Elimination Communication Support Thread

[greenpear]

Out into nature - I like that concept. Next time I'm in the mall I'll give it a go....Hahaha just kidding

Oooh! Emi pooped into the toilet like a big girl this morning

 

[katrinalorien]

woot!!! Way to go emi!

 

[xSin]

Aria only pood once in the toilet this morning and then her next one was a "miss" -- It came later than usual and she seemed constipated. Its neat how EC'ing shows me things I never knew about my baby before lol

 

[jcg0506]

For those of you just starting out, I would definitely recommend reading at least one book. Trust me, you will need the information dealing with all the how-to's, different stages, trouble shooting, etc. My two favorites were ECSimplified (Andrea Olsen) and The Diaper Free Baby (Christine Le-Gross) for just good practical information for just starting out. ECSimplified is more expensive but comes with access to a private forum where the author answers your questions directly. Laurie Bouke's Infant Potty Training is good, though much longer, but has fascinating information about EC around the world in different cultures. I don't recommend much Diaper-Free! (Ingrid Bauer) for just starting out; it's what I read first and it seemed totally impractical and gave me false expectations about what I could really accomplish but without much detail on how to get there. The author tells her own story of never using diapers and almost never getting peed on! She seemed psychic to me. Anyway, info gained from forums, blogs, etc., though helpful, just won't be enough!

Also, diaper-free time when you're starting out is absolutely essential for establishing babies natural timing and signals. With non-mobile babies, you just lay them on some old towels or other waterproof or absorbent material. Of course, it's much more difficult with a mobile baby, but you can try to block off non-carpeted areas of the house or try outside. You watch closely, it helps to keep a log of when by our baby pees/poops with respect to eating/nursing and sleeping. And try to observe what they do just before eliminating. This tells you how often to offer the potty and what signals to look for when baby needs to pee or poop. Cueing sounds helps them establish the association between the sound and eliminating, then they will know to eliminate when they hear the sound and eventually they recognize the position. It's just behavioral conditioning (aka Pavlov's dog). You'd be surprised how fast a tiny baby will pick up on the cue. With older babies, you can just use words.
Good luck!

 

[xSin]

That's good to know thanks for the tips!

 

[angiepie]

For those of you just starting out, I would definitely recommend reading at least one book. Trust me, you will need the information dealing with all the how-to's, different stages, trouble shooting, etc. My two favorites were ECSimplified (Andrea Olsen) and The Diaper Free Baby (Christine Le-Gross) for just good practical information for just starting out. ECSimplified is more expensive but comes with access to a private forum where the author answers your questions directly. Laurie Bouke's Infant Potty Training is good, though much longer, but has fascinating information about EC around the world in different cultures. I don't recommend much Diaper-Free! (Ingrid Bauer) for just starting out; it's what I read first and it seemed totally impractical and gave me false expectations about what I could really accomplish but without much detail on how to get there. The author tells her own story of never using diapers and almost never getting peed on! She seemed psychic to me. Anyway, info gained from forums, blogs, etc., though helpful, just won't be enough!

Also, diaper-free time when you're starting out is absolutely essential for establishing babies natural timing and signals. With non-mobile babies, you just lay them on some old towels or other waterproof or absorbent material. Of course, it's much more difficult with a mobile baby, but you can try to block off non-carpeted areas of the house or try outside. You watch closely, it helps to keep a log of when by our baby pees/poops with respect to eating/nursing and sleeping. And try to observe what they do just before eliminating. This tells you how often to offer the potty and what signals to look for when baby needs to pee or poop. Cueing sounds helps them establish the association between the sound and eliminating, then they will know to eliminate when they hear the sound and eventually they recognize the position. It's just behavioral conditioning (aka Pavlov's dog). You'd be surprised how fast a tiny baby will pick up on the cue. With older babies, you can just use words.
Good luck!

Thanks a lot, this was a really helpful post.

 

[readyORnot]

I was planning to do an observation day on Thursday but baby wasn't well so I decided to leave it for a few days.

It's still going reasonably well though, still far more successes than misses (poop) and he's back to peeing in the potty after a two-day boycott.

As for the big toilet, I just hold him in position over the bowl, but at home I did invest in one of these, which makes my life easier as I can rest him on it and will be useful when he gets bigger and can take himself to the potty.

 

[morri]

There is also a short version of Laurie Bouke's book (I have got it) which sums the bogger book up quite nicely

 

[xSin]

So yesterday was "not such a great" day for EC'ing, not sure why but it seemed like a lot of misses. Today has been much better, she peed in her diaper while we were out but seemed to really hold in her poop because she pood twice in a row as soon as we got home and got her in the bathroom going in the big girl toilet

I love how she coo's and smiles when she goes too

 

[readyORnot]

we've had a strange few days, hoping someone has some advice.

Basically, every morning he normally has his morning poo as soon as he gets up. After that we have about 30-45 minutes of playtime & tummy time together and then he watches a 15 minute 'educational' dvd (please don't judge me!) while I get washed & dressed and so on.

On Friday there was no first morning poo and instead he did it in his nappy during the dvd.
On Saturday, the same. So on Sunday I extended playtime to 90 minutes and still no poo - and again he did it afterwards during the dvd!
On Monday I skipped the dvd in the morning - no poo. I let him watch the dvd in the late afternoon and hey presto, pooey nappy.
Yesterday we did the dvd at night and still he pooped at that time, and this morning we're 6 for 6 even though I did a 3 hour nappy-free observation (during which he managed to pee 4 times, always when my back was briefly turned grabbing a toy or a muslin or something).

I'm worried that he's starting to associate pooing with the dvd or could it be pure coincidence 6 days in a row? I'm going to skip the dvd altogether for a couple of days and do more observation time but wondering if anyone elses little one ever started associating a random daily event with elimination.

 

[readyORnot]

on the plus side I did manage to catch a poo in the big toilet whilst out for the day at a family reunion on Sunday!

 

[katrinalorien]

No advice about the poo but what a strange association

 

[xSin]

I had a great morning this morning (sarcastic)

After a fantastic weekend and start of the week, this morning I took Aria in for her morning poo and it seemed like she didn't have to go... my back and arms were getting sore plus I had to pee really badly so I turned to put her diaper over her again before heading out of the bathroom and RIGHT as I started turning, she started projectile pooing ...it went -everywhere- ...an pee too LOL what a start to the day :\

I told her good girl anyways... bad mummy but good girl LOL

 

[katrinalorien]

I had a great morning this morning (sarcastic)

After a fantastic weekend and start of the week, this morning I took Aria in for her morning poo and it seemed like she didn't have to go... my back and arms were getting sore plus I had to pee really badly so I turned to put her diaper over her again before heading out of the bathroom and RIGHT as I started turning, she started projectile pooing ...it went -everywhere- ...an pee too LOL what a start to the day :\

I told her good girl anyways... bad mummy but good girl LOL

sometimes you just have to laugh

 

[modo]

My DD is 4.5 months old can I still start?

 

[readyORnot]

My DD is 4.5 months old can I still start?

it's never too late to start! At that age my book recommends starting with a couple of hours of nappy-free observation time to look for any signals. If you do see her pee you can make a cueing noise ("pssss" or whatever works for you) to start developing an association.

 

[xSin]

We're going through ups and downs so I'm going to spread out the towels and have some nappy free time when Daddy's gone back to work this week.

 

[katrinalorien]

I'm thinking I might do an observation day as well - I haven't caught a single pee in 5 or 6 days (except by accident)

 

[readyORnot]

I have a question for people with boys.

My LO can very very occasionally go over two hours without peeing (as he did just now when I was pleasantly surprised to find his nappy bone dry), but can also pee 9 times in 75 minutes (as he did earlier this morning during nappy free time).

Does anyone else find their son pees or peed this often, and if he's a bit older now, when did he stop peeing so frequently? Anyone know any tips to encourage boys to fully empty their bladder in one go? Funnily enough I had a similar problem with a child I used to foster, but he was almost 3.

I've also discovered purely by accident that he prefers the big toilet to the little one!

 

[xSin]

I think I'm going to hold off on the observation time until its spring... the climate I live in and more importantly the house I live in is NOT ideal for having a naked baby rolling around when its chilly out... and we're definitely into the chilly side of things. Unfortunately our single pane windows mean all the heat leeches out and we end up with ridiculously high heating bills every winter just trying to make the place bearable.

(And my OH thinks he's moving LO to a seperate room in December... HAH!!!!! Yeah right.)