Elimination Communication - Page 2 « Back to Group Discussions

[LunaLady]

I wish i would have started this sooner with Rhyko, but I got an Ikea potty and this evening when i went to change him and he had a dry diaper i decided to try. He peed in the potty on the first try!! The next time i went to change him he was also dry so i tried again - he went pee AND poo! Go baby! 

[Jaimee]

Awesome Christina!  I was just thinking of trying to start EC now that I can bend down again, but Avery is so tiny and floppy I was wondering how to hold him on the potty without making him mad and without getting firehosed.  Rhyko is probably more sturdy at this point, but how did you hold him on the Ikea potty (that's what we have too)?

[LunaLady]

I said, "Let's go potty!"  then I held him with his back to my tummy and his head between my breasts, then I held him by his thighs with my hands. I put the potty on the changing table and put him over it. I hovered him, I didn't rest him on the cold plastic. I said, "Go potty. Psssssss" He cried the whole time both times, but still did it! 

I tried again this morning, but he already had a wet diaper and didn't go. Oh, well! Two in a row is pretty good, I think!

[LunaLady]

Like this: http://inhabitots.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/09/eliminationcommunication23.jpg

Generally - but I had Rhyko with his legs more parallel to the ground so as not to get sprayed! 

[seraf]

Luna, 2 in a row is great.

Jamiee, here's a few pics of how we hold our little guy.  Obviously we don't hold his foot in front of his bits, that is just for modesty.  His head is well supported.  He was about a month in these pics,but besides the potty we have been using the same holds. Oh, but today I figured out that lifting the toilet seat keeps it drier.

    

[FaithF]

Baby sitting on potty pics are too dang cute!!!

I've started doing this with Aria. She'll be 4 weeks old this weekend and I started about 3 days ago. I noticed that when I'd change her diaper, she'd tinkle a little, stop and then as soon as I'd put her in a clean diaper she'd let it all out. I realized that she was actually controlling her pee! I read books about EC when my firstborn was being potty trained and I promised I'd try it with any future babies. I forgot about it until I saw that Aria was able to control her urine. And I think she's doing this with poop too! So we have quite a few catches throughout the day. Mostly poop and 75% of the time its pee. So I think we're doing pretty good. The other night (following the day I first started trying) it was so weird. It was like she realized that she didn't want to poop or pee in her diaper. I was trying to nurse her to sleep and she got really fussy and was coming on and off my breast (which I now know is a signal) and I kept trying to get her to sleep. When I picked her up to burp her, she was wet (it had leaked out the side of the diaper since we were both side lying). So I switched her to the other side and continued nursing. She started the popping on and off my breast thing and I still didn't "get" it. The same thing happened. When I picked her up she had wet again. So I changed her and laid her down to sleep. About 5 minutes later she started fussing, so I undressed her bottom and put her over the little Baby Bjorn potty and she pooped! Since then, we've had a good communication going about this. I love it!

[Jaimee]

Thanks Christina and Sarah!  The last pic you posted, Sarah, is what I did with ds1 and planned to try with Avery as well, but at only 6 days old, I think he will likely protest.  We'll see!

[LunaLady]

Rhyko protests, but he still goes!

We caught five pees today in additin to the two catches I mentioned earlier!! Only had two wet diapers. And it is only 6:30pm, still room for more catches! And we havent even been doing this 24 hours yet!

[seraf]

Luna, sonds great. My guy sometimes fusses until he gets his pee started and then goes totally calm. 

EC here is great. We went out of town with only 20 diapers.  I decided to record every potty trip and wet diaper. 

Our stats:

6 catches and a miss, then

7 catches and a miss, then 

5 catches and a miss, then 

5 more catches and bedtime. 

I feel pretty good about it. I predicted all 3 misses. We were out and couldn't find a bathroom for one, he took a really long nap in his great aunt's arms and I didn't want to take him when he was fussing in his sleep the second time and he was strapped in his carseat the last time. 

And holy cow does he use the bathroom a lot. 

[Jaimee]

Wow, Sarah, that's amazing!  I wish I had the energy to start up, but still not quite.  Avery has a nasty rash from all the pooping he's doing (seriously every diaper is a poop diaper) and I know it wouldn't be an issue if we were ECing.  Sigh...

[KaliShanti]

Wow you mamas are amazing. With a homeschooled 4-yr-old and a toddler (still in diapes) there is no way I'm going to EC. I do start putting my babes on the potty when they can sit up.

[seraf]

Jamiee, your guy is a lot newer than mine. And mine had a rash for a few days because even tho he was kept dry, he had a poo spot in his pants at every check. 

Kali, EC has been part of my life for nearly a decade. It's just part of baby care for me. Like nursing. My kids expressed a clear preference to skip the diaper, so they were ECd when I nannied and had an infant and a 1 year old, 3 one year olds, 3 ECd kids under 2 (including a newborn)so now a newborn and a 6 and 8 year old is nothing. I bet it will be pretty entertaining this summer when we have a newborn and a 7 month old, tho. Every family is different so long as we all find our best way then life is good. 

[Paigekitten]

My diapered two year old expresses more interest in the potty when I EC her sister, and my four year old just potty trained herself.  I'm surprised though that EC has been so interesting for them.

[LiLStar]

Originally Posted by Paigekitten 

My diapered two year old expresses more interest in the potty when I EC her sister, and my four year old just potty trained herself.  I'm surprised though that EC has been so interesting for them.

Hoping for this with my diapered 2yo. He liks watching evan potty. He fully knows how to use the toilet with no help, but just doesn't :\ unless its bedtim and he knows using the potty is a free pass out of bed!

[jbk21]

This thread is interesting to me- I don't know much about EC- it has always seemed very intimidating to me.  But Dylan HATES diaper changes (like, screaming, turning purple, really upset) and he squirms a lot in his sleep.  I know you could EC any child, but a lot of you have mentioned that your child showed a preference for no diaper.  How did you know that?  I haven't been looking for signs, but he does have a "poo face" and is generally uncomfortable and very squirmy/fussy as he's trying to poo.  Not sure about pees.  

I don't know how I'd go about starting to do this, but I'm interested....

[seraf]

With Shay, when he looks uncomfortable, he will keep it up for 10 or 15 minutes before he goes in his diaper.  If I undiaper him when he starts to get fussy, I can take him potty and he's back to content by the time he's done.  Because he pees every 20 - 30 minutes when he's awake, I think he would be a much fussier baby if I didn't take him potty.  I know he will stop fussing about it eventually if I don't take him, but I like him telling me and staying comfortable for more of the time.

I honestly offer anytime he fusses and doesn't want to nurse.

[Jaimee]

Otherwise unexplained fussiness is usually an elimination issue: popping on and off the nipple, squirming in the carrier or in his sleep, that sort of thing.  If you experiment and just try putting him on the potty a few times when you think maybe he has to go and he does, then you pretty much know!

[birdhappy85]

I don't have anything to contribute to this thread right now but I've been following it religiously and am so interested in everything you EC-ers have to say! It has all been so informative. I'm considering testing some of this stuff out.

What do your babies wear on their bottoms most of the time if you're taking them to use the potty so often? I'm using snappi'd prefolds with covers right now and I'd imagine it would get really annoying to constantly take a diaper on and off to have them use the potty.

[Code Name Mama]

Originally Posted by birdhappy85 

I don't have anything to contribute to this thread right now but I've been following it religiously and am so interested in everything you EC-ers have to say! It has all been so informative. I'm considering testing some of this stuff out.

I'm sorry if this is a repeat question anywhere, but what do your babies wear on their bottoms most of the time if you're taking them to use the potty so often? Do you still diaper them in cloth or anything in case of accidents? I'm using snappi'd prefolds with covers right now and I'd imagine it would get really annoying to constantly take a diaper on and off to have them use the potty.

We snappi/pf/cover, and yes, it's a little annoying if we try and don't go, but I'm getting better at recognizing her cues, so that's not as much of an issue. What's more annoying now is missing cues and changing the diaper

update on us:
We've discovered that she will fuss a little in her sleep when she needs to go- if I don't wake her up to potty, she'll settle back down and go in her diaper. Kieran is also very into helping with EC, it's so sweet

[Paigekitten]

I usually have Éowyn in a prefolf tucked into a prefold belt.