Twenty-Four Hours on the EC Train

"Don't you knock?!?"

EC?  Huh?  What’s that, you ask?  EC stands for Elimination Communication, aka, infant potty training, aka, hippie-parenting non-sense (or so I thought).  Yes, yes, I know, I  am a non-sensical hippie-parent, but you see, I thought EC was taking it a little too far.  It sounded great in theory.  It resonated with my basic evolutionary perspective on life.  I just didn’t think it would actually work well enough to be worth the effort.  Plus, I think cloth-diaper butts are just too darned cute.

What changed my mind?  Our trusty cloth diapers gave the Little Monster some gnarly heat rash.  We decided to give her some diaper free time to help it clear up.  I had read a little about EC while I was pregnant and put it on my “that might be nice to try” list.  Well,  this case of heat rash got me thinking more seriously about it.
 
I’ve heard it a thousand times, “diaper rash is a part of diapering.”  I’m not okay with that, for a couple of reasons.  One, I hate seeing the Little Monster uncomfortable.  The first time she got a bit red in the diaper region, I cried.  She was upset.  I was even more upset.  It was a nightmare.  Two, it doesn’t make sense to me that we wouldn’t be born with the ability to not only excrete our waste, but to do so in a way that prevents us from sitting in it.  Human waste makes humans sick.  Why would we evolve to be so helpless as to have to hang out in our own urine and feces?  Gross.

So, I was sitting in the living room with my naked Little Monster and I just knew there had to be another way.  I grabbed my Kindle and started looking for EC books to read.  The one I wound up purchasing was The Diaper-Free Baby by Christine Gross-Loh.  It is chock-full of practical information; all of which you can find online if you possess a moderate level of Google-Fu.  But, if you don’t feel like sifting through blogs and message boards, it is totally worth the money.  It was worth it for me, because it gave me the final inspiration I needed to take my chances with this EC thing.

My results have been nothing short of amazing.  In just twenty-four hours of naked baby time, I have “caught” nine pees and “missed” only two.  (In EC-speak, you don’t have successes and failures, you have “catches” and “misses”... seems a little too PC for me but hey, if it works, it works.)  Additionally, the Little Monster is HAPPY.  Like, a whole different baby kind of happy.  I’d be happy too if I didn’t have to poop and pee on myself anymore.

How does it work?  Well, according to the book, there are specific signals that your baby gives to let you know that he/she needs to go.  All you have to do is figure out your baby’s “tell” and then offer the potty while making a cuing sound.  Over time, your baby will actually learn to wait for you to cue them to go.  Too simple right?  

I spent the first half of the morning watching the Little Monster’s every move.  I put her in a prefold without a cover so I would know right away that she was peeing while keeping her mess mostly contained.  I noticed that she would get a little squirmy and make grunty noises right before peeing.  The only problem was that she also got squirmy and made grunty noises right before not peeing.  So, when I thought she might be about to pee, I whipped off her diaper and made a mad dash to the bathroom.  I held the Little Monster over the toilet, her back against my tummy and my hands under her thighs and made a “sss” noise (my cuing sound of choice),  and... nothing, no pee, no anything.  I tried again about twenty minutes later...  nothing.  I started to feel foolish.  Who was I kidding?

I decided that the sprinting to the bathroom was a bit too stressful for my taste, so I grabbed a bowl from the kitchen and set it on the floor next to the Little Monster.  The next time she started squirming, I scooped her up and held her over the bowl.  SHE PEED!  It could have been an accident, but it didn’t feel accidental.  It felt glorious.  I felt like Super-Mom.  My two month old baby just peed in a potty.  Surely, she must be a genius; the smartest and most wonderful baby ever.

Fast forward twenty-four hours: we have only had two misses and they were both the result of either me or Mr. Monster ignoring the Little Monster’s signals.  Yes, that means we were diaper free during bed time too.  I put a waterproof pad and towel underneath the Little Monster.  I figured I would have to swap it out a few times during the night but I am happy to report that no one was peed on in their sleep!  I simply offered the “potty” before and after feedings and we stayed dry all night.

Overall, this is going so much better than I could have imagined.  We have quite a few false alarms.  I simply hold her over the “potty” until she starts to fuss and squirm (or until my arms get too tired) before I assume she doesn’t actually have to go.  I think, over time, we will get to the point where that happens rarely or not at all.  But, really, a few wasted minutes here and there is totally worth it when the alternative is years of rashes, diaper changes, and poopy laundry.

Oh yeah, did I mention how HAPPY she is?  It’s unreal.  I wonder how much “normal infant fussiness” is the result of a baby’s innate desire not to soil themselves.  Hmm....

My next challenge is figuring out how to do this on the go.  For now, I’m going to put a diaper on her whenever I leave the house and bring along a bowl.  That way it’s not a big ol’ mess if we “miss”.  Soon, I hope to ditch the diapers completely because the only thing cuter than cloth-diaper butt is naked-baby butt!