infant potty training/elimination control

[gillythekid]

My mum had us all out of nappies by one year old and none of us were bed wetters, this was in the 70's. I'm going to be a stay at home mum for the first year and have been reading up on the subject. It sounds do-able but having looked through all the conversations here, it doesn't look like there's anyone actually doing it! Does anyone have or know anyone who has experience of this?

It's not recommended.

Best practice is to let the child lead the way - have a potty around, let your child watch you in the loo, talk about it and inform him/her. He/she will get there when he/she is ready - it's a gross motor skill.

Not recommended by who?

Look at most books on potty training - they all basically say the same thing - let the child take the lead - you as parent just need to be alert to the signs.

I think you need BabiesEverywhere, iirc she did EC. There was a thread about this a few months ago, try doing a search .

EC can be done and in many cultures it is practised, but I think you need a lot of patience. I didn't do it myself but I know someone who did and it worked for her.

Here's one thread

Anna - I think the OP is talking about elimination communication,and that is very different to conventional potty training. It's a method used by many cultures, and also by a few friends of mine, with success.

I'm doing it. I wanted to start right from birth, but what with one thing and another we didn't get going until my DD was about 3 months old. The first month and a half was hard -- I felt totally clueless a lot of the time, and we washed a LOT of nappies. If you change every time the baby wees, you will use a lot more than people who do conventional diapering, even if you're catching 50% of the time. Most people just have no idea how often their young infants pee. No idea. It can be every 10 minutes for newborns.

Anyhow, a few weeks ago I started keeping a log of elimination, and suddenly things improved dramatically. I had a much better idea of what was going on, and oddly felt more relaxed about it. Around the same time, her pattern changed and she was peeing less often, which I think has something to do with the kidneys maturing around 6 months. We've gone from using 18 nappies in a day to using about 6.

Doing EC is much easier if you live in the countryside, where you have lots of outdoors space that's not too crowded. Finding a place to potty while out and about in a city, especially if you don't have a car, is quite a hassle, but if you're taking a walk in the woods it's kind of fun.

So, I'm still fairly new to it, but now I have a 6-month-old who has some bladder and bowel control, and I understand more of what's going on with her than I would if we weren't doing EC. For instance, when she has a poo coming she can be quite fussy for about half an hour beforehand. I think it's helping me understand a wider range of what she's trying to communicate outside of elimination issues, too.

One thing I worry about, though, is what will happen when I go back to work, and she's still considered too young to potty train, but that's still a few months away.

aikigypsy well done you! This is something that my mum managed in 1970's Liverpool and I'll be trying it out in London. I'm lucky as I have the luxury of a year off. Some babies will go happily on the potty at 8 months but I guess perseverence and patience are the key!

hi gillythekid, I have done what is known as elimination communication, if you send me your email address I can send you some info. Sophie

Sophie, well done, you, and aik too.

It's never something I had even heard of when my Los were babies, you learn loads on MN.

Sophie, hope all is well with you

Hi sophie not sure how to send my email address, is there any chance you can send me a link or the title of a good book? I've read a link from a poster called babieseverywhere who seems to be using it very successfully with her Dd. I fully intend to start from day one but am a little confused as to the suggestion of using a special belt, as the link took me to a US site.

sorry to sound negative, but I am seriously interested in knowing what the point of it is? OK you can be done with nappies earlier, but having to go through so much hardwork and so many more nappies as aikigypsy is seems kind of contradictory. Why not let the child decide when it's time for becoming dry?

Egypt Each to their own! My mum had us all 'dry' and out of nappies by 12 months, don't assume it was 'hard work', she had the last laugh when all her mates were trying to reason with strong willed 2 and 3 year olds who wet the bed till they were 5 or older! Apart from being more environmentally sound, it means your child doesn't sit around in it's own waste and effectively learns to communicate their needs earlier. Lots of cultures use EC as a matter of course, the idea of a 2 year old in a nappy is strange to them, but not to the majority of westerners. If you think it's up to the child to 'decide' when it's time to be dry, then that's obviously your opinion as a parent but it's certainly not mine!

gillythekid use this one [email protected]

Lots of countries do use EC as a matter of course but its largely just children walking around with no pants, or crotchless trousers and peeing when they want. It doesn't necesarily mean that they have greater control at an earlier age. In my experiance, people who move from a EC country to the UK put their babies in nappies when they are here just like when UK people are visiting somewhere hot (or on a warm day here) their babies will not wear a nappy when playing outside. The no pants approach is not always appropriate in the UK if you want to do indoor things that aren't really done in other cultures eg soft play, toddler group, friends carpeted houses, shopping centre. I didn't use EC and both my dcs were dry during the day well before they were 2 ( only a few months after your mum) and dry at night not long after. It was easy, potty training is not always a nightmare, most children aren't so strong willed you have to battle with them and most aren't constantly wetting the bed. I used cloth nappies which some people think helps the child understand when they have peed.

Aviatrix can help you, I will point her over here

The OP isn't talking about very early potty training, really, but a method of following the child's cues so that you can recognise when they are about to eliminate waste - what you do then is up to you
it's a gentle child centred method, not some rigid early 'training' scheme

Hi, What do you want to know ?

I have EC'd our DD since she was 10 weeks old and hope to start with the bump nearer birth (but we'll see how things go)

EC Links including Forums ECUK is the English one !!!

The belt (which was an USA site) is an alternative way to use prefold of flat nappies with a young non-crawling baby.

The belt (elastic with a fleece cover) is put on the babies waist. The nappy folded into a rectangle shape and simply placed between the babies legs and under and over the belt. So the belt holds the nappy in place and it is super fast to change or offer a potty. I'll let you know if it works or not later on.

As to why bother, because some babies strongly object to sitting in soiled nappies and because overall it is far less work to EC than nappies for 2/3 THEN Traditional nappy change. Lastly you never deal with poo !!! For the last point alone it is worth having a go.

Plus you get to Mumsnet more

My DD just signed 'Toilet' to me (BSL), then fetched the potty from the dining room, sat on it and wee'd, wiped herself with the tissue I gave her and ran off to play again, saves me getting up and changing a nappy.

Normally we use the big toilet outstairs but recently she has wanted to wee downstairs in the potty. Funny how they keep changing ideas.

Brilliant! I'll get on to these links ASAP. Isn't it funny how some people just dismiss it without knowing the facts?

Enjoy reading about ECing and pop back and let us know how you get on...your baby is due in late July and mine in early August, so we'll be learning about ECing a newborn together

aviatrix, sorry to hear you are not feeling well. I was searching the back threads for ECing threads and I nearly posted on one os yours, until I realised it was posted in 2005 !!!

I didn't do EC, but sat ds on the pot after meals since he was 6 months old - he is now 14 months and we only ever have a dirty nappy if he is ill. It benefits him, as he is not sitting in waste, and benefits me as I don't have to change him. Haven't started formal potty training yet though.

same as some above- start on potty asap so it is normal. you read so many stories of toddlers being scared of it and doing something in it. we started ds 1 at 15 months and dd2 at about 5 months i think. she is 10 months now and usually dry after a nap. she loves doing a wee- huge grin so she does know. we know when she is about to poo and can usually catch it. we are not really hardcore about it, just relaxed and know she rarely sits in poo and gets frequent opportunities to wee. will probably think about introducing a sign later but am happy with things so far.