Posted on 10/17/2005 7:01:29 AM PDT by grundle
http://www.diaperfreebaby.org/FAQ.htm
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Elimination Communication (EC)?
Just as parents learn to read their baby's signs for sleep and hunger, they can also learn to read their baby's signs for needing to eliminate. In fact, most parents already know what some of these signs are, such as the straining facial expression or the telltale grunting and bearing down that precede a soiled diaper. Practicing Elimination Communication (EC) is just a matter of responding a little differently to these signals from your baby. Taking your baby to the potty can be easy and rewarding!
Why EC?
A few common reasons that parents choose to practice EC are: to recognize and respond to baby's self-awareness; to promote close communication between child and parent; to prevent diaper rash; to avoid struggles often associated with diaper changing and toilet training; and, as side benefits, to save money and use fewer environmental resources.
Don't the experts warn against potty training babies before they are ready?
It's important to note that this is Elimination Communication, not training. This is a gentle process that follows the infant's cues and needs, and is never coercive or punitive. As such, this practice is consistent with the baby's development and maturity.
How do I know when to offer the potty?
As a culture we have been taught to ignore the signals babies give when they need to eliminate. You can learn when it is time to offer the potty much the way you learn when to offer the baby a chance to eat or sleep - by picking up on signals such as fussiness, distractibility, and vocalizations. By choosing to consider these signals in a new way, you will gradually be able to recognize your baby's signals and patterns.
Does this mean that you never use diapers?
EC can be done with or without diapers. Many parents practicing EC do use diapers or training pants for backup or during certain times of the day. Whether a baby wears diapers or underwear, parents change them quickly whenever wet or soiled so that the child stays accustomed to the feeling of clean underclothes.
If a baby doesn’t wear a diaper, isn’t it very messy?
Often when people first hear of the idea of a baby using the potty (and not using diapers) they wrongly assume it will be a messy process. In fact, parents who diaper their baby spend a lot more time in contact with their baby's bowel movements than ECers do. EC'd babies will have the occasional BM that doesn't go in the potty, but diapered babies have their BMs in their pants every time and parents spend a lot of time wiping those BMs off their babies bottoms. A bowel movement in the toilet or potty is flushed or washed down, and wiping a bottom after a BM in the toilet takes all of one second and one small wipe. Also, EC homes have no stinky diaper pail.
How can I find out more?
Come join us for a local meeting! We can answer questions about: how to get started, specific positions for holding the baby, starting with older babies, recognizing and responding to our intuitive sense, and how to help keep baby interested in using the potty throughout various stages of development. There are also many good resources online and in print. For a full list, please see our Articles and Links sections and get in touch with your local DiaperFreeBaby contact.
"It's actually not a new thing, it's older than diapers. That's how many third-world countries have done it for centuries.
Yes, I've been to Port Au Prince and seen babies just dumping all over the streets. Very poor justification, sir....."
It's done all over the world and look at the disgusting, unsanitary, disease ridden places which result where this occurs. The stench alone must be enough to knock your socks off. They can keep it.
She had ONE accident, ONE pair got thrown away, and she was good as gold ever after.
Yes, throwing them away is what we said would happen. I guess you took it a step further, I just didn't have the heart, but you obviously cleaned less dirty panties than I. LOL
Perfect description of Port Au Prince, Haiti.
Well, after having 2 boys, I find it hard to imagine myself holding a 2 or 3 month old over the toilet (with both hands to hold the infant) and something ready to stream urine aimed at my face.
No thanks--I'll take the pampers
Can you imagine what those meetings are like? I'm going to take a pass on this particular parenting technique as well.
I knew several parents that did this when I was in the military. On our pay, we could not afford disposables, and living off base in a foreign country, we did not have washing machines. We would have to go to the laundromat on base that consisted of two washers and 4 driers with many people waiting to use them... an all day affair and not open on weekends.
I drove a cab to earn the extra money for the disposables. BTW, their kids were potty-trained by 18 months (no longer parent-trained.) My son was still having accidents at the age of three due to being at the day care all the time.
If I had it to do over again, I would have done as the other parents and spent more time with my child. The "American" way is not always the best way, imo.
That being said...
Any kind-hearted Freepers out there who might have some suggestions on how to get Desitin out of a toddler's hair? Apparently, my two year old wants to join the band Kiss. We were able to clean it off her head,hands, out of her eyes, et. but we've shampooed her hair about fifteen times, and there's STILL a residue of mineral oil.
We haven't even attempted to clean the rug...
My son, at 20 months, is not showing ANY of those signs yet, and I'm getting a LOT of pressure from the in-laws. Once he shpws 'em, we're off and running.
But I admit that I AM a stay-at-home during the day, and I teach at night, when DADDY can be home and hold down the fort. Our sitch is unique, and we're lucky.
ahem. Perhaps one of the main reasons that they've been third world countries for centuries is because of poor sanitary conditions. Maybe?
Actually, the Chinese have been doing this for centuries. At least up until the 1980s (don't know about now) they didn't use diapers. They dressed their children in "split pants" -- no seam up the back.
Easy to pop the baby onto the proper receptacle at the proper time, and when they were toddlers, easy for the child to learn to squat at the appropriate time.
I agree that it sounds like a challenge that modern American mothers couldn't handle. However, I have noticed that children are toilet trained later and later, now that Americans are using disposable diapers that "wick" the moisture away from the child's bottom instead of cloth diapers. The kid doesn't KNOW when he/she is wet.
Recently they have developed a product that keeps the moisture where it is deposited to signal the child to combat this problem.
That's where my daughter is now with my grandson. He's about 19 months and has started letting everyone know when he needs the bathroom. She got him a potty chair this week and training pants and if he's as easy as my two were he'll be completely potty trained by the first of the year. My two were both potty trained by 2 and with no hassle at all.
I can't see me potty training an infant though.
Sounds like a really sh*tty idea....
Being knowledgeable freepers, we're well aware that leftist loonies love GROUP think and GROUP therapy. They have a GROUP for everything. That's because free individuals cannot think on their own without busybody fascist liberals teaching them how to drive correctly, eat correctly, protect environment correctly and raise and potty train chillun correctly like the moonbat libs pretend to do in their own pathetic lives.
It's always illuminating to follow links when one reads outhouse crappioli like this. One such link is connected to the "Mothering Dot Commune" bone.....connected to the "Natural Family Living Community" bone.....connected to the "Elimination Community" bone.....connected to the left-wing bone......oh, hear the word of Da Lawd.
And so the communal global GROUP world turns.
Leni
Why do I have the feeling my mother ghost wrote this one? She claims I was trained and clean by 10 months of age - around the time I could walk.
As a result of being her "toilet training trophy" I have struggled with an irritable bowel most of my life. My conscience is fine with the fact that I created double the solid waste with each of my kids because they are healthy and happy.
What parents and children need to communicate most is COMMON SENSE!
Try baby oil; let it soak in; then shampoo. BTW, Aquaphor works great for preventing diaper rash. We use it on all our premies.
Ahhh kids...
That only solves ½ the problem.
Of course, with some babies, you could also attach a balloon with a rubber band.
But the ones that come without a spigot are more problematic.
And we all know that the USA is quickly becoming like the barbaric Third-World countries our ancestors left behind...this is ceratinly progress /s
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