Elimination Communication (EC) also known as infant pottying or natural infant hygiene is the one topic I am asked about most. This is a really loaded topic, and because of that, I'll be making a few posts about it. This first post will be talking about our personal journey and why we chose EC. The next post will be dedicated to your questions, so feel free to leave any you have after reading in the comment section.
Years ago, I had seen an episode of Pregnant In Heels that featured a very "hippie" couple. She wanted a natural birth, and they had brought up wanting to do Elimination Communication. This is the first I had ever heard of that. Rosie Pope (the "consultant" for pregnant couples) went on and on about how unrealistic EC was. She brought the couple to a coffee shop with a fake baby and proceeded to have the baby "poop" and "pee" all over the place. This was my first exposure to EC, and I just assumed everything she was saying about the technique was true. I watched her portrayal of EC and thought it was ridiculous, messy, unrealistic and gross. Why would anyone not put a diaper on a baby? A baby using a potty like a toddler would? How crazy.
Over the years, I have seen EC brought up. I failed to really educate myself on it and just had flash backs to that episode I had watched. I could not believe people actually do that. Do they just sit and watch their baby all day? What if they have other kids? I do not have time to stare at my baby all day waiting for her to go potty. I made fun of EC just weeks before I decided to try it.
Thanks to a Facebook group I run, I finally was educated on EC. I started doing my own research, and the more I looked into it the more I was intrigued. At this point, I still didn't feel it was for me.
Indie was around six weeks when I noticed how much she hated diapers and soiling herself. I'm sure no baby enjoys the feeling of soiling themselves or sitting in a soiled diaper. It took awhile to notice because I thought she was just "fussy". I realized that right after she got fussy I would feel her diaper get warm. All the info I had read about EC popped in my head. I grabbed the little potty we had purchased for Beckett, and when she got fussy again, I simply put her on it. She immediately smiled and peed and pooped on the potty. All sorts of emotions came rushing over me. I felt so happy that she went potty on the potty, but I also felt guilty that I had been ignoring her cues. I knew she had been trying to communicate with me, and I was ignoring her needs. I decided right then that we would be doing Elimination Communication.
I'm not going to lie, the beginning of our journey was frustrating, time consuming, and messy. So messy! It is definitely a learning curve. It does take some patience the first few days, but I promise you it is so very worth it for you and most importantly your baby!
I started by putting her on the potty or holding her over the sink at certain designated times daily: after she woke up in the morning, a few minutes after she nursed, after a diaper change, and after naps. I still had her in a diaper about half the day because at that point she was still sleeping a lot. When I took her potty and she went, I paid attention to her face, any sounds she made and her body language. She makes a very specific whine/noise when she has to go potty. She also starts kicking her legs a lot when she has to pee, and she will pull her knees to her stomach if she needs to poop. I knew the easiest way for her to get used to going on the potty was to not have a diaper on, I didn't want her to get used to the feeling of going in a diaper, so I only put them on during naps. This resulted in getting peed and pooped on several times a day. Like I said, messy. It really only took one or two short weeks to learn her cues and body language, and from the point on we had a lot less misses. Every catch I made was so exciting for me, and I felt even more connected to her. I felt our bond growing. Indie was a much happier baby once she knew her needs were being met, and I understood what she was communicating. It feels so amazing to be so in tune with your baby and her needs.
Indie is now five months old, and we are doing amazing with EC. We still have some misses, and I still get peed and pooped on from time to time, but overall, we have more catches then misses. (And what mom doesn't get peed or pooped on a time or two anyway right?) She is using her potty about %80 of the time. We have now had the opportunity to do EC in public, in the car, and on vacation. We don't do EC at night (I'll explain that in the next post), but during the day we practice the uncommon potting technique no matter where we are, and so far, I have nothing but great things to say about our journey with EC!
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