I'm Here to Tell You It's Not True!

We've been practicing elimination communication with Dax since about 1 month old. Elimination communication is a fancy phrase for what parents do in many other parts of the world - have their baby pee in a potty or other place and forgo diapers. I was first introduced to it about 6 months into potty-training the twins when I asked my grandma how old her 8 kids were when they potty-trained. She said that she had them going in the potty by 6 months old. Needless to say, I found that amazing and, upon further investigation, it seems to be pretty common among the generations that had kids before disposable diapers were readily available.

So, I looked into and liked the idea of less diapers to use and less time that my baby was sitting in a wet or poopy diaper without me knowing it. When Dax was first born, I noticed that he'd pull off during nursing when he'd get ready to pee. Again, this seems to be pretty common. Little babies don't like to "poop in the nest". I was too tired to act on it at first though and waited until things had settled down after about a month. At that point, I started sitting him on the potty when he did that and he'd pee. Just that little act right there cut down on the amount of dirty diapers we used every day.

Eventually, I started putting him on the potty (I have a few Baby Bjorn little potties scattered throughout the house) when I'd change his diaper and before and after naps. He'd often pee and sometimes poop but it still seemed more like I was just lucky in catching him at the right moment. Then we had a breakthrough... A couple of weeks ago I noticed that Dax was making an effort when I'd sit him on the potty and say his "cue" word (which is pssssss). If he has any pee, he puts it in the potty and he does this consistently. You should see the looks of amazement he gets from my mom, aunt, sister, and others. It's really cool to see after all we've been told in this country about babies not being able to control their bowels.

Apparently, after 5 months old it is more difficult to start elimination communication although it can be done. Most American and other western civ EC babies are using the potty well by themselves by 18 months. In less-developed countries they go to the potty earlier. I can tell you it was way, way more difficult to train the twins not to poop in their pants after having them do it for 3 years than it is to put Dax on a potty when I change his diapers. There is a parental training aspect to it in that I have to put him on the potty, but it's just like everything else baby-related that I train myself to do like change diapers, respond to cries, feed him every 3 hours, etc. It's no trouble, takes just a few extra minutes each day, and means less dirty diapers.

For anyone who is pregnant again or considering having another child after the twins, I highly recommend EC. You may want to ask your grandmother's if they practiced it as well.

 

That is really cool.

Thanks for sharing

Erin

 

That's great! Mom didn't practice EC, but did train me early:

I was a clingy baby and mom would take me everywhere-including the bathroom. At 9 months, I indicated that I wanted to try going to the potty. She plopped me on and I did my business. She was shocked-my older brother was nearly 3 when he trained. Mom took the cue from me and kept going. I was totally day trained by 11 months but in cloth diapers overnight still. By 12 months, I was totally out of diapers. It is very possible to train early. Of course, my girls are another story lol.

 

I've been intrigued by EC since I heard about it, but couldn't hack how to do it with twins. I'm glad it's working for you and Dax!

 

What do you do when you're not at home? Overnight?

Too late for us . . . 2 1/2 and just potty training now, but I'm curious how this all works.

Rachel

 

My SIL did it with her little guy who is now two and has been pretty much potty trained entirely since 15 months! I can't even imagine doing it with twins!

And since I'm not a SAHM it would have been too much to ask. But I think it's cool! I can't even get my 3 year olds to go on the potty. They are big fans of their diapers.

 

Wow, that is great.

But in a sense don't you feel like your potty training for an entire year or more?