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Happy No Nappy - Elimination Communication


Here is a special guest article from Happy No Nappy’s Caroline Williams, challenging our modern day conceptions of when your baby is really ready to ‘potty train’.

Shocking news stories of five year old children being turned away from school because they are still in nappies are very worrying. Compare that to the reality just 100 years ago when all children were dry before their 1st birthday. Or even to just 50 years ago before the success of the disposable nappy; which increased the average toilet trained age from12-18 months up to today’s average of 3 years old.

It is clear that society has undergone a fundamental shift in perception to toilet training. From something which used to be considered as another dimension in child rearing that had to be taught and learned (just like walking, weaning, eating with a fork), to something that should now be avoided, not talked about and hidden away in a nappy, until the child shows you he is ready.

In the 1960's a leading nappy company along with a noted pediatrician developed and promoted the idea of waiting for a set of readiness signals before which potty training should not be started. This idea was adopted quickly and now 50 years later, despite the fact that a study in 1994 "The Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics" found no data to support any signs of social and emotional readiness for potty training, the average age is now nearly three. What a cash cow!

However, 50% of children in the world are still dry/toilet trained before the age of one, while in western society the majority of children are spending their third birthdays in nappies. Can we un-learn this thinking? Can we change? Do we want to?

A growing movement of people practice something called Elimination Communication (EC). The concept is also called Infant Hygiene, Born Ready, Infant Potty Training, Nappy Free Baby etc. The ethos remains the same: Babies are born with the instinct not to soil themselves and will communicate this via eye contact and body language signals to the parent/caregiver from birth.

The practice of EC is essentially that as a parent you have to learn to recognise and respond to these signals and offer the baby an opportunity to go in a chosen place or receptacle. As a new parent you will soon attune to your baby’s cries for its basic needs of food, hunger and comfort. Her elimination needs are no different.

Encourage this behaviour in your baby by cueing sound, sign language and speech to over time develop a bond of communication and strengthen the understanding of each other.

EC is not a new concept. It is simply going back to the way humans dealt with “potty training” in caveman times. Now clearly we do not live in caveman times and what is acceptable in society has changed and so EC has adapted as well.

A common misconception of EC is that it is too messy and complicated, and that it would not fit into modern life. What is important to remember is that to practice EC does not mean that you surrender yourself to living in waste until you have “figured it out”. There are many ways of doing it and EC can easily be incorporated to any lifestyle. (You won’t even need to tell anyone).

 

Use a nappy all the time, some of the time or not at all: the choice is totally yours and will only marginally affect the success rate, but be ready to whip the nappy off and offer the potty when you see the signs that your baby needs to go. The crucial thing to remember is that you are not relying on the nappy: it is purely there as a back up if and when you feel that being ‘nappy-free’ is not possible.

If you do chose to use nappies, the cloth versions are preferable, as the key to EC is to capitalise and build on your baby’s innate wish to not wet and soil itself. The disposable nappy is now so absorbent it slightly defeats its purpose where EC is concerned. 

Does it work? As with everything with a newborn baby, be it your first or third, there is a steep learning curve and it takes time to get to know each other. If you choose to EC it is advisable to look on this as your journey together towards toilet learning rather than a short cut to (compared to today’s average) a very young toilet trained baby. 

Remember your baby is teaching you, not the other way around. Of course EC is not about allowing your child to pee anywhere and anytime and if you find there are a lot of misses, there is likely an underlying factor such as illness, teething, or emotional upheavals like new daycare, house move, etc. 

 

Manage your expectations. There are four classic stages of EC:

1: you and your baby are in tune and you are aware of his signals. 

2: baby is clearly able to communicate verbally or via signing. 

3: baby no longer needs to be reminded to go to the potty and you no longer feel the need to carry spare clothes. 

4: baby can now take himself to the bathroom and complete the process independently. 

 

So does it work? Yes! There are of course no guarantees to instant success, how you practice EC, when you start, the nature of your baby and developmental milestones are all factors to be considered, but some degree of daytime dryness can be achieved between 6-20 months. 

 

There are so many benefits to practicing EC, primarily your baby's hygiene as you will eliminate nappy rash and greatly reduce the risk for UTIs (Urinary Tract Infections) but also the environmental and financial benefits. Time is also a valuable commodity these days: imagine avoiding the nappy change battle every time. Just wipe, flush and go!

 

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