Interesting thought on night wakings for non-ECers

[mamatobe08]

I'm a frequent poster on another message board--a general parenting board. I have been on there since I was pregnant, so I am close to a lot of the other moms on there. Lately they have been posting a lot about how their LO's are waking up several times a night. They think it's because they're hungry, but they are eating more and more during the day so it makes no sense.

Now that I have started EC and have done so much reading up on it, I want to say "THEY HAVE TO PEE!" Of course, I don't feel comfortable saying that, I don't want to push EC on anyone(they do all know that I am doing it, and I have gotten a lot of questions from interested moms). But seriously, EC proves to me over and over again that babies are a lot more in tune with their bodies than many people think!

I don't think I could do EC from birth, but believe me, I am going to experiment with my next one! If they wake up in the middle of the night, I will see if they pee. If they fuss for no apparant reason, I will see if they pee. EC is freaking amazing and I just wanted to say thanks to all of you for helping me through this wonderful experience!

[pixiepunk]

i had this revelation when my DD1 was about 9 or 10 months old and first heard about EC. it used to drive me nuts how she's "wake to nurse" and then fall asleep seconds later with the nipple in her mouth. i ignored her need to pee, the boob relaxed her enough to get her to pee, she went back to sleep. and of course the more i nursed her back to sleep, the more she had to pee

i wouldn't feel shy about saying something about it though. whether or not they choose to potty their babies is kind of moot. it's a biological explanation for why their child is waking at night. they might choose to handle it the same way as always, but at least they'll gain insight into what's causing it. and you never know, someone might get interested and start EC'ing. i know for a fact (because the mama told me) that my comments in a night time parenting thread encouraged her to try EC. sometimes you need that lightbulb moment where you read something and go "OMG! that makes so much sense!" i wish someone would've said that to me when my DD1 was waking up a half-dozen times a night while i struggled with night time diapering solutions for my "heavy wetter" ugh.

on a side note, i totally thought EC from birth would be way too hard. so much so that i did a late start with my DS after successfully late starting with DD1, diapering him as i'd done with DD1, changing after every wet and staying coverless at home. but when i had #3 i said what the heck, i'm just going to go for it. and it really wasn't any more work at all, with the perk of her staying aware of her elimination and thus having more control at an earlier age than her siblings did. i used diaper back-up 100% in the beginning because i couldn't always potty her even when i knew she neededto go if i was busy with my older ones, which helped take any perceived pressure off. and it's been awesome! i highly recommend giving it a try from birth next time around

[hrsmom]

Totally true! I agree, you could just mention the possibility (likelihood) that they're waking to pee. At the least, they may be sensitive to a need for a diaper change.

ETA: EC'ing a newborn is totally do-able! We basically did "part time" when my LO was a newborn, and it was great!

[sgmom]

I've been thinking a LOT about this for my own situation... but I'll start a new thread as to not hijack this one.

I plan to EC our next baby right from birth. I'm so glad to hear positive feedback on this (with having more than 1 child)! Thanks!

[Sheryl1678]

I Ec-d my second daughter from birth and it was wonderful and very easy. It didn't get problematic until she started crawling and launching herself off the potty to find fun.