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The Natural Toilet Training Alternative

Christine Gross-Loh

This book is dedicated to my two little

diaper-free babies, Benjamin and Daniel,

who, from the moment of birth,

opened my heart to all that babies

and children have to say to us.

CONTENTS

Foreword

1. What Is EC, and Why Should I Do It with My Baby?

2. Gathering Support and Making the Leap

3. Getting Ready to EC: Gear and Other Fun Stuff

4. Newborn Bliss: Getting to Know Your Baby, Getting Started on EC

5. EC’ing During Middle Infancy: Smooth Sailing

6. The Joys of EC’ing Your Mobile Baby

7. EC’ing Your Toddler

8. Final Hurdles and Graduation

9. If Your Situation Is a Little Different

Resources

Acknowledgments

Searchable Terms

About the Author

Copyright

About the Publisher

FOREWORD

By Melinda Rothstein and Rachel Milgroom, cofounders of DiaperFreeBaby™

We both entered motherhood expecting to change years of diapers, just like every parent we had ever known. Melinda thought of taking her one-week-old son to the bathroom when she knew he was about to go, but dismissed it immediately as ridiculous because she’d never known anyone who did it. Rachel was dedicated to the idea that a child should be helped to learn to use the toilet at a young age, but thought that meant starting at around a year old and that anything younger would be impossible and incredibly messy. Only after being encouraged by other parents did we start to consider an alternative to full-time diapering.

What these other parents told us is this: Our babies are born ready to communicate that they need to use the potty, and the time spent taking a baby to the potty can be fun. Half of the world’s children are out of diapers by the end of their first year, yet many of the children in American society remain in diapers well into their third and fourth years. We learned that it is possible to practice elimination communication (EC) regardless of differences in work schedule or parenting style—from a few times per week to many times per day, one caregiver to many, starting at birth or starting later in the first year. We came to understand that parents in an exclusively diapering culture need assistance as they shift their mindsets about elimination and diapering.

Once we understood that babies are aware of their elimination needs and have ways of communicating those needs, it made perfect sense to us to help them use the potty. Both of us started our elimination communication journey with our children at approximately the same time as Christine did with her second son, Daniel. We influenced each other’s choices and provided support to each other as we learned. Through frequent contact via e-mail with other families we learned practical day-to-day tips and started a local playgroup for families practicing EC. From these relationships we learned about our infants’ innate intelligence and increased our ability to understand when they were communicating their needs.

At the time, none of us had any idea how much EC was going to add to our lives. We definitely had no inkling that we’d be so enriched by it that we’d become involved in the effort to publicize the practice to parents everywhere. The international EC support organization, DiaperFreeBaby™, was born out of our desire to help other families meet for support and sharing. We knew that families would be happy to have a way to connect with each other, but we were completely surprised by the level of international media interest.

This growing interest makes it clear that it is time for Christine’s book, and we’re thrilled that so many parents will now have the opportunity to explore EC for their families. Christine is the perfect person to write this book, as she has both the loving perspective of an EC parent and the professional skill to present the information. From our first playgroup with Christine, her perspectives on elimination communication and parenting, as well as her own gentle nature, have been indispensable to us personally and to the parenting community as a whole.