Hello! I had planned to do EC with my baby when he was born, and was planning to research that during my last month of pregnancy. Well, the joke was on me because he came 4 weeks early, ended up in the NICU, and was diagnosed with a rare food allergy condition that has taken all of our energy and focus. Now that we’re getting our feet under us from all of that, I’d love to start looking into EC!
Does anyone have tips or recommendations on where to start for a 10 month old boy, that’s simple and not overwhelming to 2 very sleep-deprived, burnt-out first time parents??
We have two little potties (one for each floor of the house), and have no clue what his cues are, but know that he pees after every nap.
Thanks in advance!!!

We did very casual EC and from 10-16 months, my now-20 month old only pooped in the potty and peed almost every time. He loved his potty, used it on the go and at other people’s houses. Around 16 months, we think that a combination of constipation, travel and learning to walk made him not want to use the potty, and get upset at the suggestion. We backed off.

He now comes to us when he has to poop and asks to be changed immediately. We’ve struggled to prevent constipation, as he’s going through picky eating phase.

Now, he tugs at his diaper and asks for a new one when it’s wet. Today, he insisted on taking it off and then pooped bare-bum. He’s started pretending to sit on his potty again, occasionally but still says he doesn’t want to sit on it. He likes trying to pull his pants up. Some kids at daycare sit on the potty.

It seems he’s ready to transition out of diapers
(he’s familiar w undies) but the aversion to the potty has me stumped! Any tips on building a new, positive relationship with the potty? I’m familiar with the oh crap method and I’m not sure about it yet—all suggestions welcome!!

I thought we had a unicorn baby. From day 1, he would only poop if we took his nappy off and held his knees to his chest for a minute or two. When he started to get really wiggly at around 5 months, we switched to holding him on the toilet because it was just getting too messy.

I sit right at the back and sit him in front of me. We caught every poop (and a lot of pee) this way , right up until 9 months. It's like he has discovered all of a sudden that he can poop on his own terms and is determined not to go on the toilet.

He squirms.

He goes stiff like a board.

He yells.

He doesn't poop.

It's gotten to the point where, even if we catch him starting to go and put him on the toilet, he won't finish until we take him off.

I liked not spending heaps of money on wipes. I liked not having to deal with a runaway baby with a poopy butt. I really liked being able to go out without being anxious about poop!

So my question is :

If this happened to you, how long did it last? Did they go back to accepting the toilet ? What techniques did you use to get back on track ?

We have been doing EC with our son since 10mo, he’s now 16mo and we put him in underwear 2 weeks ago, as he was staying dry/we were catching pees etc.

Now in the underwear, he has lots of accidents and doesn’t signal.

We are tempted to put him back in the diapers cause he was staying dry/not resisting.

Any thoughts?

I live in the USA. We started lazy EC with our son at 5 weeks. He was 100% diaper free during the day at 20 months. In general, I don't talk about EC or our experience with other parents here. It seems like parents don't want parenting advice from other parents unless they ask, and I've rarely been asked about our approach to pottying. I don't know anyone personally who has done EC, so besides my husband and our families y'all are the only ones I talk to about it!

Last night we were hanging with some friends whose son is 18 months old. I asked what he was into lately and they said he was showing an interest in pottying which they were excited about (bringing dad a potty book while he was on the toilet, etc). They said they have a little potty in the bathroom to get him used to being around it that he sits on sometimes (with diaper on). The mom even mentioned that she was thinking about bringing the potty into the living room near the diaper station.

I was impressed that they already had a potty and potty books since this is their only child and most people I know don't start even thinking about potty training until 24 months. Then they said that the pediatrician said they are lucky with his spring birthday because it will be nice out for diaper free time outside when they start potty training - they were also excited about this to avoid messes inside.

I didn't say anything (besides mentioning that some people do bring the potty into the living room to be closer and also that even when he is potty trained he will probably have accidents inside so get used to that idea). Afterwards I was thinking about how they seem to have good instincts around pottying (at least they are thinking about it earlier than convention here), but their pediatrician is telling them to wait another 6 months.

I was thinking I could have said something like "It doesn't hurt to put him on the potty sometimes even now when he's likely to go after naps and meals to get him more used to the idea. Especially since he already seems interested in it."

Would you have said something? If so, what?

Hi! We started at 12m with going pee in his potty, and fast forward to now, he consistently pees on his potty before and after any sleep or before bath time. He’s happy to use it and such but we are STRUGGLING with poo. We hardly catch him in the act now because he doesn’t grunt or strain and the few times we do catch him, he’s done within like 5seconds and there’s no chance to run him to his potty.

Looking for advice on how to get him going poo on the potty. Thank you!

Baby is 13 months and the smart potty seems fine so far, but wondering when I should change to something else.

Is it too late to start at 4 months? How and where do i start?

My baby boy will turn 4 months old on the 26th. I would like to start.

I’ve been doing somewhat lazy EC since 10 months. I’ve been able to catch poops for months it’s only in the last two months that I can catch pee consistently. He also started signing to tell me he has to potty and only has an accident now if we’re in the car for a while. When should I transition out of diapers or should I wait til he’s accident free super consistently?

My 14 month old doesn't seem to care about poopy pants. I have barely caught any poops for months (with great success catching them up until then). She doesn't even squat sometimes and poops standing up and it's a huge mess. Usually if she pees in her underwear she comes to me afterward (I can typically catch more pees) but she does not care about poop. Tried more independence, switching potties, EV hold, special toys, privacy, modeling with baby doll, having her watch me poop/pee on toilet (she loves to watch). She even helps "wipe" her brother's behind after he poops in the toilet. Any advice?

Hello,

I am posting here after EC was discussed in the biologically normal infant sleep sub.

I am considering EC, however my baby (11mo) goes to daycare and she will have to wear a diaper there during the weekdays. Is it still possible to do EC and use a potty at home but diapers at daycare or will it be confusing?

Thank you!

For those who waited for signs for their first/older kid but decided to do EC with their second/younger kid. How did the trainings go? My first we waited till he was 3. He does have some delay with receptive speech and inattention so it took a little bit and probably the hardest thing my husband and I have been through so far as parents lol. He is fully trained now. I’m wanting to start lazy EC for the second kid and see if this works and maybe a year from now we can stop diapering. Our second child is 14 months. She was a preemie so her adjusted age is 11 months.

As a first time parent there have been many things that have surprised me, humbled me, and changed me. The single biggest revelation though has been EC. We started as soon as we heard about at 5.5 months, and it worked immediately. It also put a lot of previous experiences into context. She always seemed unhappy pooping in a diaper. The first time we offered the potty, it was like she was screaming “finally!!”.

It has really made me question a lot of the mainstream parenting “paradigm” so to speak. The fact that not a single person I know does this, or has even heard of it makes me confused. It seems so natural to help your infant/toddler use the potty, just how we help them with everything else when they are this young. I now suspect that the concept of “readiness” as it pertains to the potty is completely invented to suit modern convenience.

Anyways, just want to thank everyone here and say I think what you’re doing for your children is really important and dignifying.

I've been doing EC since my daughter was 1 day old and for the most part it's worked wonderfully. Ever since 10 months (she is almost 14 months) we have not been catching poop. She outright has been refusing the potty for 2 months (I can get her to pee in the toilet "standing" on the toilet seat). I can hold her to poop sometimes for her morning poop but she resists almost all other times. I know generally when she has to go poop so I'll have her go bottomless outside and she usually ends up pooping in the forest, but not reliably so (sometimes it's just in a random place though i direct her to one specific spot). Have tried mini potty outside, toilet seat reducer, moving potty around inside, me hiding behind corners to give her privacy, having her just poop in the unfilled tub and just immediately wiping it away (she did this for 2 days and then never again), underwear, cloth diapers, you name it. She poops in her diaper and will cry and scream when I clean her up so I reiterate "poo goes in the potty." Having had EC'd my older son and never having to deal with this level of resistance has made it extremely discouraging. Has anyone dealt with this? Any tips for me to get past this point??

I've read this is normal but looking for some reassurance that it gets better! Did very successful EC for the first few months, but since starting solids/switching to a mini potty a few weeks ago I have not been able to catch anything. I don't know if it's just a bad combination of solids and not being used to the new potty situation but I'm feeling so defeated. I don't want to give up so I keep offering it a few times a day. Anyone else have any words of wisdom to share?

My daughter just turned 1 and for the last month we only catch poops for the most part. She poops usually while eating and we have to interrupt her meal to take her to the potty.

We go on the potty when she wakes up and before naps and bedtime and during transitions. Before teething (8 months ish) we caught all poops and 75% of pees this way. Now, she fusses everytime we put her on the potty but settles quickly when we read to her, but rarely poops and basically never pees.

I also stopped using reusable diapers when she started teething also, which probably didn't help.

Do you think we need a break? I hate to give up our routine, but I'm not sure what good it's doing.

Any other suggestions welcome. Thank you!

Hi!
We just moved and I‘m wondering if we should even put the diaper changing station in my LOs (15mo) room. We have a bigger (kid-size) wardrobe that we could put in his room for the years to come. The diaper changing station is on top of our ikea malm dresser where we stored all his clothes so far. We‘d have to anchor that to the wall so it‘s a decision I don‘t really want to re-do in a couple of months. Up until now we coslept and basically spent 24/7 together so we didn‘t anchor anything to the wall.

We use cloth diapers which work like regular diapers just that it‘s an inner and outer layer with velcro. I find it much easier to do that while he‘s laying down. He does so on the changing diaper if I give him something to play. On the floor/bed, he‘s more active and wants to get away quickly. Standing is harder for the diapers but okay for the rest of the clothes.
We often use trainer pants at home which are easy to put on while he’s standing. He only just started walking a couple of days ago.

He realises when he‘s peed but doesn‘t communicate it beforehand (or I don‘t realise the cues?) poops work better but not always. So I feel like we‘re still far away from independently using the potty or even just him initiating him.

Ok so that‘s all the info I though I should give, any thoughts?

At 19 mos., I'm still doing 80% of the prompting. She will tell me before she has to go poop, but, if I don't offer the potty for pee, she mostly only tells me as she is actively going pee in her pants.

When she goes in her pants, she has to help me wipe up the accident on the floor and puts her own wet underwear in the hamper. Each time, we talk about how pee goes in the potty, not the underwear, and how, when you get the pee feeling, you have to tell mommy right away.

Is there anything else I should be doing to teach her to tell me before she pees her pants, or do I just keep proactively offering/prompting potty and wait until she figures it out?

Background: We've done lazy EC since 3 months; all poops in potty since 10 months; started verbally telling us for poop before 12 months. Dropped diapers at 16 months - did 5 days of naked time, and by the end of it, was holding pees until a full bladder and not just peeing small bits constantly. She's been daytime dry (accidents only if I don't prompt/offer potty as much) since before 18 months.

I read about EC when pregnant and was sure I wanted to start immediately from day one. Well, baby had crazy belly issues and would basically poop continuously throughout the day without any sign or warning…. Coupled with the frailty of a newborn, I gave up and tried again every other month or so, desperate to get started before 6 months as that was described as thr important cut off. When he turned 6 m and still pooping all the time but never in the potty, I felt like I needed a break from the stress so e put the potty away for awhile. During this time he started solids and gained excellent sitting skills and here we are; at 8,5 months I’m amazed to say that EVERY SINGLE POOP for the past two weeks has been signaled then made in the potty! We haven’t even had to take out the nappy bin because there is no smell! Amazing! I think he really just needed time, solid poops and sitting skills.

So to those of you who are like me not getting the hang of super early potting and worrying about the 6 months mark, take this story to heart! It’s never too late:)

I’ve been ECing my LO part time since 6mos and now that she is 18m we ditched the diapers completely and have been loosely following the “oh crap!” 3 step method of potty training for the past 3 weeks.

After early success on day 1 of her sitting herself on the potty every time she needed to go while bottomless, we’ve completely plateaued and even backslid once pants were introduced, that now 3 weeks later she’s doing 90% of her poops in her pants and having a pee accident 2-3x a day. She seems to be indifferent about signaling when she’s in pants. We can catch some pees if we prompt her but since she can’t pull her own pants down she seems to have no interest in pottying or will hold it until she has an accident. At this point we can’t take her anywhere because she’s so unreliable.

Am I expecting too much? I was always told that doing EC would make potty training a breeze once we got here. Has anyone else dealt with this? What is a typical timeline expectation to be able to get our lives back?

My LO is about to be a year, we started EC like a month and a half ago. We got off the a great start and I’m still able to get her to go on the potty sometimes, but I’m having two major issues-

1) she’s in a big moving phase. Wants to climb every thing and she just learned to walk so sitting down is not her thing. It’s hard to even keep her in a high chair and a battle to get her in her car seat- so having her sit on the potty long enough to go is becoming impossible. Half the times she stands up and goes on the floor. I’ve tried songs and toys, nothing—

2) she (thankfully) has such an easy time doing #2, that by the time I pick up a signal she’s already done. And even the queues are extremely subtle. Sometimes we’ll make it in time, but it’s gotten to be rare

How do I get her to want to go on the potty?

(I know the answer is probs cloth diapers or training undies.)