Develop Your Part Time EC Confidence.

Kandace has a blog with an EC section at Kieran Online She has gathered wonderful resources and natural and gentle parenting option well worth reading.

I had heard about EC before my son was born, but didn’t think much of it and didn’t think it would really work. So he was in disposables for about the first 2 months of his life. We struggled with diaper rashes, which I thought were caused by the disposables. So I started practicing EC and bought some cloth diapers. At the same time I started EC, I went back to work so he went into daycare full time, 5 days a week. I also eliminated wheat/gluten from my diet which resolved some of the rash and other issues.

I tried watching for all the signs of elimination but my son doesn’t seem to have any, or they are very subtle. Still, when we were home I gave him a lot of potty opportunities, and each time I would say “Go Potty” (I tried the SSSS sound but gave up on that). After about 3 months of this, I noticed he would start going on cue. I did not have a little potty for him, so I held him in the classic EC position over the toilet.

This worked fine for quite a while, and I caught a lot of pee/pooh. I also EC’d at night until about 6-7 months old when he got too upset about it, so I quit nighttime EC for a few months. 6 months old was also the time that I had to switch from cloth diapers back to disposable, as he constantly had rashes with cloth. I used disposable for backup at home, and at night, but daycare used disposable without offering the potty (I did not ask her to offer).

He went on a potty strike at about 9 months of age, but all was needed was a change of scenery. I have also continued to nighttime EC since then. At the current age of 2.5 years, I consider him to be potty-trained, but not potty-independent. I never had the typical potty training struggles, as my son always knew what the potty was for from such a young age. He is not yet potty independent because he generally will not take himself to the potty, we have to remind him to go at regular intervals and help him. He is in trainers at home, and disposable pull-ups at daycare.

If a parent or caregiver wants to try EC but is apprehensive because they can only practice it part time and/or need to use disposables, I still highly encourage them to try it. As with anything, it will take some time but it is very much worth it.

Kandace in Minnesota, USA