I can't put him down!

[bright_eyes]

Ds is really active and enjoys being on the floor for a bit or in the excersaucer but every single time I put him down, I miss a pee! It doesn't seem to matter if I take him to the potty and then put him down. Or if I put him in a baby carrier, he pees on me! So I find myself holding him a lot and taking him to the potty a lot until he finally pees before I'll chance putting him down or in a carrier but sometimes he doesn't pee for a really long time and so I end up putting him down for a bit, even if it's just a few minutes, but he almost always is wet when I pick him up. He doesn't cue at all, or at least not that I can tell. I also get tired of taking him over and over again with no results. I'm starting to want to give EC another break because I'm starting to not like the stress of it. I did it with him as a newborn and gave up and just started in the last 2 weeks (he's almost 5 months now). But there are times when we have amazing successes and I know that he is 'getting it' that make me want to keep going. Like when we go out to the park, come home, and he's still dry and pees a ton as soon as I put him on the potty, like he'd been holding it the whole time and waiting for the opportunity to be put on the potty! The same thing happened when we went on a long bus ride the other day.

But the constant worry that I will miss a pee and taking him over and over to the potty with no results, just to have him pee as soon as I finally put him in a carrier or put him down is driving me nuts. This is why I took such a long break- I got tired of constantly taking him pee with no results.

Please give me some encouragement to keep going!

[hrsmom]

real quick- that is totally normal and it will change!

[SustainablParentng]

My 7mo DD seems to always pee when I put her in her bouncy seat too. I try to prevent it but have had to just let it go. I was worried that I was "teaching" her to pee in her seat, but we are working so well together otherwise that I think it doesn't really matter. I just put a cd under her and check periodically. If its wet, I change it and move on - no biggie.

I have found it very helpful to keep reminding myself to take it easy - we're not striving for perfection, just doing the best we can

[lisavark]

Totally normal. Babies often have an instinct not to pee when they are being held, but there's no instinct to prevent pee on the floor. For most of human history, the floor was just dirt anyway, or even the ground outside. So it was a perfectly appropriate place to pee. Your DS is probably waiting till you put him down so he can finally go pee.

And is he getting mobile yet? He might be bored of the potty. Does he ever arch his back and refuse it, or is he just not peeing there? You might try paying attention to timing more than signals now--see if you can figure out a pattern of when he pees, and then when you're pretty sure it's time for a pee, offer several different locations instead of just the potty. Anywhere else you're okay with him peeing--the sink, the tub, the shower, the flower pot, the backyard... He might like that better.

It's awesome that he can already hold it for so long! My DD never did that at that age. At least not that I can remember. Don't try to be perfect with it. EC is about communication, not about getting pee in a specific location. If you're noticing right away when he pees, then you ARE communicating with him--eventually he'll communicate with you about it, too.

[Carlyle]

I think the most important thing with ec is to make sure that you can stay low stress about it. If it's stressing you out, just back off a notch. Missing a pee is OKAY. It's expected. It's probably even a good thing! If you're not missing a few pees a day, you are probably putting too much pressure on everyone, you know (okay, that's not true for everyone I'm sure, but it was for me). So yeah, it will change, and get better, and worse, and everything. But just relax and go with the flow. Every catch you have--whether it's one a day or one a week--is helping your kiddo learn. And that's great.

[JMJ]

DD does this too. In fact, she's old enough to ask to be let down when she wants to pee. Sometimes, I put her down, not even thinking of why she wants to be let down, and 2 minutes later, she's crawling back up to me, looking for a change. Sometimes, I think about it and take her potty before I set her down, and sometimes she goes, but sometimes she refuses and just wants to go while on the floor. Whatever. Wet diapers are so easy to change, and I really don't want to hold her back from being independent just so that I can catch all her pees.

I do find, though, that we have the fewest misses when we're out and about since she doesn't like to pee on me, and I often can't set her down, so the only time she comes out of the carrier is at pottytunities. No way am I willing to carry her around all day at home, though... unless she needs it for emotional reasons.