In this episode of the Potty Training Extreme series, Daddy Clay and Daddy Brad discuss the Elimination Communication method. Used frequently in developing countries, this method aims to potty train newborns. How can parents raise diaper free babies? Elimination communication relies on the four main concepts of timing, signals, cueing, and intuition. Check out the video for an explanation of these concepts or visit diaperfreebaby.org for more details on EC. Share your potty training thoughts with us at DadLabs.com. DadLabs. Ep. 773 is brought to you by BabyBjorn.

Daddy Clay: Potty training newborns? The shocking and amazing story right here on POTTY TRAINING EXTREME!
Daddy Brad: Potty training newborns is a little outside the norm here in the United States, but in developing countries it's a commonly accepted practice.
Daddy Clay: Yeah, but we don't want to call it potty training. The preferred nomenclature is elimination communication and those that have diaper-free babies sometimes object to the phrase potty training.
Daddy Brad: If itʼs not potty training, then what is it?
Daddy Clay: It's attending closely to the child's needs and then listening to the signals. It's all about paying close attention to the child.
Daddy Brad: And this paying attention paying end up with the pee and the poo in the potty?
Daddy Clay: Yes.
Daddy Brad: How is that not potty training?
Daddy Clay: Allow me to demonstrate using creative and tasteful graphics. Elimination communication depends on four main concepts: Timing, Signals, Cueing, and Intuition. Timing. Newborns evacuate like clockwork every 10 to 20 minutes. Older infants have specific times like after eating, waking or before the bath when they are likely to need to use the bathroom. Parents take advantage of this time to hold the babies over the potty. Signals: Attentive parents can learn certain signals that alert then when the baby needs to potty. These signals can be facial expressions, squirming, a certain cry, fussiness, grunting or passing gas. As the infant matures he or she may learn to signal caretakers by pointing or other behavior that they need to go to the potty. Cueing: Caretakers practicing EC will cue the baby with a sound, when the baby eliminates for the first time -- offering differing sounds for poo and pee, maybe sss sss for number one and mmm mmm for number 2. Eventually these sounds will serve as a prompt when the baby is over the potty. I mean really, sss sss mmm mmm. Okay. Intuition: practitioners of EC believe that over time they develop an intuition about when the child needs to go. A sort of potty ESP.
Daddy Brad: This sounds like a great way to get peed and pooped on.
Daddy Clay: Thereʼs gonna be a little bit of that no matter what method you choose right?
Daddy Brad: So you just dangle them over the potty?
Daddy Clay: You don't just dangle them. There are certain grips and holds. If you want more information about how this all works, you go to DiaperFreeBaby.org. I'm not the expert, but that's a great place to start if you want more information.
Daddy Brad: Do you aim the little boys? Do you aim them?
Daddy Clay: I will admit that this is not the simplest method on the caretaker. But there are lots of advantages.
Daddy Brad: Yeah, I guess you'd save on diapers. But you spend a whole lot more on paper towels if you know what I mean.
Daddy Clay: Well, you'd also have few diaper rashes of course. And there's this great bond that develops between the caretaker and the baby because you're paying attention.
Daddy Brad: And how is that not potty training? Because it never works.
Daddy Clay: No, if you have doubts about whether or not it works, go to DadLabs.com. There's number of practitioners that are using this method to potty train their children. Hear about their successes and their struggles and find out if this is something you'd be interested in. All at DadLabs.
Daddy Brad: We'd like to thank our sponsor BabyBjorn, makers of the coolest potty chairs in the world. BabyBjorn.
Daddy Clay: Thatʼs all for us this week in The Lab. See you next time. You know, I wonder if we could elimination some of your communication.