The Go Diaper Free Podcast

When you're getting started with elimination communication, observation time is a crucial component. However, our Certified Coach Natalie Robbins would go so far to say naked observation time can actually be avoided entirely.

Naked time CAN be a great tool for getting to know your newborn baby's signals, and especially helpful if you are starting with an older baby or potty training, to sweep that mini potty underneath them mid-pee.

But if it's too cold to leave your baby undressed, or maybe you aren't too keen on the potential mess, you'll be glad to learn that you may be able to avoid naked observation without hindering the observation process.

Today, Natalie shares five equally-effective alternatives to naked observation time so you can learn your baby's signals and jumpstart or improve your EC practice. She'll also reveal several reasons why you may choose to skip naked time, like they did, and peek into their thought process around the whole thing.

Get full show notes and add your comments or questions here: https://godiaperfree.com/137

Get my free easy start guide for EC at https://godiaperfree.com/start

Start EC with your baby today with Andrea's popular book, Go Diaper Free: https://godiaperfree.com/thebook

Today's show is a guest post from our Certified Coach, Kate Falk, about 5 Reasons to stick with the Potty Training Plan (even if you want to quit!) and 5 Tips for getting through the hard parts. Kate offers A LOT of elimination communication and potty training classes and consultations and gets A LOT of parents who are ready to give up on potty training.

The number one reason clients schedule a consultation with her is that they're frustrated by potty training and/or they can't make sense of how to progress through the potty training process. They want to quit potty training because yes, potty training can be super challenging, at least parts of it. But somewhere deep down, the clients sense there's a light at the end of the tunnel, even if they currently don't see it, and that potty independence is a possibility.

Today's show contains what Kate has culled from many years of potty training coaching. She's going to share WHY you should stick with potty training (even when you want to quit) and exactly how to get through the most challenging parts of potty training.

(You may be reassured to know the majority of families who've done our Potty Training Plan had very similar questions and concerns. Parents got stuck on the same issues, and fortunately, the advice on how to proceed works for most families! Let's get YOU unstuck, too.)

Get full show notes and add your comments or questions here: https://godiaperfree.com/136

Get my free 3 day potty training primer at https://godiaperfree.com/starting-potty-training/

Start EC with your baby today with Andrea's popular book, Go Diaper Free: https://godiaperfree.com/thebook

Today I've got a special guest on the show: Avital from The Parenting Junkie. She teaches parents how to love parenting and parent from love. We're going to talk about the importance of independent play for babies and toddlers, and how helping your baby play independently makes elimination communication and early potty training so much easier.

Today we're discussing the importance of independent play, and how you can start folding this invaluable, sanity-building practice into your parenting today...with babies as young as newborn!

This is a game-changer for new moms and dads, y'all, and completely in alignment with elimination communication and early potty training (because the goal there is independence as well!). Enjoy!

Get full show notes and add your comments or questions here: https://godiaperfree.com/135

Get my free easy start guide for EC at https://godiaperfree.com/start

Start EC with your baby today with Andrea's popular book, Go Diaper Free: https://godiaperfree.com/thebook

Today I'm going to answer a question from one of our readers: can I start Elimination Communication at 2 years old?

Is Elimination Communication (EC) age-appropriate for older toddlers, or should we skip it and do something else at 2 years old, regarding potty training or otherwise?

Get full show notes and add your comments or questions here: https://godiaperfree.com/134

Get my free easy start guide for EC at https://godiaperfree.com/start

Start EC with your baby today with Andrea's popular book, Go Diaper Free: https://godiaperfree.com/thebook

Tell me if this has happened to you: Your baby has been using the potty fine and all of the sudden is resistant and won't sit on the potty, perhaps peeing on the floor 5 minutes later or in the diaper soon after the pottytunity has ended. She fusses and you get nervous that you're doing the wrong thing.

Does EC work? Is my mother-in-law right? Am I permanently damaging my baby? Why is she screaming and trying to run away?

So much second-guessing!

The thing is, this is pretty normal. It's a sign. Today we're going to discuss why your baby is really resisting the potty, and how to give your baby the thing he's screaming so loudly for - privacy on the potty - but doesn't know quite how to say it yet!

Get full show notes and add your comments or questions here: https://godiaperfree.com/133

Get my free easy start guide for EC at https://godiaperfree.com/start

Start EC with your baby today with Andrea's popular book, Go Diaper Free: https://godiaperfree.com/thebook

If you're one of those who was caught between shopping trips and other parents got to the diapers and wipes aisle first, this is my heart-into-action for you: what you can do if you're running out of diapers.

We will discuss options to use fewer diapers for younger babies and also a couple options for toddlers who are newly walking. We also have some energy-saving tips for laundering cloth diapers on the cheap. So, if the store has run out of diapers, do these things!

This is a guest post from our Certified Coach Laura Durkee in Lima, Ohio...we'll be answering comments over on the blog post after the show (see link below)!

Get full show notes and add your comments or questions here: https://godiaperfree.com/132

Get my free easy start guide for EC at https://godiaperfree.com/start

Start EC with your baby today with Andrea's popular book, Go Diaper Free: https://godiaperfree.com/thebook

This is a little letter that I wrote to parents several months ago. I think it was around Earth Day, around when we do Go Diaper Free Week every year. And it started off as a bit of a rant, but it turned into this sort of productive thing: What can we do about the fact that we parents are one of the largest groups of people who are ruining the environment? Not that it's entirely our fault - because we were raised in a diapering culture, and this is all we know.

But when we know better, hopefully by the end of today's episode, we can make some changes. I'm going to give you some challenges at the end, so stick around for that.

Get full show notes and add your comments or questions here: https://godiaperfree.com/131

Get my free easy start guide for EC at https://godiaperfree.com/start

Start EC with your baby today with Andrea's popular book, Go Diaper Free: https://godiaperfree.com/thebook

Today is a guest post from our Certified Coach, Maru, from London. She shares: If you, like me, follow a gentle and respectful parenting approach, you might be confused about whether EC is part of this or not. Two of the most popular US and UK gentle & respectful parenting guides (Sarah Ockwell Smith and Janet Lansbury) are not big fans of EC (but what I've found is that they have a very superficial understanding of it).

What could be more respectful than responding to your baby's non-verbal communications? With everything happening around the world today, it's time to become more open minded about what is normal in other cultures.

Today she shares more about this very important observation: that elimination communication is THE most respectful practice of natural parenting.

Get full show notes and add your comments or questions here: https://godiaperfree.com/130

Get my free easy start guide for EC at https://godiaperfree.com/start

Start EC with your baby today with Andrea's popular book, Go Diaper Free: https://godiaperfree.com/thebook

Working from home adds an extra challenge to the already-demanding task of caring for a baby. Or is it the other way around? Caring for a baby (or toddler) can make work extra challenging. I would argue that practicing Elimination Communication can actually make your working and caretaking struggles easier. Here's how - in a guest post by one of our certified coaches, Natalie Robbins.

Get full show notes and add your comments or questions here: https://godiaperfree.com/115

Get my free easy start guide for EC at https://godiaperfree.com/start

Start EC with your baby today with Andrea's popular book, Go Diaper Free: https://godiaperfree.com/thebook

Today I'm sharing the answer to one of our readers' questions: "How do you recommend keeping a young baby warm when starting EC in a cold winter climate? My baby is now 11 weeks old, and I use cloth diapers with her and cue her when she goes in them these days. I've been using baby legs and socks on her feet, but that still leaves an exposed area between the thighs and diaper, which makes her cold in my chilly home." I'll share the answer to this and more in today's episode!

Get full show notes and add your comments or questions here: https://godiaperfree.com/114

Get my free easy start guide for EC at https://godiaperfree.com/start

Start EC with your baby today with Andrea's popular book, Go Diaper Free: https://godiaperfree.com/thebook