In Preparation

Preparing to EC is something that seems much more difficult than it really is if you live in a culture that expects potty training to begin between 2 and 3 years of age. There's not much support. Luckily, I was able to find a few online support groups (Yahoo) and I have checked out two books from the library. Infant Potty Training by Laurie Boucke is a comprehensive how-to guide with much more than just age/stage-specific how-to information. Christine Gross-Loh's The Diaper-Free Baby briefly describes methods of remaining diaper-free, age-specific/stage-specific how-to information and what items you might wish to purchase to assist you in your journey.

1. Check out an EC book or two from your library and start reading!
   
2. Find some support – a place where you can ask some questions from those who are more experienced.
   
3. Go shopping for a potty with your child. Make certain that her feet can touch the ground and that she won't be unstable on it. Look for a segment on potty "fit" in your EC book.
   
4. Order necessary items to remain "diaper-free" for whatever time frame you feel comfortable – even if it means simply switching from disposable diapers to cloth diapers.
   
5. Take your child to the bathroom with you when you have to go "potty" at home and communicate about what you are doing. Perhaps you could even use a "potty" sign (ASL or your own version).
   

The resources that I found helpful are as follows:

Infant Potty Training by Laurie Boucke

The Diaper-Free Baby by Christine Gross-Loh

Yahoo Group: Diaperfreebabyofmn at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/diaperfreebabyofmn/

Yahoo Group: IPTLateStarters at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IPTLateStarters/

www.lifeprint.com is a web-site that you can use to learn sign language

There are a few things that I did in addition to the above in order to help us prepare. I bought a "Potty Patty" doll which we feed together (using a baby doll bottle), and then we place her on the potty and make her pee-pee. There are a few dolls available that are pee on-demand like Potty Patty. The others drink and pee at the same time. Patty can hold her pee until you squeeze her leg. We also purchased the Baby Signs Potty Training Kit which comes with stickers and a train conductor's whistle that my daughter loves. However, she is not all that interested in the DVD (it's so repetitious, I can't blame her – babies don't learn through rote memory like adults have to – they learn much more quickly). If you wish to use sign language with your baby, I highly recommend "Signing Time!" You might be able to find the DVD's at your library. Her signing "potty" is actually what got me interested in EC in the first place. If she's going to communicate to me that she needs to go potty (or has gone potty), then she has the ability to actually go on the potty, provided I place her promptly there. And all animals are born with the instinct not to soil themselves – wearing a diaper can't be too comfortable). I also recently purchased some waterproof flannel mats that are 27"x50" (found in bedding section of Babies R Us) that I lay down on the ground and let her roam about on for some diaper-free time. We have Gerber training pants (18 mos.) which will arrive soon. This way my daughter can wear training pants while on the flannel mats.