Infant potty training/EC - has anyone tried it?

[humandummy]

I am reading Laurie Boucke's book and am really interested in giving infant potty training a go. I meant to start earlier but have just been too tired to devote the necessary time to it and am worried I may have left it a bit late at almost 5 months...

I would love to hear from anyone who has tried it and can offer some advice!

5 months isn't too late at all, I think it's really hard to do it the first few months because everything is so full on and exhausting.

I would really encourage you to give it a go. DC1 was potty trained at 12 months as a result of EC so of course i'm a fan - especially as a cloth user!

I haven't read the book you mention, have you tried any of the advice yet. I would initially try to offer a potty after feeds and try to notice any signals - signals are the key to it imo.

Sacrilege I know but I didn't find a lot of info or help about EC on mumsnet the mothering forum I found really good.

Hi - it's great to hear from someone who has done it. Finishing at 12 months is fantastic - well done!

A while ago I started cueing him whenever he weed on the changing mat and even caught a couple of wees, but I wasn't being consistent enough. I thought it might be too late when I decided to do it properly and realised he would now only wee in a nappy. I held him over the loo when I knew he needed to go and he refused. As soon as I put a nappy on, he weed! At least it shows that babies really do have control.

Since then, I've kept him nappyless a bit to observe his patterns, although I haven't noticed any signals yet. If, as you suggest, I start trying after feeds/naps I might get him used to the idea. I bought a little potty yesterday and today got two wees in there! So I'm feeling more confident about it. Just need to be patient...

Thanks for the link. I'm sure there must be lots of help out there, so I will have a look. I was interested to see if anyone in this country ever does EC, at least I know there's one of you out there!

have a read, BabiesEverywhere did this

HTH

Actually 5 months or when your child can sit unaided is a good time to start.

We started at 7 months and been doing EC for about 4 weeks now. I put my daughter on the potty every nappy change. She will poo and wee in the potty. However she still poos and wees in her nappies as well. We are not brave enough to ditch nappies.

It is important to have realistic expectations. Just like any other area of development bladder/ bowel control takes time to develop. Don't expect too much.

An analogy I would use is that my daughter does not have zero hand to eye coordination, however her hand to eye coordination is nowhere near as good as her seven year old brother's.

I wanted to do this, but missed my boat! Well done, Ondine!

I did a very relaxed version, mostly catching poos as at about 6 months we just put him on the toilet when we caught him making his poo face. By 10 months he was reliably clean and we could put him on the toilet and he would immediately push to poo . At about 16 months I taught him a sign to tell us when he was weeing and though we could have probably ditched the nappies earlier we finally did at 20 months. He has hardly ever had accidents and about 2 months later he was dry at night too.

Not so early but we were very very chilled about it and didn´t do cueing or anything and it definitely made for a very easy transition out of nappies. A portable potty is a must!

I think the main thing is to keep it relatively light hearted on your part and like you said be patient, it does take time to tune in and different aspects of EC work better on some babies than others so it's trial and error at first. I?m on my second time around and it is easier because I don't doubt the method works but the same things are not quite working with DD as they did with DS.

You sound like you?re doing what I did which is letting your DS go nappyless a lot. If you can do a bit of a stretch like this it?ll click because at the same time your DS will get less happy using a nappy and the happier a baby is to use one or sit in a wet nappy the harder the whole thing is.

Mine used a potty but I tried to make the toilet the main thing, hovering them over the loo and running water was the main cue I used ? I only did this because when they have a bit more control and you're out and about it?s not so restricting.

Writing a diary of all elimintions (oh joy) for a week helped. You see a pattern, It often so many minutes after a feed or a certain time of day.

Let us know how you get on, i?m sure more people would do if they knew about it, the nappy companies will be very upset if catches on .

Hi WingedVictory, how old is your DC?

I know from reading other forums you don't have to start really early. You can do it after 12 months if you wanted to give it a try.

Hi, Ondine. Well, DS is neary 20 months, so it's basically more or less time to do "standard" potty training anyway. Maybe next time.

As for this little one, we started ages ago sitting DS on the pot/loo, and talking to him about what comes out of us , so we just need to make the final push. He's got funny - squirmy - recently, about sitting on the pot, so I guess he's not committed to it yet. I'm also using cloth nappies more consistently, so that he feels wet when he wets himself, as I'm not convinced disposable nappies help children realise what's happening.

Ah, well...

5 months should be fine. I started DS on the potty just before 5 months - as soon as he was OK to sit on it with support, just before he could sit up unaided. I think it really helped that he wasn't sitting up all the time, because it meant that the sitting position made him more likely to poo.

From then on we put him on the potty at all nappy changes (although at nursery he doesn't use it). He is now 14 months and it is still a matter of timing it OK, but he definitely knows what to do when he is on it (and I think has done from pretty much the start). I am now trying to teach him to sign when he needs it - will update when I achieve it.

He isn't reliably dry or clean, but to be honest that has never been my objective - I just wanted to introduce him gradually to the potty, minimise the time he was dirty/wet, and cut down on the nappy washing. On an average day we tend to get 2/3 poos and 1/2 wees in the potty.

We started at 10 months, putting DD on potty at change times. She was quickly poo continent - great when you are using cloth. Took until 21 months until she reliably asked for loo for wees (probably would have 'got' it sooner, but was shy of using potty at nursery). She was dry at night a month later

Now have DS of 10 weeks, and already wondering when to try him on potty - will probably wait until he is sitting reasonably, so maybe 5 months-ish.

Go for it!

I do it with my DS for poos- there is something about the shape of his bottom, that I always know when he needs to poo IYSWIM, so from around 2mo or so, I have always given him a cue phrase. He's 10mo now- about 90% of the time we do this, and occasionally he does little pellets in his nappy. Haven't tried doing it on a potty yet though- just lying on his changing mat with his wet nappy open. Haven't read anything about EC really, so I suppose I ought to, to get him pooing upright...

When he was really small, I could always tell when he weed too- his nostrils flared... but no idea now.

It's all going to go a bit tits up now he's starting nursery I suppose though.

I think that there is a difference between ec and true potty training. What I want to avoid is situations like the thread where someone has a throughly stubborn three and and half year old who is scared of the potty.

I can't help thinking that my elderly neighbours prehaps do know a thing or two about childcare. Prehaps as parents we should listen to our elderly neighbours more rather than medical people.

From what I read you can do ec part time. Children often behave differently at home to nursery. Unless there is a major disablity, children are eventually potty trained.

Thanks, BoysAreLikeDogs, for that link to the old thread. I found the ECUK Yahoo group in there, which looks as though it could be a good source of support. If anyone else is interested, it is here groups.yahoo.com/group/ecuk.

In the last few days I've been getting a few wees in the potty every day, after naps, if I get there in time, and after feeds. DS loves sitting on it and looking in the mirror/playing with his feet!

That's a good point, Ondine, about not always using the potty. When we eventually try this out and about, it would be useful to be able to hold DS over the loo. Will have to try that again. He can't sit unaided yet anyway, so I have to hold him whichever way we do it...

I will definitely keep at it part-time and see where it leads us. If nothing else, it will get DS used to the potty and, with any luck, fewer pooey nappies! At the moment I'm washing more often than before as I'm checking all the time and changing after one wee to keep him dry, but if I can get used to his patterns and determine any signals, then that will make life easier.

relaxed is the way forward! i got dd on potty each change from 6 months or so, when i remembered. She was clean from about 10 months and no nappies by 15 months, and none at night a couple of months later. We kept nappies on during the day till then as it is just easier but she would definitely wait. It helped that she is very stubborn! I think it would be a lot more time consuming if you did no nappies at all but i guess some folk do. All my friends think i'm wierd but several children have been trained around the 24 months mark at our toddler group rather than the seemingly normal 36 months or later, which my be because they realise it dosn't have to be like that, after seeing my super-stubborn girl! the longer you leave nappies on the more you are training them to do it in them. Each nappiy you save is good for them and the environment anyway so you can't lose.