how do you ec in our society?

[mama_kass]

I think ec is really cool, so this is not a bash. Please don't take it that way. Also, please excuse my ignorance as I have not done a lot of research on the subject.

I was just wondering how do you do it in our society? I can see it in tribal societies but it seems impossible in our culture. How do you take a baby into the grocery store w/o a diaper? What if they pee?

[DallasCPM]

Julian wears a diaper when we go out, but if he gives me signals that he needs to go, we just go to the nearest potty, remove the diaper, and I hold him over the toilet.

We're still new at this, but we've now gone several times while we've been out and about.

At home, we're very often diaper-free. He pees after he wakes up in the morning, after each nap, and most times he will crawl towards his potty when he feels the urge to go!

[mamarosa]

It can be difficult to completely ec, with no diapers out in public. Sometimes bathrooms are too far away and they can't hold it that long. I often wish I could just let her pee over a gutter while we are on a walk, or that every store had a bathroom. If our culture was more aware of it, it would be a lot easier. Most of the time what stops me from doing better at ec is what other people will see and think I'm crazy. Like I won't take her diaperless to certain places, that's for sure. But as you get more confident and baby gets better able to hold it, it is easier, I imagine.

And actually, ec'ing can be easier than diapering in some bathrooms without change tables. And there is less luggage to pack around...

[Laurie Boucke]

We adapt ec to our Western lifestyle in various ways, including:

-- the use of a sink, potty, toilet, mixing bowl or other container (instead of peeing on the ground or floor, for example);

-- variations in elimination positions (Baby is usually held in-arms over a container or supported on a potty or toilet instead of sitting on our legs);

-- part-time use of the technique (Our lives are too busy to ec 24/7!!);

-- part-time use of diapers (Most families use diapers as a backup when going out, and some use diapers in between most or all visits to the toilet place).

Ec is a gradual process that takes place over many months, and it's normal to experience many "misses" along the way. If someone takes their baby into a shop w/o a diaper and the baby pees, I imagine the caregiver would wipe up the pee asap. But most use diapers when shopping.

HTH,

Laurie

[AmyB]

I'm impressed by the moms who say they are totally diaper-free.

We have done EC since 3 months, and at 16 months we aren't totally diaper free-- just very diaper lite. DD usually comes to get me when she needs help to poo in her pot but once in a while she doesn't make it.

If we were living in a house with no rugs or upholstry I think we could pretty much be diaper free, but as it is I feel like accidents need to be contained. In the daytime dd wears those thin grocery-store diapers that most CDers don't like. She wears a thicker chinese prefold at night. I use a cover with velcro and no pins so it's very easy to take them off to give her a chance to pee.

In any case, I wear undies and myself. I don't see any reason why the baby shouldn't wear a diaper.

--AmyB

[Freddy]

Re: how do you ec in our society?

Originally posted by mama_kass
How do you take a baby into the grocery store w/o a diaper? What if they pee?

Weeelll...

If the baby pees, what happens? Nothing much. Baby's pants get wet - as would her diaper. As I usually wear her in a sling, the sling will get wet, too. And I'll most probably have a wet spot on my shirt.

So what?

I can walk away nonchalantly to next place good for changing, put baby in dry pants, shift the sling (didymos) to a new position, so baby is in a dry spot again, and that's it. My shirt will soon be dry again.

Actually this is pure theory, because during the three weeks now we've been consistantly everywhere without diapers (grocery shopping, playgroup, breastfeeding conference, appointment at the bank, shopping for a kitchen for our new appartment, and, and, and) we did not have a single accident on the go. We had 2 accidents in the car seat, but Jutta is sitting ON a diaper there, so I only had to chnge her into dry pants in the back of the car and replace the diaper in the carseat.

I have not been that relaxed about a diaperfree baby all the time. With Wolfgang I didn't dare to go out without before he was a year old. But Jutta is spitting up so much, I finally decided, if I wanted to save her, me and our surroundings from unexpected soaking I would have to put a diaper over her head, not on her rear end. So I thought I might just as well risk leaving her completely diaper-free...

[mama_kass]

Thank you all for posting! Your confidence is amazing! I'd like to share a story with you ladies. It is a little off topic.

My mother told me that she potty trained me at nine months old after I grew out of her cloth diapers. How could I be potty trained? I couldn't even walk yet! So I asked her if I wasn't walking how did I potty train so early. She said "I just knew when you were going to go so I would put you on the potty." I now realize that my mother EC'd me until I was truly potty trained.

I find that very interesting since there was no one she knew to teach this to her. She did not read a book. She just went by her "mothering instincts".

[MammaV]

mama Kass, I'd like to add that I'd rather get peed on by a baby in public than have a fight over cleaning up a soiled 3 year old in public. just mho