The Diaper-Free Baby_ The Natural Toilet Training Alternative - Christine Gross-Loh [58]
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The following strategies for applying EC on the go are similar to those mentioned in previous chapters, except that you now have the additional benefit of being able to use a toilet with a child who is much older. Here are the main tips to remember:
Scout out bathrooms when you go to a new place
If traveling, take along a potty and/or toilet insert that your baby is comfortable with, along with any bowls that you might find helpful
Offer opportunities before leaving the house, after coming back home, and if you happen to be near a bathroom or even happen to be using one yourself
Cue baby to go in a diaper too if necessary
Keep a potty in the car
We offered pottytunities whenever we thought Felix might need to go while we were out, and my notes from his infancy are littered with comments about places where he went (the pediatrician’s, the mall, certain restaurants, friends’ houses, etc.) When Felix was ten months old, we took a three-day trip with plane rides and a hotel stay, and we managed the whole thing with only three pee misses. In fact, we seemed to fare better with EC while out, since we were more alert and tuned in, and Felix was carried in a wrap.
—KAREN, MOM TO FELIX, 17 MONTHS
We were traveling home from somewhere, and Nathan was uncomfortable in his car seat. I tried music, talking, toys…all the things that I thought might help. He was just starting to babble and said “Baboo” (his word for bowel movements). I pulled over to the side of the road and set him on the potty in the back of the car. He had a bowel movement right away, and I was so glad I could respond to his discomfort. If I hadn’t known, we would have listened to him screaming all the way home.
—CAREN, MOM TO MAXINE, 7, AND NATHAN, 3
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Is EC Convenient? One Parent Speaks
Convenience is not a dirty word. It’s extremely important for a parent to feel peaceful and relaxed, and searching for simplicity and convenience is an excellent way to accomplish that. There’s no objective definition of convenience either. It’s whatever works for you. Some people feel diapers are convenient, and some people feel that not using diapers is convenient.
We practiced EC from birth, but when I went back to work a few months after our daughter was born, we went back to diapering and did not try to catch every pee. That was the choice that worked for our needs at the time. We’d still catch the occasional pee and a good number of poops (which really does save time—just flush and snap and you’re done). So we were still following a hybrid version of EC.
In practice, EC will probably take more mental effort during the first few months than diapering. But at some point there is going to be a crossing point where EC starts taking less mental effort and far less time and expense than diapering. And then eventually you’ll have a toddler who might be using a potty a year or even two or three years before she might have without EC. That is a source of daily celebration.
—MATTEO, DAD TO CARLY, 5, AND JASMINE, 3
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EC’ING WITH OTHER PEOPLE
If your baby spends time in the care of other people, this is an ideal age for your baby to begin being EC’ed by other people as well. Teach your caregivers that your baby has certain patterns, and ask them if they can possibly potty your baby once or twice while they are watching her. You can also tell them just to offer your baby a pottytunity when the diaper is off during a diaper change.
If caregivers are resistant to the idea of taking your child to the potty, you can ask them to consider doing it if your baby makes any overt gestures indicating her need to use a toilet (i.e., she starts playing with the potty, signing, etc.). If they are reluctant even to do that, then encourage them to, at the very least, communicate with your child and cue her about what she is