Using nappies part time while practicing the ancient art of Elimination Communication I drastically reduced my use of nappies within four months, and used them minimally from then on, as a tool, not an essential...

Does this appeal to you?

If so keep exploring "Nappy Free Baby". Bookmark it for future reference if you are not in the 'baby stage' right now. Tell your friends about Tribal Baby.

EC is a truly baby-led approach to baby hygiene that results in a massive reduction in reliance on nappies over many months, in fact two years. So, yes, it is a gradual process - not a sprint to the finish!

Investing the time is very worthwhile for the many benefits it offers you and your baby. Imagine only seldom changing a poopy nappy - that is what EC meant for us - and I am SO GLAD we raised our baby this way!! Changing nappies or diapers soon became a thing of the past. Wet things were easy to chuck in the washing.  

Looking around "Nappy Free Baby"

This section records lots of our "EC Journey" for you to explore. A few highlights to check out are:

My Grandma is a report of the ongoing conversations with my Grandma after discovering she did a similar form of EC during the 1940's and 50's.

How to start gives a brief starting guide. 

Reading the stories in the Thrill of the catch page and How we started will help you begin getting an idea of how to start, and how EC unfolds.

Prime Times to EC is about Prime Times to catch wees, and covers an overview of the signs we responded to with our son Maven over time.

Timing, signs and signals explains how to invite your baby to go, what possible signs might be, how to spot them and how they change and evolve over time.

The Crawling Stage is about the stage when Mavey became mobile and everything went up in the air at independent times, and how I learned his new signs.

EC Changes - Adapt! details the many ways I found to adapt to the challenging 7-10 month stage when baby starts solids, their patterns change and their adventurous nature often means "I have no time to stop to wee just now!"

Potty Practise is a fun page about the gradual transition from 'in-arms' assisted toileting to the potty, to the seat reducer on the regular toilet, all slowly at baby's pace. If you are potty training the conventional way you will find these ideas gentle and easy to adapt - as they are all based on EC principles.

Our Progress is a brief overview of the stages of our EC journey. Included are some monthly updates of our journey revealing the gradual nature of practicing elimination communication.

Modern Cloth and EC outlines how well Modern Cloth Nappies and EC work together.

About Tribal Baby tells you a bit about me - Charndra, as this is my site.

My newest resources to be added to Tribal Baby:

Learn Part Time Elimination Communication (EC) 
- how we all get started!

An EC Clothing Options Directory listing in one place all your options and where to get them - as well as some discount vouchers!

It is heaps of fun to realise how extra smart babies really are. It is rewarding to interact daily in such a positive way. It is also really cool to 'talk' non-verbally with my baby and to have another way to respond to his needs. "Catching" pees and more, is such fun – beats nappy changing by far. Many people are scared of a naked baby peeing on them - we aren’t, as we trust the communication we now have with Maven. He’ll pitch a fit before peeing on us. The best part is sleeping happily with a naked baby between us!

Once you've communicated with your little babe and helped baby to 'relieve' him or herself, and have seen their relief about it, you've taken your first step into a larger world. It is a journey with twists and turns and great rewards.

It is also fantastic to not have to change a poopy baby – we do so quite rarely. It IS possible, fun, hygienic and practical. There are ways to adapt to every lifestyle. We celebrate every pee that goes down the toilet, even now - after all, that is where it belongs, right? I am constantly amazed at what we learn and how we improve our teamwork all the time. The phrase "Once your consciousness has been raised, it cannot be lowered" sums it up well really.

It is a different way of approaching this aspect of a child's development these days in our society. Yet it 'rings bells' for many people. It can be very challenging idea, so keep an open mind! It helps to think of things from the perspective of a baby - we wouldn't want to sit in our own business, why should baby have to just as they have no skill to help themselves yet?

Baby's point of view?

It is called several things, such as Elimination Communication (EC for short), Natural Infant Hygiene, Assisted Elimination, Infant pottying, Elimination Timing, Infant Potty Training, Diaper Free or Nappy – Free! We like to use the term Nappy – free as it reflects firstly not relying on nappies as a toilet for the baby, just as a back-up as we learn together, then later as the freedom of not having to use them offers us on many levels. Such as learning and knowing baby's needs, being able to HELP him directly rather than not being able to do anything but wait, saving money, saving nappy changing hassles and dramas (especially as they become mobile), the portability of a nappy-free baby, saving the planet (just a tiny bit), and most of all saving Maven from squelching in his own waste for years – ew!

Overview

This section of Tribal Baby covers how we started, tips and strategies for the various stages with our experiences peppered throughout to illustrate. I created this web site to record our experiences and document the stages we are going through on our journey to have a nappy free baby. 

EC is an imperfect process to be sure, but the rewards on a daily basis are wonderful, rather like parenting, really. 

l also hope to give those new to the concept an insight into the process. If you've never heard of it, you don't have it as an option in your choices as a parent. It takes commitment and persistence in the early stages especially. The rewards of closer communication and understanding your baby are so very much worth it. So is knowing your baby is having its elimination needs cared for in a natural way and is also "living lightly" on the environment. We live in Australia, so "Nappy Free Down Under" is appropriate by a couple of interpretations!