Has anyone tried elimination communication?

I'm not sure if this is the right forum to post this in but it seems to be the most appropriate.

I'm pregnant with my 3rd child and would like to know if anyone has tried elimination communication or natural infant hygiene as it is sometimes called?  With my first I used disposables all the way due to ignorance and also lack of general availablity where I live at the time (12 years ago). My second son was in eco-disposables for about the first 6 weeks and at night then cloth for the rest of the time until he finally stopped wearing diapers a few months before he was 2 which was a lot sooner than with my first.  This time I'd really like to do elimination communication combined with cloth diapers and I have one friend who is doing it and have read lots about it but I'd be interested to hear anyone's stories if they have tried it.  So let me know if you have I'd be interested to hear all, the good, the bad and the ugly truth about elimination communication!

Thanks.

wow! i have never heard of this! I just read wkiapidia really quick to just get the jist. it is funny because I can tell when my son is going to or is poo'ing. My dad said i should get a little potty and let him finish on it. I was debating it. This sounds like what I was gonna do i just didnt know it could and was being done! lol I would love eto know more about it!

 My main reason for wanting to do this is because I have always hated putting my babies in diapers.  I don't think that I would like to be wrapped up 24 hours a day in one!  When I had my first I just didn't realise that there was an alternative.  By the time my second was born I had heard about elimination communication and knew one mother who had done this but I still didn't feel confident about it and I thought that I was doing better than the first time by using cloth diapers with my second son.  What I did do though was to leave him as much as possible without a diaper during the summer months.  When he was very young I would just place an old towel underneath him and when he was older and mobile I would just leave him with a t-shirt on and accept that I would have to clean up some mess.  We have wooden floors in most parts of the house so it was easy to clean but I imgaine that it would be different with carpets. One thing that I have noticed is that he was out of diapers much, much sooner than my first son and I think that it was a combination of cloth (feeling the wetness as soon as he had done it especially when he was older and his bladder was holding more) and then when he was without a diaper actually making the connection between the feelings of elimination and seeing what was coming out of his body.  Yes, I did have to clean up some mess but I think that it was worth it.  I've heard that a lot of babies can be totally diaper free by the time they are 12 months when using elimination communication so I'd really like to give it a try next time.

ok found this website! diaperfreebaby.org i liked it alot!!! Also i went and got this book Early start potty training by Linda Sonna PHD i went and got a baby potty and plan to try to start tomorrow! It is a genius idea! So easy and obvious! Do we let our kids decide when they are "ready" for school... clothes.... food...car rides... why shouldnt teaching the potty as an everyday normal occurance. Also research backs it. i read half the book and it helps me understand alot. Also when my family asks WHAT ARE YOU DOING... hahaha i can explain and let them know my eact concrete reasons. HTH i will keep you posted

so a little update. Today is day one of trying the whole potty thing. went really well! Better than i thought!!! he woke up this morning with a wet diaper then we tried the potty... no luck. he ate and went down for a nap. when he got up i fed him and elt him play a while... then i thought he might have to poo. I put him in the potty and he went poo and pee!!!!! within like 1 minute!!! The about 40 minutes later he went pee on the potty!!! It is working!!! yeah!!!

I don't use EC.  But I do start putting my kids on the potty (I just sit them on the toilet) at age 9 months after naps.  My youngest two learned to poop and pee on the potty at that age.  I read that 9 months was the magic time (but I didn't believe it).  With my DD2 it took twice on the potty to figure it out.  I still keep her in diapers until she can tell me she needs to go.  But she poops and pees on the potty at least once a day.  She prefers to poop on the toliet.  When I know she has to go I take her in. 

I'll keep her going on demand until I'm ready to potty train in a few months.  She should be good to go as soon as she can tell me that she needs to go.

Yes I have and I LOVE IT!

My first baby I read about it while pg and started when the baby was 6 wks old.  He was fully potty trained by 24 months.

With my second baby I got lazy (didn't think I had time to keep taking a newborn to the potty with a toddler underfoot etc)...so this baby was basically in diapers...then around 18 mo I started with the potty training...well DS was not about to change his routine of poop in his pants...tried again at 24 months...finally 2.5 yr i got babylegs and had him going pretty well during the day (with no pants on)..but he wasn't fully trained until 3.5 almost 4.

Then third baby I started with the EC when he was a week old (after all the meconium/tar poop was gone). I would notice he'd get one poop diaper, then I'd change it and within 10 min he'd poop again...change...then third poop 15 min later....  So instead I started taking him EC...he'd have one poop...couple minutes another poop...couple minutes a blow-out farty poop! lol  but at least he'd get it all out.  By the time he was 2 wks old I was down to 4 diapers per day. He pooped like clockwork when I took him 8 am, 1 pm, 6 pm, 11 pm...i never had to deal with another poop diaper (at home) ever again... seriously he was my best EC baby probably b/c i started so early.  He also was much more contented and quieter and happy all around.

It makes perfect sense.  I don't know if anyone ever had an accident in their pants but it actually happened to me once when I was pregnant (long story)...and the feeling was absolutely disgusting   The feeling of crap in my pants was enough to stop the bowels... it was a lightbulb moment for me b/c I realized that babies probably feel the same way and that's why they have so many start/stop poops.  A normal poop over the toilet you completely clean out the bowels and feel better with less cramps.

Anyhow, if anyone has any EC questions you can feel free to PM me.

It did not work for me personally, but I always did something similar to what southernbelle said about putting them on the potty several times throughout the day, especially their pooping times, and that worked great, but I keep them in diapers....

I think it's a good idea that may work for some, but I think you really need to be able to dedicate a lot of time to it. I know it wouldn't be right for me, because I have 5 children, and just don't have the time to pay that kind of attention to a baby's pooping habits (now watch, someone with 7 or 8 kids is going to chime in and say that it worked wonderfully for them, lol!). My best friend tried it for awhile with her son, and had some success, but I don't think she is still doing it.

I have been doing this for like what a week now... i donno... I dont atempt to catch pee but I have caught all of his poops but one... YEAH!!! he goes more at one time when he is on the potty! I love this thank you for posting it on here...

I have to add that, unless your babies give clear signs that they are going, it probably isn't going to work too well. I have had a few "silent poopers", lol!