EC - No Praise / No Discipline

It can be very difficult, especially in the beginning with Elimination Communication, to not go nuts when you start catching pees (and/or poops). I definitely got excited, but tried not to specifically say "Good job!" or whatever. (If you don't understand why I wouldn't want to tell my child she is good, please check out Hobo Mama's guest post by Anktangle on Being "good" and/or Hobo Mama's own follow-up post a month later about Why "good kid" bothers me.)

Everett on the Potty
Photo Credit

So, instead, I'd excitedly say "Daddy, Sasha went peepee in the potty!" I also don't punish for "accidents." She's been using the potty (off and on) since she was two months old! I don't think you can consider a 6 month old wetting the bed (because I let her sleep naked) an "accident." I do not want to shame her into using the potty! or anything else for that matter! Shaming children... is a shameful act!

So... how on earth do I motivate her?! Well first off, the idea is that babies do not want to sit in their own waste! However, I have found a way to "praise" or "bribe" her that I feel totally good about!

When Sasha goes in the potty - she gets more naked time! So now, as she is approaching her second birthday, we are getting back on track with Elimination Communication.

She has to go when she wakes, but doesn't like to be rushed onto the potty. When she first wakes, I take off her diaper and snuggle or nurse her bare-bottomed. Once she has had a few minutes to get her bearings, I sit her on the potty, in the living room. I make sure to have a couple books handy as that is her current favorite past time for sitting on the potty. I sit with her and we look at books. She likes for me to have my own board book, too.

Sasha on the Potty
August 2011

When she is ready to get up, we "pat, pat, pat" her dry and then she is immediately ready for breakfast! (She has been known to eat breakfast ON the potty.) I let her sit (naked) on a cloth diaper in the high chair to eat. When she is finished with breakfast, I set her back on the potty while I finish cleaning her breakfast mess. She usually goes again, so she gets more naked time!

Then I just follow my instinct and watch for signs. She grabs herself before going, but she isn't always in the same room. (She peed on her sister's floor the other night.) If I think it has been too long and she sits on the potty, but doesn't go - I put a diaper on her. I don't want this to seem like punishment and she really doesn't seem to mind. In fact, I've been noticing that she'll ask for a diaper when she needs to poop.

I'll be glad when we get back to catching poop again, but I'm not pressing the issue. All in good time. At this rate, though, maybe she'll actually be out of diapers before Spencer is born! A momma can hope!