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—KATHRYN, MOM TO FIVE CHILDREN, INCLUDING T. C., 3

For those who are interested but hesitant, I’d say give it a try. We started very slowly. Most parents have a sense for when their baby needs to pee, especially the first morning pee of the day. If you know when they have to go, why not sit them on a potty and see if they’ll respond? Make a cue sound every time you notice them peeing, and continue taking them for that first morning pee (or any pee you know is coming).

—SARAH, MOM TO WALLY, 19 MONTHS

I feel that with part-time EC, my goal to reduce environmental waste was accomplished as best I could. If you knew you could do something that wouldn’t use up so many resources and didn’t take up much of your time, then why wouldn’t you do it?

—ANGELINE, MOM TO ANNA, 12 MONTHS

EC can be very, very easy. If you can offer the potty only once a day, or only after a diaper change, do that, and feel good that you are doing something. I think that EC’ing even occasionally has a lot of advantages over not EC’ing at all. I believe that the only way you can go wrong is to put too much pressure on yourself. Be kind to yourself, and if you have to make compromises, make them. Whatever works for you is right. Remember that babies are very, very smart (usually much smarter than you give them credit for) and also very forgiving. They will keep communicating as long as you are listening, even if you don’t catch a single pee. What matters is that you are paying attention.

—DIANA, MOM TO DORIAN, 7 MONTHS

In the next chapter, we move on to EC’ing with your newly mobile baby and the joys of EC’ing a child on the brink of toddlerhood!

6.

The Joys of EC’ing Your Mobile Baby

Your little one has come so far in so little time. Just a few months ago, she was content to lie quietly in your arms; now she explores every nook and cranny of your home, delighting in her newfound independence. Whether or not she’s close to walking, she’s just about as mobile as a baby can be, and her abilities to communicate with you have expanded in many ways. Your baby is so excited by all these new developmental changes, and it’s exciting for you, too, to watch her personality emerging.

You’re going to want to think of new ways to make EC’ing meaningful for your baby as her interests expand. Late infancy brings new joys to the EC’ing family, as your baby learns even more ways to take the initiative with EC, but it also brings with it certain challenges. Don’t worry—we’ll be covering them in this chapter and telling you some favorite parent-tested solutions.

GETTING STARTED

Some of you will be coming to EC for the first time with a baby in late infancy, while others of you may have gotten started at an earlier stage. If you haven’t yet tried EC with your baby, it’s important to realize that your child is more conditioned by now to going in his diapers, and you’ll need a slightly different approach. At this point, your baby may have tuned out of the sensation of elimination to some degree, if not completely. However, it’s not difficult to help reacquaint him with his bodily awareness. Starting EC at this stage involves a simple three-step process: letting him experience wetness, helping him learn to make associations, then guiding him to eliminate in a potty or toilet. Each of these steps will be important to you whether you are practicing full-time, part-time, or occasional EC, but you’ll want to follow the pace that feels right to you.

Experiencing Wetness

The first and most important step is to let your baby experience the feeling of being wet. This is for two reasons: so that your baby relearns the sensation of eliminating and correlates that with using the right muscles to release his pee, and so that you develop an awareness of his patterns. I know your baby is most likely mobile and that you may have carpeting or rugs in the home. Nevertheless, the quickest and most effective way to get your baby to recognize the pee sensation is to take