Born Naked

BabyX 6 months : By tuning into his needs and emotions with brain-to-brain synchrony, we communicate and thrive. He makes a fuss when he needs to use the potty, and when I ask p**i? He smiles back! I cheer for every little success he makes and for me to be so close to him now is a privilege. I love how we made his elimination during infant-hood a positive experience. Assist an infant to use the potty requires work indeed, but it is easier than clean up a mess afterwards. Plus, this lifestyle brings us happiness and pride!

Baby X’s potty journey - Day 6: ”Toilet journey” may be a more suitable title now as he has been held over an actual toilet since the end of Day 5. While mom was still trying to figure out the aiming techniques, papa had him p*e and p**p into the toilet multiple times throughout the night without a spill outside nor even on the toilet seat.

“It’s all about the angle!” said papa, naturally proud, while he has baby’s back against his chest and two legs held up in a lithotomy position. Papa is amazed how mom got baby “trained” already, and mom is happy that papa is bonding with baby through Elimination Communication in their boy fashion. And baby, just fell asleep after both his feeding and elimination needs were met, and a burp on his way back from the washroom.

Baby X’s potty journey:

Day 1: We had no intention to try so early but we caught baby’s first p**p -the sticky, thick, dark green meconium, as he was having a hard time trying to pass it. He appeared upset and I was still learning to know him, so I sat him on my tummy and bent his legs. Once he was in that position, he passed his first meconium on my tummy (yup, he will forever own me for that one!), and fell asleep right afterwards. Papa did the meconium clean up by wiping my tummy, and we had a good laugh about it!

Day 3: we arrived home from the hospital and he passed both urine and p**p into the potty for the first time, on his second attempt sitting on the potty. We were all thrilled, and we made a video for it. Guess who proudly cleaned up baby X’s first soiled potty? His older sister, coco, my first Elimination Communication (EC) baby!

Day 5: After mommy’s milk came in on Day 3, we have been starting a pattern for urine and able to catch some into the potty. By day 5, baby reacts to the cueing sound of “shhh” when held over a potty by mom. But boy oh boy, it seems like that he is good at aiming at anywhere near the potty but not necessary into the pot! This is so different than EC with a baby girl. We will need to figure out a better system for the little baby boy’s fountain style!

Long time no see, p*eks! Born Naked trainer is going to have a new journey with her new baby boy expected to arrive in May 2022! She is very proud to find this height adjustable plastic potty with back support, though she feels that it could have been made with softer materials such as silicone.

“I would like to have another baby just to experience the fun and magic of infant elimination communication (IEC) again, although I feel I am done with having babies myself.” Said the trainer 5 years ago.

Yet her estimation was wrong, her wishes came true. And this time around, she is also looking for business partners to explore the possibility of developing more infant friendly potties for the market, and to write a book promoting this natural and environmentally friendly practice!

Coco's Potty Journey - 14 month old, she points at the potty and verbalizes her needs

This is definitely an exciting and intereting movement in her potty journey! And they all come at once - yesterday morning she pointed at the potty and screamed for her needs to p**i, yesterday afternoon she made the sound "errrmmm.." several times intentionally to express her needs to c**a, and she was right about her own needs both times!

Several days ago she mimiced the cuing sound (shhh) I usually make for her when she was sitting on the potty, and she bursted out of laugh for that! In the past couple of weeks there were times she couldn't hold her urine anymore and wet her back-up diaper just a bit, and when she was finally put on the potty for the rest of her urine her face was hilariously relieving!

Couple of weeks ago I started to put her on the big toilet at times, and she's been so proud of it. She points at the toilet paper roll when she's done her business, and she tries to flush the toilet and waves bye bye..(haha, i know..) And yes she tries to put her pants back on, or try to get rid of all her pants and socks at once...(that's true too haha)

Since she started daycare at 11 month old she's been using only an average of two back-up cloth diaper everyday, and these couple of days even less. She still needs help setting her up, and she still has "accidents" here and there, but she's fully aware of her elimination needs and the concept of elimination communication. As I said in my earlier posts, I am not aiming at any specific goals and simply enjoying communicating with her for all her needs. I hope our story can raise some attention of infants' instinctive elimination awareness and the ancient enjoyable practice of elimination communication.

Coco's Potty Journey - 11 month old. She got her potty routine back the second day at the day care

Yesterday when I went to pick Coco up at her home day care, her care provider was very thrilled to tell me that Coco had 4 p**i and a c**a in the potty! She was so happy and proud. I totally understand her excitement as I experienced the "winning a lottery kind of" happiness when she did her business on the potty for the first time at 26 days of age. As moms and care givers, one of our biggest pleasure happens when we are able to satisfy our babies / clients needs in a timely manner. As bizarre as it may sound like, coco's care provider had a glow on her face when she was describing the moments she saw wastes eliminated in the potty from an 11 month old. She admits that it is so much easier than cleaning dirty bums, and it gives a more positive feedback. She said that the schedule I wrote for her helped, and she was also starting to learn her cues - the special fuzziness she makes when she needs to use her potty. I was very amazed by the sp*ed they adapted to each other, and how lucky we are to have a passionate and connective day care provider.

Coco's Potty Journey: 11 month old, Starting day care.

Yesterday Coco started her first day at her home daycare. Surprisingly, she didn't cry all day. I packed all the stuff she needs or may need for her first day, including some back-up clothes diapers and one of her favorite potty. The home care provider is very nice and is willing to work on coco's elimination needs the way she's already used to!

Yesterday Coco did not void in the potty at the day care, but she did after she went back home in the evening. She may need some time to adapt to her new "second home" as anything like teething, sickness, new people around, can all affect her potty routine. As cosette cant go on the potty on her own yet, I wrote down a 5 times potty schedule for her to be sit on the potty just to help both the care provider and Coco adapt to each other, and the 5 times are before morning snack, before morning nap, after morning nap, after lunch / before afternoon nap, and after afternoon nap. These are the usual times she goes on the potty, until the care provider get in tone with her or her starts to use words to indicate her elimination needs, whichever comes first. The care provider is happy to work with us in this habit as its not more work than changing dirty diapers, and we both believe she will be fully potty trained soon especially after she starts walking.

The photo is one day after bath she indicated me that she needs to sit on the potty, so I simply wrapped her in the towel and put her on. Even if the days I dont need to put her on the potty after her bath, we never had to put her on the change table naked first to put on diaper first before putting her clothes on. This is really nice as she doesn't have to cry for the experience of coldness.

Hope Coco will adapt to her home day care soon and continue the fun and great potty journey !

Coco's potty journey: 7 month old. No more backup diapers other than when in bed or car seat.

Now summer is finally here! I've decided to use less cloth diapers as backups as they can be really warm in the summer for the little bum. Even if she wet her little pants occasionally, in the summer it's not that big of a deal. Summer is making a lot of things easier, isn't it! Plus pants and underwears are not harder to be washed than cloth diapers, and she doesn't really c**a on herself anymore since the beginning of her potty journey. One of my friend hold her baby girl over a bucket for c**a since she was 6 days old and she is almost 2 month old now and hasn't c**aed into her diaper since. Thinking about those full back c**a and stained cute little outfits, there's no looking back. But for now anyways, I will still use backup diapers on her for sleeping, car rides, and visiting places with carpets.

Coco has been sitting on the potty without my support since 5 month old (always supervised within arm reach unless when she's surrounded by soft pillows) and now she tries to stand up (by pulling something) from the potty when she's done. She gives me a smile when I ask her "p**i? " if she does needs to go and I can't wait for her to tell me that by herself. Since she's five month, every morning after a feeding I let her sit on the potty in my bed and I go dress up myself in the same room, and that's when she has the c**a of the day. There were days when she's a bit off (sick, growth spurts, etc) that our elimination communication can get a little frustrating, but so far it's been working and progressing very well. It's not just the convenience and comfort make it special, but also the connection I am able to have with her through this practice.

Coco's Potty Journey: 3 month and 3 days, first time using the potty in the car.

I have always known that I could use the potty for her in the car, but I never practiced it as I prefer to feed het in a mall or a restaurant then bring her to the public washroom. Today we came out to this little snow hill in Long Sault for tobagening, and there's no public buildings nearby. Thankfully, I predicted this situation and brought her little potty with us. While her father and big brother playing on the snow hill, I fed her and put her on the potty in the nicely heated car. She had a nice p*e and poo inside the car without feeling the cooling air out there. As all Canadian parents may know, it is very difficult to change a baby's diaper inside the car especially in the winter, because we usually need to stand outside the car and change them on the seat. Meanwhile, the cold air goes in the car on their naked bum and they starts to cry or scream. By using a potty inside the car in the winter, my baby had a nice p*e and c**a without suffering the extreme weather. It also reduces the "accidents" rate that a baby may dirty the car during a diaper change. As a mom, I am really happy and proud. How did I cleaned the potty after? Well we were in the snow covered wild, clean the potty by snow and then dump them into the woods is the way to go, lol.

Coco's Potty Journey: 2 1/2 month of age, papa starts to practice elimination communication with her

Coco's papa has put her on the potty before, and he's always amazed by how she would actually go on the potty. But by 2 and 1/2 month, her papa has really started to put her on the potty as needed without my instructions. It is really amazing to see how she sends signals and her papa recognizes it as his second instinct. It's a fun practice to have the whole family involved. Her papa is very proud for his growing understanding to his daughter, same as me.

Coco's Potty Journey: 2 month and 2 days, sleep through the night and wake up dry.

As I know she needs to eliminate after feedings, I stopped putting her to sleep by drinking milk since she was 26 days of age - the beginning of our potty journey. She would peacefully laying in her bed to fall asleep by herself after a p*e and occasionally a poo, and I feel she's very content as all her basic needs are satisfied at that point. She usually lays there and makes some bird-like coo coos and fall asleep by her own. If she is exausted, she would cry and fall asleep after 1 or 2 min the most of crying. I would love to rock her to sleep, however she prefers falling asleep by her own. At 2 month and 2 days of age, she slept through the night for a good 9 hours, and woke up with a completely dry diaper. I still like to use backup diapers as I know if I get up 5 min after she wakes up, she would stop holding on that p*e and just go onto herself. I try to put her on the potty ASAP after she wakes up but occasionally I may would not be there for her in time. After all, I am really happy that I have figured out her elimination patterns and I feel this has helped the quality of her sleep as well. Sometimes when she is really tired, she would fall asleep during feedings and I don't wake her up to p*e, as I know she would wake up 10 min or so after I put her down, and that's exactly the time to put her on the potty. I feel sorry for those parents who have never figured out why their babies wake up soon after they put them down to sleep and start to rock them or feed them again while they are actually p*eing in their diapers, as I did to my son. I would be glad if someone can learn from my posts that babies have one more needs that a parent can help them to meet in a timely manner, namely the elimination needs.

Coco's Potty Journey: 2 months, adaptations to grow spurts

After practicing elimination communication (EC), I have learned that grow spurts not only change a baby's mood, sleeping and feeding patterns, but also elimination patterns. Coco used to p*e right after feedings by each side of the breasts, but not anymore since and after this big grow spurts at 2 month of the age. I assumed that it's due to the growth of the capacity of her bladder and the length of her GI tract, she would wait about 5-15 min to p*e afte feedings, and the frequency has reduced to only once after fed by both breasts. She is usually happy and vivid after feedings, and would make those little complains as the way she requests for the potty. It took me a couple of days to adapt to her new pattern, but it worked out just fine and the number of times she needs to go on the potty has reduced significantly since this 2 month grow spurts.