EC question, re: others' babies

[mrzmeg]

For you mamas that practice Elimination Communication, what would you do if you noticed that a friend's baby needed to pee or poop? Would you offer to take the baby to the potty? Assume for this question that you know the mama pretty well.

I'm just curious because SIL and her baby are coming to visit next month. I have this scenario in my head and wonder what I'll do if it happens...

[HeatherSanders]

I said 'Yes, of course.'

I would definitely ask if I could do this, but only if that momma knew that I EC'ed - which all my friends here do. And I think that if they are a close friend/family member/whatever . . . they'd probably feel comfortable with you doing it and get a kick out of watching.

But the greatest thing . . . if you caught the 'sign' right and they did go potty . . . you might have a convert! HA!

[MammaMel]

I voted yes!
I dont know many other babies but my sister has a 7 month old and if I noticed she needed to go I wouls ask if I could take her.
I dont see my sister much but have told her about EC and surprisingly she didnt think iy was wierd.

[mamazee]

You all know I don't EC - LOL

BUT if someone I know really well suggested it, I would DEFINITELY want to see it in action, especially with my own babe

I've been reading your threads out of interest, not to rabble-rouse (LOL). I think (IMO) most diapering moms would want to see it happen. At least I would!

[April 2007]

ok, i admit it, im the "no, that would be rude" person. But not because *I* think it would be rude. If someone did it to my babe, well, first I would feel bad that I didn't sense it myself but only because we do EC, and then second I would be glad someone noticed : )

The only ppl I know would think I was doing it to show off or show that I'm more intune to their baby than they are or that they're bad parents...I might say, "she/he needs to pee/poo" but I wouldn't do it unless they asked me to.

[pamelamama]

I did it yesterday!

Funny you should ask! I was over my very close girlfriend's house with my bb potty and we were hanging out. I'd explained EC to her a little bit. Actually about a month ago a sent all my pals a link to an article about it (that would be your article, Ahleema) and this friend actually told me she thought it was very weird. This before I started actually trying EC.

When I showed up at her house yesterday with my potty she didn't say anything negative. I think she was amused. She commented (honestly, not mean-ly) how lucky I was to have found a husband who would go along with my far out ideas (cd, ec, etc).

Later we were playing and she noticed and pointed out that her dd, almost 9 mos, was grunting and starting to poop (you know we mamas always share such info). I said... "HEY! put her on the potty! Wanna try?" It was right there next to us. She pulled the baby out of her 'sposie and popped her right onto the potty. Too late, the poop was already in the diaper. But I psssed in baby Felicia's ear and she laughed and played along. No pee. Maybe better luck next time.

Eli obliged by doing a couple of pees int he potty while we were there.

This was a very close friend, very tolerant of my s wackiness. No harm done.

[USAmma]

I would def. ask first. If they said yes I'm still not sure because it would be a lot of trouble and I'd already have my hands full with my own.

[ShannonCC]

Well, I voted other

For me, it would totally depend on WHO the person was.

If it was, for example, my sister, then the answer would be no. She doesn't have kids yet, but we have *very* different opinions on child rearing. I think that even offering would put her on the defensive. I wouldn't offer to buy her CD either, or offer advice on breastfeeding. With my sister, the best thing to do would be to wait til she showed an interest and *then* say would you like me to show you EC in action? Would you like to see a cloth dipe? Would you like some tips on bf?

I also have some friends who feel bad cuz I'm "crunchier" than they are. Which is ridiculous. It's not a contest! I'm not crunchy to be crunchy, I do what I do cuz it's what I want to do! (and we eat too much McD and watch too much tv, so come on, how crunchy is that??). So I would not offer to do it with one of them.

However, if it was one of my confident-in-herself friends who I knew wouldn't get upset, then sure

(of course that's assuming I'd even pick up a signal, lol! We're mostly flying on timing here )

[hoppytoad]

Well, I put other, because it would totally depend on who the person was. If they were open to things like that, sure. But, otherwise, I would just let my example speak for itself. Oh, and by the way, we ARE ECing! Haven't come out of the closet until now. We've just started about 2 weeks ago. SHe'll be 8 months in a week or so, and I tried it when she was about 4 months. I didn't find too much success with it then, probably because I wasn't patient enough with it. Now, it's working great!

[momsgotmilk4two]

I am not an ECing mama, but I wouldn't mind at all if someone offered to do this with my kiddos. Especially the two and a half year old! If you can get him to go on the potty, well, kudos to you :LOL. As long as the baby wasn't upset by it, I don't see the harm in trying.

[Kermit]

I agree with Devin. I have come across some really sensitive people, and wouldn't want to risk them thinking I was judging their way of dealing with their child's waste and needs.

[lilyka]

I don't Ec but I voted anyway. I said no it would be rude (although i feel that is a litle strong) I just would harte for the person to feel like I was judging her or showing off. Of course if it was a close friend with a little intrest in EC then I would do it, kinda like a party trick. Ya know ? ta-da! Pee in the potty!

[BowenTherapist]

kinda like a party trick. Ya know ? ta-da! Pee in the potty!

that's so funny
i wouldn't do it unless they were interested and asked.

[dorilys]

Well, I voted Other for the same reason the others voted Other.
Depends WHO the person is.
In fact I had it happen once that I was at someone's house, and the little guy DEFINITELY needed to poop.
And his Mama said: "Oh, no, stop fussing, be a good boy. He always does this when he is having his five minutes!" (The baby was 5 MONTHS old!)
I said: "He is not having 'his five minutes', he needs to GO!"
Needless to say, he pooped in his yucky disposables and nobody bothered to change him.

I'd do it with close friend's babys however.

Julia
http://kids.kairos-web.de (German)

[Ahleemah]

I thought it was weird too...

Pamelamama... not suprised your friend thought it was weird... when I first came across EC, I sent all my friends the website I found (earthmoon's) and LAUGHED and LAUGHED!!!! :-P Karma is a wonderful thing....

Blessings!

Ahleemah

P.S. and I voted OF COURSE! :-) Although likely just a wee newborn, not an older child

[Jodie]

I kinda did it a while back. I work at a day care in the infant center. Well, this baby was about 7 weeks old. He was sitting in a bouncey chair and started squirming and stuff. I had just read about EC so I picked him up, sat indian style and held him under his knees. I said "do you need to poop?" and I made some sort of noise and sure enough he pooped. It was in his diaper instead of a potty(which we don't have available), but he was promptly changed and seemed very happy. I thought wow, I noticed a cue! My husband and I are very interested in trying EC out when we have our own children. If I were watching someone's child in their home or mine and no one else was around I would EC the child if I noticed the cue.