Babies Aged 5-11 Months: How Do Solid Foods and Crawling Affect Elimination Communication?

Baby starts sitting up

The newborn hold used to be your go-to, but now your baby is getting H E A V Y and it’s no longer comfortable for you or her.  She might squirm to try to escape the hold or vocally protest being constrained.  This is your cue to start experimenting with a floor potty or toilet seat reducer. 

By about 4-8 months, your baby will be able to sit up unassisted, but until you are confident that she won’t fall, you should keep one hand on her the whole time she is sitting on the potty.  This is especially important if you are using a toilet seat reducer; ALWAYS remain within arms’ reach of your child until she is fully capable of climbing on and off the toilet independently (usually well into toddlerhood).

Always keep a hand on your baby until she can sit confidently on the potty without assistance.

Baby becomes mobile

Rolling, scooting, and crawling are milestones that can disrupt EC:  Baby may be so focused on learning a new skill that he won’t signal like usual.  He might also become too busy to sit still on the potty or suddenly resist potty time.

Baby starts teething

Teething is known to cause crankiness and pain, both of which can reduce baby’s tolerance for the potty.

Language skills are emerging

Babies as young as 6 months old might start using the ASL to sign for milk, more, or even potty (although many babies won’t intentionally signal for the potty for quite some time yet).  Many babies start saying their first words well before their first birthday, too.

For EC, this means your baby’s signals and cues might be disrupted.  This can be a good thing if baby starts intentionally signaling!  Or, it can cause a setback because you need to re-learn your baby’s new cues.

Baby starts solid foods

This is the big one.  The introduction of solid foods around 6 months of age causes physical changes in your child’s digestion.  As your child switches from an all-liquid diet to one supplemented by solid food, your child’s stools will transition, too.  They will change color, smell, and consistency.  Those mild-smelling milk poops on your cloth diapers that could just be tossed in the wash are now half liquid, half partially digested food, and 100% unpleasant.

Starting solids can throw a wrench into EC.

If you miss a solid-food poop while using cloth diapers, you’ll need to either dunk the diaper in the toilet or use a diaper sprayer to clean it out before laundering.  Flushable or biodegradable liners can help make cleanup easier.  Unfortunately, starting solids seems to completely upend your child’s timing and cues for poop and many parents experience a lot of misses right when poop is the grossest.

What is a potty pause?

All of the above factors can contribute to a potty pause for your mobile baby.  A potty pause is the term for any kind of EC regression, similar to a sleep regression or a nursing strike.  They can happen at any time, but there are ages where they commonly occur. 

Sometimes a potty pause is characterized by your child suddenly protesting or refusing the potty.  Other potty pauses are the result of natural changes in your child’s elimination patterns, which cause a string of misses until you figure out your child’s new timing and cues. The combination of newfound mobility, teething, language milestones, and solid foods creates a perfect storm for a potty pause right around 4-9 months old.  This potty pause can last anywhere from a few days to several months, but most parents find that it lasts a couple of weeks.

Like nursing strikes and sleep regressions, you don’t have to give up your EC goals when a potty pause hits.  The following are some suggestions for getting you through the 4-9-month potty pause.

Try Distractions

Everything in the world is new and exciting to your baby, and she’d much rather be exploring than sit still on the potty!  The best way to help her cooperate is to hand her a distraction the instant you put her on the potty.  Be creative—a distraction could be any of the following:

• Toys.  Create a “potty toy box” full of interesting things that she only has access to while she’s on the potty.  Hand her one after the other while she’s on the potty or just give her the whole box and let her dig through it herself.  They don’t need to be toys, either—sometimes a random object like a crinkly water bottle is the best distraction.

• Books.  Similar to the potty toy box, you can also keep a selection of special potty books to read to your child while on the potty.
• Calm Jar.  Create a mesmerizing distraction by filling an old water bottle full of water, food coloring, oil, glitter, seashells, small toys, beads, etc.  Make sure the lid is on securely.
• Music.  Play music for your baby or sing songs on the potty.
• Potty Activity Desk.  Get a low table, stool, or play table and set the potty at it like a chair by a desk.  Put something entertaining on it, such as a sensory bag, water play, finger paint, etc., that will keep your child busy while she goes.  Line the floor with a washable puddle pad if the activity is messy.

A baby play table with removable legs is a perfect potty desk!  Take two legs off so that the table is angled towards your baby as she sits on the potty.

Make a change.

Sudden resistance is often a signal from your baby that something isn’t working and needs to change.  Here are some ideas:

• Change your potty.  If you’re still using the EC hold, switch to a floor potty or toilet seat reducer and assist your child in sitting upright on it.  Try a floor potty if you’re using the toilet (or vice versa), change the location of the potty (move it to a different room or put it outside), or try using a potty cozy (especially if resistance began with chilly weather).
• Change your timing.  He’s not a newborn anymore and might need more space between pottytunities. Starting solids may also have changed up his “poop schedule”.
• He might need a deeper squat:  If baby is having trouble getting newly solid poops out, try holding him in the classic EC hold over the toilet or get a very low potty that puts him into a deeper squat.  You can also stack books or blocks under his feet to assist with this position.
• He might need help relaxing:  Hold and comfort him on the potty if he seems to have separation anxiety, or potty him by placing the potty on your lap.
• He might need privacy:  Try looking away while he goes potty or (if he’s old enough), turn your back or even leave the area or room to let him potty alone. Or, stay in the same room but busy yourself with something, like folding towels. CAUTION:  Only leave the room if your baby is in a safe, baby-proofed room and using a little potty that he can safely get off of by himself.  Always stay within sight and earshot.  NEVER leave your child alone on the toilet or in the bathroom.

Try Some Diaper-Free Time

It’s always a good idea to circle back to diaper-free time whenever you feel like you and your baby have fallen out of sync.  If you find yourself having a big string of misses, take a day or two to observe your bare-bottomed child and see if you notice new cues.  If your child is mobile, you’ll need to either go outside, confine her to a room with no carpet, or line the carpet with towels, mattress pads (a king-sized one can cover a big area), or puddle pads.

Remember, there are two goals of diaper-free time:  First, you are learning your baby’s cues right before/during a pee or poop so that you can better predict them in the future.  Second, you are helping your baby make the connection between pee/poop and the potty.  You can accomplish both of these goals by closely observing your naked child and transferring immediately to the potty as soon as she starts to pee or poop. The transfer is critically important to making the connection for your child.  Do not just let your child pee on the floor!

How do I dress my baby?

At this age, you will probably be using a diaper backup.  Most parents do not try to catch everything in the toilet at this age, focusing mainly on catching poops and easy pees, like after a nap.  It’s definitely possible to catch all or most poops, but pees will still be very frequent and your baby might not cue consistently for pee yet. 

 

This baby is wearing pink Chappy-Nappies (crotchless pants) with an matching Flappy-Nappies® cloth diaper.  The diaper attaches to the waist of the pants so that it can be popped open to go potty.  The diaper is draped over the potty in this picture.

The best diaper backups are ones designed for EC that can be removed quickly when it’s time to go potty.  Flappy-Nappies® drop-flap diapers provide excellent backup for misses and easy potty access.  They pop open from the front or back to go potty and can be changed while your baby stands.  Pair them with a t-shirt or dress and a pair of Chappy-Nappies (crotchless pants) for warm legs and easy potty access year-round.

This baby is wearing a Flappy-Nappies® diaper without Chappy-Nappies.  The diaper attaches to the waist belt so that it can be opened like a flap to go potty.

Do I need to potty my baby in the same place every time?

When you did EC with a newborn, it didn’t really matter where your baby went pee/poop.  The toilet was fine, or a potty, or even a prefold diaper on the changing pad or your lap.  Now that your baby is getting older, however, it is crucial that you be more consistent with where your baby goes potty.

Remember the end goal of potty-training:   Your child pees and poops where it is socially acceptable to do so (the potty!).  A newborn is not cognitively capable of understanding this concept; newborn EC is just about learning your baby’s elimination cues and honoring her instinct to eliminate outside of a diaper.  A mobile baby, however, can start learning that it’s good to pee in the potty and not good to pee on the floor.

This doesn’t mean you need to punish your baby for peeing outside the potty!  It just means that you need to be consistent with communication.  If you’re doing diaper-free time and your baby starts to go on the floor, transfer immediately to the potty.  You can even say something like, “Uh-oh, some pee got on the floor.  Pee goes in the potty, not the floor.  Let’s clean it up.”

You don't need to use the exact same potty in the exact same place every single time, though, and it's also fine to use diaper backups for most or all of the day.  Even as adults, we use the bathroom in different places:  We use public toilets when out and about, we use grandma’s toilet at grandma’s house, we might pee in a bush while we’re hiking or camping, and we might use one of several toilets in our own homes.

You can potty baby anywhere--just make sure it's in a potty!

It’s not important what potty you use or where it is, so long as it’s a potty, specifically, that your child is peeing and pooping in.

When will baby start intentionally signaling?

When babies are really young, they “signal” with behaviors like passing gas, getting suddenly fussy, popping on and off the breast, or making a “poop face”.  As your child’s language skills develop, he will start intentionally asking for things with signs (such as ASL), gestures (patting the diaper or crawling to the potty, for example), or words (such as pee pee, poo poo, or potty).

When this happens is unique for every child, and there is a wide range of normal:  Some babies start intentionally signaling well before their first birthday, others won’t do this until after age 2.  You can encourage intentional signaling by using the ASL sign for “potty” (see picture below), consistently talking to your child about the process, and immediately responding to intentional signaling when it happens.  

The ASL sign for "toilet"

Is now the time to move to full-time EC?

A lot of parents are doing great—catching some poops here, some pees there—but want to up their EC game to “full time”.  I would first ask you to decide what “full time” means to you.  Does it mean that you catch every (or almost every) pee and poop in the potty and can put your baby in underwear?  This isn’t very realistic prior to 12 months; it’s almost impossible to catch every single pee when they go so frequently.

Elimination Communication is about learning, not perfection, and progress is not necessarily linear.  For the first year or two, there will be periods where you’re catching a lot and periods where you catch less (and unfortunately, age 4-10 months is a period where many parents catch less).

Becoming hyper-focused on catching everything before your child is developmentally capable of taking on some of the responsibility can lead to frustration for you and unnecessary stress for your baby.  If you’re attentive to your baby throughout the day and taking her potty with regularity and success, then that could be considered “full-time” EC. 

If you aren’t happy with how much pee/poop you’re catching, some constructive diaper-free time can always help.  Just be sure to do diaper-free time when you can dedicate your whole attention to your child to learn timing/cues and transfer immediately to the potty as soon as she starts to go.

Dealing with frustration or burnout

Frustration is so common in all areas of parenting!  EC involves walking a very thin line:  On the one hand, EC is important to you, and you want to make an effort to succeed.  On the other hand, getting too obsessed or stressed about the process can be counterproductive.  My advice is to always take a laid-back approach.  Focus mainly on poops and easy-to-predict pees.  Don’t set goals or deadlines like “my child will be out of diapers by walking.” 

EC should be making your life easier, or at least not making it harder.  When you get too frustrated or obsessed, your child can pick up on that and resist the potty.  It’s OK to take a step back or even take a break.  EC is a two steps forward, one step back process that’s full of ups and downs.  It’s impossible to quit the potty forever—sooner or later, you and your child will come back to it, and everything you worked on before will be a huge benefit to the process. 

That's all I've got for now!

If you have any tips for continuing EC with a mobile baby, be sure to let us know in the comments.