I always thought about ECing my daughter Marcella. But mostly, Elimination Communication was an idea on the horizon.
So I wanted to bring in an expert to write a guest blog. Nicole worked for Better for Babies for many years and we’ve seen her two children go from diapers to potty in their own unique way. It was only with her second child that Nicole explored Elimination Communication and let us in on that adventure.
After you read about her journey you can enter to win a bECOpotty and a pair of Little Beetle wool undies! Details follow the guest blog.
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Written by Nicole Long — mom to Eden (age 4) and Oakleigh (age 2)
It’s amazing, really, how tiny a baby’s footprint is. And to think how innocent that foot is; it will take another year before he even begins to leave his physical footprint on the earth. The carbon footprint? A whole different story.
It’s a different story because we live in a throw away culture. Everything, everywhere. Bibs, table covers, wipes, diapers, the baby jars, containers of shampoos and soaps, medicine, packaging for new toys … I could go on, and on. It doesn’t take long before these items become a regular on the shopping list. Then the new, massive amount of trash we are accumulating becomes normal.
My husband, David, and I didn’t want our children to begin their lives as victims of a disposable planet. So I started reconstructing my idea of parenting – and reevaluating diapers came out on the top of my list.
Eden & Nicole
My son Eden was cloth diapered and we loved it. David and I would both agree we had an incredibly positive experience with CDing. When my daughter Oakleigh was born, we naturally started her in cloth and it was just as sweet with her as with Eden. Within the first few weeks of Oak’s birth I started letting the idea of Elimination Communication (ECing) trickle into my brain and soon I became aware this was something I was very interested in practicing when I was at home.
Nicole & Oak
Elimination communication is also known as gentle infant potty training – allowing children to learn naturally from birth that one shouldn’t pee or poo on oneself, but use a potty (whatever a potty may be at the moment: a sink, a toilet, a bowl, outside, etc). We started Oak completely diaper-free, then changed her into wool undies or Learners — and sometimes cloth diapers — when she began to walk and winter came around.
Keeping Oak’s footprint as small as possible was as important to me as the bonding process. Actually, the two go hand in hand it seems. I believe there is a bonding process that is unique to green parenting. I was creating a decision for my child that was having a long term, positive effect on her, and Eden’s, life, and even their children’s lives.
So I took the ECing plunge and together Oak, David and I went on a journey to a whole other world. We read facial expressions, listened to our instincts, got in sync with our child like we never had before. I knew when her diaper was wet the moment she pee’d. I can’t say that at 14 months she was completely potty learned. In fact, at that time she decided she didn’t like the potty and insisted I put a diaper on her so she could pee in it. But that’s fine; still, we were communicating. She walked and crawled to her potty and pee’d in it many times, she never pee’d while I held her, and when she did go, she gave me this look that was total awareness, a look that said, “Yes – we are working on learning something about this together.”
On top of all this, the number of diapers I use have lowered significantly, which means less water, less detergent, less energy to dry (yes, I am guilty of machine drying my diapers!). Assuming you don’t flush the toilet every time your baby pees, ECing is the absolute best environmental choice. It is also practiced throughout the world, which is a nice connection to remember. When you are sitting there waiting for your 5 month old to pee in the potty so you can say “Sssssss”, remember there are parents on the other side of the planet doing the very same thing.
ECing can be done very successfully part time – the key phrase to remember is This is gentle. So if it begins to stress you, take a step back, slow down, and try again later. It’s such a wonderful place to practice patience, intuition, and communication with your baby. It’s even become a bonding process between Oak and Eden, since he likes to stand in front of her “ssssss”ing and doing the sign for “potty”. She laughs and smiles in response to his encouragement.
Oak & Eden
So yes, if you invite me over and I take Oak with me to the bathroom, I may be peeing her in your sink. But I promise you, you’ll thank me later. I’m simply doing my part to make up for the disposable world many have come to find (un)comfortably normal. And besides, I really love Eden and Oak’s little, tiny, baby footprints.
Oak ECs with her doll
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For all you ECers, and for those currently potty learning with their wee ones, we’ve recently welcomeda new product to our online store — the bECOpotty! Perfect for ECing and potty learning, the bECOpotty starts life as bamboo and rice husks, which are left over material from farming. The ground extracts are ground into a fine powder and mixed with a biodegradable resin and pressed into a hot mold and the bECOpotty is born! When your child has mastered pottying, the bECOpotty can be buried in your garden and will biodegrade!
And we’re giving away an EC package — a bECOpotty and a Little Beetle wool undie!
Each of the following count as one entry. You may enter using each method once.
1) Subscribe to this blog via email and leave a comment below telling us that you did so (include the email address you used in the comment)!
2) Go to our Better for Babies FB page and “like” and “share” our post about this blog and giveaway with your friends!
3) Leave a comment on FB telling us which undie style and colour(s) you like best!
4) Go to Better for Grownups FB page and “like” us. Leave a comment telling us which of our current BfG products interests you most!
5) Tweet this: “I entered to win a free bECOpotty and Little Beetle wool undies @betterforbabies #LittleBeetle” then leave a comment here telling us you did so and giving us your Twitter username!
We’ll use a random number generator on Monday at 2PM E.S.T. to determine a winner. We look forward to hearing from you! :}
{Leah & Lauren}
