...sometimes referred to as 'nappy free'?


I first heard a reference to elimination communication when DD was 5 weeks old. I was at a caf? with a pregnant friend. At one point, she said something along the lines of 'that's if we decide to use nappies'. She continued talking and I remember thinking 'no nappies?, how can you not use nappies?' but the discussion had moved on and I didn't seek clarification. I had always thought that there were only two choices. Cloth or disposables, and I am definitely on the side of cloth. I now know that there is a third choice ? elimination communication or 'nappy free'.


I began practicing elimination communication (EC) with DS1 at birth. The benefits of EC are numerous, and include ? it is better for the environment than full-time use of disposables and cloth; no nappy rash for bub; greater closeness and communication between parent and child; less washing than cloth nappy use; cheaper than disposable nappy use; greater freedom and mobility for the baby.

EC is about tuning in to your baby, and recognising when they need to eliminate. All babies are born with an innate awareness of their elimination - it doesn't just fall out of them without their knowledge!! Basically, we train our babies to use their nappies as a toilet place. Babies have no desire to soil themselves, and sit around in wet or pooey nappies. From birth, babies will give off detectable signs or signals that they are going to eliminate. As a newborn, DS1 would wriggle and squirm, then build up to a cry as they peed.He would keep crying until he was dry again. If we do not respond to the signalling, eventually a baby will stop attempting to communicate this need and will, consequently, become conditioned to eliminating in a nappy.


From birth, we made a cueing sound, 'pssss', whenever we noticed that DS1 was eliminating (it helps to give your baby some time out of a nappy each day so that you can observe this). At 2 weeks of age, we began holding him over a bucket or sink and making the cueing sound whenever we thought he needed to eliminate. We would hold him in a supported squat position, our hands under his thighs and his back against our chest. Gradually, this sets up an understanding between parent and baby, and the baby knows that you will respond. We were peed on lots of times at the start. It can feel a bit like trial and error at times, but once we had developed confidence in our ability to recognise his signs, we were hooked! He knew that the positioning and the 'pssss' sound were our way of saying 'we know you need to eliminate'. If he looked disinterested or arched his back, that was his way of saying 'no', so we would cease. If he relaxed, we knew that we had read his signals correctly, and a pee or poo was imminent.

There are lots of different ways of practicing EC. Some people go 'all or nothing' and rarely ? if ever- use nappies. Other people take a part-time approach so that their baby wears a nappy at night or during outings. Other parents just catch the occasional elimination. If you know that your baby is going to poo, why not hold her over a potty or toilet instead of watching her struggle to poo in a tight nappy while lying down? No mess to clean off their bodies either, just straight down the loo! One less nappy to wash (or buy)! The majority of the world's babies don't wear nappies. These days, parents in the West have become reliant on nappy use for a longer period of time than previous generations, with some children still in nappies at 3 and 4 years of age.

Some people mistake this method for early toilet training. That couldn't be further from the truth. EC is about listening to your baby, responding to their needs in the moment, and setting up a line of communication and trust. There is no coercion or punishment involved whatsoever. Sometimes I would be distracted and I miss the signals but most of the time I was in tune with him. The point is to maintain communication and help the baby to maintain an awareness of their body's elimination needs.

DS2 is 10 weeks old. He wears MCN's but whenever I recognise his signals I remove his nappy and hold him over a plastic container (that we call his 'potty'). By the time he was 10 days old, I realised that I recognised his signals. I was sick with mastitis and wasn't even looking for the signals. He was wearing gorgeous MCN's and I had planned to start EC with him when he was a few weeks old. But it was hard for me to tune out from that once I knew - he would make such a distinctive noise, and I would imitate that noise as the cue (rather than using 'pssss' as we had with DS1).

Sorry this is so long.