To Catch a Pee

I bought The Diaper-Free Baby: The Natural Toilet Training Alternative before Abby was born, fully intending to read it before she arrived. That didn't happen.

Then right after she was born, I had lots of time to read during her 30- to 45-minute nursing sessions, but I was not in the mood to read about baby stuff. And what's more, the idea of practicing elimination communication (EC) just stressed me out. When I was learning so many new things in those first 3 months, I couldn't fathom adding something that wasn't absolutely necessary. So the book sat on the bookshelf.

The last few weeks, I've finally been feeling ready to read it. The clincher was some friends of ours with a 1-year-old telling me they'd like to us to try it out so they can live vicariously through us and hear how it goes. This week, I started reading the book.

The gist of EC is that babies do not inherently like to sit in their own waste. So you learn your baby's signals for when she's about to eliminate so you can take her to the toilet (or her own little potty), avoiding a situation where she's sitting in her own waste. And by learning to communicate with your baby about her elimination needs, you're creating a valuable foundation for potty-training later. In fact, many EC babies end up potty-trained earlier than other babies. And how much more "green" can you get than avoiding the cloth or disposable debate altogether?

Also, here's something I didn't know that I wish I had before Abby was born: Some parents practice EC 24-7, while others practice it occasionally. Some EC babies go without diapers entirely, some wear them only some of the time, while others still wear diapers all the time. I had this vision in my head that Abby would have to be diaper-free all day every day, and I would have to pay constant attention to her facial expressions so as not to get peed on. But it doesn't have to be like that.

The book says babies typically eliminate at certain times of the day—soon after waking from a nap, during or after a feeding, or soon after being taken out of a sling/wrap or car seat. So a couple days ago, I decided to see if Abby followed those patterns. Each time she woke up from a nap, I took her diaper off and laid her on a clean prefold diaper. And sure enough, she peed within 5-10 minutes of waking up. I removed the prefold and put on a clean diaper, and she didn't have to sit in her own pee for 2 hours before her next diaper change. I was hooked.

My next step was to see if I could get her to pee in the toilet. Yesterday after her morning nap, I took her diaper off and held her over the toilet. And my little 4-month-old daughter peed in the toilet! Then Erik tried later that day and she peed in the toilet again.

If only I had known it would be so easy, I wouldn't have been so overwhelmed with the idea right after she was born.

Now excuse me while I go print this post and get it laminated so it's handy for when Abby's first boyfriend comes to the house...