EC Graduates - Your Stories

[ann_of_loxley]

I thought it might be nice for us who have EC 'graduates' to post our stories (from start to end! hehe). It might help those who are currently practicing EC and give them some encouragement to keep at it (and let them in one what they have to look forward to as well)! It also might be nice to be able to compare our stories and, if you are like me, planning/having more children, be able to look back in hopes of looking forward to doing it all again! :

Perhaps this could be stickied?

[ann_of_loxley]

Our Story with EC

I was first told about EC from my MIL. I thought she was crazy. When DS was about a week old, we just came home from hospital and she told me that this was about the age that she started to 'potty train' her children. I think the fact she used the term 'potty train' turned me off quite a bit. She then proceeded to tell me how she did this and used the word 'catch' for getting the elimination in the correct place. I was just confused by her remark and asked how she did this without getting pee and poo all over the place! She said 'you just know'... And she was right!

Before DS was born, we decided to use cloth nappies for financial reasons. I later discovered other wonderful reasons to use cloth nappies. But because of all the washing and care cloth nappies require in the first few months of life, I soon learned how to 'save' a lot of them. My son was pretty regular and predicatable with his 'elimination', especially in the evening. So I was able to 'save' having to use/wash/care for quite a few nappies by 'catching' his pees/poos on some toilet paper instead. This was the start of our EC when DS was only a few weeks old - though at the time I did not know that this is what I was doing.

When DS was a bit older - around 8-10 months of age. I saw a documentary on EC. This is when I fully started to understand it. At 11 months, this is also when I started EC 'full time' and also started to call it that (knowing where to look for advice and support). I learned that it is nothing like 'potty training' and more about communication between carer and child and respect.

When DS turned a year old, we bought him his first 'potty' - a little red Bjorn. He loved it.

His poos were easy to catch. Very predicatable signs for that! Giving me enough time to get out the potty and get them. Pees on the other hand were another story. He gave no signs for these. I soon learned he was more a 'timed' boy when it came to his pees. I could easily predict a pee if I knew when he last had something to drink. It was about 20 mintues from drink to pee. I found what helped most for pees was to go completly nappy free during the day in our house. This helped me learned he was more 'timed' rather than showing any signs he needed to pee. It also helped him become more aware of his pees. Once I felt comfortable with this, he started wearing his nappies again more like underwear (so no cover). I found it helpful to promptly change him after a single wee because this helped him become comfortable with being dry and therefor even more aware of his body and its elimination.

Around 13 months we had a strike.
Whe I loved about strikes was that I knew something was coming! Some sort of new development of his. Even now at the age of nearly four, if he has an accident, I know something is 'up' - developmentally. Its such a great que for me! hehe
But this was the longest strike he ever had! It lasted for months. Then all of a sudden at 16 months he took his first step! After this, the potty strike was over and by 17 months, he was completly nappy free during the day. We bought him his first underwear! He still needed by help to get to the potty though but had such a great leap in EC during that strike, that he was clearly telling me when he needed to go!

At 22 months, he graduated - taking himself to the potty when he needed to go. :

I never gave night time EC a go until DS was about two years old. I noticed he was only have one pee a night anyhow by this age. He would always go to bed a few hours before us. So when I went to bed, I would slowly, whilst he was still sleeping, slip him out of the bed onto his little red potty. Because we had been doing EC - just sitting on the potty/being in the position/ was his 'que' to go. He would go, asleep, and I would slip him back in bed. This was enough to get him through the night totally dry! After a few months he would wake himself to use his potty and get through the night dry all by himself! Around the age of three, he could get through the whole night without needing a pee at all.

I am currently pregnant with my second and am looking forward to starting 'full time' from birth! I am still not sure if I want to attempt night time EC though at first! hehe - My DS was pretty much sleeping through the night from birth (yeah, I know I was lucky - though apparently it runs in both families so it was not really a great surprise) - so, valuing my sleep, I may wait a bit on that. We shall just have to wait and see how this one sleeps! If I am up anyhow, might as well give night time EC a go from the start! hehe

Despite being what I consider 'late starters' with my DS, it was a pretty smooth ride for us. I think this was down to the fact my DS is pretty sensitive and sensory avoiding as well (so he felt it cared - a lot - and obviously clearly prefered the comfort of being dry, some children are just not so fussed).

So thats us and our story!

[pixiepunk]

oh i think this is a great idea! especially because there are so many different ways to EC, and so many different kids who have their own preferences and ideas about their EC journey - it's a great way to read about some of that variety all in one place. and i love the idea of a sticky - someone might need to contact a mod to ask, though.

I'm EC'ing my 3rd child now. each experience has been as unique as my overall parenting experience with each child. as varied as their personalities, their nursing relationships, their physical, emotional and spiritual development.

DD1 - she was (and is) a very sensitive child. i look back on her early days and realize that she was a very strong and clear cue-er, but i was deaf to those cues and wasn't able to respond. i have always been what i call a "conscientious diaperer" - leaving kids for the most part without a cover when at home, changing immediately when wet. it always disturbed me how other parents would let their kids pee so many times in a diaper before changing it. i first read of EC when she was about 9 months old. she had been following me to the bathroom for ages, and despite everyone telling me she was too young to "potty train" i felt very strongly that she was telling me she was wanted to go to the bathroom too. so after some internet reading, i bought her a potty. at first we were very part-time about it. i offered first thing in the morning, upon waking from naps, and whenever i went to the bathroom. i kept her in a snappi'd prefold the rest of the time and changed her right away when she was wet. it didn't take her too long to start telling me when she needed to go, and by the time she was about 15 months old i never saw another poo go anywhere but the potty. we had a pretty major pee regression when i got pg which lasted from about 17-20 months. but she bounced back from the strike with renewed interest and vigor in the potty. i stopped with the diapers at home around 21 months, but waited until after the baby was born at 26 months to make sure there wasn't going to be a potty regression (she chose a nursing regression instead ) before letting her be in undies full-time, at around 27 months. i did keep her in diapers at night until she was 29 or 30 months because up until then she still occasionally (like once or twice a week) would pee in the night. and with her i never night-time EC'd at all. she stopped doing that at 29 months, so that was the point at which we were truly miss-free.

DS - a totally different beast. much more mellow than his sister, not nearly as bothered by a wet diaper, though he did usually squirm or fuss a little either right before or right after he went. i was even more dilligent about keeping him coverless at home than i'd been with DD1, but for some reason couldn't wrap my mind around pottying a tiny infant so i didn't start that with any regularity till he was 6 months old. he wasn't a great signaller, but he was like clockwork, so we relied largely on timing. i remember so clearly when he was a small toddler, having DD1 yell from the other room "Mama! Solly's peeing on the floor!" and thinking to myself "Oh, man! is it 6:15 already?!" he was seriously that reliable. like his sister, he stopped pooping anywhere but the potty by about 15 months. like his sis, he also had a pee strike around 18 months (oddly at the same time he started waking up dry), after which he was really great about telling me when he needed to go. i declared him a graduate at around 22 months, i remember him being totally immersed in play at my mom's house and running across their huge yard shouting "potty! potty!." no misses for like 2 months. not one. but then i got pregnant. and we had a pretty miserable back-slide that involved usually at least 5 pee misses a week from the time i got pg (around 24 months) until my milk totally disappeared (around 28 months). it was like he no longer wanted the responsibility for telling me he had to pee, and it took me a while to pick back up and offer more, and when i'd forget, we'd have a miss. being newly pregnant and exhausted, it felt a lot more awful than it probably was. it was probably more about wanting/needing more attention from me than anything. at 28 months or so he was pretty consistently dry, with the occasional and always totally surprising miss sprinkled here and there (maybe 2 a month). i can't really remember exactly when those stopped, they just petered out until i couldn't remember the last time it had happened. it was definitely not as definitive a finish as it had been with DD1 - once she decided to take over control, she never looked back. it's interesting because this tendency in their personalities is reflected in lots of other ways, though i first noticed it in their elimination communication.

DD2... well she's still a work in progress so that story is still in the making. but i've done it a lot differently with her, starting basically from birth, and more full-time than with the other two. her awareness continually amazes me. since she is likely my last baby, i'm trying to just enjoy every minute of her babyhood, and i feel like EC has helped me to do that.

[WiseBirdsMom]

Great idea! I love reading wonderful EC stories! Here's my story:

I was a late-start EC'er with my DS1 (now 3 years). We didn't start until he was 18 months old. I used CDs, and wish I could go back and start all over with him! He had terrible diaper rash all through his babyhood and it never occurred to me that he was just super-sensitive by the soaking wet diapers he wore! But when he was 18mo, he started saying pee-pee every time he would pee. I would then change him right away, and within a couple of weeks of this, he started telling me before he would pee. I had researched EC, but since I knew of no one doing this, I felt too overwhelmed to try it until then. I knew that I had to help him gain back his awareness, so for 2 weeks, we had lots of diaper free time, and lots of misses! We read lots of books while he sat on the potty, and sang lots of songs. At the end of this time, he was completely dry during the day. However, poops were a different story. He would hold it until I would put a diaper on him at naps or at night. Whenever I would try to keep the diaper off, he would get constipated. I soon became pg, so just backed off to keep him regular. When DS2 was born (DS1 was 23 mo), I started EC with DS2 right away. Well, after seeing his little brother poop into our little potty bowl, he ran right over to his potty, sat down, and pooped. He instantly became a little EC Grad, and has been pooping/peeing on the potty ever since!

Now, my 2nd (and final) EC journey has been a great one! DS2 is now 13 mo, and we are using trainers mostly during the day, and many times the trainers stay dry! Of course it hasn't always been a success- we had a big potty pause from about 7 mo to about 9 mo. Potty pauses have always taught me that life is all about changes, and just to roll with it! I've just really loved that I have been able to communicate with my baby in ways that I never did with my DS1, and especially that I've avoided many diaper rashes and have caught many, many poops in the potty/toilet. Now that's something to sing about!!