Elimination Communication out and about

Although we practice Elimination Communication, we mostly do it at home and haven't really been brave enough to venture out with a nappy free baby yet. Today we were kind of thrown into having to use EC when out and about when we realised we'd gone out and forgotten to take the nappy bag (containing, of course, all of Gideon's nappy supplies) There was a moment of panic as we wondered what to do. We discussed briefly whether we should return home and get the stuff but 'home' was a 90 minute round trip away. Then I thought I may have had a terry towel stashed somewhere in the car as I usually keep emergency supplies in case of accidents but no such luck today! So we decided to try our luck with EC.

I actually found EC out and about quite hard - I have great respect for those that practice it full time!! There was the obvious thing of trying to find somewhere for Gideon to 'go' often. At home we would usually sit him on the potty about every 15 minutes or so (more if he's just had a feed, less if it's been a while since a feed). Then every time we'd offer him a wee when out, we'd have to take his nappy off and put it back on again to avoid accidents (not so important at home but kind of important when out and about!)

I know it probably shouldn't bother me, but I was also conscious of other people around us. I didn't want to offer Gideon a wee in view of other people as I was worried that some people might be offended or be a little put off by it. While we ate lunch it was easy to have his nappy off and offer him a wee when he needed it as we purposely chose a secluded spot but when walking around it was a little harder and trying to find a toilet to take him to every 15 minutes or so was kind of tricky!

It was also hard to get the positioning right. At home, Gideon is used to sitting on the potty and I think he's learnt to associate that position with 'going'. I tried to hold him over the toilet in the traditional EC position a couple of times but didn't have any success. So I think we need to work on using the toilet as well as the potty at home.

In the end, we reached a bit of a compromise. We gave Gideon nappy free time while we were sitting in the one spot and then offered a couple of toilet stops during the time we were out. By doing that we were able to stop his nappy getting too wet and survive with only one nappy for the day! We're lucky that we're so successful with catching Gideon's poos with EC. He rarely goes in a nappy these days and will purposely wait until we put him on the potty to 'go'. So we knew that we weren't going to have to worry about a dirty nappy while out! And he did indeed prove us right by doing a poo in the potty as soon as we got home!

One thing today has shown me is that we can use EC when out and about. It's kind of nice to know that we will be able to survive if we're caught somewhere without nappies ;) And hopefully this will give me the confidence to practice EC out and about more often!