Baby sign language is a great tool for communicating with your preverbal baby or toddler.

Even babies under one year old can enthusiastically recognize simple signs. This allows communication!

A potty cue gives your baby a way to tell you that he needs your help to go to the bathroom or potty. Initially it will be the acknowledgment of her body’s needs, perhaps as they go along, moments before or after.

Sign language is a ‘bridge’ between our pre-verbal babies and our verbal culture. You are giving them a ‘tool’ that they can use to communicate with you. Our visual memories are older, so babies easily recognize cues as soon as they can. Around 12 months it is common for the firm to really recover, although sooner or later is possible. Keep practicing, look for cues to recognize before your baby uses them to ‘talk’ to you.

Choose an appropriate signal or natural gesture. It should be simple, so that your baby can imitate it crudely, and it should always be used with the spoken word and loving eye contact.

These 3 tips will make it easier for you to sign regularly throughout your day so that baby sign language and going to the bathroom are simply integrated and normal parts of your lifestyle.

3 strategies to remember when combining infant toileting with baby sign language:

1. Give the signal of your choice every time you approach the potty

2. Give your signal every time your baby is on the potty

3. Use the sign to “ask” if your baby wants to use his potty: respond to his enthusiasm, respect his reservations.

With these 3 simple strategies, you’ll add baby sign language to your elimination communication (EC) moments with ease. Sometimes your baby will show a great deal of awareness and control. They will sign in a clear and timely manner. Other times they won’t: being a little person is busy working!

Expect your EC and baby sign language practice to flow and flow. Like any natural process, there will be flashes of amazing communication, which is why families get hooked on elimination communication.

Consider this a wonderful, fleeting sign of the future, not an expectation that they will be toilet independent at a very young age. EC is something you *do* regularly, part of your lifestyle, rather than a ‘method’ or outcome-based activity like conventional potty training or potty training.

Give it a try: Baby Sign Language and EC are great partners to help your child communicate with you as soon as possible. You will gradually reduce the use of diapers or nappies, helping the environment, saving you money and best of all, enjoying a new dimension in the bond you share with your baby.