Elimination Communication

I had never heard of EC before until today and I can tell you that since my son was born I ALWAYS changed his diapers the second he peed or pooped. I even went as far as waking him every 2 hrs to change him. Since he was 4 weeks old he has had full control and never goes in his diapers while sleeping because he doesn't want to sit in it. If that isnt proof that they have control i dont know what is

I've been EC'ing with my child since she was 3 months old and absolutely love it. I did it part time at first, but over the last few months she has really taken over to the point that she wears no diaper all day while at home. She is 20 months old now and tells me when she has to go "pee" or "ca-ca" (unless distracted by visits or something really engrossing). She drags a stool up to the toilet, seats herself on it, does her business and tells me she is finished. I quite disagree with Dr. Stavinohs regarding children being 2 years old before they understand why and how to eliminate. I'm not sure what he thinks they are doing when they are communicating to their parents their need to "go" when they are only a few months old (and also able to hold it for long periods. My daughter has been very aware of her need to eliminate for a long time and so have other babies I've known who were EC'ed. I agree the above comment...babies are aware of their need to eliminate from birth.

Thank you for printing an informative article about EC. Most of the article is well written with good information, but some of Dr. Stavinoha's opinions about EC are simply that. Children in many other countries are fully toilet independant by the time they are a year old. My own daughter has been out of diapers, since she was about 9 months old, and since about 20 months she has been able to do all of the steps of toileting herself. She takes herself to the toilet, undresses, eliminates, wipes, flushes, washes hands and re-dresses herself. I often don't even know she is in the bathroom unless she tells me she has gone. This is certainly not a case of my child not knowing all of the steps involved in toileting.I would argue that all babies are aware of their elimination needs from birth, and can voluntarily go, or not go from infancy.