imaginaryfriend Your questions are in {}
{BE, so do you never use nappies now?}
I use cloth nappies as a backup for naptimes or long journeys out of the house.
{Your dd is in knickers?}
My DD is currently in Bright Bot Trainer pants. Which look and pull up like real pants but have a little padding and water resistance at the crotch, i.e. They get wet if we miss but not enough to make puddles or for her clothes to get really wet.
{How do you cope for nap times or when you're out?}
Nap times she wears a nappy and I potty her when she wakes up. Babies don't wee/poo in their sleep, they wake up dry and then let go when they wake up properly. In fact if anyone is thinking of starting ECing, catching the post nap wee is very easy.
Being out of the house locally she wears training pants plus other clothes. When she needs a wee/poo I take her to the nearest toilet and I pull down her pants, hold her over the toilet, cue her to wee, wipe bottom and pull up pants?.very quick and easy. I also have a folding travel potty which I use if I think she wants a poo (my arms get tired holding her out for a 5 minute poo)
{Do you see any negative reasons for 'training' so early or are you totally for it?}
Elimination Communication is not training, it is a way a parent picks up on a babies need and meets it. Just as many babies are breast/bottle fed on demand, I potty on demand.
Many mothers see that a big negative to ECing is the need to respond promptly to their babies soiled nappies, but for mothers like you and me who change dirty nappies straight away anyway that is not a problem. As it is easier and cleaner to offer the potty 1 minute before the wee/poo, than to wait for it to happen and clean it up after the fact.
Another perceived negative is the need for all the child carers to EC the child. Which again is not accurate. Babies can be ECed part time, or just evening and weekends. Babies learn that things are different depending on where and with whom they are with. i.e. Nursery give me milk in a bottle and I wee in a nappy, whereas mummy breastfeeds me and I wee in a potty. Though we are lucky enough to EC fulltime.
Another frequently mentioned negative, is the idea of mess on the floor. If you back up with nappies and trainer pants, there is no reason to have mess on the floor. In fact I give my DD bare bottom time at home, after she has used the potty and I have never had wee on the floor, she crawls back to the potty if she needs a wee. Babies respond better if they are naked but it makes me too nervous to have her naked at the home all the time, if she is in pants I don?t worry
I suppose the only real negative is that once you have started to EC your child, you can?t stop. If your child is wriggling and you know the reason is a poo around the corner or she won?t settle at night and you know she needs a wee. I can not ignore that need and she won?t settle until it has been dealt with. It is easier to get the potty out/take the child to the toilet than it is to wait until they go in their nappy themselves and then do a full nappy change.
Here is how and why we started ECing
Bright Bot Trainer Pants
What ECing is and isn?t
EC Links
I know ECing isn?t for everyone, I never thought we would use it but it does work for us. BTW it isn?t perfect although some days we have no nappies/pants to clean, other days we have a couple of pairs?but only wet nappies, all poos go in the potty and have done for months. I don?t expect DD to be perfectly dry during the day until she is around 12 months old and later for night time dryness.
My DD is happy and clean and often dry and that is all that matters to her and I am happy because she no longer screams like a banshee when she wee/poos.
ECing is such a small part of our lives, I don't hover over her with a potty, in fact I don't think about it as being different until I read threads like this, for us it is just a normal small part of our lives.
Sorry this reply ended up so long.