Elimination Communication Begins!

Warning: this post contains lots of poop-talk :P

Today we caught our first and second pees and our first poop! We're so proud of our sweet Iris for being such a clever and "communicative" baby.

What is elimination communication? Basically, parents and their babies can "communicate" based on "cues" surrounding the elimination of pee and poo. This way the baby doesn't have to sit in his or her own excrement, and they don't have to "unlearn" using their diaper as a toilet!

We find that Iris is the most upset when she has a wet or dirty diaper. We had researched elimination communication a lot during the pregnancy, and so from day one we were looking for Iris' "cues." Steve was the first to notice that she kind of "whistles" when she's about to pee, and the red face and grunts and limb-flailing are a dead giveaway for poops! Yesterday I went to a La Leche League meeting (more on that in an upcoming post on breastfeeding), and I met a woman who was practicing EC with her baby. I talked about it with her, and when I got home I couldn't get it out of my head. Later that day there were three instances where she had not wetted her diaper (only pooped), and then either peed on the change mat or into her clean diaper as soon as it was on. With the third I ran to get the potty, but it was too late! Finally, at her 4:30 a.m. post-feed poop change, again she hadn't peed. After cleaning up her bottom, she farted, and I thought she was going to poop again -- I held her over the potty, and she peed almost right away! I was shocked, and SO excited! She used a potty at 4 weeks, 1.5 days old!

Later today, Steve and I caught a pee AND a poo together. It was so neat to see the surprise on his face that I know was on mine when I caught the pee earlier! This is such an exciting milestone for us, and we can't wait to keep practicing. We forgot to "cue" her (we're supposed to make a sound when she eliminates so she'll form associations), but that will come. Our book on EC says that even catching one pee or poo a day is a great success, so go us, and go Iris!

This is such an exciting adventure, and I am so proud of our sweet baby!