"But WHY?!"

I told Huz's work colleagues about elimination communication the other day and when they asked me why we do it I couldn't really put it into words effectively on the spot. I ended up talking about toilet training and children having to re-learn their elimination rhythms and sensations and general awareness as toddlers because being in nappies has disconnected them from themselves. I made it sound like we're ECing because we want to make toilet training easier on ourselves in the future *shakes head* So not the reason!

In the hope of better answering that question in the future, here is our list of reasons why we EC:

• Empathy. If it were me dependent on someone else for all my needs, including elimination needs, I would prefer not to be left to sit in my drying urine and feces!

• Communication. This is paramount to decent relationships. ECing strengthens communication between parent and child, with the short term benefit of decreasing washing and the long term goal of fostering a good bond between you.
  

• Attachment. Flowing directly from communication, ECing is another way (in addition to babywearing, co-sleeping, breastfeeding, homebirth etc.) of being connected to your child. And that connection helps you to better know, understand, and respond to your child.
  

• Honouring Instincts. Babies are born in tune with their bodies. They instinctively know when they are hungry and they instinctively know when they need to eliminate. Why disconnect a person from their instincts when you can honour those instincts?

• Environmentally Friendly. Every catch equals one less dirty nappy, which means less washing, which means less water use, less electricity use. Or in the case of disposables less disposables means less land fill, less support to their production and packaging.

• Because We Can! Seriously, if you know you have the power to make life a little more hygienic for your child, which will strengthen your ability to communicate with each other pre-verbally, improve your attachment to each other, honour your child's instincts, make the transition from dependent toileting to independent toileting a little smoother, and save you money and washing in the long run, why not give it a go?