More on the Elimination Communication Craziness

We are doing more.  Elimination Communication (EC) is picking up a bit.  Our baby is sturdier now and can be more easily held over or even placed on a potty. 

Yes, it's a weird thing for the USA.  You probably think I'm nuts, but it's not nuts, I swear. 

Did you know that before disposable diapers became popular most babies were potty trained around 12-18 months? 
Did you know that EC is not only practiced in third world countries, but is practiced in modern places like Prague?
Did you know infants naturally don't want to pee on themselves or their caregiver?

Our baby is now 5 months old, so we're crossing into that late start category.  He doesn't give much of a signal that we can pick up.  But I have used timing to catch several pees and even one poop.  On average I catch about two pees a day.  A small start, but a success none the less.  Some days are better than others. 

For now we only do it at home, but do try to change him as soon as he is wet at other times.  We have his bottom bare sometimes and at other times we put a cloth diaper on without a cover, and other times I put pants on him without anything under them.  Babies don't usually pee in their sleep, so he's taken lots of naked naps and then I put him on the potty when he wakes up.  I think night time might be the easiest time to do it.  Because during the day, when he's not napping, I just don't see the cues.  I give a cueing noise when I do notice him peeing. 

But why am I doing it?  Well, I didn't become a parent thinking, "people seem to be raising children pretty well right now."  I went into it thinking, "dear God, me and my friends are pretty messed up for whatever it is our parents did.  We all seem to have low self esteem, some kind of food issue, low energy, and either a mood disorder or an anxiety disorder.  What the hell happened?  We need to seriously look at changing how we raise children." 

So you can see that doing things differently has appealed to me greatly.  Because I know what it's like to be me as an adult and I have to be honest with you, it kind of sucks.  I can look pretty decent on the outside, but I am filled with inner turmoil.  I don't want my children to feel like I do.  It's my motivation for almost everything.  It was the reason I drank zero alcohol and took no prescription meds during pregnancy, it's the reason I so badly wanted a drug free labor, something, anything to maybe lower his exposure to things that might mess with his brain or our attachment after delivery. 

And I don't care if I'm the only one doing it, but maybe, just maybe my child won't have all the bladder control issues I had if I get him used to recognizing them now.  If babies don't even wet themselves in their sleep, why did I do it at 9 and 10 years of age?  Something got messed up with either the bladder or the sleep.  And if I can do something to maybe lessen the chance of that, then I'm going to do it. 

I don't think delayed potty training is normal.   A good portion of 4-year-olds aren't potty trained now days.  Some children will never show those so called "readiness signs." And potty training is not done in a day.  Some children do fine with it, but some struggle for years and might be like me and not really have control until nearly middle school.  That's not normal, especially when young babies have control over their sphincter muscles at birth. 

With my next child I'm really going to try to start younger, I just couldn't start at birth this time, hopefully I'll have an easier post partum time the next time around.  But we are having some success with our older baby, and that's pretty cool.