I have SO many friends who believe it's all or nothing, and they just don't have time to put their baby/toddler on a potty. Here's proof that it DOES work. This is my story.
Most of you know the frustration I've gone through with my 13 month old daughter. We've EC'd since 4.5 months old and catches were rare, and there was NEVER, EVER, any communication on her part. She never (not once) peed on cue, and most of our catches came from LONG periods of sitting on the potty. I got frustrated with why she wasn't getting it, so around 10 months, we took a break. The ONLY time I offered (with consistency), was first thing in the morning. Every single morning. She'd wake up, and the first thing I'd do is put her on. Sometimes she's scream (I never forced her to sit), sometimes she'd sit there and do nothing. I quickly learned that although she USED to wake up dry, she's now waking up very wet and so putting her on first thing was pointless. She did however, always pee within minutes (or seconds) after finishing her morning bottle (I breastfed for 8 months, but had problems so we always has to supplement - but that's a different story).
So I started watching/listening for that "empty bottle sound" and I would rush over to put her on. It took a while (weeks), but before I knew it we were catching almost ever post bottle pee. She also never pooped at the same time every day (we went MONTHS without a poop catch), but for whatever reason, she started pooping shortly after her morning pee. So within about a week, we started catching the morning poop as well. AMAZING. I also started offering during the day again (mostly during diaper changes or when she was dry), but I would also sit her on the potty without taking her diaper off... Just to make her potty a positive thing (no pressure).
A few weeks after this, she started signing potty. Not because she needed to pee, but because she was telling me that's what the potty is. But the other day, we had a pee miss on the floor, and she pointed at it, said "That", then signed "potty". That's right! Peepee goes in the potty! If I ask her where the pee goes, she now signs potty. If I ask where her potty is, or if she wants to go sit on it, she will seek it out, and plant her little butt on it.
This morning, I gave her a bottle and quickly ran downstairs to toss in a load of laundry. I heard her yelling "THAT! THAT!", so I came back up to see, thinking she was just pointing at the cat (everything is "that"). Her bottle was empty and she was making her way to the potty, signed "potty", then pointed at it when she saw me. When I checked her, she was in mid poop! This is not the first time she's gone to sit on it herself, but it is the first time she notified me that she was pooping, and that she needed/wanted her potty.
Granted, the rest of the day is LOADED with misses. But the fact is that because it's routine to "eat then sit on the potty", she's now starting to do it herself. Often if I let her go by herself we'll have a miss, but if I'm too late, she WILL go to sit on it. And because I was so consistent with the sign language and communication, she's starting to put the pieces together.
Since these catches started up, we've been doing a lot more checking if she's dry and then telling her it's time to peepee in the potty (break over!). Sometimes she pees in it, sometimes not. But she rarely protests sitting on it.
From 4.5 months until 7 months (before she started crawling), we had MANY catches in a day. There were even days where she stayed dry all day. From about 10 months to 12 months, we'd have maybe one catch a week. If I was lucky.
EC for us has been one heck of a ride, and I hope I don't jinx it by sharing this with you all. But for those who are feeling just as frustrated as I was/am, there IS a light at the end of the tunnel, and for us it came about from ONE consistent pottytunity... the morning one. The rest of the day is filled with misses, but she's starting to sign potty at random times now, and her diaper is often hot and wet when she does it, so I'm going to take that as a step forward. She pee'd, and is trying to communicate this to me. It's not in the potty, but it's a HUGE step from where we were a month ago.
I envy all of you mothers who had your babies diaper free by 12 months (Lord knows I tried!), but for those who struggled like I did, there IS a light at the end of the tunnel, people! It takes a while, but be consistent and you'll see it too.
Edited to add the phases. We're nowhere close to phase 1, but the lights just came on, so I'm hoping we get there sooner than later.
Phase 1: Staying dry pretty reliably with mom's help
Phase 2: Signalling rather consistantly, needing occasional reminders
Phase 3: Independence in going potty
Phase 4: Self sufficient, including wiping.
Most of you know the frustration I've gone through with my 13 month old daughter. We've EC'd since 4.5 months old and catches were rare, and there was NEVER, EVER, any communication on her part. She never (not once) peed on cue, and most of our catches came from LONG periods of sitting on the potty. I got frustrated with why she wasn't getting it, so around 10 months, we took a break. The ONLY time I offered (with consistency), was first thing in the morning. Every single morning. She'd wake up, and the first thing I'd do is put her on. Sometimes she's scream (I never forced her to sit), sometimes she'd sit there and do nothing. I quickly learned that although she USED to wake up dry, she's now waking up very wet and so putting her on first thing was pointless. She did however, always pee within minutes (or seconds) after finishing her morning bottle (I breastfed for 8 months, but had problems so we always has to supplement - but that's a different story).
So I started watching/listening for that "empty bottle sound" and I would rush over to put her on. It took a while (weeks), but before I knew it we were catching almost ever post bottle pee. She also never pooped at the same time every day (we went MONTHS without a poop catch), but for whatever reason, she started pooping shortly after her morning pee. So within about a week, we started catching the morning poop as well. AMAZING. I also started offering during the day again (mostly during diaper changes or when she was dry), but I would also sit her on the potty without taking her diaper off... Just to make her potty a positive thing (no pressure).
A few weeks after this, she started signing potty. Not because she needed to pee, but because she was telling me that's what the potty is. But the other day, we had a pee miss on the floor, and she pointed at it, said "That", then signed "potty". That's right! Peepee goes in the potty! If I ask her where the pee goes, she now signs potty. If I ask where her potty is, or if she wants to go sit on it, she will seek it out, and plant her little butt on it.
This morning, I gave her a bottle and quickly ran downstairs to toss in a load of laundry. I heard her yelling "THAT! THAT!", so I came back up to see, thinking she was just pointing at the cat (everything is "that"). Her bottle was empty and she was making her way to the potty, signed "potty", then pointed at it when she saw me. When I checked her, she was in mid poop! This is not the first time she's gone to sit on it herself, but it is the first time she notified me that she was pooping, and that she needed/wanted her potty.
Granted, the rest of the day is LOADED with misses. But the fact is that because it's routine to "eat then sit on the potty", she's now starting to do it herself. Often if I let her go by herself we'll have a miss, but if I'm too late, she WILL go to sit on it. And because I was so consistent with the sign language and communication, she's starting to put the pieces together.
Since these catches started up, we've been doing a lot more checking if she's dry and then telling her it's time to peepee in the potty (break over!). Sometimes she pees in it, sometimes not. But she rarely protests sitting on it.
From 4.5 months until 7 months (before she started crawling), we had MANY catches in a day. There were even days where she stayed dry all day. From about 10 months to 12 months, we'd have maybe one catch a week. If I was lucky.
EC for us has been one heck of a ride, and I hope I don't jinx it by sharing this with you all. But for those who are feeling just as frustrated as I was/am, there IS a light at the end of the tunnel, and for us it came about from ONE consistent pottytunity... the morning one. The rest of the day is filled with misses, but she's starting to sign potty at random times now, and her diaper is often hot and wet when she does it, so I'm going to take that as a step forward. She pee'd, and is trying to communicate this to me. It's not in the potty, but it's a HUGE step from where we were a month ago.
I envy all of you mothers who had your babies diaper free by 12 months (Lord knows I tried!), but for those who struggled like I did, there IS a light at the end of the tunnel, people! It takes a while, but be consistent and you'll see it too.
Edited to add the phases. We're nowhere close to phase 1, but the lights just came on, so I'm hoping we get there sooner than later.
Phase 1: Staying dry pretty reliably with mom's help
Phase 2: Signalling rather consistantly, needing occasional reminders
Phase 3: Independence in going potty
Phase 4: Self sufficient, including wiping.
