All parents deal with potty training their children, with the average age of training in the U.S. being between 2 and 3 years old, according to HealthyChildren.org. But many societies around the world embrace infant toilet training. This is also known as elimination communication (EC), and it has spiked in popularity in the U.S. as well.

What is Elimination Communication?

“Elimination communication, also referred to as baby-led potty training, involves using timing, signals, cues and intuition to know when your baby needs to ‘eliminate waste,’” according to BabySparks.com. “Instead of wearing diapers, babies are held over the potty when it’s time to go. While this diaper-free approach may seem unconventional, it actually has a long history of success.”

The history of potty training in the U.S. varies widely. According to PottyGenius.com, by the late 1950s, more than 90% of children were potty trained by 18 months of age. “[Today], the average age [that] toilet training begins in the United States is between 2 and 3 years of age. Most children in the [U.S.] are bowel and bladder trained by 4 years of age,” said HealthyChildren.org.

Experts believe that age has risen because of the rise of popularity of disposable diapers. These keep little ones dry and don’t motivate them to want to use the toilet. Other factors include convenience and a parent-centered approach to training giving way to a child-centered approach to training (waiting until a child is “ready” to train).

EC attempts to push this age way back. “When babies need to urinate or defecate, their parents hold them, bare-bottomed, over a preferred target [usually a toilet or potty seat]. The parents signal the babies to proceed, and the babies respond,” according to ParentingScience.com.

Elimination Communication Methods

BabySparks.com reports that parents using EC are instructed to use methods like:

Timing – what are your child’s peeing and pooping rhythms?
Signals – this may involve facial cues or body language
Cueing – parents should communicate “a cue with their baby, such as a whistle or a humming sound, while they’re relieving themselves. This is meant to help babies eventually connect the cue with an appropriate time to go potty.”
Intuition – no one knows your baby better than you do! By using EC, you can use your instinct to guide you when it’s time for your infant to go.

Benefits of EC

Some of the benefits of EC are saving money on diapers, whether cloth or disposable. Other benefits include eliminating the impact of diapers on the environment; preventing diaper rashes and the risk of urinary tract infections; and helping make your life more predictable without having to run to do diaper changes.

Cons of EC

Cons of EC can include it being extremely time consuming. It requires someone to stay at home full-time with your child. Unless you have an in-home caretaker who is committed to practicing EC, most parents who work away from home will find EC difficult to maintain. Critics also believe that EC is not suitable for children who aren’t developmentally ready to potty train, according to Tinyhood.com.

The site says, “In order to be independent in toileting and bowel and bladder control, children must be able to have good sphincter control, maintain upright sitting on a potty or toilet on their own and understand the association between urge sensation and being able to independently act on it.”

One thing to note is that even if you and your infant are successful at practicing EC, they are not truly potty trained in the traditional sense because “young babies can’t walk, wipe or dress themselves. So, they aren’t ‘trained’ in the sense of being capable of taking independent trips to the toilet,” according to ParentingScience.com.

Like any parenting method, each family and child are different, so EC may or may not be right for you. Consult your pediatrician to discuss different types of potty-training methods and what fits with your family and home life.

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