One of the not-so-mainstream things I do as a parent is practice elimination communication, or EC, also known as infant potty training (I have issues with both names, but that’s another story). Simply put, I give my baby a chance to pee and poop outside of his diaper when I think he needs to go. Several times a day, I take off his diaper and hold him over a bathroom sink in a supported squat (with his back against my chest and my hands holding his thighs), he pees and/or poops into the sink, I run some water to rinse it down the drain (we’re talking newborn poop here–it’s very liquid), then I wipe his bum and put his diaper back on. It’s easy, doesn’t take long, saves on diapers, and feels pretty cool.
It’s funny how new ideas can seem so scary at first, then so natural once you’ve had some experience with them. I first learned about EC when I was pregnant with Peter. I didn’t try it until he was 2 1/2 weeks old, and I didn’t tell anyone other than Don about it for several weeks. I didn’t want to face any negative reactions, and I didn’t want to have to explain it to other people when I still wasn’t sure about it myself. I had the same attitude toward our recent home birth. At first, it was just too far out there, too different from our culture’s expectations, to simply accept and hope others would too. Now that I’ve done both of these things, I believe in them, I see them as natural choices, and I’m happy to talk about them.
If you take the time to observe a baby sleeping with a naked bottom or a non-waterproofed cloth diaper, you’ll learn that babies don’t usually pee while they’re sleeping. Sometimes they’ll fuss for a while, pee, and then go back to sleep, but more often, they pee shortly after they wake up. If you pick up a baby when they’re at that fussy stage (assuming that they’ve been sleeping long enough that they’re about due to wake up), instead of waiting for them to start full-blown crying, or if you check their diaper just after they wake up and it’s still dry, you have a very good chance of being able to “catch” the pee. With a baby boy, an erection is also a good sign that pee is imminent. So back to how Simon stays dry all night. It’s simple. When he wakes up, I check his diaper; it’s almost always dry, though sometimes poopy. I change it if necessary, then feed him a bit. I know from experience that even though he has to pee, he won’t do it if I take him right away, because he’s too hungry; he’ll cry or straighten both of his legs as his way of saying he doesn’t want to go. When he’s had some milk, I burp him, take his diaper off, and take him to the sink, where he pees and often poops. I clean him up, put his diaper back on, and finish feeding him. Then we go back to sleep (unless it’s morning).
Once you get a little practice, EC becomes second nature. When Simon was three days old, I looked at him while changing his diaper and thought he needed to pee. I didn’t act on that thought, and he promptly peed on my bed (which still had a vinyl mattress protector under the sheet, so no real harm done). I decided that the next time I thought he had to pee, I would take him to the sink. The next day, I did, and he peed and pooped. So I was back to doing EC again.
EC is just another way of responding to your child’s needs. If you knew your 3-year-old had to pee, you would send them to the potty; why not offer your baby the same opportunity? It seems almost unfair to not give babies a chance to eliminate anywhere but a diaper. Practicing EC means babies spend less time in wet or dirty diapers, which is more comfortable for them and reduces diaper rash. Plus it avoids the difficulty that some parents have trying to convince their toddlers/preschoolers to use a toilet, when those children have never eliminated anywhere but in a diaper. Those who use disposable diapers can save money by using fewer diapers; for those of us who use cloth diapers, it means we can go longer between loads of laundry. As babies get older and bigger, you can move from holding them over a sink to holding them over a toilet, then to using potty chairs and/or toilet seat inserts (which make the hole in the toilet seat smaller), then to using just the regular toilet seat.
While there are some who take this method to the extreme and decide to dispense with diapers altogether, I’m not that fanatic. Unless my baby is being changed, going potty, or taking a bath, he’s wearing a diaper. I change more diapers than I catch pees and poops, but I probably get at least a half-dozen catches a day. I’m happy with what I catch and I don’t stress about the rest. As far as night dryness goes, Peter could “hold it” all night, wake up dry, and pee first thing in the morning when he was 16 months old. He was sleeping in underwear and consistently staying dry all night when he was 2 years old. I don’t know if Simon will do the same, but EC is more about the journey than the destination.
