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START POTTYING GUIDE: PART 1 OF 5

At It’s Core —

Baby pottying, also known as Elimination Communication (EC), is simply helping your baby to wee and poo somewhere other than the nappy.

Many parents find they can observe patterns or cues that suggest when their baby needs to wee or poo. Instead of relying entirely on nappies, parents offer their baby opportunities to use the potty (often called a “pottytunity”).

It’s All About Communication

Babies communicate long before they can talk. They show us when they're hungry, tired, uncomfortable or ready for a cuddle — and they can also communicate when they need to wee or poo.

They can communicate through cries, squirms, wriggles, shifts in energy. These are called your babies’ signals.

Baby pottying is about learning to notice those signals and responding to them by offering an appropriate place to go, outside of the nappy. That might be a potty, sink, toilet or even outside.

It’s not about catching everything. And generally, babies will still wear a nappy as a back-up.

Just as babies gradually learn to walk and talk through practice and exposure, toileting is another developmental skill that can develop over time.

A woman holding a newborn baby on a potty inside a home, with wooden furniture in the background, doing Elimination Communication.

Can Babies Really Use the Potty?

Yes. Babies can be supported to wee and poo in a potty from a very young age.

This doesn't mean expecting a newborn to independently control their bladder or bowel, or expecting them to tell you every time they need to go. It means recognising that babies have bodily awareness and can participate in toileting long before conventional potty training usually begins.

In many cultures around the world, as well older generations in the West, babies have traditionally been supported with toileting from infancy. In modern Western parenting, however, nappies have become the default until a child is considered “ready” for potty training.