnant again and might try starting earlier with the next baby :)
K.
This is a VERY interesting topic. I didn't learn about EC until my FOURTH child. By then I had a 4 YO, 3 YO, 2 YO and a newborn. I was just too busy to EC. (For those of you who don't know, EC is early potty training. The idea is that we train babies to use their diapers and then we have to retrain them to use the potty, why not just skip the first step?!)
Some women EC when the baby is a little older (say, 6 months.) There seems to be certain stages that are good to start and if you miss that stage then you diaper until you catch the next one. Most EC moms use cloth diapers, and that seems to be easier to potty train. Use fitteds without covers if you want to EC WHILE using cloth instead of bare bottoms. I'm sure there are EC boards, check ivillage.com
A friend of mine ECs. Her 4 YO and 2 YO are both potty trained, have been since they were 15 months or earlier, and she has a new baby now.
My girls potty trained at 4,5,4 and the youngest is 2 and not yet potty trained. So....if you have the time to really focus on the EC it might be worth it. To me, I'd rather change diapers and potty when the child leads. I've used discipline, removal of privileges, bribes, and in the end they only potty trained when they wanted to. If I had used EC, though, perhaps they would have potty trained much sooner.
S., mom to 4 girls on Earth an 5 Heavenly treasures!
I didn't read about EC until my daughter was 9 months old. We started it then and also did it part time. She was completely potty trained right before she turned two in March. I think what really helped is letting her run around without a diaper or pants on. Even when she peed on the floor, it was a learning experience. If I didn't catch her in time to put her on the potty and she had an accident, I would say "Pee Pee! You're going pee pee!" simply to let her know what was coming out of her body. If you wait until a child is two or three to start potty training and put them on the potty, they will likely have NO idea what you're talking about when you say "Okay, now go pee pee." It just helped her put a label on the body process and within a couple months (before she was one) she would hold it until I put her on the potty. It's definitely a myth that children have no bladder control this early. If you decide to try it, just stay positive always and have a lot of patience. If you have carpet your child might have an accident on, I suggest a pet deodorizer so your house won't begin to smell like urine. I bought a spray that I would just spray where she had an accident after cleaning it up and it worked like a charm! I will definitely be starting earlier when we have another baby.
Hi AM
Personally I haven't tried it but I have heard and read about it. in theory it sounds wonderful and I would like to try it. I think if you have the patients and want to get rid of diapers give it a try.
Basically, the MOMMY is potty training, not the child. You learn to anticipate when your child needs to go and you learn when to take them...LOL. Impractical for overnight and babies don't have bladder/bowel control until later. Could be fun to experiment, but why??
Good luck :) I always thought it was a bit of a gimmick. -D
There's a lot of info out there. Try joining a yahoo group (eliminationcommunication and/or IPTLateStarters) and lurk around or ask questions.
http://www.parttimediaperfree.com might be a good intro. And there's also a book "Diaper Free baby" I'm sure you could get it from a library.
I started later with my little girl and I found that it really helped to get used to sitting on the potty before the terrible 2's showed up. Just by adding "pottytunities" into our daily routine and learning her patterns (pee right when waking up, bowel movement in evening, etc.) really helped us avoid all the potty trauma that some experience with potty training a reluctant 2 or 3 year old, and we also didn't have to pay for an extra year of diapers.
She's 2.5 now, hasn't worn a diaper in months, and it's been really fun to watch this growing process unfold. We were really relaxed about it and used diapers periodically when we needed to at night or on long car trips. You can do it at any level of intensity (and I'll warn you there are some intense mamas out there). It's all about getting to know your child, no matter what age you start.
I was introduced to the concept of EC by my best friend who is due early next year. She's referencing www.pottytrainingearly.com for the basic info -- she even added the supplies listed on that site to her baby registry to help her practice this concept. Not something I've done, but I'm certainly intrigued and think if you're interested there's nothing wrong or bad about it at all!
