Seeking Moms Who Tried Diaper Free Method of Ingrid Bauer

Hi O.,

I've been doing EC with my now 13 month old since she was 4 months. What I've learned is that you have to be gentle with yourself and your baby. Every successful potty is to be celebrated and don't even count the missed ones. We use Imse Vimse training pants because they are slightly water proof so you don't have to change clothes and they are easy to pull up and down. We still use cloth diapers at night and for going out.

check out www.diaperfreebaby.com. Maybe you can find a group of women doing EC in your area.

Good luck

For the posters who arent familiar with this method: Yes, it is possible and likely to have a baby using the potty and not needing diapers by the time they are 1. Western civilization is one of the only ones WORLDWIDE that diaper our children. Babies have the capacity to communicate their needs...to eat, to sleep, AND to eliminate. Just because you dont understand this and can't read your child's cues makes it unfair to tell O. that she is expecting too much and causing damage to her child. Not only is this method reliable, convenient, but healthy for the baby and tightened the bond between child and mother when they both realize that communication works between them. You must read the book to understand.

To O.: I am a part time ECing Mom. I began late, when my baby was about 5 months old. This was when I had first heard about EC and found it interesting. I never got real good at reading my baby's signals, BUT I got good at telling when he usually had to go. After naps and upon waking in the AM were simple. He had a BM every morning, but by the time I realized it was happening (grunting) it was too late. I do catch many of his pees when I really pay attention. But so what if you miss a few? It isnt a game of perfection, just enjoy in the satisfaction that you have enabled a huge communication gap between the two of you. She obviously still gets the concept and is communicating sometimes. Maybe she just feels a need for a change. Either way, keep up what you're doing, keep watching her signs. She'll be more direct about her need to go in the coming months. She's come so far already! Good luck!

I don't have any personal experience with it, by my sister-in-law is from China and I guess that in China that's what everyone does. (Can you imagine the diapers they would go through if they didn't? :-)) Her little girl is the same age (14 months) and she just finished 'potty training' her - I believe she makes a grunting noise to signal that she has to go. I think she meant to begin at birth, but it's so much easier to just use cloth or disposable (especially in the States). I'm sure she'd be happy to tell you about her experience - just let me know if you want her email. And hang in there! :-)

I have to ask: why are you doing this? is your life too easy that you need to complicate it so? you are also creating a psychological problem for your daughter by pushing her to be potty trained when she's obviously not ready.
Our mothers and grandmothers spent hours doing laundry and nothing else. that's why they had to potty train us at early age. why would you want to do it if you can spend that time playing with your child? just b/c you don't like plastic in diapers? so use cloth diapers.
My son wore diapers for two and a half years and the worst thing that happened was diaper rash that disapeared in two days. when he was ready to go to the bathroom, he told me, we bought regular underware and that was it. why torture yourself and your daugther?

Hi O.,

I think it's great you're trying this. I did it with my first starting at 3 months, and I started with my second at 2 weeks, once I saw how fantastic it was! I apologize on behalf of the two posters who were so negative towards you. They clearly have not read the book or done the cultural research at all. I know firsthand that it is possible to enjoy your baby while providing for their needs. That having been said, I ran into the same problem with my daughter when she was about a year old. Up until that point, she was only soiling 2 diapers a day and staying dry through the night, and doing the rest of her pottying on the potty. She would even do the sign to tell me she needed to go. I had her in cloth diapers the rest of the time. Like you, I didn't make a big deal of it--if I saw the signs, I put her on, we read books and "talked", and it was fine. She loved it--I have tons of pictures of her sitting on the potty with a huge grin on her face. Then she learned to RUN...and that was the end of that! She just didn't have the "time" to park her butt even for the second that it would take to pee or poop, even if I timed it just right. Instead of turning it into a power struggle or stressing out, I just put it on the back burner. She's 20 months old now. I leave the potty out where she can see it, and every time I see that she is going (or I think she needs to go), I offer, and she usually tells me "no". I say, "okay, maybe next time then" and move on. Last week she finally told me "Poopy!" and she sat and did it on the potty, hooray! We're still a long ways off from being trained, but she definitely can anticipate when she's going to poop, and she recognizes immediately when she pees (she even makes the pss pss pss sound). My little one is 2 months and I do the potty when I can (successfully) and I cloth diaper the rest of the time. we'll see what happens with her. In the meantime, I see every "catch" as money saved (or laundry saved), and less time that my baby spends sitting in her own waste, and another step towards her eventual toileting independence. There is a yahoo group for diaper free, maybe you want to check it out! Good luck!

I applaud your trying this. And I think the best answer would be that all children are different. And with some, this method will be relatively easy - able to read communication signs, etc. But with others it may be challenging. If my experience as a mother of 2 has taught me anything, it's that there is not a one-size fits all approach. My best advice, chalk it up to experience and find a method that suits you and your family (which may mean letting go of this method for this one child).

good luck.

O.- my best friend does EC "Elimination Communication" and by about 18 months, her daughter was able to wear cotton underwear at home and in public. It is very hard in our society to do EC. I started with my newborn at 2 weeks, and did well- but then life got busy and my husband and I travel in an RV during the warmer months, and I think my son just got used to a diaper. Now I use cotton diapers with a wool cover. Wool is natural and breathable, much nicer than plastic... and the acids in urine react with the natural qualities of the wool to saponify, or turn into soap- meaning you don't need to wash the wool soakers more than once every 1-2 weeks (as long as no poop leaks onto it from the diaper, which doesn't usually happen). So my diapers include 18 fitted cotton diapers and 3-4 wool covers. I do still put him on the pot when I sense he needs to go and sometimes I am right. I think cloth diapered babies are easier to potty train anyway, because they notice the wetness more. Disposables really prolong potty training.

I forgot to mention, my friend didn't start til 6 months (and finished by 18 months... so it may be earlier for you since you started right away). I also think carrying your baby in a sling helps you be more in tune with her needs, but you probably already do that.

I used this book for my 2nd child, a girl, who now almost 3. I was never good at seeing her signs and we did the same thing you're doing; I was pretty good about getting her on the potty after naps but after a while I did want to do other things besides obsess about when she was going to go and like your daughter my daughter became totally uninterested in telling me when she needed to use the potty at about that age. We went to diapers for several months. If she protested sitting on the potty I just put her in a diaper instead. Around 2 years old she started using the potty all the time but there were several months there when she just refused to use the potty. I think the important thing is not to make a big deal about it. She knows how much better using the potty is and will go back to it. I wondered if part of my daughter's problem was that she could tell I was sick of the whole potty thing. At any rate your daughter will potty train much more easily than other children. I'll bet she'll be done by 2. Try not to stress about it or make it traumatic. Good Luck!

As an early childhood educator, with 30 years experience, I want to applaud Mommies that are saying no-thank you to elimination communication (EC). Caring for an infant is a sacred job. Things like electricity, running water, and diapers do not make the job any less sacred. For pity sake, we need to celebrate the job that mothers do, not come up with cockamamie ideas that make their job more arduous. Women who “discover” ways that make the job of mothering more difficult need to be strung up and labeled as traitors to the sisterhood! I say, “Hooray!” to the women who can see that holding an infant over a potty or a bush or a sink while going tss-tss or pss-pss does not make her a great Mom. But rather, makes her a victim of the so called experts who are trying to sell books. And to the people, who line their pockets with coins from new mommies by burdening them with more work and more guilt, I shake my head in disgust and say, “You should be ashamed!” Elimination Communication… really? I don’t think so!!!

I don't have much advice on EC or related methods, but what I did want to say is that I used cloth. I got all of my initial info from www.greenmountaindiapers.org Tons of info there are if you email them you'll get lots of help! My daughter was potty trained all except for nights by 18 months so every child is different and ECing doesn't fit in with all lifestyles, that's for sure. We couldn't make it work because both my husband and I work full time. Our daughter is with me 24/7 but we're often in the car and when we're not we're in barns all year round so it just wasn't workable for us.

Good luck mama!

I don't know about this method at all and my child is only 3 1/2 months old. It seems a bit extreme to me - starting a child so early?? I'm intrigued but I don't think I would use this method. Good luck and please let us know how it works out.

Hi O.,

I have heard of this method, where you hold the baby over the potty and time when they pee, BUT unless your very scheduled , and feed her at the exact time and the same foods, and never leave the house, SURE it MIGHT work,

--I use Cloth diapers called G Diapers
http://www.gdiapers.com/shop/

in my opinion these are the best, easy like a disposable diaper, and when you need one for outings they have a disposable plastic free insert, I use a Prefold and just swish poopy diapers in the toilet and wash them,

I started them because my boys are allergic to the plastic
on eth outsides ad the insides, it made them have a rash,

And what i like about these is you just remove the liner
which is made out of vinyl or NYlon/cotton
( like the ski parka material or wind breakers or the outside of snow pants)

And you put the prefold into the liner ( which is just a thin barrier so the outside doesn't get wet)

And then thats it diaper away.

I love them, and even my kids are excited to have their bum covered in them, cause they are soft dry and comfy.

I know your trying to potty train but she obviously isn't ready yet,

You can put her in panties but they get wet and she will creat alot of laundry.

M

I haven't tried this method. Quite frankly, it seems like too much work to me. I try to change my daughters diaper right away when I know she's gone to the bathroom.
I also try to use G- diapers, bio- degradable diapers that are earth friendly. They do have a plastic liner that is reusable, so you may not like it. But I feel good using them knowing I'm not contributing to the landfills with pampers that do not biodegrade and just sit there forever...

Good for you for trying this method, but it just seems like too much work to me.