What is Elimination Communication?

Elimination Communication (EC) is an ancient practice of tuning in to a baby's elimination patterns and signals and responding to the baby's needs.  In this way, babies can live diaper-free!  Might sound crazy at first, but it's truly a beautiful thing!  Ingrid Bauer is an expert in the field - read more on her website.


Elie at 8 weeks

Elie at 8 weeks

Thursday, February 28, 2008

Poquitos

I didn't use the Poquitos today. I'm trying to decide if I should switch my Ms for Ls so I'll have a longer period of time I can use them. Today I used an old Motherease cloth dipe without a cover. It also has two snaps per side, so I got to see what it will be like with the Poquitos. We only had one miss so far today and that was when I left Elie in the bed while Yoav and I had breakfast -he woke up and peed before I got there. Serves me right for leaving him there alone ;)

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Poquito Pants!

Not much new with our progress - we're having mostly no-miss days. Today we were out for most of the day and I've missed two pees, both while we were out.

The big news is that Jen & family got us Poquito Pants as a baby gift and they are AMAZING! They pretty much look like regular undies but they have side snaps and a really thick cotton pee/poop area and are supposed to hold one pee. I'm so excited to wash them and try them out.

Sunday, February 24, 2008

Jer peed Elie again

Jer did it again - this time all the pee got in the potty! Elie had just woken from a nap and Jer positioned him and cued and Elie peed right away. Then I took him to nurse.

No misses today. Elie was actually totally dry for a 5 hour period - about an hour before we left for a birthday party until we got back home.

Saturday, February 23, 2008

Jeremy's first catch

Jer mostly caught his first pee today. His hand wasn't in the best position, so he got a lot of pee on himself LOL, but the timing was right and he cued all by himself!

Monday, February 18, 2008

48 Hours!

We made it 48 hours with the same prefold!! I got through 2 nights with no misses! Then he peed in his pfold when we went for bagels this morning. He had to go before we left but we were all bundled up and we were going with Jeremy before work, so I didn't have time to pee him and I guess he gave up when he saw we were going outside LOL. I used an old pair of Yoav's Under the Nile training pants for the rest of the day and just ordered a pair of Little Beetle trainers as well as a pair of wool underwear.

Sunday, February 17, 2008

36 Hours (and counting)

We're at 37 hours with the same prefold! I made it through the night last night without a problem. Elie slept naked under a blanket and I woke up without a problem each time he shifted to pee and he peed each time pretty quickly after he woke up. I peed him in bed in the BB insert rather than taking him to the bathroom - maybe taking him to the bathroom causes him to start nursing first instead of peeing first. Sometimes when I take him to the bathroom, I get impatient waiting for him to pee and give up, but last night, he always peed pretty much right away. There were 3 or 4 pees overnight and 12 pees and 2 poops so far during the day.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

Miss-free day

No misses today (so far - it's 9PM and I rarely have misses in the evening)! It was 13 pees and 3 poops and I got them all! I'm still using the same prefold I started the day with!! :)

Friday, February 15, 2008

Catching poops

For some reason, pee seems to be a lot easier for me than poops. Today I got every pee except one that happened on our way home from LLL, but I missed two poops (out of four)! Elie seems to be pooping several times a day in smaller amounts than he was a few weeks ago :( I'm thinking maybe I'm not giving him enough time to finish (when I do catch)...

Thursday, February 14, 2008

EC Update - 10 Weeks

* Age of EC tot: 10 weeks

* We started at...1.5 weeks, cueing from birth

* Generally speaking we are doing...pretty well. If I'm able to focus, I can catch most pees/poops. He's pooping about twice a day now.

* How do you know your baby has to go / when do you offer baby a wee?

timing: Just after waking up, he likes to nurse and pee (usually he wants to nurse first). Generally, when he's awake, he pees about every 30 mins, a bit less in the evenings. However, he has gone for up to four hours when he's in a wrap (even if he's not asleep the whole time).

signs: he will fidget and not want to nurse. if I miss the fidgeting, he will sometimes start to cry.

* Is there a difference for poos and pees? What cues do you use?

I say psshhh for both pee and poop. I think the signs are very similar. He gets a little more squirmy for poop and sometimes I can feel his tummy rumbling before a poop or some gas ;)

* Which positions/receptacles do you use?

Insert for Baby Bjorn potty with my hand in position as an extra splash guard.

* Nappies, training pants or other?

Flats and prefolds with EC belt

* What are you doing away from home?

Same dipes but with a wool cover.

* What are you doing at night?

Generally now Elie sleeps diaper free on a bed consisting of a lambskin blanket, 1-2 towels, a soft thin baby blanket, a few prefolds in the pee area, then Elie, then a prefold over his penis and a wool blanket on top. If he pees on a pfold, I swap it out for another one/s. I have been mostly taking him to pee in the bathroom - either in the BB insert or tub so I can nurse him and pee him w/out (hopefully) waking up Yoav.

* Who takes baby to the toilet?

Me

* Catches or Misses - how many and what times are especially interesting?

Most days I only have 2-3 misses. At night, 0 misses to all. Some nights I'm less tired and can catch most pees, other nights, I'm so tired I miss them all. Also, sometimes I think/know he needs to go but don't want to/can't break from Yoav and he goes in the dipe.

* What's your next EC goal? (& how did you go with your last goal?)

I've done well on the last goal - I do a lot of diaper free time at home or at least just w/ a pfold around him, like when he's in a wrap, so I don't risk getting poop on a nice wrap! He is almost always diaper free at night. See above.

Current goal is to catch more at night.

Sunday, February 10, 2008

Another public pee

We were at Whole Foods this afternoon and Elie woke up from his nap (in a wrap) and started fidgeting soon after. When we were in line, he started crying. I knew he had to pee and thought I'd try to make it to the bathroom. I left Jer in line w/ the groceries and ran upstairs to the bathroom. There was one woman in front of us (who didn't offer to let us go first even though Elie was crying - humph!). Anyway, we went into the stall, the dipe was dry, and he peed right away in the toilet. As he was peeing, he stopped crying and a little smile of relief came over his face :)

It's 5PM and, so far today, we've had no misses!

Wednesday, February 6, 2008

A poopy mess at Suzuki class

Today we had a mess at the Suzuki class. When we arrived, we all went potty - I peed, Yoav peed and Elie peed. Elie's signals for poop and pee are generally about the same and I didn't realize he had to poop also, so after he peed, I was holding him w/ his tush on my arm while I pulled up my pants and got adjusted and he pooped on my shirt sleeve! Luckily my friend Y was in the bathroom w/ E and C and she held Elie for a moment while I got my pants up and cleaned the floor :) I just wiped off my shirt and rolled the shirt sleeve up for class...

Tuesday, February 5, 2008

24 hours with only 1 miss!

Made it 24 hours with just one miss (which was a pee during the night)!

Monday, February 4, 2008

Elie only peed in a dipe once today and that was on the bus back from the Natural History Museum. Can't get him to sleep (it's 1:30am) , but at least our ECing is going well ;)

Sunday, February 3, 2008

Lots of diaper free time

Elie has been diaper free a lot more at home lately. I'm catching most pees/poops. Jer doesn't even seem bothered by it anymore - I think b/c I'm rarely getting peed on...

Using the BB insert with my hand as a pee-guard is working really well - I keep most of the pee in the insert that way.