Elimination Communication (EC) Potty Training Explained
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Parents often dread potty training. Teaching a child to use the toilet after he has gotten accustomed to using a diaper seems like a daunting task. But many parents claim that elimination communication potty training, or EC for short, is less stressful and more effective than traditional methods.
What is Elimination Communication?
EC has been used in many cultures for centuries. It is simply the practice of learning to recognize the signs that your child needs to use the bathroom, and taking him to the toilet when you see them. It is generally started before six months of age, but some parents start later than that.
Each child has his own individual way of communicating that he is about to urinate or have a bowel movement. It’s up to the parents to pick up on these signs. Some things to look for include passing gas, grunting, squirming, or a serious look on your child’s face. Your child may do some or all of these things, or he may give cues that are unique to him.
Once you’ve figured out the signs, you can start taking the child to the potty when you see them. Parents often develop signs, either verbal or visual, that let the child know that they are in a place where it is acceptable to eliminate. If he does, some praise will reinforce the behavior and make him more likely to continue with it.
To Diaper or Not to Diaper?
One reason that some parents choose the EC method is because it can reduce the need for diapers. While you will probably need some backup in the early stages, the possibility of not having to buy diapers or fill up the landfills with them once the child starts using the toilet is quite appealing. Some parents find that using cloth diapers enhances their children’s success with elimination communication due to the fact that they can feel the results of elimination.
Some parents choose not to use diapers at all when practicing EC potty training. Many of these parents claim that their children rarely have a bowel movement in their underpants. It is often necessary, however, to use a diaper when on the road or away from home.
The Debate About EC
Some experts feel that elimination communication potty training is inappropriate due to the fact that it is started at such a young age. They claim that because children under two years old do not have fully developed muscles, they cannot control their urination and bowel movements. There are also psychologists who argue that early toilet training can cause problems later in life.
EC supporters claim that it is not damaging to the child because he is not pressured into going to the toilet on his own. If done correctly, EC puts the caregiver in charge of getting the child to the toilet when he needs to go. The child will realize what is going on and start going to the bathroom on his own when the time comes.
Elimination communication sounds unusual to some parents, but it is an easy concept to implement. It has the potential to make potty training easier and less stressful, and it could save you a lot of money in the long run. Once you’ve deciphered the signs that indicate your child needs to go to the bathroom, the hardest part is over.
I think it’s interesting that some experts say babies don’t have the muscles fully developed for it. ECers say that babies are born with that muscle control, and lose it when we “diaper train” them. I’ve been ECing my baby since birth (since he did most of his business in the middle of diaper changes anyways, it was the natural way to go) and I have been AMAZED that he really does know what’s going on, and he can control it.
[…] Full-time EC can save you hundreds of dollars, even if you use cloth for back-up. For instance, when our daughter was 5 months old, we switched completely to trim, cloth training pants instead of diapers, and the dozen-or-so training pants we invested in at that time lasted until we eventually graduated to underwear-only. […]
Baby born potty trained!
Dear site hosts, readers and Michelle (who posted the above comment on Dec 3rd, 2008)
We have a one month old baby who was BORN POTTY-TRAINED. Has anyone ever heard of such a thing?
We would be interested in hearing of any other similar cases, or what is the earliest cases of successful potty training anyone has heard of.
I suppose the defenition of the term “successfully potty trained” could be subjective, but we are talking about a baby who started out her potty experience at two weeks old by insisting that she go on the potty every time and waiting or holding it until she’s on the potty. And starting out with a success rate of about twenty to one (potty to daiper)
We are new parents and never knew of this kind of early potty-training programs until our newborn baby led the way for us into this. Now that we are discovering this world of “EC” we want to help spread the word and we believe our one month old baby who was born potty trained could be a help. Does anyone have any ideas where to start with something like this?
We would love to discuss any ideas of how to use this special gift in helping the cause.
We EC our baby since day 5, we use GroBaby cloth and we could not imagine not ECing her. She does hold it and let us know even when she hasn’t fully finish her business. Babies are born with this instinct.
To the comment above who says her baby was born potty trained, I refer you to this site:
http://www.bornpottytrained.com/
To the main article, I would like to draw more of a distinction between EC and potty training, because EC is NOT potty training, it is an alternative. It is about being responsive to the child’s needs and allowing a child control over his or her body. In fact, praise and rewards are strongly discouraged in order to reinforce that elimination is just a normal part of life rather than something a child should “learn” to do to please its parents.
In much of the world, EC doesn’t even have a name, it is what everyone just does.
We started EC with my son when he was born and he immediately would pee/poo “on cue” anytime we took him. I think it is true that it takes a while for a baby to develop the ability to “hold it” for a long period of time, but they can control when to release from birth. When the baby’s signals to pee are ignored and they are trained to use a disposable diaper, they don’t even KNOW when the pee is coming out because they can’t even feel it.
My son was able to not pee for 12 hours at night by 18 months, and that was even despite waking to nurse three or four times through the night.
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