Trying EC with a 1 yr old?

[HangingOutSoggyPants]

Hi, this is my first post after a fair bit of lurking . I have just recently come across 'elimination communication', and realised it should probably be started earlier than on my 1 yr old. However I would really like to give it a go, and wondered how to start it all off. I realise my dd will be conditioned to use her nappy, so should I just start with some nappy free time?
TIA

Some children do cue less than others. I generally can't tell when DS needs a wee - I usually go on timing or my gut feeling. He does say 'poo!' when he goes, which is helpful - although not yet beforehand.

Yes, ReallyTired, my DH's grandma worked in an orphanage or hospital for children, and they did EC (although she wouldn't call it that, obviously).

I ec ed my ds from nine months. He potty trained when he was nearly 2.5. During that time frame I used no disposable nappies, and washed only a dozen or so pooey cloth ones and wiped a dozen or so pooey bottoms. And the majority of the time only a few wet nappies a day. All that saving of time, money, effort and resources! For a small amount of effort establishing a rhythym for offering the potty, noticing how he acts when he needs the potty and keeping calm during the inevitable regressions. I'd reccomend it to everyone if they didn't think I was weird and pushy!

It was done up to the 1950s but also because early toilet training was the norm some parents were overly harsh with it, punishing children for accidents etc, which is why it was so heavily advised against as the experts at the time thought that early potty training was the problem rather than the harsh criticism of children. You will still find many views that early potty "training" is harmful.

Plus it seemed like they used to sit them on the potty a lot. I watched one of the old "On The Buses" films when DS was about that age and they seemed to have the baby (about 8/9 months old?) on the pot constantly when it wasn't being fed. It was a running joke so perhaps exaggerated, but it would seem very out of place today. The film was 1972 so not that old, either.

It seems to me that there's a fair bit of confusion between the "traditional" British form of EC (which was still going strong in my family when DSis and I were babies in the late 70s and early 80s) and the rather more out-there American bare-bottoms method. I have sat my DS on the potty since he was 3 months old, as advised by my dear old mum, and have only changed 3 or 4 pooey nappies in the last 3 months. I find it pretty easy to know when he needs the potty, and he is more than capable of hanging on until his nappy is off and he's sitting on the potty before doing what he needs to. For me, it'd be crazy not to react to the fact that he clearly needs the loo! He communicates a need, i respond- hence the monniker EC. However the idea of leaving a bare- bottomed infant to roam the house seems just plain weird to me. Maybe I'm just too conventional, but why not put clothes on? We live in quite a cold country after all...

It does seem to me a pity that the bare-bottoms thing seems to dominate any discussions, and the ( to my mind entirely sensible and logical) practice of learning your child's body language and responding to it, without the need for random semi-nakedness, gets a bit ignored.

I must admit though, the majority of the time when we were in the house, ds is bare bottomed. He would have wet himself otherwise. He's nearly three now and still not quite able to get his trousers down reliably when he needs the potty. If he's bare bummed then he goes to the potty every time. I might have not done that if he was constantly messing on the floor, but for me having him in a nappy or cloths in the house meant either watching him like a hawk or more washing.

I just wanted to add that I used a toilet side spray wAsher that is plumbed in next to the toilet to wash them after using the toilet seat or potty. Neither of the kids has ever had nappy rash as a result of pooing on the potty/ seat and being washed when they are done. :)