Anyone Doing EC "No Diaper" Potty Training for Infants?

I do know someone that was successful with this BUT it's more like parent training than it is training the baby to use the potty.

I think EC is facinating. Too bad Pampers, Huggies etc, and the baby industry at large has conditioned us to believe that diapering is the ONLY way and EC is not even discussed as an option in most circles. I wish you luck and hope that when our babe comes along (Feb.) we will have some success w EC. Although I am worried b/c we will have to go the daycare route... Best of luck

You sound like an enlightened, well read mom. I commend you for going green with potty training your infant early. Contray to what we do in the USA, this is VERY common practice around the world. I noticed when I was in Africa that the babies wear cloth diapers and are carried around on the mother's backs all day. I asked a local why don't I see wet backs on the mothers and they explained that the mothers know when the babies have to go and they put them on a small pot.

Has anyone noticed lately that the diaper ads on tv are for bigger and bigger children? My girlfriend's daughter is 12 and still wears diapers. We are stifling our children under the belief that there is a true age to begin potty training, when in fact in MOST cultures they start at birth. Two is not a magic number.

I pray you are sucessful so that other moms will see that it is not bad choice but a great way for you to be in tuned with your baby, and save the landfills, one diaper at a time!!

I remember reading about this when my first was an infant. I thought Aha! That's how people managed it before diapers! (And how people *still* manage it in many parts of the world.) I had read novels about life on the frontier, or The Good Earth (China around 1900), and kept hoping the author would mention something about how people used to deal with baby messes. But the subject just never comes up.

So, I thought the EC thing was interesting, but I hadn't actually heard of anyone doing it, and... I didn't think I was up to it, truthfully. I needed someone else to try it first.

Besides, I don't think the daycare would go for it. :)

But even if I had been a SAHM, I don't think I would've really been up to it. I mean, I wasn't even able to stick with cloth diapers! And my dear husband would've probably thought I'd gone off the deep end. As it was, I was bucking convention PLENTY by wearing them in slings, nursing past a year, bed sharing, and raising them vegetarian. (That last one really freaked out the in-laws!)

But when my first was finally ready to potty train, it *WAS* a huge pain in the neck that dragged on and on, back and forth, for MONTHS. (The new baby brother showing up didn't help matters.) And he still sometimes has accidents at night (at 5), so... yeah, if you can get past that early and avoid the ongoing hassles, the trauma and drama... I can see the appeal.

(You've been getting some harsh reactions, so I just wanted you to know that there are some people who support you. Even if we're too chicken to try it ourselves.)

My first thing is don't listen to the negativity. People are afraid of what they do not understand. When I started cloth diapering, my friend with a baby three weeks older immediately went on the offensive and I never even tried to convert her! Anyhow, I have not personally used it. However, I do cloth diaper and I know plenty of people that use it in conjunction with cloth diapers. I know that when I started cloth diapering, I thought it was going to smell, be a lot of laundry, messy, etc. It was and isn't any of the above. Same thing with EC. I talked with several people about it because I thought this HAS to be terribly time consuming. All have assured me that it's just the opposite. Once they point out how they don't have to change diapers, wash them, shop for them, etc it makes sense. I applaud you for going against the grain. And again, please don't let the negativity and ignorance on the topic from others get to you.

To Stephanie B: You're looking at it in the wrong light. It's not about FORCING a baby to do anything. Bodily functions are natural. Learning to read your baby's signals for these functions is normal. Ignorance can be bliss though but I've often found that it's the ignorance that backfires.

yes! my daughter was out of diapers by 6 months. Since 4 months we stopped wearing dipes to the grocery store and other small outings-then at 6 months we started to take her everywhere diaper free. It is WONDERFUL. We have loved ecing our daughter. The EC store and diaperfreebaby.org is great. I highly recommend buying DiaperFree by Ingrid Baur and a baby bjourn Little potty (my daughter started using hers at 4 months, before that I was holding her).
We wear the split crotch pants all the time or babylegs, and unless there is a small moment of regression (which happens sometimes with colds and such), we catch about 95 percent of all pees (a miss every couple of days, she is 7.5 months old). By 6 months she would signal to me by rolling off my lap, look at me in a way that I knew meant she needed to potty, or she will crawl to her potty.EC is a gentle, wonderful approach to bonding with your baby by being so in sync with her, you can communicate with them on a whole new level so early in life.
I would highly recommend it, I decided to try it, and have 2 other moms on board doing it and loving it as well.
Feel free to email with questions you may have, but no information I have will top the Diaper Free book. It is such a great journey to have with your child!
And just to respond to others...
Ecing is NOT the old fashion way to "potty train" where it is very strict. It is a gentle, intuitive, and a wonderful way to bond. It is not hard work, and takes less time than changing a diaper. The majority of the world EC's and yes, babies do respond and learn with ECing. You can put a diaper on your baby whenever you want or need. You will begin to realize that it is very natural, and diapers are not. There is no diaper rash, harsh chemicals in a non breathable environment surrounding your baby's very sensitive areas 24/7. We should not let babies think it is okay to sit in urine and feces, and then at 2 or 3 say "oh just kidding, it's gross and you have to stop".
I believe some mothers should read more about ECing before judging it so harshly, and telling you it is very hard and time consuming and you should be focused on other things. It is a different way to do things and as someone who has been doing it for many months I can personally tell you my husband and I have very much enjoyed the process, as well as my daughter who is always dry, has no limited mobility because of bulky diapers, and has already begin to communicate with us her most basic needs.
I really hope you decide to try it.

I see one mom who has done this-but at 4 months -and loves it, so there must be some validity to it. HOWEVER, I have a 2 week old, and I cannot imagine the sheer MESS of starting diaper free training with him right now! Until babies are at least a year, they have a very hard time realizing the feeling of being about to go. The EC method sounds like it would be a tremendous amount of work for the parents -moreso than just regular training later. Do you really want to add more work to your load right now? I do realize you evidently get the payoff of not having to buy and deal with diapers at some point, but I don't know when that would be with a 3 week old. IF you really want to do this, I would at least wait until the baby is 4 or 5 months old.

Ana,
Please think long and hard about this decision. Babies have no sense of whether or not they need to use the bathroom. They may be able to be trained, just like we can all be trained to do something, but is it the best thing for the baby? Think about how long you might have to hold a baby over a potty when they are used to being up close next to you in the womb and still need to be up close next to you to feel safe and secure. There is plenty of time to teach a child how to use the potty. There can be great psychological and physical damage done to children who are pushed into potty training too early. An infant is doing such hard work already at this age.. adjusting to being outside the womb, growing, and learning. It is so exhausting that they spend a majority of time sleeping. Just make sure that you have looked at the pros and cons of this process and that the pros outweigh the cons.

honestly i would never think about doing this. Because when you potty train a child befor they are ready it will just back fire on you. at 3 weeks old or even 6 months your child can not really be ready to potty train. it blows my mind that people are FORCING there babies to do this. but hey if you do it its your choice and good luck but i feel it will back fire

I for one have not used this method but I question why you want to do it. Bodily functions are the ONLY thing a child can control and taking that away can have dire effects! The baby at this time is still developing it's personality so all things should be positive and encouraging. To start potty training now can wind up training you and not the child.

I'm confused. Why would you be doing this? Not trying to be harsh at all, just wondering why??