Anyone else practicing EC?

[mom2threenurslings]

Anyone else doing Elimination Communication? Coren basically insists upon it, although somehow decided it's ok to pee in his diapers when Daddy is taking care of him - which basically means when Daddy is dancing him around, singing to him, and making him smile so much he doesn't have a chance to give his potty cues! :LOL He does get a little upset that he's peed in his diaper, though, and lets that be known!

I considered ECing part time when pg with Coren - but he's pretty much decided on doing it most/all of the time. Anyone else?

[Goldiemom]

I have never even heard of it before. How does it work? I am just proud that I am part-time cloth diapering. My MIL insists on sposies at her house, so since it is her trash, I am ok with that! :LOL I figure I am making progress, but always willing to learn about something new {to me}.

[Galatea]

I have thought about it, but Miles seems to not care at all if he pees/poops in his diapers, and I see no signals either. He also doesn't pee/poop when his diaper is off. Interesting that Coren demands it!

[wendy1221]

I should have/could have w/ ds2 b/c he was like oren, only I'd never heard of EC and couldnt figure out why he had such a hard time peeing and pooping--until I took his diaper off of course, and then it was a fire hose! I was lanning on doing it w/ Liam, but honestly, he hasn't been sending any clear signals at all. I'm hoping when he gets a little older he will and I'll give it a whirl.

[mom2threenurslings]

Basically Elimination Communication is listening to and following baby's pottying cues and holding baby over a "potty" (whether a child's potty, a "real" potty, or another container of some sort) when it needs to urinate/have bowel movement. Baby has elimination cues just as it has feeding cues....some more pronounced than others . We "catch" most of Coren's pees/poops (since he was born on Saturday, he's done two partial poops and 4-5 partial pees - he stops when he feels the wetness - in cloth diapers) and what we don't "catch" goes into a cloth diaper, because we DO use cloth diapers (some EC'ers don't use any diapers at all). Some EC full time, some part time (during the day, but not at night for example).

Some links:
Natural Infant Hygiene
Diaper Free Baby
Sept. 26 Newsweek Article

We have DFB meetings in my area once a month - I actually looked into it a bit before Coren was born because several of my friends practice EC and I found/find it fascinating. I just never thought I'd be doing it FT myself! Now I plan to do it at least PT.

My dd EC'd herself starting at around 9 months when she figured out how to pull her diapers off - and as soon as she could walk (10.5 months) used her big brother's "little potty" or stood in front the big toilet to pee (like her oldest brother! :LOL ). Since I couldn't keep a diaper on her at home, I just watched for her cues and sat her on the potty whenever she seemed to need to go. She was diaper-free by 14 months.

[ZeldasMom]

I am definitely interested. With DS I didn't find out about EC until he was 8 months old. Then we bought a little potty and we caught first morning pees every morning until he started walking at 10 months old and getting up and moving about became a lot more fun than sitting on the potty (I tried nursing him on he potty and reading him books, but no dice). Oh well, at least we saved on a little diaper laundry!

With Greer I am not sure where to start. She's 9 days old now. We are currently putting covers/soakers over her diapers almost all the time. I suppose we could try a little coverless time so I could get a better sense of right when she pees. I have also heard of people just laying the baby on a prefold so they can see when s/he goes. It is actually hot enough here right now to do that (hello--it's past mid-September in Wisconsin--what's going on here???). How did you start out Amanda? Do you think a particular web site is particularly good, or do you just recommend reading the MDC EC forum over in diapering?

[mom2threenurslings]

I started out not having a choice because Coren peed in his diaper (day 1) and screamed. Took the diaper off, he peed more and was happy. Then on day 2, he pooped in his diaper a bit, screamed, took the diaper off and he pooped TONS more onto a cloth diaper (but exposed to the air). I noticed that he went a loooong time without peeing and was fussy, so took his diaper off and 10 seconds later there was a fountain of pee that just kept going and going! :LOL Then, whenever he got grunty/fussy I'd take his diaper off and hold him in pottying position over a rubbermaid "shoebox" container and he'd pee or pee/poop. He basically taught me how to EC!

I'd recommend the Diaper Free Baby website I posted above. It has lots of good info, pictures of pottying positions, links, etc.

Speaking of EC - must go potty Coren!

[ZeldasMom]

Thanks for all the info Amanda.

Cool that Newsweek did an article about EC. I haven't looked into whether this is true, but I have heard that T. Berry Brazelton does advertising for Pampers. Just did a google search. Apparently he's the chairman of the "Pampers Parenting Institute." I wonder how much they're paying him... :

[RidentMama]

I EC'd DD from 3 months when I learned about EC. She's been taking care of her potty needs since she was 18 months old (still needs some help wiping after poos though).

DH and pretty much everyone we knew thought I was nuts, but the mama who introduced us to EC was very supportive/encouraging, so we stuck with it. After a couple of weeks, DH thought it was pretty cool that his pre-crawler knew how to use the bathroom. And now my parents think it's just awesome that their grandbaby insists on using the potty while the majority of kids her age still use diapers. Ah, the things to brag about, right?

Anywho, we're planning on ECing our newest kiddo. I'm planning on starting in the next couple of days. We would have started sooner, but I am still recouping from some blood loss issues. On the plus side, this kiddo HATES wet/poopy diapers, so ECing shouldn't be too difficult to start. I really encourage everyone to give ECing a shot...you learn so much about your kids this way: while you're learning about their elimination signals, you're also learning their other signals, learning more about them in the process. DD and I are really close, and I think that EC played a good part in the process.