What is EC?
Elimination Communication is a form of gentle infant pottying. Babies are born with an awareness of when they are eliminating and the instinct to stay clean. If we keep babies in diapers all the time, they'll eventually lose that awareness as they become used to eliminating exclusively in diapers. But if we learn how to tune in to their signals the same way we learn to tell that they are hungry or tired, we can assist them to eliminate in a potty, toilet, or container. EC is a wonderful way to help our infants stay in touch with the bodily awareness they were born with. Gentle EC principles can be used successfully with older infants or toddlers too.
With EC, rather than encouraging your child to eliminate in a diaper and then cleaning up after the fact, you're simply helping him with his elimination in real time, which makes more sense to him. This saves you the effort of teaching him where to eliminate later on. It's usually a smooth process for an EC'ed child to become toilet-independent, and it's not unusual for toilet independence to occur earlier than when conventionally toilet training, because EC'ed children are usually not diaper-reliant. Instead, using the toilet is something they've long taken for granted.
EC may appear at first glance to be merely about elimination. Once you embark upon this journey, however, you'll realize it's a dance of communication between parent (or caregiver) and child. It is about slowing down and taking things day by day, moment by moment, learning to listen to your child and figure out what he is saying to you - all valuable skills for the mother or father who wants to parent with empathy and respect.
