Our Journey to Elimination Communication Page 2

This is the second part of Our Journey to EC.



30 November 2010


November has been a busy month for us as a family, with the children being involved in concerts and other year end functions that required extra rehearsals. Being focused on other aspects of life and being out and about a lot, meant that our EC success rate dropped a bit in general.

However, on days when we were focused on Baby J. and his needs, our success rate was very good.

12 December 2010

Baby J. has just passed the 3 month milestone. While the only signs I sometimes recognize when he wants to wee is the occasional fussiness, he is able to express very vehemently when he DOES NOT want to relieve himself and I am trying to undress him or put him on the potty.

He yells and arches his back and even kicks his legs out straight to resist my efforts to hold him! We've all learned that when his volume goes up, he DOES not want to go!

30 December 2010

We've had great success while on vacation at my parents house. Being able to relax and not be busy with our usual routines and responsibilities at home, I was able to really stay aware of Jason's needs and we were diaper free most days with hardly any misses. This success was so encouraging.

28 January 2011

I am so encouraged - for the past week or so I have found that if I take my baby to the potty as soon as he opens his eyes and smiles in the morning, his diaper is still dry. Then he does a wee and usually also his #2 for the day.

For a mom that doesn't practice EC at night, this is such a pleasure! I put his night time diaper on at about 10h30 or 11h00 and he sleeps through (with sleepy feeds of course) till about 7h30 earliest, sometimes till 9h00!

What a pleasure. Now, if I could just be more diligent during the day!

7 February 2011

I get such a kick out of practicing EC when we go out. It just proves to me over and over that Jason is aware of what his body is doing and can take control over his elimination functions when he wants to, such as:

• the time I gave him an opportunity to relieve himself next to the car in a parking lot - and he did


• at a community pool he was lying on the towel beside me, but when I removed his shorts and held him up in a sitting position, discreetly beside me, he made a wee on the grass


• at a conference I attended I took him to the ladies' room and he made a wee and also a ...


• Wish I'd known this with all my children!
  
  12 April 2011
  
  Baby J. is now 7 months old and I am still happy with our infant potty training. However, I eagerly look forward when he will be able to use a hand sign or other cue to tell me when he needs 'to go'.
  
  Sometimes I can tell by a squirm, a wind or other body language that its time to go to the bathroom, but it will be great when his communication skills are more advanced.
  
  I know, time flies and soon we'll be there...
  
  
  July 2011
  
  For the past 3 months it has been winter and our EC has slowed down somewhat. Baby J. is in diapers full-time and seems to hate being changed. I am guessing this is because of the cold. He cries as soon as I lay him down to change his diaper and he often kicks his legs straight to resist being held over the toilet bowl.
  
  However, this is still communication, even if he is saying, "No, I don't want to do this."
  
  In that case, I don't force him. He has however, kept up relieving himself in the toilet first thing in the morning. We have also had the odd morning where I have removed his diaper while it was STILL DRY!
  
  I find that on warm, sunny days we have more catches than on cold days, but in general, they are few and far between.
  
  I am looking forward to the arrival of spring and warmer days so that laundry will dry faster and we can go back to more diaper free time.
  
  I hoped that by this stage, 10 months old, that he would be giving me a cue or a sign when he needs to go, but either I am slow to recognize the signs or he is slow with his sign language!
  
  The learning curve continues ...