A few weeks ago, I clicked on an article about "elimination communication," or teaching infants from birth to use the potty. I only read the first bit of the article, and although I was intrigued slightly, I dismissed it as crazy. I had never heard of such a thing being done in the western world...why would anyone want to do that? Weren't diapers made for a reason?
A couple weeks later, I came across a post at Hobo Mama about her experience practicing elimination communication. I've been reading Hobo Mama for a few months now, and I don't think she's crazy. So I read with a little more interest, clicked on some links, and got really excited. After reading a bit more, I decided this is definitely something I want to do for several reasons:
1 - I do not like changing poopy diapers. I don't know anyone who does like it, but I didn't know there was another option. Right now, Nathan only has exclusively-breastfed baby poop, which isn't as bad as solid-foods, adult-like poop. I have to change those kinds of diapers when I babysit a one-year-old, and it is very unpleasant. If this will help me change less of those diapers once Nathan starts eating solid foods in a few months, then why would I not do it?
2 - Diapering is expensive. We have spent a total of about $230 on diapering for the first (almost) four months of Nathan's life. This includes 12 Fuzzi Bunz cloth diapers, cloth wipes, detergent, one package of disposable diapers, and one package of disposable wipes. We have a nice rental situation right now in which all utilities are included in our rent, so the diaper load every day and a half has not impacted our bills. However, we are hopefully moving soon, and we probably will not be able to find a place like this. Nathan will also be needing medium size Fuzzi Bunz in the next few months, so if we can eliminate or reduce the need to buy any more cloth diapers, that would be great.
3 - In these early days of mothering, one of the major things that has guided many of the decisions I have made has been the idea of "doing unto others." If I were immobile and incapable of communicating verbally, how would I want others to treat me? If I were communicating in nonverbal ways my need to go to the bathroom, would I like to be left to soil myself? Obviously, accidents will happen and I won't pick up on his cues, but I can at least try.
4 - It makes sense. For the first month or more of Nathan's life, he would poop or pee seconds after we took his diaper off. Gus created a way to catch the pee in a paper towel that worked pretty well, but when I look back on those days, I wonder why we didn't just hold him over the toilet, which is actually right next to the changing pad. Unfortunately, we have inadvertently trained him to eliminate in a diaper, so we have a bit to undo. It makes more sense to me to undo this now than in, say, three years, when he has only ever peed or pooped in a diaper.
I checked out two books from the library, The Diaper-Free Baby by Christine Gross-Loh and Infant Potty Training by Laurie Boucke. We started giving him opportunities to use the potty three days ago, and since then, he has peed in the toilet about four times each day and seems to be starting to respond to our cuing already. I am excited to learn how to better respond to Nathan's elimination needs and to teach him in a gently way how to use the potty.
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