potty training early

Diaper-Free Magic? What is This Elimination Communication Thing All About?

January 31, 2012

Molly W, who’s guest posted before on Pregnancy Fitness, joins us again with her thoughts on elimination communication, the training system for young babies and early toddlers to learn to signal their bathroom needs. Her daughter, V, is a little over 5 months old and they are glad they’re trying it out! What is Elimination Communication? I’ll admit it. I had to google it after I first heard of it from a friend who’s postpartum doula. I imagined an idyllic world where naked babies were the norm and poopy diapers a thing of the (more barbaric) past. I was already mentally accepting congratulations for having potty trained our daughter V by one year. After 5 months of EC’ing our baby V, we aren’t quite living that dream, but we get closer every day. As Diaper Free Baby will tell you, EC is not potty training. It’s parent training. Basically, as a parent or care giver, you watch your little ones signs closely and begin to predict when they are going to eliminate. Then you hold them above a receptacle (sink mostly in our case now that she has good head control) (or little bucket as pictured above) and make cueing sounds. Pssst for pee, little grunts for poo. Why these sounds other than the fact they are hilarious? Because they are easy for your baby to associate with the two kinds of elimination. The theory is that eventually, as your baby becomes more self aware and improves their sphincter control,…

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