Am I the only who finds this slightly amusing?

Boys r us wrote: POTTY training newborns

Basically people think that they are Potty training newborn babies! It kind of cracks me up! Can you imagine a 2 week old being dangled over a potty?

mom2tripp replied: What in the world are they thinking?

PrairieMom replied: boy. Thats something else! I love how they say it is more sanitary. I'm sorry, who has the time to deal with that? you would have to be stareing at your baby 24-7!
I have a hard enough time reading my 2 year olds potty signals! To each his own I guess!

MomToMany replied: I think it's cool! A friend of mine is ECing her newborn. Instead of training a baby to pee & poop in a diaper, they are paying close attention to the baby's cues. They know when they have to pee & poop. Then you just take them to the bathroom. Read their "Mission & Philosophies" & FAQ. This is the normal thing to do in other cultures, and is gaining popularity in the US among natural or "crunchy" parents.

Boys r us replied: I think it's great if a parent has the time to do this and as long as they don't REALLY think that they are potty training their infant, b/c really, they're just training themselves as to when their baby has to go..they will still have to potty train their child. But anyhow..yeah, it IS a good thing for the earth and presumably for baby too. I just can't imagine the time and effort it must take, even if I were a SAHM!

MomToMany replied:
Once again, you are misinformed.

Newborns have cues, like hunger cues, for when they have to go potty. They let the parents know by vocal or other body signals when they have to go. I don't imagine it being time-consuming at all. And they will never have to potty "train" their child, because the child will already know when they have to go!

ediep replied: honestly, i think its a little wierd. How would you ever be able to leave the house? infants don't have the ability to "hold it" and wait for you to find the bathroom at the store.

I have nothing against anyone that want to try, heck, if you are help the environment and training your baby early...great, but it is definately not something i would want to do

mom2tripp replied:
Gimme a break Molly! I remember when I first had Tripp he went ALLLLLLL the time and you should know that bc I KNOW you nurse. With a nursing infant there are no FRIEKING signs they just GO and Tripp used to go ALLLLL the time!

This is ridiculous! Even if they give cues there is no way for an infant to COMPREHEND they are going in the toilet and not in a diaper---GEEZ

MomToMany replied: If you people would just READ what is on the site, you would understand what I'm saying!

From the site:

What is Elimination Communication (EC)?

Just as parents learn to read their baby's signs for sleep and hunger, they can also learn to read their baby's signs for needing to eliminate. In fact, most parents already know what some of these signs are, such as the straining facial expression or the telltale grunting and bearing down that precede a soiled diaper. Practicing Elimination Communication (EC) is just a matter of responding a little differently to these signals from your baby. Taking your baby to the potty can be easy and rewarding!


Don't the experts warn against potty training babies before they are ready?

It's important to note that this is Elimination Communication, not training. This is a gentle process that follows the infant's cues and needs, and is never coercive or punitive. As such, this practice is consistent with the baby's development and maturity.

How do I know when to offer the potty?

As a culture we have been taught to ignore the signals babies give when they need to eliminate. You can learn when it is time to offer the potty much the way you learn when to offer the baby a chance to eat or sleep - by picking up on signals such as fussiness, distractibility, and vocalizations. By choosing to consider these signals in a new way, you will gradually be able to recognize your baby's signals and patterns.

Does this mean that you never use diapers?

EC can be done with or without diapers. Many parents practicing EC do use diapers or training pants for backup or during certain times of the day. Whether a baby wears diapers or underwear, parents change them quickly whenever wet or soiled so that the child stays accustomed to the feeling of clean underclothes.

If a baby doesn’t wear a diaper, isn’t it very messy?

Often when people first hear of the idea of a baby using the potty (and not using diapers) they wrongly assume it will be a messy process. In fact, parents who diaper their baby spend a lot more time in contact with their baby's bowel movements than ECers do. EC'd babies will have the occasional BM that doesn't go in the potty, but diapered babies have their BMs in their pants every time and parents spend a lot of time wiping those BMs off their babies bottoms. A bowel movement in the toilet or potty is flushed or washed down, and wiping a bottom after a BM in the toilet takes all of one second and one small wipe. Also, EC homes have no stinky diaper pail.


Some people have very closed minds!

mom21kid2dogs replied: I'm all over most concepts AP but I can't embrace this!! I think it's funny, too! I have read a couple of extensive articles on it and find it interesting and amusing. Of course, I didn't bank on my daughter to train by a "magic" age, she went when she was ready to go~her decision, not mine. We have had virtually no accidents and I didn't have to be trained that way. Guess I'm just a lazy mommie!!

Boys r us replied: I have a background in early childhood education and I'm a mom..so I honestly don't think I'm misinformed. I'm not trying to incite an argument, I think it's great if you have the time. But babies may give cues that they are pooping, but not when they are peeing...besides what would could you accomplish throughout the day? Besides staring at your baby to see if they are giving you a cue to pee? I know both of my boys and all other babies I've ever babysat would frequently have a wet diaper 2 minutes after I just changed one, they pee all of the time.
Children do not have the ability to learn to potty train as a newborn, they are going to the potty when their parents take them b/c their parents are learning when they have to go. I'm an advocate of early potty training, I think that many parents wait so long b/c they don't want to be troubled with having to actively train them, rather than the child training themselves...both of my guys were potty trained well before two years old...but not two weeks old!

mom2tripp replied: I just read the site and all I have to say is one thing

RIDICULOUS

mom2tripp replied: Of all people, I thought you Mollie would be totally against this. TO me it's pushing your child to do something beyond his/her comprehension. There is no way a baby can understand what is going on when a parent is doing this!

mom2tripp replied:
NOT CLOSED JUST COMMON SENSE

Hillbilly Housewife replied:
Well both my kids stared off into space when they were peeing.... then they'd go about their business. THAT is how I knew it was time to change them, not by feeling their diaper, smelling them, feeling for wetness... and that was from the time they were very young, maybe a month old - so yeah, babies have cues to when they pee. And I didn't have to stare at my baby 24/7... but like any good parent, I was WITH my baby alsmot 24/7... and since I palyed with the baby, fed the baby, stimulated the baby, talked to the baby, carried the baby around just about all the tmie other than sleeping.... I'd say I didn't have to stare at it, it was with me, so no extra effort.

I don't think I would bother trying this with a newborn.... but maybe a child a few months old, if I had the time and the patience.

Both my kids were also potty trained well before 2 years old.

But..... if I trained my previous cat to go on the toilet... a child shouldn't be that much harder.

*****************

Like any other subject.... this has proved to be an interesting and opinionated one. I'd like to see what other cultures around the world think about this.... besides... this could be the norm in the less developped parts of the world... who knows.

mom2tripp replied:
I'm sorry if I'm coming across rude or anything like that I just feel like I have a very strong opinion on this subject. Well I guess I would be considered a "good parent" as well then because I've never been away from Tripp AT ALL and even to this day, he's almost 11 months old there are NO SIGNS WHATSOEVER that he is peeing, to me that is just absurd. The only way I can tell if he has peed is if I smell Pee!!!

As far as pooping is concerned the only way I can tell now is the random times that he strains which isn't all of the time.

IMO before 1 it is entirely too early to think you can know when your child needs to relieve him/herself no matter how GOOD of a parent you think you might be!

Boys r us replied: Well, see I guess that's where this goes array, I'm not a good mom, I wasn't with either of my kids 24/7...so if you're a good mom, then I guess this technique works well, for us bad moms that work or take showers or cook dinner or have babies who stare into space when they're happy and cooing it doesn't work so well...

I don't think anyone in this topic had gone there until now, but it's a pretty good way to get people fired up!

mom2tripp replied:
Thank you Nichole

MyBlueEyedBabies replied: with katy the sign that she is peeing now is that i hear it hitting the toilet before she was potty trained the only sign would be that she would be wet. there was no looking into space, no straining, no anything just wet.
With Matt now (not as a newborn) he will hide or squat down when he poops, If i put him on the toilet he will absolutely freak out and then wait until i put a diaper back on him. As a newborn (or basically antime before about 18 months) there wouold be no signs, no facial expressions, no nothing. I spent all day with my kids and there were no signs of what they were doing.
If I had 24 hours a day to spend staring my child down to look for a facial expression to show when they were going I would have had no life...and a very messy house.

Hillbilly Housewife replied:
Holy crap, you read wayyyy too much in between the lines.

I responded that unlike you, MY kids stared off into space when they peed, and that I picked up on it - therefore, kids CAN have cues to pee. That I didn't have to be staring at my kids to see it - I was with them anyways... it's not like I had to hold the kids up and stare to see when they were peeing.

I was with them 24/7 in the sense that of COURSE I showered, cooked, cleaned etc.... but I wouldn't be doing it while my baby was crying for something... their needs would always be met. If you felt that my post was implying that you were a bad mom, that wasn't the intention - considering I work, cook, and shower too.

Just because my baby was happy and cooing, doesn't mean that I did other things... I still talked to my babies when they weren't crying or needing a diaper change or a feeding.

It's not like I HAD to wait until they stared into nowhere to change their diaper... it was just something I noticed. Same way I noticed that even if Emilie wasn't straining or had other <cues>, she'd hide in a corner to do her business.

Maddie&EthansMom replied: I think some people would believe anything and TRY anything.

Maddie&EthansMom replied:
This is true, Rocky.

coasterqueen replied: I've heard about EC before. Not my thing......I'll leave it at that.

Kaitlin'smom replied: Okay some of the statements have been harsh and some yes even I find offending but I wont go into it further lets just state our opions and leave it at that.

punkeemunkee'smom replied: I read a book that presented this method of child rareing(that your child should OBEY you and can be TRAINED much like an animal) as the gospel truth. It is called "Train Up a Child"and I should say that it was given to us by a pedi when we were doing the meet new doctors phase and I would not have gone back to that office on a BET!!! DO NOT BOTHER to waste your time effort of money on the garbage that this man wrote! As a matter of fact my suggestion only would be to buy the book and use it as toliet paper for your emotionally ready 2-3 year old child!!!

MomToMany replied:
Why would you think that I would be against this?

coasterqueen replied: Okay, I will say this . I think as a nursing mother I'd find a VERY hard time doing EC. For one reason being that Megan is notorious for nursing and during a session she'll just blow out. For some reason almost every time she nurses she poops (or at least she used to, not lately). And I know I'm not dangling her over the potty while trying to nurse her.

I will also say this.....EC is obviously environmentally friendly being that you most likely aren't using diapers as much - but then that would mean even cloth diapering isn't very environmentally friendly and obviously regular diapers aren't as well.

SOUTHERN MOMMY replied:
My thoughts exactly. This is crazy if you ask my i'd lot rather spend my time playing and loving on my baby than worring about when they needed to go to the bathroom. JMO In my case my boys slept way to much as newborns to get any CUE'S from them except i'm hungry. I always just changed them every so often.

I guess if you are willing to set 24/7 and look at your baby it might just work you might learn when they need to go. But, i don't know anyone with that much free time on there hands.

SOUTHERN MOMMY replied: Oh and i almost forgot:

Just because i work and am not with my kids 24/7 does not mean that i am not a good mom as a matter of fact if i did how in the HE** would they eat, stay warm, have clothes, a roof over there heads, or anything else for that matter.

You should not have gone there IMO there are a lot of working moms here that no matter what you believe are GREAT MOTHERS.

mom2tripp replied:
I think this bc as an extended nursing mom you seem to let your kids come into stages as they are ready---this ec stuff is pushing babies to be toilet trained and I just didn't think you would want that!

SOUTHERN MOMMY replied:
To be honest i thought the same thing Mollie.

TANNER'S MOM replied: Well, I have potty trained 3 children..I had 2 that were well potty trained before 2.. But my middle son Justin was a no go. He was 3.. almost 4. He had trouble.. I was going thru a divorce. He was premature.. and still has some slight learning issue's.

I think when it comes to potty training.. us parents have made it a competition... how old was this one or that one.. When there are a lot of factors going on.

It is a fact... that boys urinary tract..bladder and other area's usually mature later than girls.. hence the tale of boys are harder to train.. they can't hold it like most girls can..

If someone wants to try this, than more power to them..

But I would like to see a study of kindergartners.. that have successfully been potty trained since newborn age.. you know. I think most parents would get to 2 or 3 where the children are really mobile.. and they can't sit and watch them. WHere the kids are in different play area's and more independent to find out they have to start over.. and if not they are great.

I am a working mom... and I work for my kids. To have all the things they need and a few extra's. I don't always like and I do have guilt.. but in another way I am proud that I am active and my kids can some day realize Mom was a person too.. that had a life and worked hard for everything they had. That Mom is equal to Dad. And I don't feel like I am a bad parent.

And I respect stay at home Mom's too. It doesn't matter what your choice is.. it is your choice and no one is less of a parent.

MomToMany replied:
I agree that ECing is the most environmentally thing to do. But it's not for everyone. But using cloth diapers are FAR more environmentally friendly than disposables. EC'ers will use diapers on occasion, and they will usually choose cloth since they care about the environment.

mom2tripp replied:
Let's not even get into that debate

MomToMany replied:
You aren't "pushing" them to be "trained" sooner. All babies are born with cues when they need to pee/poop. ECing parents are just following those cues.

Most people can read their puppy or dog's cues when they need to go outside to do their "duty". The same principle applies to ECing.

I'm intrigued by this, and am maybe going to try it with the next one (if it ever happens).

mysweetpeasWil&Wes replied: The only real "cue" that I got from my newborn was a blow out!!!! I agree that it sounds environmentally "nice", but I don't understand why we can't allow our children to be...well, CHILDREN!!! I really feel that it's pushing a child to be more developmentally advanced than they need to be. JMHO. But if someone wants to do it, just like all other parenting methods that I wouldn't do myself, then fine.

ammommy replied: All I'll say is more power to the parents who do this, but it's definately not for me.

Mommy2BAK replied: This is a new idea to me. I would never try it b/c I think a baby needs to be a baby.

kit_kats_mom replied: I knew a mom who did this with her DD but she didn't start until the baby was about 2 months I believe. The baby wore diapers when they were outside of the home & overnight but during the day, they did EC. I found it intriguing but after doing some research into it, I chose not to do it. Mainly because I didn't feel like spending much of my day looking for signs. Frankly, I have enough trouble remembering to make it to the bathroom when I should

A&A'smommy replied: Okay I should know better than to respond to something like this but quite frankly I think its weird and kind of ridiculous YES my daughter had cues I ALWAYS new when she was pooping but not peeing I didn't notice any signs until she was 6 months old.

~Roo'sMama~ replied:
Lol Karen Andrew did the same thing! He pooped every time I fed him for the first 2 months at least. He still does poop while he's nursing just not every time anymore.

EC'ing does seem silly to me, but not bad. I wouldn't ever do it - it just seems too weird to me. And sometimes Andrew's "potty signals" are the same as the faces he makes for absolutely no reason - I can just see myself running him into the bathroom every few minutes every time he scrunches his face up. But I think it's more of an pain for the parents doing it than forcing their babies into something - after all they don't expect them to never go in their pants.

punkeemunkee'smom replied: This was on Good Morning America this morning and all those ECing babies had cloth diapers and plastic pants on so I guess they don't use the signals on TV...Lol! Can't a baby just be a baby?

A&A'smommy replied:
I agree!

mom2tripp replied:

punkeemunkee'smom replied:
I kinda wish that one of them had pee-peed right there in the studio with no diaper ...now that I would have found amusing...this other I just find

Kirstenmumof3 replied: I don't know that's just bizzare and so wrong!

Maddie&EthansMom replied: I"m going to lock this thread. It isn't productive when feelings are hurt and name calling is involved. It has turned into "I'm a better mother than you b/c I do _______" thread and that isn't good for anyone. It's okay to have these debates when there is learning involved. Nothing can be solved from this and minds will not be changed. I'm not one for locking threads, but like I said, we aren't learning from each other here.