Which EC books are good, best, and not that great?

[atpeace]

Can someone please list some good EC books and do a quick/simple rating of them?  I'm interested in why you liked/disliked them, and which one you find "the best".  (I've found a few at my library, but don't know which are better than others).

Thanks!

[nstewart]

I've read:

1. The Diaper Free Baby: The Natural Toilet Training Alternative - Christine Gross-Loh;

2. Diaper Free! The Natural Wisdom of Infant  Hygene - Ingrid Bauer; and

3. Early Start Potty Training

I wouldn't recommend #3. I found #1 to be the most helpful but did pick up some additional information that was helpful from #2.  If I could only read one book on EC it would definitely be The Diaper Free Baby!

[Carlyle]

I'd recommend "Diaper Free Baby" by Christine Gross-Loh based on all of the discussions I've seen on here and on an article that she wrote in Mothering.  It seems to be the most practical combined with a variety of approaches--treating part-time pottying as a perfectly valid option.  It sounds like she does a great job of covering starting simply, using diapers as back up if you want, different ages, different approaches, different situations (wohm and sahm), etc.  It sounds great.

My next recommendation would be Infant Potty Basics by Laurie Bouke.  That's what I read to start and it was great.  Very short, with practical suggestions.  It was definitely enough to get me going (but I'm was a sahm with only one dd and had a bit of time on my hands).  I get the feeling that Gross-Loh's book is longer, but a very easy read and more helpful to people feeling nervous about jumping in with both feet or with more going on in their lives.

I also read Diaper Free by Ingrid Bauer and although I found it interesting, for me, it was actually a bit counterproductive.  It had inspiring stories, and a great summary of the reasons that ec is great, good motivation etc.  But to me it was also a bit "woo-woo," with a focus on following  your intuition (something I'm not great at) and striving for perfect communication and catches because it's the most respectful of your baby (that is my memory of what I took away from it...I'm sure it's different for everyone).  My impression was also that it was more critical/judgemental feeling towards people who don't ec...I doubt that was the author's intention, but again, that's my memory of how I felt while reading it.  My memory is that it made me feel a bit like I wasn't doing enough, and got me too focused on it...to the point where I was offering to often and getting a bit obsessive about it (not really obsessive, but just thinking about it more than I needed to be...my experience has been that if I focus on it too much, it doesn't work as well).  I also felt like it implied that we should be done by 1.5 years, which I don't think is a realistic or fair expectation to set for yourself.  It's certainly not unusual, but doesn't happen for everyone, so you shouldn't be critical if it doesn't!

Anyway, I always recommend Gross-Loh's book first and try to steer newcomers away from Bauer's book because I feel like the first makes it sound really do-able to newbies and Bauer's makes it sound like an all or nothing overwhelming thing.

Good luck and enjoy!

[emmaegbert]

Agree... I read Gross-Loh's book from the library and it was really helpful and low-key and made me feel like "yeah. I can do this" rather than my previous preconception about EC (based on basically no information) that it was some kind of thing for crazy people who have too much time on their hands... in particular I really liked her way of discussing starting at different ages, and also that you can do it part time, or as much or as little as works for you. I wasn't really interested in having a "diaper free" baby (sounded like too much extra laundry to me, and too stressful. I lived in a rental with all carpets and a coin laundry in another building) but rather in using diapers less and supporting natural awareness of baby. Anyway I am very, very glad I read her book before looking at some of the others that might have made it seem like an unrealistic practice for me.

[turtlemamameg]

Originally Posted by Carlyle 

I'd recommend "Diaper Free Baby" by Christine Gross-Loh based on all of the discussions I've seen on here and on an article that she wrote in Mothering.  It seems to be the most practical combined with a variety of approaches--treating part-time pottying as a perfectly valid option.  It sounds like she does a great job of covering starting simply, using diapers as back up if you want, different ages, different approaches, different situations (wohm and sahm), etc.  It sounds great.

...

Anyway, I always recommend Gross-Loh's book first and try to steer newcomers away from Bauer's book because I feel like the first makes it sound really do-able to newbies and Bauer's makes it sound like an all or nothing overwhelming thing.

Funny, I would say it the same way. 

Also, there is a great website to check out as well: http://www.tribalbaby.org/  where we've gotten lots of useful tips.

[lisavark]

Another vote for Diaper-Free Baby! I love Gross-Loh. But I also really enjoyed Laurie Boucke's longer book, Infant Potty Training. It has a lot of cross-cultural information and scientific studies, which was fascinating for me. It's not as accessible and practical as Diaper-Free Baby, but it's very interesting for scientifically-minded families who want to know more about the history and science of EC. 

[amymccarty]

The Diaper Free Baby: The Natural Toilet Training Alternative - Christine Gross-Loh

This book is a MUST have. Best EC book out there by far! Hope this helps

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

I've only read Bauer's book (it was $1.99 at a consignment store the week I was considering trying EC - it was like a sign!) and I didn't mind it but I agree, it could be daunting. I keep meaning to pick up Gross-Loh's book to read - will it have any worth for me since DS is a year now, and doing quite well with EC?

[nstewart]

Perdita, see if you can check it out from your local library.  I have read 4 EC books I think and got them all from the library.  I read Gross-Loh's book when DS was about 3 mos old and am now considering buying it as he starts to become more mobile.  Gross-Loh's book is broken down into ages/stages so you may get some value even though you've been ECing for a while already.  I found all the books had something different to offer, but found Gross-Loh's book the best.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

Unfortunately the Ottawa Public Library doesn't seem to approve of EC - they don't have any of the titles *sigh*

I may see if I can find it at a book store locally and flip through and see. I'm tempted to shell out for it.

[FelixMom]

Perdita, if you come to Montreal periodically, I could lend you my copy of Ingrid Bauer's book. My youngest is 3 yrs and reliably dry during the day now, though not so much the night time.

Good luck!

[AndreaOlson]

I read Gross-Loh's book about 3 times before giving birth and had a bit of trouble wrapping my head around it. It's got a LOT of great testimonials in it, and a lot of reasons why you should do EC, but the how-to area could be improved. Like "how do I start, today?"

When my baby was 8 months old & was researching for my own EC book, I finally got to the rest of the books...I must say that Laurie Boucke's book "Infant Potty Training" is practically an encyclopedic volume...chock full of awesome studies and historical/multicultural context that may not be practical in learning EC, but is great for information-gathering! I like her how-to section as well but it also left me a little muddled.

Like the assistant director of DiaperFreeBaby.org said, it's hard to learn EC from plain text. Regarding EC, seeing and doing is learning. Ya know what I mean?

Lastly, Ingrid's book on Natural Infant Hygiene is nice. I like her approach and am actually re-reading it now.

And the newest EC book is the one I wrote over the last year while my 13 month old son grew up so big! It's EC Simplified: Infant Potty Training Made Easy (endorsed by DiaperFreeBaby and positively reviewed by Laurie Boucke) which is the first multimedia introduction to how to do EC, and how to troubleshoot, covering all ages and stages. I happen to like it, and so do 100s of other moms, but I'm totally biased!! LOL ;) I wish I would've had a more hands-on tool before my son was born...but we worked it out along the way and as such I was inspired to make a book that filled the needs I had prenatally.

OK...Hope my little EC book mini-review helps you! :) Andrea

[Tjej]

I got a video - The Potty Whisperer, I believe - that was very insightful.  I got it after I had EC'd for a while, so it wasn't as helpful as it would have been before everything, but I would reccomend that.

Tjej