No, not that kind of potty talk. That's another topic altogether! I'm talking about Elimination Communication (EC), a new word given to an ancient practice: raising baby without diapers. E.C. is also referred to as Natural Infant Hygiene.

When I first heard about Elimination Communication, my second child was about 8 months old. The concept intrigued me. I knew that women around the world did not use diapers, and though they wore their babies on their bodies, they didn't get wet on. They simply tuned in to their baby's cues and at the right time, held baby out over a bush and let nature take its course. I decided to try it with my son. I was tickled pink when I sat him on a little potty and he went, right on cue. It's like he knew exactly what to do.

The party line of modern child rearing experts is that baby has no control over his sphincter muscles until around 18 months, but I didn't believe that. I noticed with my kids that they would wake up dry every morning from the time they were around 7 months old or so (and I use cloth diapers so I knew the diaper was dry). Besides, babies all over the world don