If you don’t know what elimination communication is, it is using cues and signals from your baby to help them use the potty. This can be done from birth or any other age. While you may have doubts, questions or something else entirely, let me tell you – elimination communication is real. It can really be done, and when you realize that your tiny baby is waiting to use the potty until the second you set them on it, you will be amazed! There are some great benefits to going diaper free by using elimination communication and today I am sharing some of them with you.
Save money
Seriously – this may be the best reason. We already save a lot of money by using cloth diapers, but I love being able to save myself even more by being diaper free.
Go green
Aside from the fact that I don’t like to change diapers, I don’t like creating waste for the environment. While cloth diapers help eliminate the waste, you are still using water and electricity to wash them. Definitely a better option than so much waste, but I know we can do better. Every time your baby uses the potty, that is one less diaper that gets thrown away or washed.
Eliminate that dreadful potty training phase
I can’t tell you how many people I have heard complaining about that awful potty training phase. I can tell you that I’ve never gone through that phase. Maggie didn’t have an awful phase, it was a very fast, almost overnight experience. She decided she wanted to go on the potty and that’s what she did. With elimination communication, the awesome part of it is that you teach and help them to use the potty for elimination from birth {or whenever you start} so they learn very early on that that is where you go potty. Diapers give the opposite effect. With diapers, they are taught that they don’t get changed until they go potty in their diaper and that that is where they eliminate, so that’s exactly what they do – they go in their diaper. Then, when they are 2 or 3, or whenever you decide they need to go potty, then suddenly you are fighting with a strong willed child to suddenly change what they have been taught for the first few years of their life. It’s amazing to me how early on they can learn to go on the potty.
More bonding / communication
I love my babies, but I know that when they aren’t speaking, communication can be difficult. They don’t have the words to tell you they are hungry, tired or have to go potty. You have to learn to watch their cues and learn from them. You learn to speak their language and it builds greater trust between the parent and the child. You learn that the fussiness you see means they have to go potty. You take them potty. Baby is happy and so is mom. Whatever their signal is, you will learn to read it and respond by helping baby.
These are just a few reasons why we choose elimination communication in our family. I’d love to hear your questions or experiences with elimination communication. To find out more – be sure to check out the rest of our EC articles.
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I first heard about this when my first daughter was about 9 months old. Out of curiosity, how long do you typically set them on the potty for before giving up when you first start out?
I think that will, in part, depend on their age. 9 months I would gauge that based on your daughter. I try cueing them for as long as they will sit there, but at that age, I imagine she is trying to wiggle off the potty. If she’s fussy and won’t be distracted, I would let her up. I usually try no longer than a minute or two.