The Diaper-Free Baby_ The Natural Toilet Training Alternative - Christine Gross-Loh [60]
BEGINNING EC WITH A TODDLER
If you are beginning EC for the first time with your toddler, your strategies are going to differ from those used by parents who are EC’ing a newborn or six-month-old child. Your child is likely no longer very much in touch with his bodily awareness if he’s been diapered throughout infancy. But he is still so young, and toddlers have certain traits (like being able to walk and talk) that make EC’ing flow particularly well at this age, so don’t be discouraged! Your approach will be very similar to the one described in chapter 6, because it includes the additional step of reacquainting your child with his bodily awareness. Introducing EC to your older baby or toddler is a three-step process: letting him become aware of his elimination, making associations and teaching him about cueing, and finally guiding him to eliminate in a toilet or potty.
Becoming Aware of Elimination
It’s important to let your child spend some time out of diapers. You might remember my story from the beginning of this book: my first son, Benjamin, started using the potty when he was just thirteen months old. I gave him plenty of diaper-free time in those first few days to reinforce his awareness of the sensation of elimination.
In order to provide diaper-free time, you can either take your child out of diapers completely or put him in a training pant or a coverless cloth diaper. The purpose is twofold: to let him sense what it feels like to pee (he will immediately look down, and, after repeated experiences, will start to associate the pee sensation with the muscles he uses for eliminating) and to let you know what his patterns are. A common pattern is for babies and toddlers to pee soon after waking up and at a certain amount of time after drinking or eating (this varies from child to child but is often consistent for each child). It’s also common for children to pee more often in the morning and less often during the afternoon. Whatever your child’s particular patterns are, it is essential that you understand them. This knowledge will enable you to choose the best times to let your baby go diaper-free, as you’ll soon know when you have the optimal chance of observing him eliminate. For us, morning was a good choice because I knew my son would pee often then and it would give both of us a lot of opportunities. For others, especially those who work, evenings are better because they are a great time to reconnect with your child. And remember, a diaper-free period doesn’t have to last long; even fifteen or twenty minutes is fine. If you don’t happen to get any output during that time, you’ve still gained the valuable insight that your baby doesn’t tend to go at that time or that he can hold it. You can always switch diaper-free time to a different period of the day if need be.
You might occasionally get some pee on the floor, just as you would if you were providing naked time during conventional toilet training. Use a training pant or cloth diaper for nearly the same effect as total naked time if you will be bothered by this, as it’s important not to get stressed about the learning process.
Even toddlers enjoy having their parents nearby when they’re on the potty.
Making Associations
Once Benjamin started to notice he was peeing, he’d look down, exclaim, or have some sort of adorable reaction. Having been in diapers all his life, he’d never noticed what he was doing before, and this was just amazing to him. When he reacted, I’d say, “You’re peeing!” and then make the cue sound(pssss). I even signed “toilet” at the same time for maximum effect. Thus, I was communicating to him about what he was doing in three different ways. If I noticed him starting to squator strain, I’d also say, “You’re going to poop!” (And then, if I had a potty handy, I’d put it under him to catch the poop; you can also use a diaper or container.) Don’t say anything in an alarming way; you just have to call their attention to what they are doing. This is making an association, responding to their reactions,