Anyone else doing 'elimination communication/infant potty training'?

[cleanandclothed]

Just started with DS2 (4 months). Anyone else?

[AndMiffyWentToSleep]

I want to but can't really get it to work - he cried every time I tried holding him over the loo...

[VisualiseAHorse]

We're going to start soon - LO is 6.5 months old. He's done a few poos on the loo, but I'm going to get him a potty soon, so I don't have to run to the loo with a bare-bottom baby!

[cleanandclothed]

Yes - I use the potty. Started DS1 at 5 months, DS2 at nearly 4 months. I basically pop them on the potty at nappy change time and any other time it looks like they need it. Trouble is most potties now are built for bigger bottoms - we had to borrow one from my parents!

[vladthedisorganised]

I did! DD is potty trained now (2.6) but we used EC from 5 months. I was never brave enough to go completely nappy-free but thought I'd give it a go; she seemed happy with it but finding a small enough potty was a real challenge. John Lewis do a small (and cheap) one if that helps!

[BadlyWrittenPoem]

Yes, I did it with DD1 and am now doing it with DD2 (4 months).

[LunaWilliams]

Yes I am. DD now 16 months and reliably dry for me and others and has been totally nappy free for a month. I used Eco nappies as a back up but have been ECing more or less full time since she was 5 months old. I can't recommend it enough. No nappy rash was a bonus but I was very egged on by how clearly I could see she was trying to let me know she needed to go. The more I responded the clearer the signals got ( or the more in tune we got) and when she started talking after mamma and daddy's her first word was wee wee.

You also get in tune with their natural body rhythm fairly quickly. Their elimination needs are not as random as I had thought before I started. Just by observing your baby ( nappy free time, open the nappy during breast feeding, etc) you will be able to get a very clear picture of when she is likely to go. Good luck!

[catkind]

That's a really encouraging story Luna! Other EC graduates here, when would you say your little ones were independent?

I've been pottying DD since 3 months or so, but still using nappies full time as we have carpets and I'm lazy. At 11 months she pees pretty much every time we put her on the potty. I've been experimenting putting her on every 45 mins or so today and she's been dry all day. (son couldn't do that at 3 years!!)
I do try putting her on if she seems to be asking - going to the bathroom or potty, or otherwise seems uncomfortable for no reason. But as she always goes anyway it's hard to tell if i'm picking up signals right or not. Roll on talking!

Wondering whether to get some mini training pants and see how we get on.

My only concern is if holding too much at this age might put her at risk of UTIs. Anyone know anything?

[BabyLabyrinth]

I put DD (9 mo) on the potty every nappy change (still use nappies full time) and whenever she seems to want to go - I started when she was 5 mo.

When she needs to do a poo, she makes a certain face at me, so I whisk her off to the potty. It's nearly always the same time of day (after lunch and before nap), which makes it easier to spot. I've caught every one for weeks now, as long as we're at home.

Wees are really hit and miss - she often does one when I put her on the potty, but she doesn't signal to me at all that she wants to go. What kind of signals do your DCs use to let you know they need a wee?

I hadn't even thought of UTIs, catkind, but surely putting her on the potty every 45 mins means she won't be holding too much in? I was reading something yesterday that said older babies will generally wee every hour. Like Luna says, it's not as random as we'd think. Not that I have yet got to grips with DDs weeing habits ...

We haven't really ever done nappy-free time because of worries about the carpets, as well as DD becoming really mobile really quickly. Sometimes before her bath I let her loose in the bathroom naked, but that's only ever for a few minutes because she always tries to eat the toilet seat . And I never thought to just open her nappy during a feed when she was littler. Now she would just squirm away from me the minute it was off and probably wee all over the bed.

[VisualiseAHorse]

Things are going quite well for us (gave up at 7 month due to stupid PND).

LO is now 9.5 months old. He has pooed in the potty every morning for a week now. Now starting to poo in the evening too. I started off by when I noticed he was pooing in his nappy I'd say 'poopoo?' so he's learnt to associate that word with pooing. Now I feed him, take his nappy off, pop him on the potty and say 'poopoo?' If he needs to go, he will sit there, if he doesn't he will try to stand up! I'll also do it throughout the day if I see the signals (long grunt noise, staring into the distance).

Wees are a lot harder though, I can't read any signals at all. When he is having bare bum time and he wees on the floor I say 'weewee?' - but I normally miss it and end up standing in it a while later! Have found kitchen paper excellent - Plenty soaks it up really well and doesn't leave a smell as long as you catch it quick enough.

TBH - I'm not bothered about the carpet!! We live in tied housing and if our carpet is grotty enough it will get replaced....which I'm hoping will happen as I hate it - it's burgandy with flowers on it, really not my style :)

[MewlingQuim]

Reading with interest.

I wanted to try ec with DD months ago but I wasn't sure how to go about it. She is 1 year now, is it too late to start? She is quite regular with poos and I can always tell when she's going and I say 'poopoo', I don't know if she's making any connection though. She is also at nursery in the morning, would it be possible to do ec afternoon and evenings only or would it be too confusing?

[catkind]

Babylabyrinth, I was thinking about UTIs because I saw somewhere one of those potty training "experts" (how do you get to be an expert potty trainer?) give it as a reason not to PT early. I don't know if there is any proper evidence for it. It's not the 45 minutes so much as if/when she takes control; also she's dry all night, has an enormous morning pee, so there's some degree of holding going on. Without evidence it's just someone's idea, so I'm not changing what I'm doing just following baby's lead really.

Mewling, why not give it a go and see? What's the worst that can happen? As you say, you already have a pretty good idea when to try. If nothing else you can save yourself some dirty nappies - potty/toilet poos are so much less nasty to clean up after.

[BabyLabyrinth]

Oh ok. That's amazing that she's dry at night. Well done, Little Catkind! DD's nappies are full to bursting every morning.

I'm reading a website at the moment (Topffit, if anyone speaks German) about being nappy-free, and they talk about the difference between conventional potty training and EC being the difference between consciously having to hold wee in, and consciously having to relax the bladder muscles in order to wee. So, when potty training at age three, for example, children are told they have to hold everything in until they can get to a potty/loo. Whereas nappy-free babies learn from a very early age when to let everything out.

The example given is Mum saying to little one before a car journey, "Now, do you need the loo before we go?" The child says they don't need to go. Ten minutes later, Mum has to stop the car because they suddenly now do. An EC-ed child would have been able to go to the loo before they set off, because they are used to relaxing the bladder muscles and have never been forced to tense up and hold things in.

All this is my convoluted way of saying, Catkind, that perhaps EC isn't responsible for UTIs but rather may help avoid them! (Disclaimer: not a scientist, no idea about this in practice, just a mum with a baby that likes to poo on a potty.)

[VisualiseAHorse]

Very interesting Baby - I also think that learning to relax the muscles is very important.

LO pooed on the floor today. Luckily, it went on an old towel, but still ARGH!

[catkind]

Oops visualise! All part of the learning curve. I always remember the first time DS peed on the potty at 2 - let him run around without nappy to celebrate, 5 minutes later he poo'd in my bed. You win some you lose some!

That is interesting BabyLabyrinth. DD is certainly doing well at letting go. I think one disadvantage of doing EC-lite compared to proper nappy-free EC is that having her nappy off is a bit of a trigger to go in itself. We haven't had poos on the floor yet but pees aplenty!

Though I think 3 yr old DS also PT'd that way round - he could go on demand well before he could hold.

[ellesabe]

I'm quite interested in this but am not sure how to go about it. Dd2 is nearly 4mo.

Do I just put her on a potty and see what happens?

Are there any books/websites that are worth reading up on?

Is it wise to do ec with 4mo dd2 before potty training 2.4yo dd1?

Sorry for my ignorance

[catkind]

"Do I just put her on a potty and see what happens?"
That's about the shape of it ellesabe, or that's what we did anyway! Some times worked better than others - for us, first thing in the morning has always been a reliable catch, after naps, after meals or time in the sling as these were times she didn't tend to go in her nappy. 4 months is a great age to start too I think, they're strong enough to sit with a little support but not trained out of open air peeing yet.

This looks quite helpful:
www.nappyfreebaby.co.uk/what-is-elimination-communication
but have to say we kind of fell into it then realised that EC was what we were doing so I haven't actually read much!

I know someone who pottied (sorry terrible word, but it wasn't exactly potty training) the toddler and the baby at the same time. Baby doing it could be an inspiration to toddler?

[BabyLabyrinth]

We started doing nappy-free time this week! After sitting on the potty for a bit in the vain hope of catching the first wee of the day I've let her run around in the kitchen with no nappy on for 20 mins or so. Her bottom looks much better, and she seems to enjoy being without her nappy on.

But she has wee'd on the floor every day without fail! She's not gone in the potty at all in the morning I don't think my kitchen floor has ever been so clean, the amount I'm now scrubbing it!

Ellesabe, that's all I did. Stuck her on the potty at every nappy change. It took three months before she actually did anything on purpose though. I agree with Catkind that baby might inspire toddler to start using the loo/potty. I'm sure it often works the other way round, when the younger sibling wants to do the same as the older one ... Why not like this?

Catkind, that's a great link!

We've had a bit of a setback here. DD and I went to England to see my family last week, and although I caught nearly all her poos when we were at their house, she had to poo in her nappy the times we were out including an amazing nappy during take-off on the way home. When we got home, she didn't go at all for two days, and then the next couple of days she went at completely random times and I missed them. Has anyone else found that a change to the routine can upset babies' natural rhythm?

[VisualiseAHorse]

Yes to change of pattern affecting results BabyLabyrinth.

Had a fab couple of days, caught every poo (6 in total over two days), even started to catch wees. Then had a couple of bad sleepless nights due to teething. LO pooed in his sleep overnight - which hasn't happened for months - and has refused to poo all day, even refusing to sit on the potty.

As a result of pooing overnight, he now has terrible nappy rash, it's even on his little willy. So we had a nappy-free afternoon. He even napped nappy-free. I put a maternity mat I have spare under his bedsheet and wrapped him in a couple of old towels to keep him warm while he napped.

[looseleaf]

We used EC with DD from 2 months. It brought us even closer and I could comfortably take her out for outings even without nappies (I carried her a lot and she never once peed when in a sling ). We did it in the night often too as she'd wake needing a feed and pee in a pot while I fed her.
At 1 year we put her in nappies for a couple of months as backup as she started minding having to stop her play to pee (or poo) but she was dry by 18 months or 2 years (I now can't remember) and dry at night too .

DS meanwhile was less easy to read or less responsive to me trying EC- either way at 20 months he'll always tell me when poos or pees (I used to make a noise signal for him to help him be aware) but wears nappies all the time still.

[Inwoode]

Noticed my 6 month old saying "airghh" like he is trying to make a bowel movement and blowing raspberrys and thought would try our first few poos over the loo. His back to my belly and me holding his thighs. He's done it for 5 days now and he's pooped about 8 times this way. tried our first few poos over the loo. I'm really impressed. Once I've got him in position I make encouraging raspberry noises, and he replies. Then after about a minute he poops. I'm still using washable nappies as not sussed out the wee communication yet.
Anyone know how their babies signal wee?
And do your little ones raspberry?

[LunaWilliams]

Hello again, not been in here for a while. If anyone is interested I created an App as a how to guide to EC called Happy no Nappy. Find out more on my website //www.happynonappy.com

Hope it all went ok for you with EC.

Xx