Newborn Elimination Communication: How to Set Up for Success

We recently welcomed our fourth baby into our family and I started using elimination communication with her as we’ve done with our older three children. In this post, I’ll share how I set up for a newborn and about the first two weeks of elimination communication.

Newborn Elimination Communication Supplies and Setup

Within arms reach of the bed:

• Prefold cotton diapers (I prefer thin ones that dry fast after washing and can be doubled without being too bulky)
• Diaper belts
• rECtangle diaper covers
• Cotton squares (about 6 inches square, for wiping)
• Potty insert
• Waterproof diaper laundry bag and bin
• DIY wipe wash or Seedlings baby wipes in case of missed poop
• Salt lamp with dimmer switch (just enough light to see what you’re doing at night without disturbing sleep)
• Wool pad (on the bed to help keep the sheets clean, I like the mini crib size)
• Nourishing drinks for yourself (Not in the photo since I tidied my nightstand before taking the photo lol)

In the bathroom:

• Thieves spray for cleaning the potty

Elimination communication during the first few days after birth

During the first few days while the baby is only getting colostrum pees are small and infrequent. I dress the baby in a diaper belt with a prefold diaper tucked in. I keep a wool pad on the bed so it’s underneath her when she’s laying down. Instead of putting clothes on the baby, I use a swaddling blanket around her so we can have lots of skin-to-skin time.

I don’t try to “catch” any pees in the potty the first couple of days but focus on communicating. As soon as I see that she has peed I communicate to her that I know. I’ll say something like “oh you peed, let’s get this wet diaper off of you.”

Elimination Communication when your milk comes in

As we begin to switch from colostrum to milk baby’s pees have more volume to them so I double up my thin pre-fold diapers. You may want to start adding a rECtangle™ on top too if you haven’t already been using one. I prefer the wool rECtangle™ at this age since you can feel the warmth of a pee right away but have time to change the diaper before it soaks through. Washing wool with a lanolin soap periodically will also keep it more waterproof.)

At this point I start to observe baby’s patterns. For example, how long after nursing does she have to pee? Does she make any particular sounds or movements before she pees? At this age, babies need to pee just about every time they wake, in fact I find it’s usually the reason they wake! Another telltale sign that she needs to go potty is when she wants to nurse, but she keeps letting go of her latch intentionally. That means she needs to empty her bladder before she focuses on nursing. Within a few days, it becomes pretty easy to catch many of her pees on the potty. 

Poop tends to be even easier since it’s less frequent and baby’s body language and grunting sounds generally make it obvious when she needs to go. I also keep a chart of what time she poops and pretty quickly a pattern emerges so I know when to expect her to need to poop.

Side note: If there are any changes in her pattern, I think back to anything I’ve eaten different over the last 24 hours and make a note since we have experienced various food allergies/intolerances with each of our babies.

How to use a potty with a newborn

It can take a little getting used to coordinating, but it is doable to use a potty from birth. I like to cross my legs and nestle just the insert between my legs. I either cradle baby in one arm or have her back leaning on my tummy. Make sure her head and neck are supported and put her in a shallow squat. If I’m cradling her in one arm, I can use one hand to hold her legs. If her back is on my tummy, I use one hand under each of her thighs. Potty is sideways for cradling, front facing for back to my tummy.

When baby pees or poops, use your chosen cue word or sound to help her start to associate her elimination with your cue.

Using a diaper belt with prefold makes it very easy to pull out and tuck back in the diaper. You don’t even need to put baby down to change her diaper!

After baby goes potty I dump and rinse the potty. If baby pooped then I also sprays it with Thieves before wiping it with a bit of toilet paper. Thieves cleaner is my favorite all natural cleaner that has replaced all other cleaning supplies in our home! It’s wonderful to have a truly multipurpose and truly nontoxic cleaner.

Don’t sweat the misses, just focus on communication

One thing I’ve noticed with all of our babies is that if I miss a time that they need to pee, they don’t fully empty their bladder because they don’t like the feeling of the wet diaper and they stop mid-pee. But when I put baby on the potty right after she’s partially emptied her bladder she usually doesn’t go anymore right away. Sometimes this ends up being two or three misses in a row until she fully empties her bladder.

If baby gets messy from a poop miss, squirt a DIY wash on the wipe if you don’t want to use throw away wipes. Save an empty dish soap or hand soap bottle, add a squirt of Castile soap, a drop or two of lavender essential oil and top with water.

Elimination communication during the second week

The second week continues the same as the first week ends, and baby knows well by this point what my cue sounds are. She tries to let me know when she needs to go and even waits a short time for me to get her on the potty.

I start to notice a change near the end of the second week as I start spending some time in the living room and doing a little bit of cooking. We’re both up more during the daytime and if I don’t remember to nap with her in the afternoon, I am very tired and often slow at getting out the potty overnight, which leads to more wet diapers.

At two weeks I also add wool split pants and a cotton t-shirt to baby’s attire during the daytime, to help her stay warm when we’re out of bed. Please don’t bother with onesies if you’re practicing elimination communication! They are so slow to snap and unsnap and you’ll inevitably end up with the tail getting wet in the potty. When we started EC with our oldest child it was just about impossible to find newborn t-shirts but now there are a number of brands that make organic cotton t-shirts for newborns!

Another change I notice during the second week is that baby can hold her bladder longer and will let me know if I’ve offered the potty when she doesn’t yet want it by fussing and/or kicking her legs. I try not to offer the potty too often because I’d rather her have some wet diapers than a negative association with potty time.

Comment Below!

I hope you found this helpful. Please share in the comments if you have any questions or anything you would add.