Post # 1
Member
6009 posts
Bee Keeper
I know I’m not the only one practicing elimination communication out there, so let’s pool our knowledge and share our best tips and tricks! (I’m thinking of you MightySapphire!)
Age/Length of Time EC: We started with Addie when she was 3 months; she’s now 7 months, so we’ve been doing it for about 4 months now.
Your Technique: We put Addie on the potty on a schedule: before/after every nap, feeding, and outing she sits on the potty for up to 5 minutes. Her signals are really hard to read, so we (obviously) don’t catch every pee/poop. We also don’t cue her; we sing songs or read stories while she’s on her potty to make it fun and do lots of positive praise (she LOVES when we clap our hands) when she goes or tries to go. We do not EC at night since she sleeps through the night and I have no clue when she wakes up to go to the bathroom.
Equipment/Cool Finds: We use this Baby Bjorn potty which is just the perfect size. It also has a high back and rounded “horn” in the front which was great for when she couldn’t sit up by herself. I’m also looking into getting some training pants, but with all the options out there, I’m not sure where to even begin!
Successes/Failures: At first, I was the only one really into, which meant Addie only went on her potty only when I was home (mornings, nights, and weekends). She was going like once a day or less on her potty. Recently, our nanny and my husband have gotten a lot more involved, and that’s made a huge difference. Addie’s now going on the potty 5+ times a day, which is a great success for us! She also now recognizes what the potty is for, because she strains and tries to go when we put her on there, even if she just went in her diaper.
Looking Toward the Future/Questions: We’re anticipating that Addie will be crawling any day now, so we’re preparing for doing EC with a mobile baby. We’re thinking about buying another potty for downstairs and we’re hoping to switch to training pants in the next couple months for easier access.
Post # 3
Member
7081 posts
Busy Beekeeper
Fun! Mr. DG was interested in doing this, but never got it together to try. Since he’s the one at home with her, I’m going with the flow of what he wants. Thus, cloth diapers (which has worked out great), but no EC. It sounds like fun though!
Post # 4
Member
6009 posts
Bee Keeper
Thanks, DG. 🙂 It’s been a really wonderful thing for us so far. Also, Mr. DG is such a cool dad! My husband had no clue about babies and typical schedules/developments, so when I told him about EC he was like, “Yeah, why not!” I don’t think he ever would have been interested in it on his own, though, lol.
Post # 5
Member
720 posts
Busy bee
This is insane to me (in the best possible way). A 7-month-old using the potty?! Before crawling?! That’s awesome! Thanks for the update on it.
Post # 6
Member
6009 posts
Bee Keeper
@candicemcc: We’ve gotten a lot of that reaction, lol! But I think it’s just because it’s not really mainstream in the US. I’m hoping some other people (maybe international bees?) will chime in, too, so we can all hear about it from other perspectives!
Post # 7
Member
1145 posts
Bumble bee
Nice job, Addie! That’s really encouraging. We’re totally going to do this and have read up on it. We don’t know anyone personallly who has done this and don’t bring it up to other people b/c they will give us the weird looks..probably worst than cloth diapering backlash I got. Any reason why you started at 3 months and don’t make the sound? Thanks for sharing your experiences…if all goes as intended, I’ll be reporting here one day in the next few months!
Post # 8
Member
638 posts
Busy bee
I look forward to hearing more….. I’m def intrigued by it – but haven’t really done any research 🙂
I was imagining holding Warren over the toilet and thinking about how tired my arms would get! And wondering how much pee I’d be cleaning up! 🙂 (boys!)
Post # 9
Member
6009 posts
Bee Keeper
@808bride: We’ve gotten some negative comments, but it’s mostly just because it’s not what most people are used to. I don’t know anyone “in real life” who does EC either, but I was thinking about putting out an ad on Craigslist to see if I could get any interest in a local EC’ers group…
We decided to start at 3 months because Addie had more neck control by then. She could sit up supported, so I felt more comfortable putting her on the potty. We’ve talked about starting earlier with our next kid(s), maybe even at birth now that we’re more comfortable with it. We don’t cue or anything because it seemed to weird Addie out. She used to cry when we cued, lol, so now we just set her on there! We do sign her “potty” in ASL, though, so we kinda use a visual cue.
@jilian: I’m curious to see if anyone has done this with a boy. One of the books I read said to hold the boy’s penis down so he doesn’t pee everywhere. Lol!!!
Post # 10
Member
638 posts
Busy bee
One of my sorority sisters does it with a boy. That was actually where I first heard about it – but I just read her FB comments. Haven’t really talked to her about it. I think she’s the one that says she ‘holds him over the potty’ though which is what kinda freaked me out!
We just got a toys r us gift card in the mail today and I TOTALLY want to run out and buy the potty tomorrow – too bad it’s 45 min away 🙂
Can you describe what you mean by cueing or not cueing?
What is the potty sign?
Post # 11
Member
6009 posts
Bee Keeper
The potty we got was only like $25 at Babies R’ Us, if that changes your mind. 😉 Some people just hold their babies over the big potty, but it seemed kinda boring for Addie since she couldn’t see me and didn’t really know why she was being held like that at first.
Cueing is making a sound while your baby is going to the bathroom so he/she will associate that noise with the act of eliminating (kinda like how singing the same song every night before bedtime “cues” your baby that it’s time to go to sleep). A lot of people just use whatever sounds comes natural to them, maybe a “pssssst” or “sssssss” sound for pee or a grunting noise for poop. Over time, your baby begins to wait for that noise (the “cue”) to go to the bathroom. Obviously, though, you don’t have to cue; we don’t and it works just fine.
The ASL sign for potty is shown in this link (just look up “potty”). We only use the first half of the sign, where you wiggle your hand. It’s easier, so hopefully it’ll be one of the first signs Addie picks up on.
Post # 12
Member
684 posts
Busy bee
Anything to get rid of the diapers, I am on board for! Its not going to hurt my infant to learn what a potty is at a young age! I’m totally taking notes on this…..
Post # 13
Member
2025 posts
Buzzing bee
This is the craziest thing I’ve ever heard of! But I love the idea of it. I wonder if there are cons to it?
Post # 14
Member
2820 posts
Sugar bee
Great to know it’s working out for you! I think we might try something like this. I was talking to my mom about when we were potty trained and she said she started taking us to the bathroom around 6-7 months and that it took awhile since we were young, especially since she worked part time and my dad worked full time and the baby sitter wasn’t a part of it. But in the meantime it was less diapers and the latest any of us were fully potty trained was a year and a half (there were 4 of us). Apparently in the books she was reading at the time they recommended this method of potty training and she was happy with it.
Post # 15
Member
3564 posts
Sugar bee
@Mrs. Spring: I’m just curious as to why you’re using this method? I’ve never known anyone personally who has used it, so I’d love to hear your reasoning! 🙂 Same goes for any other mothers who are doing it.
Post # 16
Member
1145 posts
Bumble bee
@ Mrs. Spring Thanks for all the helpful info. Truly! I told Darling Husband I had to go to the restroom at the store yesterday and he flashed the ‘potty’ sign at me since we just learned it yesterday. 🙂 I am glad I’m not the only one who is relying on online support. Hope you do get a response from Craiglist ad.
@ Troubled Your personal story is encouraging. Thank you!
@hilsy85: By The Way, I am planning to do infant potty training to teach good habits/associations from the get-go and b/c the kids are very capable of doing it in other nations. To me, it seems the compassionate thing to do to help children/babies understand/respond to their internal needs with action at a young age. According to the books, we have been customarily been delaying the potty-training unnecessarily with the advent of superduty disposable diapers.
@BRee It seems like the major challenge is that it’s a lot of observation and easier for stay at home moms/dads. It helps if all caretakers are on board with consistency and that will be challenging if your baby is primarily in daycare. Darling Husband and I will trade off care, except for 1 day a week where we still have to figure something out for about 5 hours and I’ll be home for the first 6 months so I’m thinking we may have a good shot at it.
