Elimination communication - what do you think of this article?

[bumperlicious]

Just read this article and am curious as to other people's opinions/experiences. Haven't had my baby yet so have no idea one way or another, but am interested as to what people think.

We have been Ecing our 9 month old DD since she was 10 weeks old. Several people on here do EC either full or part time...Morningpaper for one. If you do a search for elimination communication on here, you'll find several recent threads on this subject and links for more information.

HTH...Have to dash, but I'll check this thread later if you have any questions.

The problem is that I really really want to be tolerant of other people's parenting styles even when I don't understand them, but this seems to me to be completely bonkers! I've read lots of articles like this, and actually know someone who tried it, and and it really seems to mean devoting a disporportionate amount of time and energy to a very minor part of a baby's life. Just my opinion, though - others will probably know better!

Have never heard of it before.

I just put my babies on the potty after feeds and when I changed them, right from birth. I'd wait a few minutes after a feed, as then the feed had "gone through" I did use the "psssss" sound or running water, which certainly produced results. But that was a far as it went, so it didn't take any extra time.
My daughter was out of nappies daytime at 14 months, as long as I remembered to potty her every hour or so. If I forgot we had a few accidents, but not many, and if I was going out for longer I just put a nappy on for that time. She didn't sseem to mind, although she didn't like being wet!
The boys were a little later, but all were out day and night at around 2 years.

Hi

Not everyone does EC to the same extent.I couldnt do what the article says.

We really just do it for poos. We sit baby on potty on getting up and after every meal. She does all her poos then. Occasionally she wants to go at another time and will turn and tell me with her face.

It causes a lot less work than changing and dealing with dirty nappies. It has had huge benefits for DD -she loves always being dry and clean (we use fleece lined cloth nappies so she is not wet by day - she does get damp in her nappies at night but often she wees very little at night.) She also now has no nappy rash ever - and who would want to sit in poo by choice - it really is not nice if you think about it.

It is brilliant to be consistent with your baby and not turn around at age 2 or so and change everything by saying then oh you dont sit in your poo - you have to do it in the potty etc. It is good to listen more to yur baby and get in tune with them.

So you can do EC but make it a bit easier on yourself if you want/need to.

Is it difficult to start to do? Doesn't it seem a bit pavlovian to train a child to poo on demand? What are the long term benefits? I mean, I don't remember anything about my own potty training experience and surely everyone gets there in the end? Do your babies still wear nappies in which case what is the benefit?

Is there an optimal window for starting this? It does sound like a lot of hard work and restrictive, what about if you are out and about a lot.

I'm not trying to be controversial or confrontational, just trying to make sense of a method that I have never heard before.

I started with DD at around 8 months. She would crawl to the potty and sit on it. That lasted a few weeks maximum. Since then, no interest at all. Now she's 2.3 and just decided one day she's no longer wearing nappies. Potty trained herself. I potty trained DS the usual way, it took a couple of weeks and he was 1.5 at the time. I sometimes wonder if trying with DD so early was counterproductive. I don't know what I'll do with next DD, I'll see how it goes.

Interesting post christina, thanks.

bumperlicious, I started to type out a reply and realised that my post had got far to long. So I made it more general and address other questions that I have rea on other EC threads and put a longer reply on my blog.

So if you want to read my long post, read this.

Quick answers
Optimal window for starting EC is newborn to 6 months but some people do EC with older babies.

It is not very hard or as time consuming as it appears, in fact I reckon it is quicker than full nappy changes.

ECing is easier out of the house than inside.

Babies can wear real underwear, trainer pants or nappies depending on what the parent wants them to wear.