Please, need some advice

[Erlaine]

Okay I have two main issues I'd like some feedback about.

DD is a year old and we've been EC'ing since she was born. For various reasons we do use dipes but try to catch all her poops and pees and generally have a couple pee misses a day. It's very very rare for us to miss poops.

The first question is about night stuff. We have a potty bowl by the bed. So typically we do our bedtime routine around 7. I try to get DD to pee before bed but it doesn't always happen. Usually she wakes up about 45 minutes after I put her down and nurses for 1-5 minutes to fall back asleep. Then she'll wake up anywhere from 2-4 times during the night. I usually hold her over the bowl each time we're up, or every other time. She almost always pees a little.

At this point I'm very interested in helping her gently sleep through the night, but I'm worried I've trained her to go pee a little bit at a time over the course of the night as opposed to once before bed and then when she wakes up. Please, any tips or ideas on how to break this cycle would be appreciated.

The next question is about potties. We have a BBLP which I brought out around 5 months. But she loved to pick it up and use it like a toy, putting her mouth on it and banging it around. She hardly ever wanted to go in there and so finally I just put it away. The pees we catch are usually outside, or over the toilet, or on a bucket.

I'd love it if she would learn to sit on a little potty and crawl/move toward it when she knew she needed to go. But I don't want her putting her mouth all over her potty. I could take it away over and over again, but then it won't be there for her to use. I can also make sure it's sanitized after every time she uses it so it's no big deal for her to mouth it, but...I guess I just don't want her to be in the habit of picking up her potty and eating it.

Thoughts?

TIA!

[sgmom]

My daughter is 14 months and has been EC'ed full time since 4.5 months, and switched to part time around 9 months (she was too busy to potty anymore).

We have nothing but misses nowadays, but she takes herself to the potty ALL the time. Sometimes just to sit on it, sometimes to tell me she has to pee, and I suspect sometimes to actually pee/poop (diaper on). We've made the potty a very non-threatening piece of furniture in our house, and that means using it for play as well as it's intended purpose. She was never big on putting her mouth on it, but she still loves to carry it around and wear it as a hat. I think that at this age, it's next to impossible to teach them it's unsanitary. So the best we can do is keep it as clean as possible and not worry about the little stuff.

You're at a much bigger advantage than I am, as your daughter seems to understand the whole "hold and release" part, as well as where to release. I wouldn't be surprised if you removed the diapers completely, or put her in a washable training underwear, she would probably start to use it a lot more on her own will, rather than waiting for you to put her on it. Diapers are too easy to pee in and continue what you're doing, but pee dribbling down your leg is a whole other thing.

We also use the BBLP, btw.

[sapphire_chan]

we've done night ec all along and we're still up a couple times between bed and waking. More if sh has melon or cucumber.

[dogretro]

Originally Posted by Erlaine

I'd love it if she would learn to sit on a little potty and crawl/move toward it when she knew she needed to go. But I don't want her putting her mouth all over her potty. I could take it away over and over again, but then it won't be there for her to use. I can also make sure it's sanitized after every time she uses it so it's no big deal for her to mouth it, but...I guess I just don't want her to be in the habit of picking up her potty and eating it.

We actually moved in the opposite direction. DD was just fine sitting on the bblp and was scared of the big toilet. Once she was able to walk, she no longer really wanted to sit on the bblp, unless she had to poop. Even then, we sometimes had to convince her to stay.

I ended up getting a cushy toilet reducer (by Munchkin, it has handles, too) & she sits on that w/ no problem. It's easier to use in public, too; carry it in a grocery or tote bag. Now the bblps are in in storage until next baby appears, lol. I was sick and tired of cleaning them out anyway! If I were you, I would also put the bblp away and just keep helping dd use the big toilet. She will eventually tell you or crawl/walk to it anyway. It also does not tip over when she tries to get up AND if she pees before getting on it, the floor is tile and not carpet (like in a living room)!

For role play, dd does know that the potty bowl (aka top hat) is a potty & that it is too small for her, but okay for her baby dolls.