How to learn your baby’s patterns
Over the many years that I've been teaching Elimination Communication, I've learned one thing above all else:
When you feel lost or unsuccessful,
re-learn your baby's patterns.
Every single time...it is the magic antidote for any potty challenge.
Babies grow. Bladder sizes increase. Attention spans increase (promise). And we, parents, have to re-learn how often our babies pee or poo.
Observation and logging can help you start EC, troubleshoot EC, and wrap it up, too.
It's a goldmine of information!
Watch today's video, just under 4 minutes long, to understand how work this magic potion to your and your baby's benefit:
You'll learn:
- why you need to know your baby's natural timing
- what two times of day you should start logging your baby
- what type of diaper to use for observation
- and how to log your baby's potty intervals.
On that note, please download my observation log....
Or grab one of my paid courses or my popular book:
Please comment below with how often your baby currently goes, and how old s/he is!
Looking forward to seeing where everyone is....
xx Andrea
Disclosure Note: As an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from purchases made through the links on this page.
My LO is 4.5 months and we’ve been practicing EC from birth. I go more by timing and intuition as her signals are pretty subtle unless I’m carrying her. I used to offer every 1/2 hour or so and she would usually go, but now it’s starting to stretch to 45-60 minutes! Woohoo!
When she wakes up I offer and then again about 30-45 minutes later (used to be every 15 minutes for the first hour she was up or we would have a morning full of misses).
Thank goodness things are starting to ease up. And she’s definitely able to hold a lot more in her bladder!
And we’re having many dry nights now too!! She’s waking to eat and potty about twice/night and since she sleeps right next to me I know right when (or sometimes before) she starts to stir.
That’s excellent, Naiya!! Sounds like you are very in tune with one another – one of the best things about EC, for sure. :) Andrea
My son learned how to use the potty since he was 6 months. Since he has turned 1, his interest in using the potty declined! Now at 15 months, HE REFUSES TO GO TO THE POTTY!! I don’t want to force him to go, so sometimes he pees in the tub, and then he opts to poop in the diaper. I don’t know what I did that caused him to be like that. HELP!
Hi Helene – sounds like a potty pause! Totally normal for this age, and it actually indicates that he wants full control over the process. Remove the diapers, potty train with my book for older toddlers, and be done. You didn’t cause this. Our current modern lifestyle did – he can’t just walk outside and go, himself, so he resists you because he has a very strong desire to be self-sufficient…makes sense! I also have a minicourse on Potty Pauses coming out this Friday, so stay tuned on my email list to get that gem. It will definitely help, whether you potty train now or not…you’ll at least understand and take steps toward getting past this! Hang in there. xx Andrea
I’m totally amazed by how long my 14 month old daughter can hold her pee!!! Last week, she peed (and pood) on the toilet in the morning after waking up, as she normally does. Then, the next pee was at 1:30pm!!!
This is an absolute record, but she can sometimes also go after 1 hour ‘already’.
Normally during the day she pees about 5 times (not counting first morning pee) depending on how much she drinks.
Pattern still very unpredictable though.
PS Doing EC since she was 7 weeks, some periods more intensively than others.
Wow, Micky! You’ve definitely got a “camel” on your hands. It’s amazing. And, funny how some people think that holding it causes problems…when really, we ALL know that our kiddos will either pee themselves or let us know *before* ever hurting themselves from holding it. Some babies are just camels, plain and simple, caused by any number of factors, but absolutely normal. And wonderful that you don’t have to spend all day in the bathroom ;) xx Andrea
My daughter is almost 14 months and she can hold it for 45 min to almost two hours sometimes. I have been doing EC very part time for a few months due to stress levels, but have recently begun to try doing it more ful time at home. I am learning to listen to my intuition again, as that and natural timing is the best indicator of when she needs to potty. She still does not signal, although I have been trying to get her to sign to me. I think she will just go straight to talking, since she talks a little already, and doesn’t sign.
That’s probably the case, Oksana – often babies skip straight to what they see the rest of the people in the house doing all the time: talking! :) Glad you’re feeling better and more able to work on EC. It’s hard when stress is high. xx Andrea
Thank you for this website & these tips. I can’t wait to learn more!