Rumer Willis Uses Diaper-Free "Elimination Communication" With 8-Month-Old Daughter

Rumer Willis is not afraid to try something different as a mom. She and partner Derek Richard Thomas are using “elimination communication” with their 8-month-old daughter Louetta. And so far, the new mom is finding the experience to be very “validating.”

Willis, who welcomed daughter Louetta in April surrounded by mom Demi Moore and two of her sisters, Tallulah and Scout, opened up to People recently about using the method of elimination communication to potty train her daughter. The concept is based on the idea that parents can pay close attention to a baby’s cues for when they need to pee or poop in an effort to lessen their use of diapers and, in best case scenarios, get rid of diapers altogether. So far, Willis has found the experience of following Louetta’s bathroom cues to be “incredible. It's so validating,” she said in an interview per People. “We got a little potty. Derek even has a little potty song he plays for her.”

How does the song go, you ask? “"Poopin' on the potty ... poopin' on the potty ... elimination ... communication,” according to Willis. (Admit it: whether your baby is in diapers or potty training, you probably have some sort of “bathroom time” song, too.)

Proponents of elimination communication (often referred to as EC in online spaces) claim that elimination communication is environmentally friendly (no diapers to throw out or wash), money-saving (ditto), and can foster a closer bond with your baby (how can it not when you’re studying them so intently you can predict their poops?). They also note that little ones raised on elimination communication tend to be potty trained sooner than diapered babies and avoid diaper-related issues like rashes. Detractors highlight the fact that life in the United States and other countries like it is not well-suited for elimination communication since most parents have to work, to say nothing of the inevitable accidents that happen with un-diapered infants. Some pediatric urologists have cautioned well-meaning parents against this method, noting that children used to parental cuing to relieve themselves may “hold back” their bodily functions unconsciously and develop urinary tract infections.

Admitting that she understands that she is very privileged to be able to stay home with her baby and try the elimination communication method, Willis went on to explain how her daughter will “make these funny faces and she would start to furrow her brow and her mouth would look like she was sucking on a straw,” before Willis would hear her daughter “poop and it was super loud. So then we got this little potty and when she would make the face, we would just pull her diaper off and sit her on it."

“Now if I can catch it, it's so delightful,” the proud mom went said, “Babies have bodily awareness, so they don't want to poop themselves. We train them out of it by putting them in diapers and look, there's no way I can catch all of her pees. They don't make a cue for it, or maybe they do if you're super, super aware. But I try to get as many as I can and it's awesome. I think it's so great.”

It absolutely makes sense that Willis might want to try something less than traditional like the elimination communication method with her baby. She rather famously broke her own water with her finger during labor, after all. And just seems very open to trying new things as a mom.

We love that for her.