crazy question - elimination communication?

The thought of EC seemed a bit rediculous to me with twins (no offense to those who may do it - I'm just not that confident in my own skills!)...I couldn't imagine trying to watch all of those cues in two babies or cleaning up the messes when I missed them...but now that DS is on solids and seems more aware of his poo, he doesn't like to go in his diaper. It's so weird...he'll grunt and make a poopy face, and then just look at us. You know he's about to go, but he won't. He waits until I get him on the changing table! As soon as the diaper comes off, he just lets loose. I've tried waiting longer before I go to change him...same result. He really just holds it until I take the diaper off. He doesn't strain, he's not constipated, its not runny...everything seems totally normal. He just doesn't like poopy in his diapers! Can you blame him? So have any of you tried EC? Should I get a potty chair and try sitting him on it when he makes the poopy face? It's got to be better than holding a diaper under him while he goes, right? At first I thought it was a fluke, but it's been going on like this for several weeks now. DH thinks it's funny...I'm not so fond of getting to watch the process

 

I have never heard of EC! Sounds like you might be on to something though.

 

We've been doing our own version of EC. We tried cloth diapers but every time we used them, our boys developed a terrible reaction to them and it would take over a week for the sores to heal. They have very sensitive skin and we have to really wash all of their clothes carefully with Dreft and extra good rinsing. Dh won't let me self-launder diapers (we have a very old machine) and we used a diaper service so it wasn't easy for us to get the extra rinse or special detergent.

Anyway, that means we've been doing EC without the whole method (cloth diapers, holding baby over bowl or toilet, etc.) Instead, what we do is we watch for cues and get them changed ASAP at that point. If they happen to go during a change then we give them our cue ("SSSSSSS" for pee and "uh uh poo poo" like a small grunt since that's what they do in a poo). We congratulate them and say "well done" whenever they go outside the diaper. During diaper changes we just let them go on top of the open diaper while we hold a washcloth over them to prevent messes. We have little Baby Bjorn potties that we're going to start using in a few weeks.

It's working pretty well. Another hitch to our EC is daycare, which for us has been unavoidable. They simply won't do it, even our own version. However, the caregivers have told me that my boys let them know immediately when they need a diaper change.

A funny thing is now when I'm cueing one baby to go, the other starts to go. :lol:

It can be done to any level you want, even if it's just for one diaper change a day. The book "Diaper Free Baby" talks about various methods and levels of doing EC, and briefly covers doing it with twins.

 

Wow, I learned something new in this thread, I have never heard of EC before. I appreciate you sharing your information!

 

I had heard of it, but from a friend who sent it to me in an email as a joke when she heard I was cloth diapering...she said I could save a lot of laundry by just doing EC. I had NO intention of even trying it, but if DS is that aware of his poo and doesn't like doing it in his diaper, why would I want to force him to get used to it only to have to undo that eventually when we potty train. If he's telling me, I'm going to try listening...I'll let you know how it goes! Maybe DD will catch on, too, if she sees her brother getting rushed off to the potty chair when he grunts!

Lizzybo, thanks for the info! I'm so impressed that you've been doing it! My DS does exactly what you are saying...he tells me with a bunch of grunting that it's on the way, then waits for me to open the diaper. Someone gave us peepeeteepees as a joke gift and they've actually come in handy for this. I put one on him to control any mess and he goes on the open diaper. Crazy little kid! A potty chair would be a big improvement! I guess I'll have to try to signal to them, too, huh? If they both go when you signal, though, doesn't that get problematic if you're home alone with them? Or do you just put them both on the potty chair before you signal? I better read up on this...

 

I'm home alone with them most of the time. Dh has been traveling a lot so it's just me. It is kind of funny when the other will get the "message" when I'm cueing the one I'm holding. I still just handle one at a time, though, and will do one at a time on the potty. We may have some misses, but that's okay. You don't need to let him be diaper free and misses don't have to be messes.

The idea is that babies are born with the instinct NOT to soil himself. We actually train them to use diapers and then have to retrain them to use a potty. Most countries use EC rather than diapers. We are actually in the minority. In fact, most babies in the world are potty trained by about 1-1.5 years old! I've met many people from Russia, India, Central America, and elsewhere that think it's amazing that in America and Britain the average potty-training age is 3.

I think it's great your little guy wants to go outside his diaper! You can use this as a great opportunity to get him on the potty.

Our next step is to install a wall-mounted changing table in the bathroom so it will be easier for us to hold them on the little potties.

I wish you well with your efforts and well done on the cloth diapering!!

 

I can't imagine!!! I know that DD was notorious for peeing as soon as her diaper was off. Good luck.

 

I just heard about EC a couple of months ago... sounds interesting, and if you have such great cues, that's great! I hope it works well for you!!