Westside Doula

Elizabeth's Success Story, Los Angeles, CA

Samuel, boy, started at 2 wks old, EC graduate (took himself to the potty, accidents once in a great while) at 2yrs (now 3yrs old)

Benjamin, boy, started at birth, now 6 months old, doing awesome - maybe 1 poopy diaper a month, only when teething and/or I can't respond to his cue in time (we're in the car, or similar).  Still have many wet diapers in a day, but that's normal and natural!!

With both boys I fully diapered (cloth, with a cover, Dy-dee Diaper service).  Occasionally I will let Benjamin go diaper free in the mornings or when I know I can be on top of it.  I did this once in a while with Samuel, but less frequently.  My in-laws still think I'm silly to do it (too much effort), but my own family supports it, even though they felt it was too much effort for themselves. My in-laws are often shocked at how long my boys can wait before needing to pee.  I'm so glad I did EC!  In fact, I blog about it at www.ez-ec.com and love to share my own tips, tricks, and hints.

You can do it, and it doesn't have to be difficult, full time, or anything tricky.  It's great!!!

Kindred's Success Story, Echo Park, CA

I started doing part time EC with my daughter GG at 2 weeks.  I worked full time so I only EC'd at night and in the morning before I went to work. 

By age 1 she was sleeping in undies at night and now at age 25 months I only put on a diaper when she's visiting in-laws since she still has an occasional accident.   I saved SO many diapers by doing this!  We used a mix of Kissaluv fitted cloth diapers without a cover, G-diapers, and disposables.  ABSOLUTELY the best time to EC was from three to seven months. 

I actually have a theory that the violent "blowout" nature of infant poops are designed to get the poop as far away from the body as possible to keep the bum clean because I barely had to wipe her when she went in the toilet!   We had 4 or 5 months where 90% of her poops went into the toilet (not a potty-- right into the toilet). 

GG was 3 months old, she kicked me awake in bed one night.  I tried to nurse but she wasn't interested but also wouldn't settle down!  I finally dragged us both to the toilet and she peed!!  After that, she knew she could kick me awake if she had to pee and we rarely had an accident in bed from then on.  I really believe that human babies, like animals, have an instinct to not soil their nest but we train them out of it by trapping them in a crib and forcing them to pee in their diapers.  Sometimes I knew she had to pee because she'd be crawling towards the side.

Those months of not having to change poopy diapers made it all worth it!  With solid food, crawling, and walking her poops became more unpredictable  But she is so comfortable with the toilet and has no fear of it at all.  Today for the first time we were checking out a daycare center and she peed in a public toilet in front of all the other kids!   I was so proud!

Kindred, mother to Genevieve, age 25 months