Top reasons why we decided to do Elimination Communication:
- Less gross. Cleaning up after a poopy diaper is not my idea of a fun afternoon. ECing meant that we could avoid some of the poopiness. Sounds good to me!
- Better for the environment. Fewer diapers of any kind are better for the environment. We'd still be using water and toilet paper or wipes, but that is better suited to deal with waste than a stack of disposables or even cloth.
- Better for baby. If she's not sitting in waste all day, then she's going to be more comfortable and healthy.
- Why not? There's really no commitment. It's free. I could stop at any time or just do it part-time. We could take breaks. And according to the books I read, just doing it in the evening or with a certain caregiver and not other times is still beneficial.
- Sounds fun! Really, this was my main draw. I walk past the bathroom a hundred times per day. Why not just take my little one with me? Maybe it will work.
After we started doing elimination communication, we found more benefits.
- My baby loved it! She seemed much happier (most of the time) to use the toilet than her diaper. Those times when she seemed displeased with a potty trip, we just didn't go. Low stress for all of us.
- Daddy would do it. It was like pulling teeth to get him to change a diaper so he changed an average of 1 per week, but he could handle taking the baby to the toilet.
- No pee in my face. I think most diaperers have experienced taking off a diaper and suddenly a little spout of pee shoot up in the air or soak the diaper pad. After learning my daughters signals, and later her ASL sign, I could tell when this was going to happen and prevent the mess.
- Fewer leaks. Since I could tell when she was going to go, this also meant I knew she had gone. Her diaper wasn't going to fill up unnoticed.
- No need to check for a wet or stinky diaper. I knew she was going to go potty or had gone. At a playgroup one day, I was amazed at the number of people who would stick a finger in the edge of the diaper to check if it was wet. Ew! Ok, pee is sterile and these mamas probably washed their hands, but that wasn't a method I was about to adopt.
- Easier potty training. Doing EC means kids retain elimination awareness. Apparently kids are born with some awareness and we train them to use diapers and ignore this instinct. Then when it's potty training time, we are all frustrated that the kids seem to not know or care when they're wet or dirty.
- Saves money. Fewer diapers meant saving money. Obviously fewer disposibles, but even switching to cloth meant I needed a smaller stash. Since she had control of her functions, she used the diaper or toilet every few hours. She also potty trained much earlier than she might have otherwise.
- Better communication. My daughter loved that she could communicate her needs to us. "Toilet" was her 2nd ASL sign (after "milk") and she loved that she could tell me her needs so clearly. I love having that relationship with my child.
- Really is fun!
