EC is going GREAT with Baby E!!! I haven't changed a poopy diaper in almost a month, and that is so wonderful! Using cloth diapers is a great motivator for doing EC :)
I planned to do EC with E from the beginning, and it was really easy to read her pottying signals when she was brand new. However, I was busy and got slack about cuing her and paying attention to her signals. Once the weather got colder, I left her diaper free less often. I continued to cue her when I changed her diaper, but that was about it.
Fast forward to E at 6 months old...I realized that if I wanted EC to work, I was going to have to be diligent about reading her signals. After one day of diligence and catching all poops and some pees, she TOTALLY got it! It was amazing! She'd signal that she needed to potty (facial expression), I'd say "do you need to potty?" while signing "potty," and she'd smile, wave her arms, and kick her legs. I'd take her to the potty, and she'd go. She seems SO proud and happy to be using the potty, and her diaper rash that developed when she started eating solids is completely gone. Since my one day of diligence, I've caught every poop since she knows to wait until I get her on the potty to go. I'm still keeping her in diapers and actually have no plans to put her in panties since I'm not very good at catching her pees. Although, I may try having her wear thick training pants with a cover because they would be much easier to remove than a snapped diaper.
I take her to the potty when she wakes up and when I change her diaper, and I can almost always tell when she is wetting, but I haven't gotten good at reading her signals before she goes. I have to admit that I'm not trying that hard...I'm just happy that she's pooping on the potty. It makes my life SO much easier, and she is so happy and proud of herself. I encourage all mamas to give this a try. When it works, it makes life so much easier and it's good for the environment :)
I have a few questions.
ReplyDeleteHow old is she? When did you start? What does EC stand for?
Sounds great! What does EC stand for? And we'd love to hear more on this! Thanks for a lovely blog!
ReplyDeleteOk, I just realised on going through your other posts that EC is Elimination Communication.
ReplyDeleteAnd wow, she's potty trained at 17 months!
My little one refuses to sit on her potty for longer than a few seconds. Maybe we'll have to make it a fun and games thing.. unfortunately, she has no fixed timing for pooping.
Wow! You have your hands full-Literally! Most children are ready for toileting around 18 mos. When the window of opportunity is missed it can be so much more difficult once they are older. My daughter was diaper free by 18 mos. and people were slightly judgmental assuming I was pushing her. The reality is I simply followed her lead.
ReplyDeleteVery motivating post.
ReplyDeleteI ECed my son who is now 3. It was easy with only one child but now having a preschooler and a 7 week old it is much harder.
I have gotten her to pee in the sink a few timer but her cues are harder to read than her brothers.
I think that once we get the sleep thing down than we can work on the potty more. I know that as long as I start before 5 -6 months than I should be good.
It is always great to hear everyone elses EC stories.
Amazing! Great work mom! This really does take a lot of dilligence.
ReplyDeletethank you for posting about this, although I have no intention of having another I have been interested in how EC works, I have seen a lot of blogs where mama's declare that they are going to try EC but then there is no follow up, I was assuming it was because they gave up or the method didn't work.
ReplyDeleteThat's so awesome!
ReplyDeleteI EC'd my 2 year old son and no more poopy diapers after about 6 months old was the best motivator for me too! I also found pees harder to catch consistently, although w had many days of catching all pees there were still misses and wet diapers.. I put him in underpants around his first birthday and that chance made a huge difference. I think it was the change and motivator he & I both needed. I was also give strange looks when he was asking to go potty in public at 14 months but whatever! He's so proud and ilm a happier mama. Now I listen to mamas of other toddler talk about thejr diaper changing tantrums and I'm so glad that he and I stuck to it even when it was challenging and felt like we'd missed every pee for days.
ReplyDeleteThat's great! It's going exceptionally well for P (8 months) and I as well. I tried this with my first son and stopped because of lack of support/confidence. When I had my second 21 months later, I just never gave it a thought because I didn't think I could handle it while caring for two who were so needy. After struggling to get my first fully toilet trained for at least a full two years, which meant I ended up training both of my sons at the same time, I decided to give EC another go with my daughter. I am VERY happy that I did, and I am also loving not having messy poop diapers to change!!
ReplyDeleteOkay, now my intrest is peaked. Where can I learn more about this EC stuff?
ReplyDeletesharonsaad at gmail dot com
Thanks, such a great post and I'm so glad it's going so well for both of you! I started super-late with my first, at 13 months, and it has (not surprisingly) taken quite a while for her to get the idea. She's 21 months now, and I don't even remember the last time I washed a poopy diaper (bliss!!), but we're still not completely done with the pees. Most days, we have at least one accident.
ReplyDeleteIf you do end up trying little undies and covers for E, what has worked cheaply and well for us is the regular Gerber cotton training pants (not the ones with the built-in waterproof cover, but the cotton ones), covered by Dappi cloth diaper covers ($5 for a two-pack at CottonBabies and many other places). You can get the Gerber pants in 18 months size, but you usually have to order them online - the stores mostly start at 2T. One other thing to remember with the covers, if you're interested in trying that, is that they're supposed to be used as covers over a flat or prefold diaper, so a size "small" is actually just the right size for my 21-month DD. It's supposed to be for 0-3 months, but it's also supposed to have a massive cotton dipe under it, so it's just the right size with a thin little training pant. Dappis are super-easy to wash - just toss in the washer, with any kind of detergent and any temperature or cycle - and they don't leave any red marks on the baby's legs or waist. And they work fantastically well.
The specially-designed pants for EC babies are so expensive that I just couldn't afford to go that route, cute though they are!
for Melissa - there's a lot of website with great descriptions. one of my favorites is tribalbaby.org
ReplyDeleteShaper of Little Souls- E is 7 months old. We started watching for signals and cuing her at birth, but slacked off for a while. I really started taking her to the potty and being diligent when she was 6 months old, and it clicked with her immediately. EC stands for elimination communication. Click on the link for more info. I borrowed Diaper Free Baby from the library, and it was a wonderful and inspiring resource!
ReplyDelete