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A day in the life: ECing a young toddler – What it looks like in our home

Translations of this post: Italian

A day in the life: ECing a young toddler

We’ve talked about newborns, we’ve talked about mobile babies, and today we're going to talk about a day in the life of elimination communication with a young toddler.

Your baby is walking, busy learning and developing, and maybe already going to daycare or preschool. Obviously, during this time of rapid change, your EC routine is also going to change. But how? Follow along as I walk you through a day of EC with a young toddler, and what it looks like in our home.

This is the third in a three-part series where I’ve shared what a typical day of EC in my household looks like...newborn, mobile, and toddler. I hope you’ve enjoyed it! (In case you missed them, here are the newborn and mobile baby episodes.)

You will learn:

  • What our wake up routine looks like
  • How communication might shift with this age
  • How to provide privacy
  • What our transition times look like
  • What I pack for preschool
  • How we use naptime and mealtime as foundations
  • What we do at bedtime

Links and other resources mentioned today:

Download the Transcript

If you can't listen to this episode right now (um, sleeping baby!?)...download and read the transcript here:

Transcript download: A day in the life: ECing a young toddler

Watch the Video Version

If you want to watch me record today’s podcast episode, you can do that on my youtube version right here:

Thanks for Listening!

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Do you have any questions about EC with a toddler? What does this look like in your home? Anything to add? Please leave a comment below!

I look forward to chatting with you in the comments.

xx Andrea

Disclosure Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from purchases made through the links on this page.

Andrea Olson

About Andrea Olson

I'm Andrea and I spend most of my time with my 6 children (all under 10 yo) and the rest of my time teaching other new parents how to do Elimination Communication with their 0-18 month babies. I love what I do and try to make a difference in one baby or parent's life every single day. (And I love, love, love, mango gelato.)

14 Comments

  1. Avatar Siobhan on August 20, 2019 at 8:35 am

    You always have such excellent and helpful advice! Thank you! We recently took a potty pause because my boy (14 months) was resisting and we were both getting frustrated. I was planning to start back this week, but on Friday he grabbed his mini potty and started to sit on it himself! Friday went well, but then he was back to resisting the potty and hiding afterwards to do his business. I forgot about the privacy, so I’ll have to work on that. I look forward to next weeks episode!

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on September 18, 2019 at 8:30 pm

      I’m so glad it helped Siobhan! It sounds like you’re doing a great job with EC. Resistance at his age is often a sign that it is time to wrap up. Working on teaching him more skills towards independence will help so much. xx Andrea

  2. Avatar Kaitlyn Landeryou on August 20, 2019 at 11:12 am

    Thanks for the information. My 17 month old will stop going on her own if I offer too often – she pees about every 75 minutes. Should I still offer at all transitions? We end up having more offers with nothing than pees in a day and I feel like it doesn’t give her an opportunity to check in with herself and go on her own.

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on September 18, 2019 at 8:32 pm

      Great question! You don’t have to offer at every transition. It sounds like you have a good sense for when she actually needs to go, that is what you should go by. xx Andrea

  3. Avatar Bethany on August 20, 2019 at 1:33 pm

    I especially enjoyed this podcast because this is right where my baby is. Looking forward to the tips next week too!

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on September 18, 2019 at 8:33 pm

      I’m so glad it was great timing for you Bethany! xx Andrea

  4. Avatar Emily on August 20, 2019 at 2:20 pm

    Great info! Thanks for sharing! I am wondering where your toddler sleeps in relation to you and how he wakes you up to help him go potty. Thanks.

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on September 18, 2019 at 8:35 pm

      Hi Emily! My kids sleep in their own space. To start with nights I will go in and offer the potty at certain times. Eventually kids will either alert you (call out) or can take themselves once they have independence. Setting up a tiny potty in their room works great for that. xx Andrea

  5. Avatar Aysha on August 23, 2019 at 9:23 am

    My daughter (12 months) started moaning when sat on the potty and stopped going on there. I read this, started leaving the room and hey presto! We are back in the EC game! Thank you! How you fond time to do this and raise all those babies is beyond me, you are amazing x

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on September 18, 2019 at 8:56 pm

      That’s awesome Aysha! And thank you for your kind words!! xx Andrea

  6. Avatar Kitty on September 2, 2019 at 5:55 am

    Great to hear about how you do young toddlers. We are 15 months and have been in undies but no cover since 12 months. It’s going well for pee but still no signalling. What we would love is to see a video of how you do poops please. We are terrible at catching poop. There is no signal before, but he will often go still and quiet. I found it so helpful to see the video of cooper at 5 months on the bed happily playing then fussing for a signal.
    Really want to be better at poop.

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on September 18, 2019 at 8:58 pm

      Hi Kitty! Him going still and quiet is his signal! You can work on teaching him a non verbal sign like sign language or a chest slap. He’s a great age to pick that up. xx Andrea

  7. Avatar Keri on October 29, 2019 at 4:03 pm

    I have a mobile 11 month old. I’ve recently started EC after morning waking and after nap times. I’m having a hard time getting a catch because he will only sit for so long and giving him space for privacy for safety reasons has been tricky. Any tips? Also, do you recommend we try wearing pull ups or go diaperless as we start EC?

    • Avatar Andrea Olson on November 11, 2019 at 12:23 am

      Hi Keri! Increasing diaper free time will help your baby get used to using the potty. It may help to wait a few minutes before offering the potty after waking. Sometimes they don’t need to go immediately. You can run water or give him something to drink to encourage him to go. Fun distractions will help him sit longer. If things still aren’t clicking after 12 months old, the hybrid plan that comes with the Go Diaper Free book would be a great idea. xx Andrea

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