My daughter (around 15 months) and I
Hello fellow ECers and parents ready to reduce or eliminate diapers from their lives! My name is Danielle, and I am a certified Go Diaper Free Coach in Alberta Canada, offering support and education about elimination communication (EC) and non-coercive potty training. A bit about my journey to get here… I first heard about EC from my best friend, who had just had her first child. We went out for coffee, and she asked if I’d ever heard of elimination communication. No, I said. She said, it’s when people decide not to use diapers with their babies. What??? I replied, incredulous. That sounds INSANE. She agreed.
When I was pregnant with my daughter, I read Mayim Bialik’s book “Beyond the Sling” in which she talked at length about practicing full-time EC with her 2 boys. I became more curious about it at that point, but it still sounded like an overwhelming amount of work, and a lot of mess too! After my daughter was born, all of this stayed in my head somewhere but I still didn’t think that I could make EC work for me until I read “The Diaper-free Baby” by Christine
Gross-Loh when my little one was 7 months old. Finally EC started to make sense, I could do this, and I wanted to try.
The morning after I finished reading the book, I took my baby to the bathroom and held her diaperless over the sink while I made a psssss noise. To my utter amazement, she peed! I was SO proud. She was SO proud too. I was hooked.
Unfortunately at the time I could not discern any obvious signals when she was about to eliminate, and did not really catch on to her timing either. Having no local support to turn to was a real challenge for us. Thankfully I had a very close friend to troubleshoot and brainstorm with, but neither one of us had any prior EC experience. When my daughter was just over 1 year old, an EC class was put on by a local baby-store. I learned more at that class then I had gleaned from all of the books and blog posts I had consulted - if only it had been offered sooner!
Finally when my daughter was around 15 months old she started to refuse the potty, so vehemently that after a
few weeks I gave-in and stopped offering. If only I had known then what I know now.
Gross-Loh when my little one was 7 months old. Finally EC started to make sense, I could do this, and I wanted to try.
The morning after I finished reading the book, I took my baby to the bathroom and held her diaperless over the sink while I made a psssss noise. To my utter amazement, she peed! I was SO proud. She was SO proud too. I was hooked.
Unfortunately at the time I could not discern any obvious signals when she was about to eliminate, and did not really catch on to her timing either. Having no local support to turn to was a real challenge for us. Thankfully I had a very close friend to troubleshoot and brainstorm with, but neither one of us had any prior EC experience. When my daughter was just over 1 year old, an EC class was put on by a local baby-store. I learned more at that class then I had gleaned from all of the books and blog posts I had consulted - if only it had been offered sooner!
Finally when my daughter was around 15 months old she started to refuse the potty, so vehemently that after a
few weeks I gave-in and stopped offering. If only I had known then what I know now.
My son (3 months old) and I
Around the same time, I was at my wits end trying every solution imaginable to get the ammonia residue out of her cloth diapers. When she was 17.5 months old, she developed a sore from all of the harsh ammonia on her delicate skin, and that was it for me, I was DONE with diapers. So, later that week we said goodbye to diapers in the daytime, using non-coercive potty-training.
With my son we started EC on the 4th day after he was born. The journey thus far has been quite a lot different than it was with my daughter, and I definitely feel a lot more in-tune with his elimination needs. You can read all about our journey each month on my blog's Real-Life EC series.
My hope is that I can share the benefits of EC in my community, helping parents to communicate in beautiful harmony with their young children, and to help parents of older children ditch diapers for good in a gentle but firm manner, making potty training easier for the whole family!
Sincerely,
Danielle
p.s. Are you looking for help or support in the Calgary area? Helen at Earth Baby Services is there for you!
With my son we started EC on the 4th day after he was born. The journey thus far has been quite a lot different than it was with my daughter, and I definitely feel a lot more in-tune with his elimination needs. You can read all about our journey each month on my blog's Real-Life EC series.
My hope is that I can share the benefits of EC in my community, helping parents to communicate in beautiful harmony with their young children, and to help parents of older children ditch diapers for good in a gentle but firm manner, making potty training easier for the whole family!
Sincerely,
Danielle
p.s. Are you looking for help or support in the Calgary area? Helen at Earth Baby Services is there for you!