Parenting is an incredible adventure filled with excitement and so many rewards. It is also exhausting, disgusting, and the lowest-paying job you will ever have. Being a parent isn't always glamorous, but thanks to social media, we've all learned a trick or two from a stranger that's made our parenting game stronger. And some of that parenting advice has made things, dare we say, a bit easier.
Potty training may be one of our least favorite things about raising children. Whether you use cloth diapers or toss disposables in the trash, diapering is expensive and dirty, and no one loves to do it. Australian parents Montana Lower and Tom Linwood used elimination communication, or EC, with their daughter and claim the child hasn't pooped in a diaper since she was a newborn. We need to know more about this sorcery.
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These parents swear it's easy.
Lower and Linwood shared a lesson on EC on YouTube, and it almost seems too good to be true, but the parents say all we must do is watch our baby's cues. The mom explained that when we hear and see our baby's cues, we need to take them to the toilet for them to release.
"Every mom knows when their baby is hungry and they have cues for that and they have the same cues when they need to go to the toilet. It's just about listening and watching for it," Linwood said.
Lower didn't buy into it in the beginning.
But the more she learned about elimination communication, the more intrigued she became. She started working with the couple's daughter, Blue, and realized it was working.
"Your child understands they're heard and their needs are met and that's a beautiful thing," Linwood said.
The parents also claim it allows for a beautiful connection between parent and child.
The couple thinks using EC helps cut down on unnecessary embarrassment.
In the caption on their YouTube video, the couple explains that they wanted their daughter to feel empowered from a very young age.
"The biggest reason why we started taking Blue to the toilet at 2 weeks old is learning that being left to sit in a soiled diaper can add to shame and disassociation with our intimate areas — especially for girls. And it makes sense! Think about the difference between spending the first 2-4 years of your life with reactions to your genitalia being like this or this ?!" they said.
EC also has some financial and environmental benefits.
Linwood explains that disposable diapers have only been around for about 50 years, and they are expensive. They also create a lot of trash, which the elimination communication helps cut down tremendously. To Blue's parents, they're just not necessary.
According to the mother, "Babies are born with absolutely no preconceived knowledge of how to go to the bathroom. So if we don't teach them to go in the [diaper], we don't have to unteach them."
More from CafeMom: Rumer Willis Is Using Elimination Communication With Baby Louetta & It's Been 'Validating'
The method was met with a lot of praise.
Although the method may seem unconventional, the comments section on YouTube was overwhelmingly positive toward learning something new.
Others who have seen the method at work liked it.
"When I worked in an infant room at daycare, I had a baby come to daycare at 7 months who was potty trained!!" someone wrote. "Their parents had taught them to associate a hand gesture (opening and closing fist) when they had to go to the potty, so then when she came to daycare and used the hand gesture, we would know she had to go!! It was really awesome!! Accidents did happen because it can be difficult to notice the gesture when you're dealing with so many infants at once. But it's totally doable at Daycare's as well!"
And there were a lots of congratulations. Another person commented: "Well done! Proud to say we started EC'ing our little one at birth and since 7 months, we have had almost zero poop diapers! (Only exception is on long car rides) To be poop trained by 7 months was great timing for us since that is when we started solids — we cloth diaper and never had to purchase a diaper sprayer!"
Some were a tad skeptical. One mom who wrote: "Cloth diapering Mom of 7 homeschool children. I think this is awesome but….almost impossible for me. Still, very interesting. I think it's beautiful to make things like this more mainstream. Great job. Gorgeous family."
"I cant decide if your the craziest parents ever or the smartest parents ever I think I will go with the smartest," another comment reads. "I am 58 and never heard of such a thing but it makes total sense…very interesting video I hope lots of new parents see this and go for it."
