2 Months of Elimination Communication Status Update

Little Baby Communicator is about two months old now! Here is a quick rundown of how things are going.

• Since he can't stand or sit up on his own we just lay him down in the changing area and put cloths over his goodly bits to eliminate. Low stress. Works well enough for now. 
• He uses his own word "Ghoo" to indicate that he needs to go, or he wiggles his legs a lot. He recently started reaching his hand down towards his crotch and bringing his legs to his chest. That is a good way to know he needs to go rather than is just playing. I still make the "sssss" sound and say "Shash koni" (Farsi for "go potty") to tell him when to go. I also use his word. 
• We catch the potty more than the poop. The poop requires some effort on his part so it seems easier to just go through the process while he is eating, but we will catch one once in awhile. I don't want to stress him out in the changing area so if it isn't happening then we just let him go in the diaper.
• I counted one day, we caught 13 pees, 2 poops, used two diapers, and had 2 false alarms. That was a really good day with no interruptions or anything unusual going on. On normal days we catch more than half though.
• When we go somewhere or have people over we don't catch as many. This is obviously mostly my fault for either not paying enough attention or not having a place I can really bring him to let him go conveniently. 
• Cute Baby seems to love it so far. He likes being clean and dry. He tells me when it is time to go, and smiles when he is finished.

I am surprised at how well this works for how young he is. People underestimate babies way too much. Although I don't think we are close to being "diaper free" I see so much promise in using Elimination Communication! I think Natural Infant Hygiene does work and Dad and I agree that we are glad we are trying it.
I'm looking forward to seeing what another month brings!

Baby Bjorn Potty Chair Review

I ordered the blue potty seat from Baby Bjorn hoping I might find a way to make it work for baby. All I can say at this point is

• It is very good quality
• The plastic is smooth
• It has a splash guard for boys
• The color is pretty
• It has a non slip bottom so it doesn't slide around on the floor
• It is too small for newborns. Baby is about 24" and probably around 12 lbs at this point and it really doesn't work for him yet. That's not a poor reflection on the product, just a note for anyone considering it for natural infant hygiene. He is about two months old so I didn't really expect to find a potty chair to fit.

I will probably have to use an old yogurt container if I want to have him eliminate while he eats. At this point, though, I think I will be pretty happy if we catch all the poos except the ones while he is nursing. If we were ever to get to that point we could consider another option.

Great quality product, we just aren't ready to use it yet. I will write a more hands on review once we have used it for awhile.

Pardon the Mess...

I'm currently working on getting this blog all organized and easy to use. Thank you for bearing with me while I work through it! As it turns out, babies require and deserve a lot of attention and time. Some things just don't seem as important when babies are around. My mom sent me this poem and I love it...

Cleaning and scrubbing can wait til tomorrow,
for babies grow up we've learned to our sorrow,
So go away cobwebs.
Dust go to sleep.
I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep.

...makes me cry just a little bit to read it again. It is good to remember what is important.

Natural Infant Hygiene with Diapers

Well he already started in his diaper, why not just let him finish?

I've thought this several times. Well, I already failed, why not just let him finish going in his diaper? Here are several reasons why not to just ignore it and to continue with natural infant hygiene even though this diaper has already been soiled.

- The point of NIH isn't just saving diapers.

- It doesn't teach him anything.

- It may have just been gas.

- If he isn't finished he still has an opportunity to learn.

- Why let him sit in that dirty diaper pressing against his delicate skin?

- He might fall asleep and then he will be in a dirty diaper even longer.

- Why risk a leak?

Reasons I do leave him in a dirty diaper to finish:

- He is in the middle of eating. It will cause a fuss that it isn't worth. Usually it will only be another ten or so minutes anyway.

- I'm lazy. I feel bad but it happens. Not a good reason, more of an excuse.

- He is asleep and I don't want to wake him up. If he goes while he is sleeping I'm probably not going to wake him up to change him.


So every diaper situation is different. If I take the time to assess my motives I generally don't think it is a good idea to let him just wallow in his own filth. I feel so bad when his poop is dried on to his little bottom because I left it too long. Poor guy.

A loss of a diaper isn't a loss of an opportunity. Can't win them all completely but it is still important to keep trying.

Little Natural Infant Hygiene Man

Like a man...

Sometimes I hold Cute Baby up so he can walk on the bathroom counter when he is trying to eliminate. I figure putting him in the squatting position might help him to push it out.

He has fun with it, too, so why not? The best part is that he has discovered peeing standing up. He thinks it is pretty fun and does it sometimes. No big deal, just wash the mirror more often.

Natural infant hygiene is such a cool adventure!

Natural Infant Hygiene with Newborns

Methods we have figured out for newborns.

For awhile I was just holding the baby over the sink. He got heavier and that wasn't easy even when he was little.

I ordered a potty seat hoping to find a way to make it work even for a seven week old baby. It is too big for now. Cold and disruptive. We have it for later though.

So lately what we have found to work is to just lay him on his "changing table" which is just the counter in the bathroom with a towel on it. Then when we take off his diaper we put a washcloth over his penis to collect the urine. We place a rag under him to collect the poop. And, if anything leaks it just goes on to the towel under him and we get a dry one for next time. No big deal.

So far this works great. No one has to hold him so we don't get tired if it takes a little longer. Everything is there and ready for cleaning up. It is in another room, specifically the bathroom, so he gets used to the idea that eliminating usually takes place in another area.

This is the method that has worked best for us so far.

Even Dad Can Participate in Natural Infant Hygiene!

Dad even did it!

I got to go grocery shopping by myself yesterday. What a treat! Even though Dad has expressed an interest in elimination communication and encourages me to do it, I never really expected him to try it himself. And, that's fine. Natural infant hygiene isn't for everyone and it won't do any damage to our progress.

But about twenty minutes after I left I got a text message from Daddy asking, "Does he usually have to go to the bathroom when he wakes up?"

He took him to the bathroom and successfully caught a pee and lots of poop. I told him he doesn't have to do natural infant hygiene if he doesn't want to or if it seems like too much effort. He said, "He seems to like it."

That was so great to hear because I don't want to do anything that makes him miserable. I'm glad it is working for the whole family.

Caught Three in One Day - Natural Infant Hygiene is Possible!

Caught about half yesterday! Three of them were perfect.

We had a great day yesterday- busy but great. Little baby is 7.5 weeks and as I mentioned before he started using his own word for elimination communication. I listened when he wiggled and said "ghoo".

I took him to the bathroom each time and he went every time. At least three of the times it was effortless. He made his sign. I took his diaper off and put a cloth on him. Then after just a few seconds he started going. I told him he went, said how nice it is to feel dry and put his diaper back on him. He smiled and giggled and said "I ghoo" which maybe is his past tense.

Amazing. This is so much fun! Even Dad is getting in to it, but that's another story!

Could he be making his own words?

I've been using the "ssssss" sound while baby is eliminating as a cue sound. I've also been using the word "shash" for urine and "madfoo' " for bowels. (These are the Farsi words for each .)

But then a couple days ago I noticed that he kept saying the word "ghoo". To my knowledge it doesn't really have meaning in either Farsi or English but it was a sound he used frequently. I started to realize he used it in association with urinating.

I thought it was a coincidence at first. Babies make sounds and babies pee... Both quite frequently. But then I paid more attention. Whether we were on the changing table or anywhere else, if he said "ghoo" then he would soon eliminate, specifically urine.

I intended to write this post about my speculation after he did it three times but he has done it three more times since then! Six seems less like a coincidence especially since he doesn't use it any other time.

So I'm letting him train me. I'm still using the cue sound and the words I used before but why not add "ghoo"?

We'll see how this goes, but I am excited for the potential.

One Fairly Consistent Sign

We are just over six weeks in to natural infant hygiene (baby is just over six weeks old) and so far we have been able to communicate on one point more regularly than the rest.

When we have him on the changing area, whether to change his diaper or if he signaled that he needs to go, when we try to put the diaper back on he signals whether he is finished or not.

I started using the baby sign language for "finished" and ask him if "تمام شد" (Farsi for "finished?"). However, our communication about diapers is not yet that sophisticated. If he isn't through with eliminating and I start to put the diaper back on then he wiggles, squirms and whines a little bit. If he is done he relaxes slightly when I start to put it on.

I think it has worked just about every time since we noticed it. I explained it to dad after he told me that baby started wetting in the diaper before he even had it fully back on. I'm not sure if dad will participate but st least he is interested and talks to me about it. He is encouraging.

Overall, I'm glad we have at least this one sign. It is a good place to start. We have that and the usually consistent need to eliminate when he first wakes from naps. I'm looking forward to seeing where it goes from there.

Curse My Metal Body I Wasn't Fast Enough!

This quote from C3PO sometimes seems to be my theme for natural infant hygiene.

Today he was squirming and being fussy. At first I thought he was tired and kept trying to force the pacifier on him to help him fall asleep. Then I realized he probably had to go to the bathroom.

I got him to the bathroom, started taking off his sleeper, then just as I reached for the diaper he let out some massive amounts of diarrhea. So close!

The problem is that I waited too long. Still, not a waste. I made the cue sound and told him what he was doing. We got all cleaned up and went on with life not having to sit in a dirty diaper for any time at all. We will try to be faster next time.  

Got One!

After writing my last post I got inspired to continue to try again with natural infant hygiene. So after cute baby woke up from a nap I immediately took him to the bathroom. I took off his dry and clean diaper, placed a towel over him and started the cue sound and told him he could go.

He didn't at first so I went to the bathroom myself and then tried again. This time he smiled at me and immediately started urinating! He seemed so pleased with himself.

I gave him some time to have a bowel movement but he didn't need to go. I thought he did because he was squirming but he was also crying. I put the diaper back on and took him out of the bathroom. He fell asleep right away so it turns out he was tired and didn't have to eliminate any more. I'm excited to learn the subtle differences in his communication with me. He is only five weeks old and already I am enjoying his new methods of communication.