Eat first or potty first right after waking up?

[Harmony96]

Not sure what to do w/ my 6 week old son. I know he needs to go potty right when he wakes up, whether from a nap or from the night sleep, but here's how things often go.

DS wakes up, mildly (i.e. not crying or anything). I take him to the bathroom and take his diaper off, then hold him in position over the toilet. DS starts to scream b/c he's mad and thinks he needs food ASAP, like 10 minutes ago. I wait about a minute or so on the potty in hopes that he'll relax and go. He doesn't. I take him back to the changing table and put his diaper back on. He instantly wets the diaper, sometimes before I even get both sides pinned. I change the diaper and then nurse him. He will sometimes then do a #2 within a minute of nursing.

So I'm not sure what to do. I don't want him to continually be mad, ya know, but based on timing, he DOES need to go, so I'm not sure what to do.

Thanks,
Andrea

[Pepper44]

I had this problem with my DD, but we didn't start EC until she was around 9 months. Sometimes I would nurse her (awkwardly) while she was on the little potty. That was the best solution I could find.

For a 6 week old, however, I'm sure that would be difficult considering he can't sit up on his own and you're holding him to pee. I'm interested in what others have to say!

[jenneology]

I've been encountering this with my 5 month old. Its the same situation. I know she needs to pee but she's hungry. I feed her first, and as soon as she is done breastfeeding, I put her on the potty. This works. I have heard elsewhere and experienced that a baby will quickly separate feeding from pottying and not do them both at the same time. You do have to be quick and you risk being wrong that the baby is done eating and he gets mad that he wants more milk. Or you think that the baby wants more milk and you get peed on; in that case you could place a prefold under baby while you are feeding him.

[hrsmom]

When they're little, it's kind of hard to sort it out sometimes (for them, I think, and for me it was!) There were times I would offer the breast first, and times I would potty first. It sounds like you might want to offer the breast upon waking and see what happens. You might miss the pee, but you're missing it anyway, and any "miss" anyway at that stage is a good chance to cue. I seem to recall times when I would offer the breast first, she'd nurse for less than a minute, then be ready to potty. And sometimes not, of course!

[Harmony96]

Thanks for the replies. I think I am going to start nursing him first.

But I wanted to share another observation, too... once he's been awake for a long time, and then nurses to sleep (so he would be "due" for a long sleep), if he wakes up in just half an hour or so, THAT means that he needs to go potty. Then after that, he goes back to sleep and is fine for a few hours.

[Sheryl1678]

You can also try the little lap potties for tiny babies that fit between your thighs so you can nurse and potty at the same time (while you are sitting). I have also successfully used those sitting up in bed. I got mine at Continuum Concept.

My DD is almost a year old and I frequently nurse her when she is on the toilet. I just kneel in front of her. She isn't even hungry but it helps her relax enough to go especially in the middle of the night. It isn't ideal but she pretty much goes in the toilet 100% of the time so I take what I can get.

[JMJ]

I would either nurse first or put a bowl under him as you nurse him. No use in making him mad and then having to clean it up anyway. Sometimes, when DD wakes up, she'll doze as I nurse her in bed, and then she'll let go and open her eyes when she's ready to get up and go potty. It's harder at that age when they can't hold it for long after waking up.

[pixiepunk]

an alternative to nursing with the potty underneath the baby would be to nurse baby on a prefold with it tucked between his legs. my LO wouldn't nurse if she had to pee (popping on and off constantly) so i always pottied before nursing. but i think the important thing is to try and figure out what he's communicating, and it sounds like right now he's saying "i'm too hungry to worry about the potty, mama"

oh, wanted to also add that sometimes a different location and/or receptacle can make a difference. who knows why, but babies sometimes develop preferences and a change in the set up can make a big difference. for instance my LO sometimes seems to prefer the BBLP and sometimes the Once Upon a Potty and sometimes wants to be on big potty (sometimes facing forwards and sometimes facing backwards ). of course she's now old enough to clearly express a preference. but when she was teeny it was sometimes a matter of trial and error. so just wanted to throw that out there too

[BarefootScientist]

I would always take mine to the potty first, then nurse. But if he seemed consistently upset by that I would have either tried to nurse him over the potty (I could never really do this) or I would have just let him go in the diaper while we nursed.

This will probably change multiple times in the next year or two.

[Harmony96]

His diaper was completely dry this morning! I ended up taking him to the potty first thing and he went (well except for a "warning poop" while he was still diapered on the changing table and while I was doing something else real quick).

I think that what he wants is to potty first thing in the AM (b/c he's usually eaten just a couple of hours prior), but during the day after naps, he wants to eat first then potty.

Now that I've got that figured out... he'll probably change it on me, lol.

[BirthKathy]

For mine, it's Eat first, then potty! We started at 7 weeks, and my son is now almost 7 months. I found out very quickly that trying to potty first just got him upset. Now he can stay dry all night (about 2/3 of the time), then eat and then potty. He never goes while eating. If he has to go, he'll pull off and sometimes pop on and off, or smile at me or look at what else is going on around us or lately bite me (with his 2 new teeth, ouch!). Then I take him to the potty. If he had not eaten long, we'll nurse some more after going potty, otherwise we just move on with our day.

When he was real little, this did result in some poopy or wet diapers, but it's been months since then.

[sapphire_chan]

At that age, popping on and off the breast is what told me she needed to pee, so the nursing was already happening before we got out of bed to use the bathroom. The sink is your friend when it comes to nursing and peeing.