No, really. He does.
Doesn't yours?
I don't mean to brag...
but...
wait...
Well, I guess I DO mean to brag...
Because, let's face it, if YOUR baby pooped on the potty, wouldn't you be bragging, too?
Ethan has been using the potty since he was just a few months old, and he is quite happy doing it! And I am quite happy that I rarely have to wipe a poopy bum!
As it turns out, there is a growing community of people who practice "Elimination Communication", which is the art of learning to read your child's cues, and communicating with them when it is appropriate to use the potty. "EC" people refuse to call it potty-training. But let's get real...it basically is. When your child is young, you hold them over a potty, make a hissing sound when they pee (or a grunt sound when they poop), and they learn to make the association of where/when to go to the bathroom. They know the sounds, they know the positions, and they go without a fight.
After learning that my Brother-in-Law's sister does EC, I got curious one day, and looked it up online. After watching a video of a mother EC her 3 DAY old baby...I decided it was worth a try. I took Ethan over to the potty, and sat down. He peed and pooped almost immediately!
Uh. SWEET. That was one less diaper for me to change!
So...it became a fun challenge. Sometimes it required a longer wait sitting on the potty with him, and sometimes he'd go almost immediately. I discovered he would typically do his business right after a feeding. So, I would nurse him, and take him to the bathroom.
Now, there are some EC fanatics that don't put their babies in diapers, and let them run around naked, etc...until they are fully "diaper free" (without the need for one at all)! I am classified as a "part time EC'er"...which works just great for us. It means that I practice it regularly, but don't insist on every drop landing in the potty. He was in diapers all day, but I offered him the potty after every feeding (at least). If he went on the potty--great! One less diaper change!
Doesn't yours?
I don't mean to brag...
but...
wait...
Well, I guess I DO mean to brag...
Because, let's face it, if YOUR baby pooped on the potty, wouldn't you be bragging, too?
Ethan has been using the potty since he was just a few months old, and he is quite happy doing it! And I am quite happy that I rarely have to wipe a poopy bum!
As it turns out, there is a growing community of people who practice "Elimination Communication", which is the art of learning to read your child's cues, and communicating with them when it is appropriate to use the potty. "EC" people refuse to call it potty-training. But let's get real...it basically is. When your child is young, you hold them over a potty, make a hissing sound when they pee (or a grunt sound when they poop), and they learn to make the association of where/when to go to the bathroom. They know the sounds, they know the positions, and they go without a fight.
After learning that my Brother-in-Law's sister does EC, I got curious one day, and looked it up online. After watching a video of a mother EC her 3 DAY old baby...I decided it was worth a try. I took Ethan over to the potty, and sat down. He peed and pooped almost immediately!
Uh. SWEET. That was one less diaper for me to change!
So...it became a fun challenge. Sometimes it required a longer wait sitting on the potty with him, and sometimes he'd go almost immediately. I discovered he would typically do his business right after a feeding. So, I would nurse him, and take him to the bathroom.
Now, there are some EC fanatics that don't put their babies in diapers, and let them run around naked, etc...until they are fully "diaper free" (without the need for one at all)! I am classified as a "part time EC'er"...which works just great for us. It means that I practice it regularly, but don't insist on every drop landing in the potty. He was in diapers all day, but I offered him the potty after every feeding (at least). If he went on the potty--great! One less diaper change!
But I didn't stress about it, and he still peed in his diaper regularly. However, we generally "caught" all of his poops on the potty. He would sit in his own little mini baby potty, which he seemed to like (Ella is sitting behind him to hold him up--he was probably only 4 months old in this picture).
Nowadays, we just use the adult potty (no extra washing!). Now, you're probably wondering how you hold a baby over an adult potty. There are several different ways. This is one (also demonstrated by Ella...who probably was only allowed to do it this one time):
You sit on the potty (clothes on, silly!) with your back agains the lid. There is just enough room between your legs to hold a baby over the potty, and balance them quite comfortably! Another option is straddling the toilet the other direction, and holding the baby over (it works great until they get active enough to kick the seat). Boys are a little tricker to "direct" than girls...but still a breeze once you figure it out!
So...back in the days when I was preparing to have my first baby...I wandered across a website about EC. I didn't give it the time of day. I saw a hippie looking Mom holding her baby over a bowl, and I laughed, pointed it out to a co-worker, and moved on. Seriously...who wants to walk around with a naked baby and a bowl all the time? Oh...how misinformed and judgemental I was! Now, 6 years later, here I am--having become one of those hippies! ;)
At 10 1/2 months old now, he is doing pretty great. He happily pees when offered a toilet, and he always makes an effort to poop, as well (sometimes he doesn't need to--but he knows to check!). We do not have to hang out on the potty for a long time. We sit, he does his business, and we are done. Many of his diapers in-between these potty moments are turning up completely dry, too...which is pretty sweet! It means that he is learning to "hold" it between being offered the potty! And did I mention that when a baby poops on the potty, there is almost no cleanup?!
Who would have thought pooping could be so cool?!
After he poops...I let him watch it swirl down the toilet drain, so both of us can cheer on his super-power baby abilities.
You should try it ;)
The end.
Nowadays, we just use the adult potty (no extra washing!). Now, you're probably wondering how you hold a baby over an adult potty. There are several different ways. This is one (also demonstrated by Ella...who probably was only allowed to do it this one time):
You sit on the potty (clothes on, silly!) with your back agains the lid. There is just enough room between your legs to hold a baby over the potty, and balance them quite comfortably! Another option is straddling the toilet the other direction, and holding the baby over (it works great until they get active enough to kick the seat). Boys are a little tricker to "direct" than girls...but still a breeze once you figure it out!So...back in the days when I was preparing to have my first baby...I wandered across a website about EC. I didn't give it the time of day. I saw a hippie looking Mom holding her baby over a bowl, and I laughed, pointed it out to a co-worker, and moved on. Seriously...who wants to walk around with a naked baby and a bowl all the time? Oh...how misinformed and judgemental I was! Now, 6 years later, here I am--having become one of those hippies! ;)
At 10 1/2 months old now, he is doing pretty great. He happily pees when offered a toilet, and he always makes an effort to poop, as well (sometimes he doesn't need to--but he knows to check!). We do not have to hang out on the potty for a long time. We sit, he does his business, and we are done. Many of his diapers in-between these potty moments are turning up completely dry, too...which is pretty sweet! It means that he is learning to "hold" it between being offered the potty! And did I mention that when a baby poops on the potty, there is almost no cleanup?!
Who would have thought pooping could be so cool?!
After he poops...I let him watch it swirl down the toilet drain, so both of us can cheer on his super-power baby abilities.
You should try it ;)
The end.
9 comments:
2 of my sisters use EC and they have loved it. If I had another, which I don't plan on doing any time soon, I would be all for it. Yay for potty!
You held out this long to tell us? It is a pretty amazing idea that I'm all for. My daughter Samantha must have seen that same website, she had our grandson Jacob pooping on the porta potty when he was 9 months. I can't imagine making a 3 day old baby do this though, some people are way too anal (pardon the pun)!
Emily could poop and pee on the potty, and she couldn't sit up by herself, walk, talk, etc. So I totally buy it! I think I'm too lazy to try it with Lance, and he's probably too old now, but I'm glad you're not changing poopy diapers!
This doesn't surprise me at all and I'm so glad that you are finding such joy in pooping!!! :) You go girl and your baby pooping abilities- I remember thinking that would be nice to have a potty trained boy, but guess what? He's potty trained and we still have to wipe his bottom, but you're right- no poopy diapers to throw away! Congrats on your success. If Ben read this and saw that you as an adult have to sit on the toilet with him- you know he would FREAK out!!!!!! Ha ha ha!
I'm seriously considering this... Ezra blows out diapers CONSTANTLY!
I'm taking the credit for this one. :)
Wow, that is amazing. Haven't ever heard of that before. Maybe I'll have to try it with my youngest.
You go girl... hippie girl!
Awesome! We're working on potty training a very determined little 3 year old girl. I wish I'd heard of this before she was such the spitfire she is now. :)
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