Elimination Communication

So, most of you have probably never heard of this. At least I'm assuming that since I had never heard of it until a few days ago. Elimination communication is a sort of "potty training" for infants. The idea is that from birth, your infant does not WANT to soil himself. Babies know when they need to potty and would rather potty somewhere where they aren't sleeping. They will give you cues when they need to potty and if you pay careful attention to your little one, you can hold them over a toilet, sink or training potty when they do their thing. This is meant to be done from day one with your little baby, but really can be started any time.

Admittedly, this whole concept sounds kind of insane to our diaper-crazed culture, but in some cultures, this is how it's always been done. And the thing that really struck home for me was the parenting aspect of it. As parents, we all know that consistency is the most important thing. But with elimination, we teach our kids to wet and soil themselves for 18 or so months. Then, one day, we say, "you can't do that anymore". How confusing is that for a baby?!

I'm always up for a challenge, so why not? This is definitely the luxury of a stay-at-home mom. Good luck finding a daycare who will hold your infant over a potty. ;) Now, I'm not going whole hog here. The Eskimo will not be running around the house diaper free anytime soon. But, if I can catch a couple of the Eskimo's pees or poops in the toilet, I think it's going to make potty training that much easier when the time comes. AND it might save me from washing a couple extra diapers! Sounds like a win/win to me.

We had our first attempt after his morning nap today, and it TOTALLY worked. He went pee-pee in the potty! I got him up, took off his diaper that was suspiciously dry, placed him on the training toilet and made his cue sound (I've chosen "pssss" to cue peeing). Sure enough, he peed! It was completely amazing. It might have been a coincidence, but I'm going to keep at it. Wish us luck!