Newborn Fusses When Offered Potty

[boigrrrlwonder]

I can easily tell when my 4 day old son needs to poop. However, we can't seem to find a comfortable way to hold him to offer the potty. He cries every time. Right now, I'm just consistently making the signal noise and having him eliminate in a diaper, but I'd love some advice on transitioning to using the potty.

[hrsmom]

How are you holding him now? I held my dd while standing, holding her over a bowl or sink. Sometimes she'd fuss/start to cry for a couple of seconds, and then go. That seemed ok at the time. Newborns just cry a lot for a variety of reasons! Congratulations on your little one!!!!!

[FloridaBorn]

It may have nothing to do with the way you are holding him, but the fact that he's brand spankin' new and the feelings of elimination are new to him and might just be uncomfortable.

Imagine if you'd never taken a poop before - how odd those stomach muscles must feel!

[Carlyle]

Originally Posted by boigrrrlwonder

Right now, I'm just consistently making the signal noise and having him eliminate in a diaper, but I'd love some advice on transitioning to using the potty.

That sounds like a great approach honestly. Fabulous! Especially for a 4 day old. At that point, just keeping him comfy and getting him used to your cue sound is a wonderful step! Just keep offering the potty occasionally (every couple of days?) and eventually it will work. I think newborns can easily feel exposed and nervous, you know?

The hold that worked for us was leaning dd against my stomach with her head cradled between my breasts and my hands under her legs, but she was much older (3mos?). Now that I'm a bit more seasoned with a baby, I might try holding a newborn in one arm in a cradle hold with his head in my elbow crook and my hand under his knees...then tucking his bum down inside a bowl (held in my other hand) and seeing if that works.

Congrats on your new little one!

[hrsmom]

By the way, I didn't mean to imply that you might be holding him incorrectly or that you might be causing discomfort in your baby. I was just wondering how you were holding him, so that I didn't suggest what you were already doing!

[yogamonkeyjo]

my LO hated being held away from me or onto a colder, harder surface, so we did the same thing and as he was more comfortable being held away from me in general, he became more comfortable about his bum being held middair. we used diapers instead of a potty until he was...gosh...maybe 3 mos. old and he's done great transitioning since.

[theboysmama]

my dd hated being held over anything. She wanted her bum touching a surface like the potty bowl or the bblp and they MUST have a fleece cover on them or she would scream and not go.

[dogretro]

In general, newborns do not like to have their clothes taken off, so what you are describing is totally normal. And Darla is exactly right ~ he has only been pooping for four days in the history of the world! How bizarre for him! He needs to get used to that feeling, too. Cuing him in his diaper is still ecing & a great way for him to learn the cue. Relax & enjoy it, mama, you will be racing to the potty soon enough. Yes, that's right, ENJOY THE RELAXED POOPY DIAPERS, LOL.

[snanna]

This sounds so familiar to me from when my youngest was tiny! I remember an ECing friend with an older baby saying to me, "put that baby on a diaper, don't put a diaper on the baby!" which turned out to be the perfect thought for those early weeks. I'd have him resting on a couple of prefolds, kind of tucked in front to cover his penis-- or not, if I was in bed and didn't really care (towels and wool pad on the bed, nothing on my top)-- and cue him when he went. Then switch out the wet prefold. I did the same in the sling, just tucking diapers under him. It was unusual for him to poop in the sling for some reason, so it rarely got messy.

At this age, it's not so much about the potty, it's just about staying dry enough to be comfortable.

Congrats on your brand new baby!!

[srs]

Congrats! DS liked to poop laying down until about 7 weeks. I just put a prefold under him.

[zoebird]

yeah, hawk would fuss a bit when being pottied because of the cold air from the exposure. a diaper or pottying had the same result in that way.

it's ok. the babe will settle in.

[fiikske]

absolutely recognizable

Hi,

we had that same experience here too, and until DS was about 3 monhts old, we really had that often... I also got worried that it was the position that annoyed him, but then intuitively, I more and more got the feeling that he was just crying/fussing, because the feeling of going/having to go was disturbing for him. Once done, he would immediately be back to normal, although still being in that same position as before he had done his thing...

take care,
Fiikske