NATURAL INFANT HYGIENE / ELIMINATION COMMUNICATION – OUR STORY

 I used to think that Natural Infant Hygiene was about not using nappies. 

 I also thought it was something done by people in hot countries, people in poor countries, and hippies.  But I was lucky enough to stumble across this phenomenon enough times to finally think “Let me actually find out about this!”.   Looking back I am shocked by how misinformed I (and most people in the society I live in) were about the whole subject of babies and elimination!   I hesitated in starting Natural Infant Hygiene (NIH), but have never looked back.  It is such a different concept to what we’re used to in the UK nowadays that it takes some time to get your head around it, but it’s time well spent it. It would take a long time to go into detail about how NIH is practiced, but it works on the principal that: - 

• Babies are aware of when they need to ‘go’.
• Babies seem to instinctively prefer not to soil themselves.
• Babies can get rid of waste much more easily when held in a suitable position.
• Babies do have control of their bodily functions, i.e. they can pee/poo at will.

Aren’t you just training them early, and isn’t that pressurising the baby? 

Training is where there is a learning objective; you’re trying to teach something, e.g. you’re trying to get a child to pee where you want them to.  You could argue that a baby in nappies is under pressure to soil themselves because he/she is offered no alternative.  If however you offer the loo/potty, they have a choice.  Babies just lack the physical ability to take themselves to an appropriate place and eliminate away from their body.  I believe my role is to help my daughter as best I can with this, just like I feed her when she’s hungry.  She often chooses to use the opportunity on the potty/loo.  I don’t always get it right (just like I don’t always realise she’s hungry if I’m distracted), and she doesn’t always take the opportunity (e.g. if she is busy playing).  That’s why we use training pants*.  I think it’s important not to give a baby the impression that there’s a right or wrong place to eliminate because that would be pressure before they’re old enough to understand. 

Don’t they poo everywhere? 

My living room is white and cream, so fortunately not!  I’ve found that with toilet opportunities my baby poos more regularly (therefore smaller poos) and more predictably than when she wore nappies.  Since we started NIH, we have had poo on the sofa once (washable covers, don’t worry!), and that was near the beginning when my partner had put a nappy back on her.  Sure enough, when she pooed it splurged out the back of the nappy like it often did and everyone got poo on them!  Since we started NIH she has almost always pooed in the appropriate place, even when she had the runs. As a fellow ‘ECer’ pointed out, it’s babies in nappies that poo everywhere! 

What do you do when you’re out? 

Since my baby was 5 months old I’ve been out and about with her in training pants.  This includes using the tube and buses, shopping in Oxford St, day trips to the seaside…it’s not a problem.  Most people seem to find it easier to EC when out because they’re more focussed on the topic.  I certainly find this, and my baby often comes home wearing the same dry pants she went out in.  I carry a foldable potty (it uses disposable bags) as well as toilets in bars, cafes, shopping centres etc.  If we miss a pee, I just change her straight away and bring the wet pants home in a plastic bag.  I carry much less than when we used nappies because I don’t need a lot of wipes, nappies, changing mat etc.  It is extremely rare for her to poo in her pants.