I find myself amazed by the amount of communication a newborn baby can understand. I also find myself amazed at just how much a newborn baby can pee!
With the last few babies I've started EC'ing almost right away – at around a week old with Brennan, and with Galen and Honor I have started within a day of their birth. All of them seemed to understand elimination communication pretty easily. Galen picked it up especially quickly.
Things have gone well with Honor so far. As with Galen I decided not to have any expectations, really. I'm rebuilding after pregnancy and birth, and we have guests in from out of town. So EC'ing gets done casually.
I have caught quite a few poops and a lot of pees from Honor – I noticed that after her first week the potty bowl seemed to “click” more with her. Her first week was not easy; Honor was born tongue-tied which made nursing very tiring for her and she was a very sleepy newborn. I woke her to nurse more than she woke up on her own. But after a week she was getting a lot of milk and stronger, and she seemed to begin to understand the potty bowl more. We're still using diapers plenty and she'll often go while I am in the process of a diaper change! When she does that I simply make the cue noise.
Last week (her second week) her rate of pooping slowed some to around two poops daily. I was able to catch both poops several days last week, which always makes me feel successful, hah! Honor does the same thing Galen did – has a lot of “wet farts” where gas and a small amount of poop will come out. This really seems to irritate her bottom. I'm looking forward to being able to just hold her over a diaper as I did with Galen (once company is gone and life is a little more routine). I'm also hopeful that this will stop as her body matures – with Galen it stopped almost exactly at 6 weeks old.
Honor definitely seems to like the potty bowl. My dad laughed yesterday because every time she's fussing and I put her on the potty bowl, she stops crying. My dad said “she stops crying when you put her on the pot!” She tends to relax even if she doesn't go. This isn't always true but it often is. I really do think it's innate for babies to know what the “potty position” is (I think it's the position more than the pot!)
I'm mostly using a small plastic bowl for Honor's potty right now because it's easy to keep on hand and means I don't have to get up and go anywhere with her. With Galen I kept preferring a close potty, but Scott preferred holding Galen over the bathroom sink. I'm not sure if the same will play out with Honor since it's still early, but I suspect it will.
More updates in the coming weeks as we settle into our new routine and hopefully pick up the pace with EC'ing! I'm planning to keep Honor mostly in my lap over a clean prefold when we're home, as I did with Galen, and really getting to know her cues 🙂
(NOTE: Want proven, practical strategies to make elimination communication work for you? Use these 5 proven techniques to connect when your baby and have EC success! Get them here.)
Oh! Congratulations! I just came by to link to your blog. I’ve followed your EC practices with your little ones starting with Galen and what a nice surprise to see another added to your brood! I’m looking forward to Honor’s story.
I love the success you seem to be having with Honor! Miles (now 3 months old) loves the potty as well (or at least diaper free in the potty position). There have been time where I would hold him over his bowl or on his little potty for 20 min. or more just talking and cooing away, happy as can be. It makes me all warm inside! My 2 year old loves to help take him potty too so I will let her cue him and hold his hands 🙂
Hello! What a delight to find you. I’m due in 2 months with my 4th and I want to cut down on diapers and also deepen my communication with my baby. How exciting to discover what you’re doing. I look forward to keeping up with Honor
Hi Hilary! I’m so glad my account of EC with Honor is helpful to you! Be sure to check out my EC pages – I kept a journal with my 4th baby, Galen too:
https://naturalbirthandbabycare.com/elimination-communication.html
If you’re looking for a good guide to cutting down the diapers and connecting with your little one, Andrea Olson has just released a fantastic new EC resource. You can check out my review on that here:
https://naturalbirthandbabycare.com/ec-simplified.html
I am due with my first baby in January and I am very interested in EC. I raised my sister’s son for his first seven years and he was in diapers for more than three of them, I had read all of the books on potty training and followed them to the letter. He was a walk in the park to potty train, but diapers get pretty gross by three years old. I love the idea that my baby can be raised diaper-free. No poo to scrub off the sensitive little buns. Thank you for your blog, I will follow it. If you have any resources that were helpful for you can you please share them with me. I am just starting the research process, I always have to research everything way before it’s time to use it.
I am pregnant with my first child but have been a nanny for years. I consider myself pretty “green” and was content with my goal to use cloth or disposable diapers. I have NEVER heard of EC and now find myself wanting to know everything and how in the world this is done. After watching several videos of happy babies and holding countless diapered children that smell like pee no matter how many times you change them I’m convinced this is the way to go. My poor partner is going to flip out tho, he’s not quite as free thinking lol Thank you so much for sharing your experience and knowledge with us!
Wendy EC is definitely an adventure!! If you’d like a practical guide with tons of pics/info, I highly recommend Andrea Olson’s EC Simplified. I just did an interview with her on a podcast episode, great info on EC and diaper free babies! Click here to download or listen in 🙂