Elimination Communication Support Thread

Anyone still around this thread? I am a FTM very interested in EC. I have started trying to learn cues, but not sure what to do next...

I am reading "diaper free baby"
 
:hi:

I'm still here! I have that book, and found it quite helpful. My son is almost 17 months now and I'm pretty sure he'll be out of nappies completely within the next few weeks. 90% of the time he tells us when he needs the toilet and if he's nappy free, sometimes he'll go sit on the potty by himself without even telling us.

Are you giving your little one regular nappy-free time? Also, cueing the baby and holding him over a potty or toilet or other receptacle whenever you think he needs to go.

Good luck, I'm happy to share our experience with you if it helps in any way or if you have any questions!
 
So glad to see some EC moms! I have actually only been thinking about EC for the last 2 days. My son has a very bad diaper rash and it's just been killing me to see him in pain. I started giving him diaper free time because of that and that lead me to research EC. I started taking him to the bathroom, holding him in position, etc today just to try it out. To my amazement, he peed or pooed within a minute every time! We went 4-5x today! I don't want to rush him, but I'm really excited. I love the idea that I am not contributing the irritation on his diaper area situation, etc. I am finding the most difficult thing to be taking the diaper off him while I'm holding him and then wiping him, cleaning the sink, etc. all while holding him. He is only 8 weeks so he's very squigley. He did cry a few times but I don't know if he was just straining or if he was uncomfortable the way I was holding him.

In any case, I'm eager to get better at this!
 
Sounds like you are already off to a great start :thumbup: Because you know that he can hold it, this is what I do, I take his nappy off where I would usually change him and then carry him to the sink naked, he's never wee'd on the way to the sink, then he can do his business and then carry him back and wipe and put a fresh nappy on or keep nappy free, I usually keep nappy free for a while after a wee because you know he's just done his wee so he's not likely to do another :winkwink: We used the sink for maybe a week or two before starting to use the potty, but that was mostly because he was only 6 weeks when we started and I didn't feel too confident using it, but advice readyORnot gave me was to not make it about going for a wee, but to make it a bit more playful using toys, that helped us, so we would just sit on the potty a few times just to get him used to sitting on it, then he loved it really quickly and it's much easier than going all the way to the sink :thumbup:

Oh I also have that book, I loved it, very helpful, that reminds me, I only read the first bit as decided i'd take one step at a time, but I guess I should delve further now that we're army crawling :dohh:

I just want to share a good day we had yesterday, we went to do the food shopping, we went for a wee on the toilet before we left the house, then after we finished the shopping, I loaded it into the car and decided I needed the toilet so we went in and first I tried Loki, he did a big wee (although he had a wet nappy, not sure when he did that wee!), then we went to pick DH up from work and took him to the chiropractor so waited in the car for 15 mins playing and then having a feed, then half way home he needed another wee, so I pulled over got out our portable potty (which is just a small dogs water bowl :rofl: ) cued him and he did a lovely wee in the car, nappy back on, back into his seat and we were on our way and he fell asleep once he got that out :thumbup: Such a proud mummy moment :cloud9:
 
Sounds like you are already off to a great start :thumbup: Because you know that he can hold it, this is what I do, I take his nappy off where I would usually change him and then carry him to the sink naked, he's never wee'd on the way to the sink, then he can do his business and then carry him back and wipe and put a fresh nappy on or keep nappy free, I usually keep nappy free for a while after a wee because you know he's just done his wee so he's not likely to do another :winkwink: We used the sink for maybe a week or two before starting to use the potty, but that was mostly because he was only 6 weeks when we started and I didn't feel too confident using it, but advice readyORnot gave me was to not make it about going for a wee, but to make it a bit more playful using toys, that helped us, so we would just sit on the potty a few times just to get him used to sitting on it, then he loved it really quickly and it's much easier than going all the way to the sink :thumbup:

Oh I also have that book, I loved it, very helpful, that reminds me, I only read the first bit as decided i'd take one step at a time, but I guess I should delve further now that we're army crawling :dohh:

I just want to share a good day we had yesterday, we went to do the food shopping, we went for a wee on the toilet before we left the house, then after we finished the shopping, I loaded it into the car and decided I needed the toilet so we went in and first I tried Loki, he did a big wee (although he had a wet nappy, not sure when he did that wee!), then we went to pick DH up from work and took him to the chiropractor so waited in the car for 15 mins playing and then having a feed, then half way home he needed another wee, so I pulled over got out our portable potty (which is just a small dogs water bowl :rofl: ) cued him and he did a lovely wee in the car, nappy back on, back into his seat and we were on our way and he fell asleep once he got that out :thumbup: Such a proud mummy moment :cloud9:

What a lovely day! Good job for him!

Great advice. I am a little concerned about the waiting to wipe him part. Isn't his butt dirty when you carry him back to the changing table? I ordered a Bjorn potty which should be here by the end of the week. Hopefully he can use that next. I find sitting him on the regular toilet awkward so far.

Just curious... how many diapers do you go through a day with EC?
 
I've always just rinsed Angelo off in the tub or under the shower or in the sink - I only ever use water on him anyway, no wipes other than washable cloth ones - although I do give the childminder naty wipes or water wipes to use.

When he was tiny I also used to keep a small bowl of fresh water (which I would refresh a few times a day) near the potty and changing mat, so that I could easily wipe him if we hadn't gotten all the way to the bathroom.
 
Mine hasn't mastered pooing on the potty, only on a few occasions has he done it, we don't have a changing table, we're more change wherever you are type of people, I have a mat that I get out to put him on and I grab the potty so that it's right next to us and our nappy supplies so no issues with dirtiness, although once in the beginning when he did a poo on the potty I lifted him up and accidentally got it on myself and I had to change :haha: comes with the territory i'm afraid, and not the end of the world, I think I change more than he does anyway, he's always sick on me rather than himself :haha: Also I use re-usable wipes with water, so if I think he's doing a poo I have a cloth ready to wipe straight away, or once when he did a poo in the sink, I just filled up the sink with some water and gave him a mini bath to wash it off, he quite liked that :thumbup:

We sometimes go through more nappies than if we didn't EC because if I think he needs a wee I check, and even if it's a little damp, I won't put it back on, he may have only had it on 5 minutes, but it's a wasted nappy, although we use cloth so not a "wasted" nappy :D I've got 30 nappies and I wash every other day, some days he can be in the same nappy for almost the whole day though :thumbup:
 
Very interested in EC! Buying a book on payday :) any suggestions?
Any tips?
 
We sometimes go through more nappies than if we didn't EC because if I think he needs a wee I check, and even if it's a little damp, I won't put it back on, he may have only had it on 5 minutes, but it's a wasted nappy, although we use cloth so not a "wasted" nappy :D I've got 30 nappies and I wash every other day, some days he can be in the same nappy for almost the whole day though :thumbup:

Same here! Unfortunately we're in disposables right now because of the rash so I've had to hold off on the EC so we don't break the bank. Good news is the potty came in the mail today!
 
Melli, I think a few of us have used 'diaper free baby' and have been fairly happy with it?

I have an update, which I hope will help keep other EC mummies motivated, especially on bad days (and there will be bad days)!

Angelo is now just under 17 months, and the last few days he's been so amazing at letting me know when he needs the toilet, both at home and away from home (including on the coach, in the supermarket, and elsewhere) that I've decided that this weekend we're going to trial going totally nappy free.

We're already nappy free at home most of the time, but I generally have him running around bottomless. What's different about this upcoming weekend is that I'm going to put regular clothes on him, and not put him in a nappy when we go out. We will carry his portable potty with us just in case we're not near a toilet at the right time. When we're out I might use training pants, and I'll definitely have a few changes of clothes with us, but I'm really excited about this!

If it's a success, I'm going to try and get the child minder on board too, so that she takes him to the toilet when he asks instead of just letting him wee in his nappy. I've already given her some pull-ups to make it easier and so she doesn't have to have him nappy-free.
 
yep, definitely get that book :D

That's really good Ready, I hope it's a success :thumbup:

Inspired by your pattern for the pants, I have my own slightly altered design to try when the time is right, maybe i'll make some for this next baby you're baking :winkwink:
 
Update:
yesterday the child minder caught 100% of his wees, plus a poo! Didn't need to change his pull-up all day! 17 months old tomorrow and I think we're less than a month away from the end of our journey with nappies!
 
I've been doing EC very successfully for a little over 6 months but lately I am missing many of my son's cues. He's started grunting and straining when he bends as he's practising moving from sitting to squatting to standing without pulling himself up on anything and it's very similar to when he wants to poo. Initially I'd rush him to the potty but he didn't have to go and was getting frustrated with me as I was ruining his practise so now I am missing some cues as I'm not always able to tell which he is doing. (Also my MIL is dying and he is a bit unsettled by some of the changes that's necessitating in our daily life and his eating/pooing pattern has changed.)
 
EC has been very hit or miss for us lately even with extensive diaper free time. If anything the diaper free time seems to reduce the cues for us. (No notice given, just puddles on the floor)

In a more positive note, she's pointed at the bathroom once when she wanted to go, which was fabulous. :)
 
Hello! I just noticed this thread. I should look through. I wanted to share this though: https://ecsimplified.com/when-ec-st...ess-an-elimination-communication-potty-pause/
 
I see the above post says that diaper free time want helpful. I'm wondering if others with young toddlers (about 12 months) found it useful? I've started giving Violet diaper free time. I figure that even if we end up with pee on the floor, it at least helps her awareness.
 
Initially with my son nappy-free time was extremely useful, both for me, and, I think, for him. Now that he is regularly using the toilet including at the child minder, I've found that having him nappy-free and bottomless at home leads to many misses.
However, having him nappy-free and in shorts or trousers does encourage him to let me know when he needs the toilet.

So now we're no longer using nappies at all during the day and he's no longer having bottomless nappy-free time. At the child minder he still wears a pull-up but last week they never had to change him once because he did all his toileting in the toilet.

This weekend's going really well, we've been out in the car and to the shops with no nappy, and we were absolutely fine. He used his portable potty in the car once.
 
Yay way to go Angelo, that's great to hear :wohoo:

I'd say (we're only 6 months) that nappy free time works best for us when we have had a break from EC like this week for example, we've been ill so he hasn't even wanted to think about weeing on the potty, so once we're better we'll have loads of nappy off time to get us back into the swing of things :thumbup: I think it just reminds him that i'm trying to help him as I can acknowledge every single wee, even ones on the floor, rather than only noticing the ones we catch on the potty :D
 

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