Question about ECing

[Wendy HS]

Okay, I've studied EC training a little bit. I potty trained my first DS by 2 years fully both day and night time without knowing about EC, using the sit on the potty until you go method. ha ha  (which he didn't ever seem to mind because he got to watch his favorite DVD's alot) and then really praising him when he did go and letting him put a sticker on a sticker book. I read to him a lot while he sat on the potty and just really praised him. It took a few weeks and a few messes, but we got through it and I can say once he learned fully after those first few weeks I can't think of a time that he ever peed or pooped in his pants again. Now I've heard about EC and I wanted to know at what age are those kids really fully trained? Are they really fully trained to potty (poo and pee) 100% at a very young age or do they still have mistakes until they are 2 or 3 years old? I am looking at the biggest hurdle for me being time constraints. I have a 4 year old I home school, a 2 year old that I am working on potty training and a 4 month old that I nurse. MY HANDS ARE FULL. How do you do it ?!!!  The 2 year old likes the potty, will sit on the potty has even peed and pooped in the potty and talks about pottying quite regularly with me, but she will still go on the floor if I let her run around without a diaper. I can't spend all day in the bathroom and we have a carpeted house, except the kitchen floor and when they pee on it, it gets really slippery and dangerous. Any wisdom from wise mom's who have more than 2 kiddos they are dealing with all day?

[Kuba'sMama]

Hi,

Well, I have 3 kids and am ECing my now 9 month old. I definitely don't spend my day in the bathroom, lol. I go on average maybe once an hour, but it really doesn't bother me. She does understand what is going on and cooperates and that is mainly why I'm so excited to do it with her. Perhaps if she showed no sign of comprehension or care I wouldn't.

But the other part of the question "how old are they when trained", I have no answer for. It varies from kid to kid I would imagine. Main reason most people here seem to do it ( I think anyway) is the communication part and meeting the babies' needs, not a fixed "must have him/her trained by 18mos." It can cause a lot of frustration and that's not fun at all. I'd recommend trying it part time, researching a bit more and seeing if it's for you. Maybe trying to do it at certain parts of the day; before/after naps, feedings is a good start and see where it goes from there!

[MoonStarFalling]

I totally agree that EC isn't at all about being potty trained at an earlier age although it may happen for some kids. My first ocassionally had accidents until about 26 months of age but wet at night for several more years. My second was 10 months and only having a few accidents a week when we couldn't get to a potty in time. She was dry at night as well. It really depends on the child and I think a lot of kids will have some accidents day or night until 3-7 years of age regardless of how they were potty trained.

[isabchi]

 Well!... there is my 2 cents.. I see EC is a Communication tool that improve the care of my children. I have two ECed kiddos. EC them help us as a parent to understand their crying and disconfort, and help them to be aware of the body funtions. I started EC with my first at 12 mo and she was poo ECed at couple days later and took her until 18-19 mo until she was fully in regular undies.In the other hand my youngest was ECed from birth and he actually was mostly free of ack to tos from birth through 9 mo, then He had ECed strike for a month or so, back to normal since then. Other thing is about pee, my DS is a very active and busy, he's been fully in undies since 12 mo but continue have some misses in the playdates when he' having lots of fun.

Also, I have to say that I have a very busy life, I homeschooling my kids that including and organization of our homeschooling group , I work as voluntair many hours a week, I help some times my husband at his business, I can say that definatelly EC made my life easier, Ex.it's been years since I carry any diaper from my kids to do errands. I just carry my kids,wallet, cell and the keys.

[sapphire_chan]

It's different for all kids, just as different people have different results with other potty learning methods.

For us, dd was 100% with poop by 16.5 months, and I only dealt with about 3 poopy diapers (one on a highway with literally no way to pull over whatsoever) from around 6 months to now. (Wait, I tell a lie, I babysat my nephew and changed one of his poopy diapers, so 4.)

Pee took until 27 months for her to really figure it out. We had one month where I didn't have to think about it at all, then a day with 3 accidents, and now I remind her more--like when she hasn't gone for 5 or 6 hours.

But as other posters have said, it's not about that.

Frankly, a lot of standard potty training methods seem really artificial and manipulative to me. I don't think they're harmful enough for me to go around telling people off or anything, but it's just not the dynamic I want with my child.