Elimination Communication

Elimination communication (also referred to as the diaper free baby movement) is really common in China. It's what my mom did for my sister and I and it's what her mom did for her and her 3 siblings. The idea is that you take your kid to pee over the toilet or the potty at a very early age and associate the action with a sound like shhhh or pee-pee. You consistently do this so that sooner or later you can cue the sound and your baby will understand you want them to pee. As an added bonus you use less diapers as most of the business is done on the toilet and they will likely be potty trained around a year and a half as opposed to two or three.

1 month

I tried to do EC with Olly around 1 month and held him in a cradle hold over the sink. I did manage to catch some pee but the sink was a bit too high for me to secure the hold for very long. At this age it was really hard to decipher his noises to know when he needs to go, and with the added disadvantage of no head control I decided it was too early for EC.

2 months

At 2 months old he can hold his head up pretty well and would often pee while I was changing him after he wakes up. So instead of cleaning up after the spray of pee on the table and on his clothes and on his face we thought "let's just take him to the toilet!".  David and I started to sit him on the toilet seat facing the back of the toilet and sing "pee pee pee pee peeeeeeee". If he poops I say "poo poo poo poo poooo". After catching some pee and poo in the morning I was addicted!

From then on I watched him carefully and started to take note of when his diaper pee indicator turned blue. It was usually after breastfeeding and about 30 mins after that. He often cried or scrunched up his face or made some kind of sound before he needed to go. So I just started taking him whenever he made those cues. Sometimes you guess right and sometimes you guess wrong but catching a poop is sometimes the highlight of my day!

On a good day we might only use one diaper all morning but more often than not there would be a tiny poop squirt. So even if the diaper had no pee I would need to throw it away.

3 months

After a month of EC, I noticed a few times where he would pee right after I pulled the diaper off and his butt touched the seat. Is the baby making an effort to hold his pee until he's on the toilet? It could be a coincidence but I'd like to believe he's learning! I hoped he wasn't holding his pee too much because I can't take him all the time.

At 3 months old he started being a lot more vocal in general and especially on the toilet. Sometimes he would cry when we take him and push off with his legs. At first I thought he didn't want to be there so I would take him off, but sometimes he would pee or poo right after. It really made it difficult to decide whether to keep him on for just a little more while he's crying his head off. Anyway that has made a damper on the EC experience but to balance it out when I think he needs to go I say "pee pee?" and he will smile as if to say "you understand me mamma!"

4 months

Everyday after he wakes up he will have his morning pee and usually 3 squirts of poop. There is a lot of time between the poop squirts so I might be kneeling there for 10-15 mins. I got a plush bath mat from Costco to make it nicer on the knees.

He is definitely communicating to me when he needs to go. I've had several times where he would stop breastfeeding, look straight at me and try to say something. I slowly mouth the words pee-pee and he tries to make the same shape with his mouth. I say "pee pee?" again and he would smile. Twice I took him when he didn't smile back and he didn't have any pee! I think poo-poo is probably easier to say so I will try to do that.