Thursday, July 8, 2010

Elimination Communication

Elimination Communication ("EC"), sometimes called “Infant Potty Training,” is based on the observations that it is natural for infants and babies to cue their parents before they eliminate, that they can learn cues to facilitate elimination and that they do not want to sit in a soiled diaper (who does, after all). It is a soft, awareness based approach that is both amazing and totally natural, once you can wrap your mind around it. Following this gentle approach, we haven’t used diapers with Lily since she was 6 months old (she is now 10 months old).  
There are several books that we have found helpful. You can order these from your local bookstore or use the links below to get them from Amazon.

Infant Potty Training, by Laurie Boucke. This is a more comprehensive look at EC with a cross-cultural perspective.  A nice view on the subject from one of the people that began to re-popularize EC here. 

Infant Potty Basics, by Laurie Boucke. This is more of the basic, how-to kind of information. Very practical and useful.

Diaper Free, by Ingrid Bauer. If you can find this used (it is out of print now) is a nice introduction although a bit repetitive. This is what we started with. I recommend getting the information that you need and skipping around from there.