Monday, 14 April 2008

  • Elimination Communication / Potty Learning

    I plan on posting a part 2 for my 2 latest posts... just wanted to keep you updated that there's more to be done with those 2 items.

    But, this isn't about that.  This is about EC= Elimination Communication.

    I have toyed with this idea for a while and I could have started from birth with Tucker.  I let questions and lack of knowledge hold me back.  I was over-complicating it.  It isn't complex at all... I don't think.

    But, I want Tucker potty trained soon.  And, I realize he is only 17 months old, but the less poop I have to deal with, the better my life is.

    So, the switch to cloth diapers was a half-step backward, in that I have to deal with poop more when cloth diapering.  More poop is ok with me, though, as long as I am no longer exposing his sensitive parts to toxins that are in disposable diapers.  And, there are toxins in there.

    So, cloth diapering means that I have to clean poop off the diapers because he is no longer exclusively breastfed and I don't want that stuff lingering in my washer.  I spray it off with my high pressure shower head and it goes down the bathtub drain.  And, I do a hot water rinse in the tub and spray with peroxide for sterilizing... and what have you.

    Cloth diapering also means it is more uncomfortable to sit in your own soil.  Who wants that, anyway?  I can tell when he's wet/poopy right away and we deal with it right away to get him used to always being dry.

    He has gotten to the point that he pees during a diaper change.  And, we've progressed to automatically sitting on the potty after a change.  So, he has peed in the potty a time or two.

    To take that up a notch, I have a foldable potty seat that sits on the actual toilet.  Like I said, the less I have to deal with, the better.  So, that means no potty chair, please.  It took me a few times to get him used to sitting up there and how I did was start him sitting on the lid with his diaper on while I was rinsing poop in the tub.  And then, I would sit him on the foldable seat in his diaper with the lid up, and then no diaper and directly over the hole.  Then, I wouldn't even know if he was using it, but he was sitting there and not crying... so he could relax, eventually.

    Now, we take him to the potty after changes.  And, by "we"  I mean "me" because Sid no longer changes diapers.  I think he likes it that way and I'm fine with it, also.  But, I do want him knowing how to use the Bum Genius for when I'm not around.  The Bum Genius is the closest thing to 'sposies because they work very similar in operation.  The difference is, you wash the Bum Genius.  But, all Sid has to do is stick it in the wool wetbag and he's good to go.  I do the washing.

    So, he pees on the potty and he went a full day Saturday of no poopies.  Which, had me worried, but that was fine, because during one of his pee-pee times on the toilet yesteday, he emptied out and we really praised him and told him what he was doing.  Names with actions is very important.

    I actually think this is potty learning?  I'm not sure.  There are many different terms for potty using vs. diapers when baby is not fully potty trained.

    I want to say that I don't feel that "I'm being trained" more than Tucker is.  He knows what pee-pee is and can do it when I say it.  I can tell even if he doesn't have to go, he is grunting and doing the 'action'.  Also, I don't think I'm being trained anymore so than I am trained to respond to a cry for food or pain or anything else.  Plus, Tucker is now old enough that he can actually talk some.  So, he isn't always crying for what he wants.  He points and feels his diaper when he pees in it.

    And, this is not something we punish for or get upset over.  We are simply putting (hopefully soon) the majority of bodily waste where it needs to go.  Which is, not in his diaper.  There are far less diaper changes for me and that's less laundry. LOL  And, less money I'm throwing down the drain on disposable diapers that I'm never going to see again and hopefully we waste even less money on pull-ups.  Those things are more expensive than diapers, but they essentially serve the same purpose. 

    So, hopefully, no more 'sposies at all and less work for me.

    And, with what I'm learning on Tucker, I can hopefully take it and apply to any and all future babies from birth.  Yay!!

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