Here is Maven, our inspiration, our motivation, our nappy free baby!

This is when Maven was 11 months old, on the roof of Parliament House, in Canberra, Australia. He is wearing padded undies, knickers that have a water-resistant layer and towelling in case of an accident. As usual, though, he didn't have an accident on this day - he was really excellent at communicating his needs to us on outings, plus as we held him a lot, it was super easy to "know" when he needed to go to the toilet, with plenty of time to find a place for him to go.

We love him - he is the best!

Maven is two years old now, talking and babbling, gorgeous and loving, cute and cuddly.

"All Our Dreams Can Come True, If We Have The Courage To Pursue Them" -- Walt Disney

About us

Charndra, Chris and Maven live in Canberra, the beautiful Capital city of Australia.

They met while both beginning as white belts in Taekwondo in 1998, married in 2003 in South Australia.

Here they are in front of Australia's Parliament House, shortly after arriving in Canberra in 2006. Maven is eleven months old and wearing padded training pants at this point in their EC journey.

About Tribal Baby

Charndra Chris and Maven began their 'EC journey' in 2005, when Maven was born.

Being so astounded by how using nappies 'part time' through EC was such a wonderful way to connect with their son on a daily basis, they began sharing their experiences in 'Nappy Free Baby' when Maven was around seven months old. (and thus had beginning mobility and slightly less in-arms-on-the-boob time with Mum!)

In time other pages on related topics were added, with links to resources for finding out more, those sources of information found useful and thought-provoking, or that allowed an informed understanding of a topic. Nappy Free Baby has grown as Maven has grown and progressed through the many 'phases' of ec, to a totally nappy free and semi independently toileting toddler! (Mum empties the potty and helps out now and then, but he is largely an "EC Graduate" now.

Tribal baby has visitors from over 25 countries!

When Maven turned two, and was nearly completed in his EC journey, Charndra began work on the "Part time Diaper / Nappy Free" online course. This grew out of noticing a need in the EC Community for a simple, guided structure to empower and give people ongoing support and practical strategies to follow as they moved from full time nappy use to part time nappy use.

Charndra noticed that people would want to start EC, but just couldn't work out where to begin, and that people would get discouraged and give up when reaching various developmental stages, feeling somehow they weren't doing it 'right'. Or, people would be interested, yet never actually start. She has planned the materials to counteract that by giving people a clear sense of how adaptable EC is to their lifestyle - as a way simply to cut their use of nappies down to a manageable level as they develop the skills and confidence in communicating with their baby through elimination communication.

After some conversations with her grandma, who had done this with her own children (and assumed all mothers still did this) she was inspired to help make these skills a normal part of baby care again - even on a very low key level. For, as those who practice EC know, the basic skills are quite simple, and people can then focus more or less time on their communication as the changing needs of their family require.

Learn Part Time Elimination Communication (EC)
- how we all get started!

These sites (mirror sites, only the terms diaper and nappy have been adjusted to make sense to locals) have been written and developed as full time care of Maven and living allow - so lots of quick scratching of notes, and typing while Maven sleeps or has a snoozy breastfeed while Charndra balances a laptop somewhere nearby, and early morning sneaking out of bed! Right now the template for the new structure is being created by Chris. Charndra is learning about e-commerce through a brilliant online course.

Charndra

Charndra has a Degree in Education, and twelve years experience teaching in country and city schools, with primary, secondary and tertiary students over this time. Subjects she taught included Art, Design, Information Technology, English, Geography, History and Drama! Her actual Degree was originally in Art and Design Teaching.

She has written three sections of the "Spendwell" website for the Office of Consumer and Business Affairs in South Australia, covering such topics as mobile phones, buying and shopping online all geared towards informing teenagers and youths of their rights and responsibilities as consumers. Spend Well

She has developed and updated the information technology course for years eight and nine while working for the Access Media Service and Enterprise unit within the Department of Education and Children’s Services, in South Australia.
These courses are used by Correspondence and School of The Air students in South Australia, Northern Territory, and even students in China!

Learning about EC while researching how best to live on one income while raising children, she became enthusiastic about encouraging other mums to discover the joys of being nappy free, and Tribal Baby was started!

Charndra is currently training as a volunteer Community Educator for the ABA, who have been very supportive during her bf journey.

She is hoping one day to gain her black belt in World Taekwondo, which she was in training for - the date had even been set - when becoming pregnant with Maven put a pause on those plans!

Chris

Chris has a background in telecommunications and has a Degree in Information Technology. He works for the Australian Government as an IT professional, and still has a nappy-free baby at home!

Contact us

You can contact Charndra by emailing: tribal.babyATyahoo.com.au (copy and change 'AT' to @)

Allow me a few days to reply with a busy toddler and limited computer time!