Elimination Communication. Bollox or genius?

[fatandold]

Sorry if this has been done before. Just got an email from The Nappy Lady promoting this nonsense theory, linked to this site
Www.bornready.uk .

Potty training from birth? Anyone advocate this or tried it? My toddler isn't ready yet, let alone 2 years ago!

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

Genius. Why deal with shitty nappies if you don't have to... Was never organised enough to get wees sorted though, although toilet training was a doddle

[AllPowerfulLizardPerson]

Well, it's a brilliant way of training the mother...

If you have the find to commit to thus, it might work really good well.

[Soubriquet]

Bollocks

There is a lot of conflicting information about this now. I've read (can't remember where) that this now causes a lot more children to be constipated as opposed to recognising their own need to go

[LotsaKnots]

It's what other cultures do. Some white person got wind of it and probably thought they'd make it a theory and get some money out of it.
It doesn't make it nonsense just because you don't get it...

[LotsaKnots]

It's not genius or bollocks. It's just another way.

[sentia]

I've always wondered how people got on before disposable nappies, without things like tumble driers or central heating to help with washing / drying cloth nappies. I assume people potty trained their babies as early as possible? Is elimination training a modern version of something previously born of necessity?

[mudandmayhem01]

I imagine it is possible, disposable nappies, or even terries and washing machines have only been around comparatively recently. The existence of these labour saving devices makes elimination communication less essential. I would have tried it if the alternative was getting covered in poo! I imagine you would need constant very close contact with the baby which doesn't suit most parents ( even mildly hippish ones like me who used a sling a fair bit)

[fatandold]

I get it if you are a tribesperson living in a primitive way in a hot country, and it is easier to hang the baby out of the Hut/tent etc than launder cloth nappies and shops are far and that's not part of your culture anyway. But it sounds like a way to just catch wee and poo in a different way, not a way to train a child or at least help them know when they need to go. The Nappy Lady page is all about lower absorbency pads so the baby feels wet. It seems wrong to me. But I am interested in other people's views. I'm open to convincing!

[idlevice]

I read up on it as I was interested but couldn't be arsed to do it even though I was a SAHM. However, based on what I found out I did a lot of nappy free time & sat DCs on the potty as soon as they could sit by themselves. I did this at every nappy change when at home each time for a few mins while I was tidying up, getting stuff ready etc so it didn't really seem like any extra effort. I did the same if changing out & about using a travel potty. As soon as DCs were on solid food they poo-ed virtually 100% only on the potty & were dry in the day by 2yrs without me having to do any additional to what I just described.

I didn't try it at night as far too much hassle & night-dryness comes about via a different physiological mechanism so I just let that take its course.

[LotisBlue]

I know some people who have done this. I think it can work if you are at home a lot with your baby, but it isn't really practical when out and about, or if you want to send them to nursery. My friend's dd wasn't potty trained in the true sense until she was two or three. On the other hand they saved a lot of money on nappies

[misson]

Honestly? I think it needs a certain lifestyle.

[PickAChew]

Great when you have no other option.

[sycamore54321]

I think it is absolute nonsense. It is yet another way for Internet parents to price their superiority to everyone else by demonstrating how much more they love their child than the rest of us. And it is part of a fairly insidious culture of competitive intensive mothering (including other AP practices) that to my mind serve to keep women in the home and deny them the option of careers or other interests outside the home.

If it were all it is cracked up to be, why would cultures abandon it as soon as resources and sanitation infrastructure allow them to do so? Another attempt by a segment of privileged western (largely) white women to co-opt practices born of necessity in resource-scarce environments and embew them with an air of mystery and magical 'otherness'.

[ReallyTired]

I tried EC with mixed results. Dd was 100% finished with nappies by the time she was two years seven months which is on par with many conventionally trained children. Dd did understand the idea of the potty at round 15 months, but lacked the physical strength to hold wee until she was a lot older. Dd's concept of time meant she could not be truely toilet trained stupidly early. We did go through a phase at 23 months where dd was strip completely naked everytime she weed. Alas the early warning system was not in place.

I think EC helps with nappy rash. Avoiding pooey nappies us good for the skin. Dd was clean from about a year.

[mudandmayhem01]

Wouldn't have been for suitable for me, but doesn't bother me if it works for others. Just a different parenting choice. I really don't think anyone is doing this to demonstrate their superiority, too busy cleaning up wee probably!

[ReallyTired]

"I really don't think anyone is doing this to demonstrate their superiority, too busy cleaning up wee probably!"

I never met anyone who hasn't used nappies with EC. Usually EC people use cloth nappies. Its a different approach to toilet training and more geared towards avoiding pooey cloth nappies than using the toilet independently.

Some people argue that modern parenting practices teach children to use their clothes as a toilet. An EC child has been brought up to use the potty as toilet and shown there is an alternative to soiling their clothes. Its the same approach that British parents used up until the 1980s when disposible nappies became fashionable.