Baby Pottying
Did you know?
• Baby pottying, or Elimination Communication, has no name in much of the world - it's just what you do with babies!
• Baby stays cleaner and dryer, and tend to have less diaper rash!
• EC helps you save money on diapers.
Check out the EC plan below, and let us know any other questions you have!
Want to read about toddler potty training instead? Click here!
Get Started!
The easiest thing to do to start with is when you notice baby starting to wake up from a nap - get ready to put them on the potty! We emit hormones to keep ourselves from going while we’re asleep, and most babies will pee immediately upon waking. Adults usually do this too - we just get ourselves to the bathroom first!
So as baby is waking up, get diaper off and set her on the potty, even if the diaper is already wet; often times there’s more pee.
Then do this at other “easy” times, like when getting them out of a carrier, highchair, carseat, etc. And if they are in any of these things and suddenly get fussy - sit on potty! If you are breastfeeding and they keep popping off and won’t focus - sit on potty!
Throughout the day, if you are changing a diaper and have time - sit on potty! They often wait for the soiled diaper to be removed and then pee, because it is a clean area. Kinda like adults wanting a clean bathroom.
If baby isn’t sitting on his own yet, you’ll need to help a bit, so here's how you do it - hold him to your abdomen, facing out, with your hands under his thighs, holding him in a seated position. You can either squat down in front of the toilet, or hold him over a sink (infant pee and poop is about as pure as you can get, especially the pee). You can also get any of several different small potties to hold in your lap and gently set his butt on them. If baby is a little bigger, you can set him on the potty and just help stabilize. If he’s sitting well, then just stay nearby in case he takes a dive!
Another thing you can do, if you want to expand how many catches you get, is to try some naked observation time (or with just a pair of undies on so that the floor isn’t totally soaked right away if you don’t have a safe floor to do this on). You would be just playing with baby, and noticing their behavior. When they pee, try to notice what they did just before - did they get still, shiver, get fussy, etc.
But even if all you ever do is wake up pees, and maybe try for poops (the poopy face usually makes this a little easier!) you’ll be setting them up for better potty training success later!
They’ll be familiar with what a potty is, what you’re supposed to do with it, and will generally come to prefer staying cleaner and drier, and communicate to you earlier their need to go, whether clearly - ie signing potty or saying potty, or by a signal, like they always do a certain potty dance that you notice.
Also you'd likely have less issue with diaper rash, because they won't be sitting in moisture so much, AND you'd save money on diapers.
At a Glance
check back soon for more!