Infant Pottying Today - Issue No. 7 - Earth Day Special Edition
A Publication About Elimination Communication from DiaperFreeBaby
Leo, 6 months, EC'd since birth, wearing his BabyLegs
and sitting on his BabyBjorn Little Potty,
with big brother Samuel, 5 1/2Letter From The Editor
We've been hearing a lot about global warming lately, and as a mother to three young children, I often find myself wondering what the future holds for them and how I can help shape that future. This is one of the great benefits of Elimination Communication (EC). With EC, the whole diapering debate over cloth versus disposables becomes moot - after all, what could be more eco-friendly than a diaper free baby?
This issue of Infant Pottying Today focuses on EC and the environment. We have a collection of articles of interest to the environmentally-conscious EC'ing family. Laurie Boucke tells parents how infant pottying helps reduce their carbon footprint, and Laurel Web tells us how EC helped her opt out of the whole debate of cloth versus disposables in her inspiring personal story. We're also introducing you to the website, clean Earth...happy baby!™. Thank you to Elizabeth Parise, a Massachusetts DiaperFreeBaby Mentor and our Communications Manager, for her hard work pulling this inspiring, information-packed website together. Read more about clean Earth...happy baby!™ below, peruse all our tips on going green, and see how you can help hold an event in your own area to promote awareness of EC and the environment.
You'll also see a new column in this newsletter -the EC Product Review. In this issue, EC'ing mom Jenn Griffith reviews the gDiaper - a great solution for people who prefer the convenience of disposables but want something more environmentally sound. If you would like to suggest a product to review or to write up your own review for us, please contact us at publications@diaperfreebaby.org.
Best wishes,
Christine Gross-Loh, Infant Pottying Today Co-editor
Reduce Your Carbon Footprint With EC
By Laurie Boucke
You can make a difference if you potty your infant. Parents of an individual family unit may think that one baby's worth of diapers doesn't have much impact on the planet. But when the diapers of thousands of babies are compiled, compacted or cleansed, the toll is staggering. It is our children and grandchildren who will have to deal with the mess we are making. You can effectively cut back on resource depletion and pollution and reduce your carbon footprint by using fewer diapers.
I learned about infant pottying in 1979 and used it with my third son. I had seen it used in India and was impressed with the way mothers and other caregivers communicated with babies and took care of their elimination needs in early infancy. It also immediately struck me as the most environmentally friendly way to handle toilet learning-an exciting prospect that further increased my desire to use this approach. I realized it could be adapted to a modern lifestyle by using diapers as a backup (rather than full time) between potty visits.
In industrialized countries, a child who is "conventionally" toilet-trained could have used 6,000 or more disposable diapers. That's a lot of garbage to clog our over-taxed landfills! And that's also a lot of trees! In addition, the yearly cost to taxpayers for diaper disposal is high.
Some environmentally conscious parents elect to use cloth diapers, which, in terms of the environment, may offer a slight improvement over disposables, but still expend valuable resources and cause pollution. By using relatively few cloth diapers and pottying the rest of the time, parents can conserve water, reduce electricity consumption and avoid using considerable amounts of polluting chemicals.
Laurie Boucke is the author of Infant Potty Training: A Gentle and Primeval Method Adapted to Modern Living; Infant Potty Training: With or Without Diapers, the Natural Way; and producer of The Potty Whisperer a DVD.
Personal Story: Beyond The Great Debate
By Laurel Web
My name is Laurel and I live in western Colorado with my husband Basil and 4-month- old son, Willow. We live off the grid in a wood stove heated house with a very small solar-electric system and without running water.
When I was pregnant, the question we were most often asked (after gender) was what we were going to do about diapers without having running water, much less a washing machine. I wasn't willing to use disposables for a variety of reasons. I didn't want to add to the 20 billion disposable diapers that Americans throw into the trash every year, didn't like that they'd live in the environment for 500 years or so, and didn't want to support the petroleum industry (30% of a disposable diaper is made out of petroleum). I also didn't want my baby spending his first few years swaddled in all that plastic and chlorine-bleached/dioxin contaminated wood pulp. (The head of the Toxic Effects Branch of EPA's National Environmental Research Center has called dioxin the most toxic chemical ever produced.)
I'd heard about gDiapers, the biodegradable, flushable, and compostable alternative to petroleum-based diapers, but didn't want to use them full-time. Luckily I'd learned about EC by stumbling upon a copy of Ingrid Bauer's book Diaper Free! The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene. We began EC'ing Willow at birth by keeping him in receiving blankets for the first week and then by changing cloth diapers immediately when wet or dirty.
After one month, I was near breakdown from driving daily to a neighbor's house to wash diapers. I knew I had to reduce our diaper use so I picked up Ingrid's book again and started experimenting to find a good baby hold and a catching receptacle. Immediately, our washing schedule mellowed to three loads a week. Now in our fourth month of EC'ing we do one load of baby laundry per week. This includes all clothes, blankets, and the few diapers he still wets.
Living in the arid west I have always been hyper-conscious about water use. (One of the most common bumper stickers in 1990's Albuquerque, New Mexico where I grew up was "Save Water - Shower with a Friend!") Calculating 40 gallons of water used per load of wash, I've determined that we went from using 1,120 gallons of water per month washing diapers (7 loads per week) to now using 160 gallons per month washing diapers (1 load per week). That's a savings of 960 gallons of water per month,11,520 gallons saved per year, and 23,040 gallons of water saved over a short 2-year conventional diapering period.
In terms of money, I'll be spending about $100 this year to wash diapers at our Laundromat's prices of $1.75/load. This is in comparison to $640 per year at 1 load per day, or $1,280 to wash diapers over a 2-year diapering period. (This is not including the cost to dry diapers.)
Of course, all these figures are just conjecture since driving to wash diapers everyday was NOT going to be a possibility. (I couldn't keep washing at our dear neighbor's house everyday for much longer and still keep her as a dear friend. I live a 30 minute drive away from the nearest Laundromat.) Given my circumstances I would have had to turn to using gDiapers closer to full-time, which at 8 diapers per day and $.25 per biodegradable refill, would have meant a cost of about $2.00 per day or about $730 dollars per year, or $1,460 dollars for a 2-year diapering period.
The Next Frontier
I never set out to be a radical environmentalist, but it seems through chance and circumstance it is where I have landed. The best I can figure is that I've always been an avid reader and once I learn something I have a hard time turning my back on it. This is what happened a few years ago when my husband and I picked up a book about composting our human waste. The Humanure Handbook, by Joseph Jenkins, is chock full of compelling facts and figures about why it is better to compost human waste than to flush it in with our drinking water supply or bury it in pit toilets that leach into ground water.
Because we were already challenged on the water front and because we were about to fill up our 3rd outhouse hole we decided to begin composting our manure. Jenkin' book walked us through building our new 5-gallon bucket toilets and our large composting bins, and gave us all the information we needed about layering and aging our manure to make sure our resulting compost would be pathogen-free.
Willow's small plastic poop-receptacle gets emptied into our 5-gallon bucket toilet and then gets covered with a handful of wood shavings which covers the smell. We also compost all Willow's gDiaper liners (wet & dirty). When Willow was pooping in his diapers more often we would line them with ripped up sections of an old cotton bedspread that was falling apart and throw the whole mess in the composting toilet to be turned into valuable and nutrient rich soil.
Other Things We Do to be Gentle on the Earth
As for baby wipes, we make up a solution of Dr. Bronner's baby soap, aloe vera juice, water and tea tree oil and put it in the squeeze bottle that was part of my birth packet (to clean my perineum with after the birth) and then put that on cloth wipes when we need them. For travel wipes, we bought a few packets of chlorine-free disposable wipes, used them, and then washed them, put them in a Tupperware container and cover them with our baby solution. This way, if I'm able to throw them in a diaper bag to bring home to wash I do, but if I don't feel like carting a dirty wipe around I know that it's been used at least twice and feel ok about throwing it away.
We read in Mothering Magazine that instead of soaking dirty diapers in water you can use a dry diaper pail. This saved us carting 5-gallons of water back and forth to the house and then to the Laundromat. Our diapers, even the occasional dirty ones, come back clean.
We also line dry almost all of our diaper loads. It's one of the only household chores that's fun to do with Willow in his carrier, and it gets the stains out of our diapers and leaves everything smelling fresh and clean.
Almost all of our baby stuff has come to us second-hand. Not only is this easier on the pocketbook and the earth but it is easier on our baby, since hopefully most of the fire-retardants, bleaches, dyes and other industrial chemicals that are used on new products has been washed out by the time we use them.
We choose to eat organically-grown vegetables and free-range, antibiotic- and hormone-free meats and dairy to limit our exposure to pesticides, herbicides, hormones and other toxic chemicals. We also avoid plastics whenever possible in order to avoid passing on bisphenol A and other chemicals to little Willow.
The Final Word on EC
EC allows us to communicate on a deeper level with our child than we would be able to do if we were ignoring (and teaching him to ignore) his elimination needs. But we also use EC because it allows us to raise our child in a way that is consistent with our values.
For many years neither my husband nor I thought we would have children because of the toll the human species has had on the planet, its systems, and other organisms. However, we eventually came to believe that it is important to support life by having children who are raised in an ecologically-sound manner and with values which will allow them to care for and live in harmony with the earth and all of its creatures. Because isn't that what it's all about - leaving our children a better world to in which to grow up ?
Resources:
Real Diaper Association: Diaper Facts
Diaper Choices
Humanure
Editor's Note: The gDiaper website does not recommend composting soiled liners. gDiapers:Composting 101
Question From an ECing Family
Q: I've heard that urine can be used in the garden. Is that unsanitary and won't it kill the plants?
A: Actually, urine from a healthy human is sterile and mostly contains water and nutrients. There are many benefits to using urine to water and fertilize plants including saving money on water and fertilizer, adding extra nutrients to soil and compost, and accelerating the composting process. Children enjoy contributing to the garden and watching an Earth cycle unfold.
Urine is high in nitrates which can damage some plants in its pure form, though. Undiluted urine can be used in the compost pile to help speed the composting process. A 50/50 mixture of urine and water could also be used in the compost bin. If you want to use urine to water plants then it could be diluted with a 10/1 ratio of water to urine, though trees, bushes, and lawns can handle direct application.
For tips on public pottying in the great outdoors, see Strategies For Public Pottying IPT Fall 2006, Questions and Surveys:
EC Product Review: gDiaper
By Jenn Griffith
Lia, 10 months, wearing her gDiaper
As a part-time ECer, in between potty moments I use gDiapers. My daughter, now 15 months, has been in gDiapers since she was about 6 weeks old, and has been part-time EC'd since 3 weeks. gDiapers are an option relatively new in the US, having come from Australia not much more than a year ago. There are three significant parts to a gDiaper: 1)the cloth outer gPant, 2) a snap-in waterproof liner, and 3) the insert, which is the best part. The inserts are made of a flushable wood pulp fluff and SAP (an environmentally neutral super-absorber), and can be flushed or tossed; wet (not soiled) inserts can even be composted in your garden in 50-150 days.
gDiapers are certified "green" through their entire production, use, and disposal, which I think is a pretty amazing thing! I have never really used cloth as a diapering solution, so I can't compare gDiapers to cloth. I do know, however, that they are a fantastic alternative for people like me, who don't want to be using disposables for mostly
environmental reasons (yikes, 500 years in a landfill!). They cost a few cents more than premium disposables, but for me that is a worthwhile cost. There are also many families successfully using cloth inserts in their gPants.
Why the big fuss about gDiapers? Because they are well designed, comfortable, easy, and so darn cute! The company is fantastic, the product is unique, and there is a whole Yahoo gDiapering support group full of many other part-time EC-ers.
Visit gDiapers for more specific details and information
Recycling a Prefold
Recycling Cloth Diapers and EC
By Christine Gross-Loh
I have about three dozen prefolds which I have used with all three of my children. They've been used as cloth diapers, of course, but also have been used to loosely hold under a diaper-free newborn, as burp pads, as an extra layer to cushion a sling, or to wipe up any number of household messes. With my youngest baby in training pants, they're just not getting a lot of use anymore. Ultimately, they'll be passed on to another family - there's lots of wear left in them - but I've taken a few of them and converted them into very thin, soft doublers to put inside a pair of underwear or training pants. These doublers are also very useful for EC'ing parents who use disposables. Having just a bit of cloth inside a disposable diaper allows both you and baby to tell if the diaper is wet, which helps parent and baby to remain aware of elimination. The cloth is so thin that it doesn't add up to much laundry, but it's sturdy enough that it holds its shape. They would make great doublers for EC'ed newborns as well.
To make them, simply cut an infant prefold into thirds or fourths horizontally (with the thicker middle section in the center of each doubler). Sew up the edges either with a serger, a zigzag stitch, or a straight stitch close to the edge.
There are many other ways to make cloth diapering and EC even more eco-friendly. Many parents use wool pants (diaper covers) made out of recycled wool sweaters. These are beautiful and affordable. Lots of parents sew their own training pants out of recycled prefolds - this allows them to tailor the fit to their own baby's body, and is especially useful for those EC'ing parents struggling to find training pants small enough for their little ones. The ECSwap Yahoo! Group is a quickly-growing group for parents looking to exchange EC gear, including diapers and training pants: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ECSwap.
Look for more concrete tips about recycling and EC in future issues of Infant Pottying Today. Tell us how you make recycling and EC work for you by writing us at publications@diaperfreebaby.org
For more tips on EC recycling visit:
clean Earth...happy baby!™
EC and the Environment
Green Cleaning
By Elizabeth Parise
Even though Elimination Communication (EC) is less messy than full-time diapering and conventional toilet training, in any household with young children, there is still cleaning to be done. Cleaning doesn't have to be difficult or involve harmful chemicals - it can be kept simple and environmentally friendly. Below are some tips to help you stay clean and green.
Cleaning Supplies:
Here are some basic supplies that can be used to make a variety of homemade cleaning products.
- vinegar
- baking soda
- lemon juice
- castile soap
- natural sponge from a "sponge farm"
- spray bottles
Cleaning Potties:
Cleaning potties right away can keep them from needing a lot of heavy cleaning. Eliminations can be poured immediately into the toilet or into the compost bin, then the potty can be rinsed right away with water.
For a more thorough cleaning, a solution of vinegar and water is a great natural disinfectant. If your potty needs scrubbing, try using baking soda and water, baking soda and vinegar, or baking soda and liquid castile soap to make a creamy scouring scrub. An old toothbrush can be reused as a mini scrub brush.
Cleaning Up Misses
Pee: If your baby pees on a hardwood floor or other solid surface, wipe it up with a cloth or paper towel. You can then wipe it clean with a warm cloth or use your favorite all purpose cleaner. If the miss is on a rug or carpet, first dab up as much as you can with an absorbent cloth or cloth diaper. Then dilute the area with water and dab dry again. If you have a rug made from natural fibers and dyes such as a high quality wool rug, do not use anything harsh or chemical. If water alone doesn't seem to do the trick, use a gentle dishsoap and blot gently. Then rinse again with water and dab dry. Don't use baking soda, but let the spot dry by dabbing with the cloth and air drying. If your rug or carpet is made from synthetic fibers it might be ok to use a steam cleaner or other carpet cleaning products. Some parents have had good luck using products such as Bac-out. It is always a good idea to consult your store or manufacturer when in doubt.
Poop: On solid floor surfaces, wipe clean and wash with warm water and soap or an all purpose cleaner. On rugs or carpets, remove any solids carefully and gently blot wetness, then dilute with water and blot again. You may need to repeat this a few times, then blot dry. As with for pee, consult your store or manufacturer when in doubt.
Laundry:
Vinegar is also useful in the laundry. Try putting a 1/4 cup of vinegar in the wash as a fabric softener. Better yet, add baking soda to the wash cycle and vinegar to the rinse cycle. Lemon juice in the rinse cycle brightens your laundry.
For more information on baking soda and vinegar in the laundry:
Baking Soda
Vinegar
If cloth diapers are only being used as a back-up to EC they tend to get less soiled. Consider washing them in cold water to conserve energy. Also, letting clothes dry in the sun is an environmentally friendly way of keeping them fresh and stain-free. Sun exposure is an effective way to bleach out stains.
Cleaning Floors:
A solution of 1/4 cup of vinegar to one gallon of water is a great floor cleaner. Don't forget to rinse well, though. The vinegar smell will disappear over time. Or, try one of the air fresheners below.
Cleaning Carpets:
Again, cleaning right away will help to avoid larger cleaning jobs in the future. If it is a urine spot, soak it up with a prefold diaper, cloth rag, or paper towels. Baking soda can also be used right on the spot. If you are cleaning a bowel movement, first remove it from the carpet, then dab, don't rub, the spot with warm water and dishwashing liquid. Stubborn stains can be cleaned with rubbing alcohol or hydrogen peroxide (test first to make sure it doesn't bleach out your carpet). Baking soda does a great job of removing odors. Sprinkle it on your carpet, let it sit for a while, and then vacuum. If your carpet or rug is made of natural fibers (like wool), you should use only warm water with a little bit of dish soap.
For more about green carpet cleaning:
Green Carpet Cleaning
Air Fresheners:
Keep windows open as much as possible if your outside air is fresh. This is a simple, yet effective, way to keep your house smelling good. Don't overlook keeping potted plants in your home as well.
We used to keep a pot of boiling water on our woodstove with cinnamon sticks or cloves in it to keep the air humid and smelling nice, but you don't need a woodstove to use the same technique. Speaking of the stove, there is nothing that smells better than fresh baked goods. Try baking a pie or cookies to freshen up your home.
Burning soy candles is another way to freshen up the air in your home. Candles can be rubbed with essential oils for a fragrance boost.
Environmentally Friendly Cleaning Products:
Seventh Generation
Biokleen
Dr Bronner
Shaklee
For more information on green cleaning
Mothering
Healthy Child
Healthy Child Checklist
Grist
Tree Hugger
Greener Choices Eco Labels
Holding A Green Baby Shower
By Elizabeth Parise
A hot new trend in baby showers is an environmentally-friendly shower, and EC fits right in. Below are some ideas for throwing your own "green" shower.
Invitations
- Consider an e-invitation
- Create your own invitations by making a collage out of old magazines, cards, and wrapping paper
- Choose invitations made with recycled paper and printed using soy based ink
- Use a "plantable" invitation made out of seeded paper
- Include a list of eco-friendly gift ideas with shopping information (see below)
Menu and Decorations
- Cook using organic ingredients
- Use a catering service that uses organic ingredients
- Shop for local ingredients
- Have a pot luck shower and have each guest bring an organic food item to share
- Display an edible centerpiece
- Make small flower arrangements out of wildflowers or locally grown flowers and place them in mugs or glasses
Eco-Friendly Gifts
- Have each guest bring a frozen meal for the parents to save and enjoy in the hectic, new-baby days
- Make an EC kit in a small potty filled with EC supplies, and "wrapped" in a wet bag or potty tote
- Give an EC book or video, or choose another gift from the DiaperFreeBaby Shop
- Give a gift of diaper service for few months
- Give a gDiaper starter kit
- Choose organic baby clothes- gowns and t-shirts are easier to use than onesies, and bottoms that pull up and down are easier than overalls for EC
- Make an EC Basket (see EC Baskets, in this issue)
- Give a tree to be planted which can grow as baby grows
- Use "plantable" wrapping paper made out of seeded paper
- Use alternatives to paper gift wrapping such as baby blankets, canvas tote bags, or baby towels
Favors
- Choose an edible favor such as a homemade baked good
- Place some herbal teabags or bag of organic coffee into a mug
- Have the guests sign a large plate, platter, or serving bowl from a paint-your-own pottery studio
- Hand out soy candles to be lit when the expectant mother goes into labor
- Allow guests to bring home the small flower arrangements described above as favors
- Give out seed packets in flower pots
Clean-Up
- Use the green cleaning tips in this issue
- Use recyclable or biodegradable products
- Use washable dishes, cups, and flatware
- Have recycling and composting bins
Sources and Resources
Green Baby Showers
Wee Generation
Greenopia (link no longer available)
Plantable Invitations
Greenfield Paper
Plantable Paper
Helpful Tip: EC Baskets
In the first weeks of parenthood, no one wants to be up and down constantly to fetch supplies for the baby. EC'ing parents of newborns will find it useful to assemble little baskets of EC'ing supplies to keep around the house to help EC get off to the best possible start. When EC supplies are close at hand, it's that much easier to decide to give EC a try right then rather than waiting until "next time."
Assembling these baskets makes a good nesting activity in those last few weeks before the baby comes. The baskets also make wonderful baby shower gifts.
Some suggestions for your EC basket are:
A few cloth prefolds and receiving blankets to loosely wrap around baby
Diapers, if you are using them - cloth inserts or doublers inside a diaper cover are more than adequate
A Potty Bowl or other similar container to use for catches
A waterproof lap pad made of wool or PUL
Toilet paper, a water spritzer and some cloth wipes, or commercial wipes
For more tips on EC and the Environment visit:
EC and the Environment: Tips and Testimonials
Creative Corner
Poem for earth and baby
By Melinda Rothstein
gentle breeze
baby pees
blue skies
baby sighs
fields green
baby clean
sun shining
baby smiling
DiaperFreeBaby and EC In The News
By Elizabeth Parise, Communications Manager
The release of Christine Gross-Loh's book, The Diaper-Free Baby in January 2007 ushered in a year of tremendous media interest. We continue to be involved with significant stories in print, television, radio and web media. In August 2007, the Associated Press ran a story with far-reaching impact. And the media has continued to include EC and DiaperFreeBaby in reporting focused on the environment and "green" living.
The mainstream book by Christine Gross-Loh, our Publications Manager, brought EC closer to the general public with her "occasional, part-time, full-time" approach. Early in the year, she was featured on Eco Talk on Air America. We also saw stories from iVillage Live, The NY Post and Up to the Minute on CBS. These media pieces brought in even more interest, which generated stories from KUTV CBS in Salt Lake, Fox 29 in San Antonio and ABC News Nightline.
In contrast to earlier years where EC was portrayed mostly for shock value, the media outlook now is clearly changing. Mainstream parenting website giant Babycenter put together an article and resources which will likely open up EC to a whole new group of parents. We saw positive television stories from local ABC stations ABC News 7 in San Francisco, ABC 9 in Syracuse, and ABC News 6 in Philadelphia. For a refreshing change in focus, Heather Quinlin used a Question and Answer format to spotlight DiaperFreeBaby, the organization, on the Discovery Health Channel website.
The Associated Press released an article on August 27th which created media interest like we haven't seen since October 2005. Interest from the public and the media was so strong that the DiaperFreeBaby website crashed until we were able to increase the bandwidth, and our daily website hits increased to 10,000 a day. The story has run in its original form in more places than we will ever be able to count. In a notable moment of synchronicity, Melinda Rothstein, DiaperFreeBaby Co-founder and Executive Director, gave birth to her third child on the same day that article came out.
Many other papers picked up this Associated Press piece and "localized" it by including information and quotes from EC'ing parents in that newspaper's home area, including the Orange County Register and the Australian Associated Press. In addition, local television stations ran stories, including WLWT in Ohio with Cincinnati Mentor Megan, San Antonio Living in Texas, and Fox 25 in Boston (and, yes, that is me being interviewed).
The Associated Press piece also sparked interest from media outlets, such as MSNBC, that produced several segments. We were delighted to work with MSNBC's Contessa Brewer again for one of the segments and hope to work with her again in the future.
The Today Show, which interviewed DiaperFreeBaby Co-founder Melinda Rothstein in 2005, aired a new segment on Elimination Communication and DiaperFreeBaby which included an interview with Mentor Erinn Klatt, and Boston group member Nancy Prior, as well as Melinda and her newborn Leo. The blog discussion that followed was even more interesting and informative than the actual segment.
The environmental benefits of EC were touted in many stories throughout the year. E/The Environmental Magazine's article, "Natural Baby, Toxic World" typified this trend in the media. This article was re-printed, blogged about, and discussed on many other websites including: Tree Hugger, EWG, and Evolving Excellence (see People, Diapers, and Kegs). The Environmental Report ran a syndicated radio interview with Michigan Mentor Erin Burck Lafreniere, and the ABC News website ran an article in their technology section.
Toward the end of the year, many reporters had grasped the concept and presented stories which were accurate and instructive. DiaperFreeBaby's PR department's contact with reporters enables us to provide information and input, though we have no final say in the articles. As the idea of EC becomes more familiar, media outlets embrace more and more of the information we provide. An excellent article ran in the The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne Indiana using many medical research studies. In Oregon, an article ran in Portland's Metro Parent Magazine in Salem's Salem Monthly Magazine. KGW News In Portland aired a story on the morning news. In addition, supportive and informative stories aired on local TV stations during the November Sweeps, or TV ratings, period. These included Fox News in Hartford Connecticut and CBS News in Springfield, Massachusetts. ABC 5 in Des Moines aired a segment as part of a "Superkids" series along with stories on baby sign language and baby chiropractic care. And Fox in Cleveland aired a segment two nights in a row followed by a live chat with DiaperFreeBaby Mentor Lisa Wilkins.
One of my favorite aspects of all this media interest is all the discussion and debate it has created. While the public is becoming more accustomed to the idea of EC, there are still many individuals who struggle with the way EC conflicts with deeply entrenched cultural beliefs and practices. DiaperFreeBaby seeks to support families whether they are interested in practicing EC or just to trying make sense of it. We welcome the dialogue. These discussions can be uncomfortable and heated, but I believe they are also necessary, empowering, and cathartic as we find our collective way back to natural responsive parenting.
New Programs
By Elizabeth Parise, Communications Manager
clean Earth...happy baby!™
The clean Earth...happy baby!™ campaign was started in the summer of 2006 to raise awareness of the environmental benefits of practicing Elimination Communication. It seemed fitting to highlight it in this issue, but also quite a bit has been accomplished since last year.
We have created materials supporting the clean Earth...happy baby!™ campaign. Two environmentally focused mini brochures are available and may be picked up at a clean Earth...happy baby!™ event near you. Pencils embossed with the campaign title are available in packs of ten in the DiaperFreeBaby Shop.
We have also added content to the clean Earth...happy baby!™ website, including tips and testimonials, facts and stats, and articles. If you have environmentally-focused information to share, please email it to pr@diaperfreebaby.org for consideration.
A large part of the idea behind clean Earth...happy baby!™ is to share the idea with others through events. This can be done in a variety of fun and creative ways! It could be an information table at an Earth Day event or a festival, a "green" party with "EC for the Environment" activities, or a discussion at a local library. To see a listing of upcoming events please visit clean Earth...happy baby!™ or for more information on planning your own clean Earth...happy baby™ event please email pr@diaperfreebaby.org.
Advocate Program
Advocates support the practice of Elimination Communication and the Mission and Philosophies of DiaperFreeBaby, but unlike Mentors, they do not hold local meetings. Advocates are committed to spreading the word about EC and DiaperFreeBaby. Some of the ways Advocates may wish to contribute are:
A) Agree to be contacted about local media opportunities to be interviewed and/or work with the DiaperFreeBaby PR Department to coordinate the media opportunity.
B) Present a workshop or an exhibit booth on Elimination Communication and DiaperFreeBaby.
C) Plan and execute a special DiaperFreeBaby event such as a DiaperFreeDay™.
D) Choose a special PR related project such as writing and designing PR materials.
Advocates may also work on special projects related to the environment or healthcare.
For more information on the Advocate program please visit the Advocate Page
The DiaperFreeChallenge™
The DiaperFreeChallenge™ is inspired by the phrase "I tried it and I was hooked." For many people "trying is believing." So we are "challenging" parents and other caregivers to try EC for just one day. For those already ECing, the "challenge" is to pick a day to try another level of EC such as nighttime, out and about, or going completely diaper-free. Others not ready to "take the plunge" will be "challenged" to find out more by reading a book or attending a meeting.
For more information and to try our "Challenge Checklists" visit DiaperFreeChallenge™
Membership Update: HCP Membership
By Amanda Alvine, Membership Coordinator
DiaperFreeBaby is excited to announce the introduction of a Health Care Provider (HCP) membership! This new type of membership will benefit both health care providers and ECing parents. HCP members can choose to be listed on the DiaperFreeBaby website, offering ECing parents a chance to seek out someone supportive and knowledgeable about EC. HCP members will also receive information about EC and support specific to their work as health care providers. Please let your health care providers know about this new opportunity! For more information, please visit the HCP Membership page.
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