Adventures in Elimination Communication: Sharing Your Story

Adventures in Elimination Communication, or Part Time Baby Pottying… Sharing Your Story.

Thanks for taking some time out to share your story with others at Tribal Baby.

Here is the section: Adventures in Baby Pottying

Take the time you need, (Perhaps save this to your desktop as a reminder…)

As you can see from the stories already on the site, there are 3 aspects:

1. Your responses to the 10 questions
2. A personal or family ‘profile’
3. A photo or two – one of your baby close up, one of you and your baby would be great too!

Here’s an example of a brief profile:

‘Chris and Charndra live in a suburb of Canberra, Australia with their son Maven. Canberra is the beautiful yet hideously expensive capital of Australia. They began EC shortly after he was born, using a  combination of traditional cloth diapers, disposables and training pants while practising EC. Chris is an IT professional and Charndra a teacher, but currently a SAHM.’

I am really striving to convey how using diapers is integral to getting started, (and continuing for lots of folks) and how all sorts of people do EC. I’ll include links to your own website/ blog etc with your ‘profile’, just include, with a brief description. You can see how some other contributors have done this.

I’ll trim any photos to the right size. – Just a cute face shot is great – I don’t need a potty related one, though I am happy to pop another few in!
Here are the questions. You can attach your answers in an email or in a word document if you prefer, or some version that I can transfer if you prefer another program. I’ve put some prompting ideas under each question which you may use if you like. What I’ve noticed is that by giving some ideas like this people give very personalised responses, and I think that makes this section of the site really valuable.

I will not change the intent of anything you write, only edit any spelling blips or typos. I may use quotes on other parts of the site too.

Thanks again!

I look forward to hearing your story and sharing it with others.

Charndra

1.When did you begin practising EC with your little one and how did this look?
(Such as you started by using the cue sound at diaper free times for a month, or began by changing often and helping baby to poop when they needed to go, or offered during fussing at breastfeeding. I.E Show the range of ways to start – how by simply knowing about it and tuning in, trying to notice patterns, you have begun your ‘elimination communication’ with your baby – catches are a bonus)

2. Which diapers and alternatives did you use in the process?
(Such as using disposables at first, then to cloth, then training pants [mention the brands if you like], or using cloth at home, disposables when out, that sort of thing – to reassure about the fact that YES backup is perfectly OK
to use with EC. In fact diaper back-up all the time is what MANY do. Feel free to link to any resources you found helpful too.)

3. What differences/changes did you notice in your baby after beginning EC?
(for instance, did you find your baby developed a morning pattern for poops, or would get it all out in one go rather than over several diapers bit by bit, or perhaps your baby cried less and was generally happier and more
communicative, etc)

4. What difference did it make to your day-to-day life and your relationship with your baby?
(Such as having a closer connection or bond, baby being calmer – feel free to wax lyrical – I’m really into sharing this benefit of EC)

5.How long before you were feeling confident including a few ‘baby potty breaks’ into your day?
(Such as how long was it before you were feeling like you were ‘catching’ a number of wees and poos that you felt happy with, or perhaps when do you consider you became part time nappy free? For me it was about a month before using nappies part time, and 3 months before I was feeling like I had a ‘good bead’ on our communication)

6.In really busy times, what do you do?
(This relates to any time, but particularly in the early stages – to reassure that yes, life DOES get in the way and backup is an important tool to keep relaxed with EC. How we sometimes for many reasons need a little break, and how picking up again soon, being consistent is important, but catching every pee isn’t if we are going to burn out from internal stress!)

7.What impact has reducing nappies had on your budget?
(such as have you halved your nappy purchasing in time, reduced your washing load or both, has it enabled other choices due to the savings….)

8.What else has been significant to you?
(such as personal insights, Dad’s involvement, environmental awareness, learning about effects of nappies, cultural myopia, exasperation with entrenched myths, experiencing night EC, or any seemingly ‘psychic’ connection with your baby at times, how it has branched out to other relationships in your family – older siblings for instance. Has EC meant the end of nappy rash? – I’d love some stories about THAT as it is such a common baby issue.)

9. What message do you have to share with parents beginning their part time nappy free journey?
(such as being relaxed and light-hearted, taking it easy on themselves with misses, striving for the benefit of their babies and the earth, Umm – power through the early wees for the later rewards of close bond and reduced drudgery, Not focusing on the goal of ‘toilet training’, etc – whatever you like really…)

10. How would you practise EC with another baby?
(Such as what would you do differently second or next time around, or how would your approach be different? How has practicing EC been different to conventional toilet training if you’ve done that as well. And any other insights you can add in here as well…)

As I mentioned, take your time answering the questions. It would be great to include your baby’s first name, but no worries if you prefer privacy.

THANKS!

Charndra