no clue

[Tdogs-mom]

hey, I'm a new mom of 4 weeks to T. T and I are trying to do this EC thing and i'm not the best at it. I've read allot online and watched youtube videos but I still don't think I'm doing this as easily as I could. Can ya'll help me?

How do you hold the babies head up, hold his penis down, and hold him over the potty all at the same time? I'm in pretty good shape but this is dang hard! Tips? My hubby doesn't want to get a portable potty that we would need to clean (lazy, I know) but is there something that we can put on a toilet so that he can rest and go potty? Plus trying to wipe after wards w/o dropping him is tricky.

Also, T has trouble pooping (anal dyschezia) and I was curious if you guys thought that I should wait to try this 'till after thats worked out?

We really want to do this. T goes to the bathroom about every 10 min. or so and so needless to say he's got a little diaper rash going and I don't want it to get worse. Plus all the benefits of doing this I'm thinking why shouldn't we do it right? Can you help me?

[Carlyle]

Originally Posted by Tdogs-mom

hey, I'm a new mom of 4 weeks to T. T and I are trying to do this EC thing and i'm not the best at it. I've read allot online and watched youtube videos but I still don't think I'm doing this as easily as I could. Can ya'll help me?

How do you hold the babies head up, hold his penis down, and hold him over the potty all at the same time? I'm in pretty good shape but this is dang hard! Tips? My hubby doesn't want to get a portable potty that we would need to clean (lazy, I know) but is there something that we can put on a toilet so that he can rest and go potty? Plus trying to wipe after wards w/o dropping him is tricky.

Also, T has trouble pooping (anal dyschezia) and I was curious if you guys thought that I should wait to try this 'till after thats worked out?

We really want to do this. T goes to the bathroom about every 10 min. or so and so needless to say he's got a little diaper rash going and I don't want it to get worse. Plus all the benefits of doing this I'm thinking why shouldn't we do it right? Can you help me?

Tell hubby it's better having to clean a potty than clean a diaper The little potties (like the Baby Bjorn Little Potty or a Once Upon a Potty) make it easier to hold the baby while they have extra support from the potty. At 4 weeks, they're still so floppy!

I had a girl, so I don't have tips on the penis pointing while holding...that sounds hard! The only thing I can imagine is to hold him with his back against your front (head cradled between your breasts), with a wrist under each thigh...then you can use a finger to "aim." (maybe)

Seems to me like giving T a chance to use the potty instead of a diaper might make the pooping easier...but if it's stressing you out, no problem with waiting and trying again later. Even if you want to wait and start up again when he's older, you'd still be fine (in my experience). We didn't start until my daughter was 3 months old and loved it. But yeah, next time I plan to do it from the beginning (assuming breastfeeding's going okay).

[Tdogs-mom]

Thanks Carlyl. I'll look into the port a potty thing and "suprise" my husband

In order to rest baby's head against my chest I suppose I should get a stool or something to sit on in front of the toilet? How do you possition your body with a newborn?

[BirthKathy]

Hi Tdogs-mom,

You sound just like me! We started at 7 weeks, and I hated the "in arms" position. We ended up with sore backs and arms, and pee everywhere! My husband went to BabiesRUs and looked at all the potty seats ( for on the toilet) and picked the one with the smallest hole and best pee-guard. We have a boy also.

The seat we have is the Winnie the Pooh seat. We also had to buy small step stools to sit on in front of the potty, so we bought the Baby Bjorn step stools. They are a little short for me, so I fold a towel and put that on top for me to sit on comfortably.

And now it works great! We sit our son down and hold onto him and hang out. His pee can still splash a bit, but the pee guard makes sure it ends up more on the potty and him than me. Sometimes i can't hear the pee or poop, so I have to pick him up and look in. The pee guard will be wet if he peed. At first, we had to hold his head up, but now he's 3 1/2 mos so we can just hold his hands or around the sides. Pooping takes a while, so it's nice to be able to relax while he does it.

EC is a lot of fun for us, but it was the potty seat that made it that way. Good luck!

Kathy

[Tdogs-mom]

Originally Posted by BirthKathy

Hi Tdogs-mom,

You sound just like me! We started at 7 weeks, and I hated the "in arms" position. We ended up with sore backs and arms, and pee everywhere! My husband went to BabiesRUs and looked at all the potty seats ( for on the toilet) and picked the one with the smallest hole and best pee-guard. We have a boy also.

The seat we have is the Winnie the Pooh seat. We also had to buy small step stools to sit on in front of the potty, so we bought the Baby Bjorn step stools. They are a little short for me, so I fold a towel and put that on top for me to sit on comfortably.

And now it works great! We sit our son down and hold onto him and hang out. His pee can still splash a bit, but the pee guard makes sure it ends up more on the potty and him than me. Sometimes i can't hear the pee or poop, so I have to pick him up and look in. The pee guard will be wet if he peed. At first, we had to hold his head up, but now he's 3 1/2 mos so we can just hold his hands or around the sides. Pooping takes a while, so it's nice to be able to relax while he does it.

EC is a lot of fun for us, but it was the potty seat that made it that way. Good luck!

Kathy

Thank you thats helpful. We don't really have alot of baby stores here so I'm thinking I'll need to look online. So Kathy you guys didn't buy something like this: http://www.amazon.com/BABYBJ%C3%96RN.../dp/B0009OLSZ8
or like: http://www.amazon.com/BABYBJ%C3%96RN...0520956&sr=1-9
I can't find a small one that fits on a toilet. Do you know what I should be looking for?
A certain brand or name? Thanks again for your help.

[Carlyle]

Lots of folks start with these: http://www.amazon.com/BABYBJ%C3%96RN...0544662&sr=1-9

We used this and loved it (got it at a thrift store): http://www.amazon.com/Once-Upon-Pott...0544700&sr=1-1

Good luck!

[sapphire_chan]

We used a large, washed-out, yogurt container with duct tape around the top to pad the edges as an in-lap potty.

Our first catches were at the sink, larger target and you can hold the baby over it while standing up straight.

For the toilet, what worked best for me was to sit on it facing back. Dh could squat in front of it, but he can also run a 7 minute mile.

I did a modified version of the in-arms hold, where I cradled her body with my left arm and held onto her left thigh, her head/neck tucked into my elbow. (Like the cradle nursing hold) Then my right hand would either hold her right thigh or do other things. (E.g. help her get latched back on when she needed to nurse to pee.) In your case, it'd free a hand to deal with the penis.

The little potty and a roll of TP at my desk was great during the early days when it was a nuisance to get up everytime she had to go, but I do strongly recommend learning how to use toilets so you have that option when you're out and about.

[BirthKathy]

We do have a baby bjorn little potty that we use in the car.
But this is what we use all the time.

http://www.netkidswear.com/poohtoiletseat.html

The toilet seat reducers all have different sized holes, and it will be hard to compare them on line. My husband said this was the best combination of small seat hole / good splash guard at BabiesRUs.

To me, washing out a portable potty isn't bad if it's in the bathroom (and if you do it right away) but it's much quicker to flush the toilet. If I get distracted with the baby and come back to an unflushed toilet, i can just flush it and stick him right on.

We have elongated toilet seats, so it slides a little front to back when we put the baby on, but we just pick his feet up when we sit him down and it's OK.

One nice thing about a baby bjorn is that you can set it up on the bathroom counter so it makes it comfortable to stand there with the baby. We did this too, but we always have our own junk all over the counter like toothbrushes, etc and it started to seem a little gross when he'd poop up there.

Let me know what you decide to do and how it works out!

Kathy

[Tdogs-mom]

Kathy, will that toilet seat work for an infant; or is it for toddlers? Looks kinda big? If we can use this now I think I'll order it and give it a try.

Carlyle, which is better the babybj or the once apon a potty? I think we'll try one or the other. The OAP is really pricy comparitivly. Is it worth it?

Chan, good tip thank you. I definatly see the advantage of getting him to use the toilet (or rather me figuring it out) but I'm hoping that we can use somthing he can rest on 'till his dyschezia gets worked out...could be up to 6 months! And then trying the toilet..hope thats not too late.

Thanks again you guys. You're comments are helpin out allot.

[BirthKathy]

Hi Tdogs-mom,

We started using the Winnie the Pooh seat at about 9 weeks. Freddie's butt goes down in the hole a bit, but we have to hold him anyway so it's fine. Now at 3 1/2 months, it is a better fit and it should fit him for a really long time.

Let me know what you think!

Kathy

[Carlyle]

Originally Posted by Tdogs-mom

Carlyle, which is better the babybj or the once apon a potty? I think we'll try one or the other. The OAP is really pricy comparitivly. Is it worth it?

I don't think it matters. We just got the OAP because we found it at a thrift store. BBLP (baby bj little potty) is smaller, and baby's feet will touch the ground sooner. Baby will outgrow it sooner though--my dd used a friend's bblp one time (after she was 1 year old) and while SHE still fit on it just fine, her POOP did not fit! She filled up the little hole until the poop was touching her bottom and then she got this horrified look on her face and jumped up to finish somewhere else! Pretty funny actually. But yeah, at your little one's age, either will work just fine.

eta: just one more thought about a toilet seat reducer vs a little potty is that it's nice to have a little potty so that the kids can use it themselves before they can climb up on the big potty. Although if you get a step stool to the big potty, it does help them do that sooner (and my dd didn't really use the little potty "herself" per se...but I know many mom's kids do that).

[Tdogs-mom]

Carlyle- thank you. I just oredered the winnie the pooh and the BBLP; they should be here by the end of the week! T was born a little early and was a little under weight (5-15) so maybe the BBLP will fit longer? Hope this all works...cross your fingers!

[BirthKathy]

I just realized that I didn't answer your question about wiping afterward. Since we diaper full time, I have a changing station near the bathroom. I lay him down, take his diaper off, and then go to the potty. I have a box of tissues on the back of the toilet that I use to wipe him off up front if he sprayed a bit (which he always does) or in back if he's dripping. (I check in the mirror) Then I just pick him up and take him back to the changing station and wipe him thoroughly there. We have cloth diapers laid out over our changing pad to catch spots.

[Tdogs-mom]

Kathy- The winnie the pooh seat arrived yesterday, but I think it may be too big. The splash gaurd seems to be cutting into his thighs and he was screaming bloody murder as soon as I sat him down on it...maybe he'll grow into it? Oh yes, and as soon as he did go pee it went all up the front of him; up to his nipples perhapse this takes time.

[Tdogs-mom]

Also...our little BBLP showed up today. Its also a little big but in a few months I think it'll work out fine. I'm going to keep working with it. BTW how do you get the contents out of the potty in a clean fashion and get it ready for the next use? I used a clorox wipe after dumping the urine in the toilet. Any better ideas? Thanks for you help.

[BirthKathy]

re: Winnie the Pooh potty seat

When our son was just starting (at 7 weeks), we had to use the seat more as a perch. We scooched him forward to keep the pee from splashing too much. The guard did rub his thighs, but he didn't seem to mind.

Now that he's bigger (15 lbs), he's using it more like a seat and his thighs are spreading around the guard better.

My husband uses this trick - he tucks a tissue into the splash guard. When the baby pees, it doesn't spray and the tissue gets wet so you can see that he went. For some reason, i never do this but it does work really well.

I always wipe out the splash guard when he's done so that I can see if he went the next time. Sometimes, you just can't see or hear it.

[Tdogs-mom]

cool I'll try that thanks!