Bug = 2 years 2 months
Bub = 4 months 23 days

What Is It?

Elimination Communication (also known as Natural Infant Hygiene) is about establishing two-way communication with your baby about when they need to pee and poo and helping them to “eliminate” into a vessel (or garden) rather than into a nappy. This can be started from birth or with an older baby, although the older the child is when you start, the more trouble you’re likely to have because patterns – such as sitting around in a wet or dirty nappy – have had more time to get established.

To find out more about it, read the EC FAQ.

What a WEIRD Idea!

That’s what I thought. But it’s the norm in many non-Western societies (not that I’m idealising “traditional” cultures, just using them as an example of where a certain practice works).

“Jean MacKellar told me of her years in Uganda, where her husband practiced medicine. Local mothers brought their infants to see the doctor, often standing patiently in line for hours. The women carried the tiny infants in a sling, next to their bare breasts. Older infants were carried on the back, papoose style. The infants were never swaddled, nor were diapers used. Yet none of them were soiled when finally examined by the doctor. Puzzled by this, Jean finally asked some of the women how they managed to keep their babies so clean without diapers and such. “Oh,” the women answered, “we just go to the bushes.” Well, Jean countered, how did they know when the infant needed to go to the bushes? The women were astonished at her question. “How do you know when you have to go?” they exclaimed.”

Excerpted from Joseph Chilton Pearce, Magical Child, page 58

These days we now see it as normal to respond to our babies’ cues regarding hunger and sleep, so it’s not a great leap to expect them to be able to communicate the need for the fundamental, natural function of elimination.

What a Pain!

It seems like a hassle. It seems like there’s going to be a lot of urine around (during the learning phase, at least). But my thinking is:

• Kids are a hassle anyway (along with being a delightful, fun-filled, satisfying, educational, fascinating blessing!) no matter how they’re nappied.
• Nappies are a hassle. Some days – especially now with two kids – it feels as if I do nothing but change nappies for the first four hours of the day.
• Even using nappies, there’s been no shortage of pee on my carpet. So at least if I’m attuned to when my kids are going to go, I’ve got a better chance of (literally) catching it.
• All the stuff I’d go through trying EC with Ada is exactly what I’d be going through with her in two years when I tried toilet training, i.e. accidents and interpreting signs and pre-empting her needs. So if I do it now, I just save two years’ worth of nappies and nappy rash.

First Steps

I’m trying a few “baby steps” with Ada. At the moment I’m:

• Increasing her nappy-free time.
• Having her often in a cloth nappy with no cover so that I know as soon as possible if she’s wet.
• Changing her nappy as soon as I know she’s wet. (“You mean you’re not doing that already! You should be ashamed of yourself! What kind of mother are you?!”)
• Observing her to notice when she pees/poos and even pre-empt it if possible (i.e. catch it in the potty).
• Making a cue sound (“sssss”) while she pees.

I’m also holding her over the potty a lot. I haven’t noticed any pee signals yet, but I’ve been doing it by timing, e.g. when she first gets up in the morning or when she’s been nappy-free for quite a while and still hasn’t peed. I’ve probably caught three pees in the potty, but tried maybe 15 times. Which is good. If it worked too well in the beginning, I’d probably be have high expectations that would subsequently come crashing down. This way, though, I’m slowly progressing up a (steep?) learning curve.

I’m not convinced I’ll manage to do full-time EC. But even if I end up doing it part-time or giving up completely, I’ll be saving some nappies in the meantime, and hopefully be getting a better understanding of my baby.