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Mothering, Mindfulness And A Baby’S Bottom: An Introduction To Elimination Communication

This article was originally written for The Mother magazine, UK, issue number 3, autumn 2002 www.themothermagazine.co.uk

Elimination Communication (EC)- also known as Infant Potty Training (IPT), Elimination Timing (ET) and Natural Infant Hygiene- is how most babies are brought up around the world. This ‘method’, which is so obvious in most cultures that it needs no name, involves the mother and baby becoming attuned and communicative so that the mother knows when the baby needs to eliminate- wee or poo.

I first heard the phrase Elimination Communication when my fourth baby Maia Rose was 3 months old, and a friend pointed me towards the EC website- see below. I was very excited about it as I had read in a letter to Mothering magazine (US) a few years earlier, that African women cue their babies to eliminate with a ‘psss’ sound, and I had begun to do this with Maia from birth. I was drawn to the idea of a deeper physical and psychic connection with my baby, and EC felt closer to our genetic imprint. The first time I tried it, I held Maia (aged 3 months) over the laundry tub, and made the psss noise. To my delight, she weed straight away, and we have been doing it ever since.

It has been more rewarding for our family than I could have imagined. It has given us more skin-to-skin contact, less washing, no nappy rash, and, best of all, a deeper respect for Maia's abilities and a finer attunement to her rhythms. There is obviously less waste and a better time for Mother Earth; and it's fun! After having three babies in nappies, I have been constantly delighted at Maia's ability to communicate her needs, and to keep telling me until I get it.

Elimination Communication also makes a beautiful contribution to my experience of mindfulness in my mothering. Like breastfeeding, it keeps me close to my baby, physically and psychologically, and provides very immediate feedback when I am not tuned in.

From the start, I’ve had a lot of support from Emma (then 10),...