Crying while being EC'ed

[Snapdragon]

sigh. We have been trying EC with my now 3 month old since about 6 days old. It went really easily in the beginning! For about the first month we caught lots of poops and pees and were feeling very pleased. then in the second month we still caught most of the pees but maybe one or occasionally 2 poops a day. Now, for the past month or so, my ds cries when we hold him over the potty. He still pees most of the time, but he gets too stressed out to poop mostly, and I notice he poops in his diaper when he is relaxed. (he doesn't cry every time but he does a lot)
Originally we only held him over a little baby bjorn potty, but we dont have it set up in agreat station and it hurst our back, so now we often holdhim over the big toilet. but he cries whichever potty we do- we do both.
We try everything to soothe him- sometimes he still poops in the toilet but not a lot, though he still pees a lot.

So I figure somehow he is scared of it now as he is more aware? We try all different holds and soothing him, etc. But it is a bit of a challenge.
any suggestions? I can often sense when he has to poop, and if I don't run him to the toilet he often will. But if I sense he is going to poop sometimes I will take him to the toilet and then he'll cry and not poop!
So I have been letting him poop in his diaper more ut I want to EC as much as I can.

[hrsmom]

I found that counter height was the easiest for us. I used the sink, but I know not everyone likes using their sink. You could put the potty on a counter or changing table, or even lay down a prefold or something and cue your baby into that? Would that work logistically? Just a thought!

[karika]

I have 2 EC babies. It is common for them to cry a bit when being taken potty. There could be many reasons why. Being taken away from what they were doing, disliking the feeling of being commanded to pee, I don't know what it is, but it happens. When my baby cries on potty, I say, "oh you don't have to go? OK, we will try again later" Sometimes I know they need to pee. My only guess is the crying is related to feeling uncomfortable. I just make sure I keep the baby in arms until I feel I see or feel a sign again. For a time when dd1 had potty resistance, which happened when she was older than your baby, I would stand her in the tub and run warm water on her feet. It would help her pee. In such a young baby, my best guess is that holding over the big potty is uncomfortable or scary since it is so big. I use the BBLP for little babies. I would keep putting baby on the potty when you are nursing to try to catch the poo. I just remembered dd2 cried when being put on potty when younger (and even now), but would stop and was able to release when I would give her my breast. She still needs me to give her my breast for the first pee upon waking nearly every time. When she was old enough to sit up well I started using an insert on the big toilet for her. hth

[Snapdragon]

yeah- I think we need to get back on the baby bjorn potty and finally set up a more comfortable pottying station! This week I am being so lax about EC. Sometimes it has caused me to be so on top of it that I forget to relax- so I am letting it go some for a little while! Still doing it some but I don't want todrive myself or ds nuts with it!! HOping to get back into it again after a little break. I mean-still ECing him a couple times a day but not all day long!

[Snapdragon]

. . . and because I relaxed about it ds mellowed out with it today and cooed while being EC'ed and I caught a poop today for the first time in almost a week!

[anarchamom]

Have you tried singing? This helps my boy relax pretty quickly. If i sing a little and he is still resistant then I know that it's not going to happen and try again later. the only issue is that since this is his cue I have to sing in public bathrooms and I'm getting very tired of singing "you are my sunshine" and "this little light of mine"

I've also let him pee in the shower sometimes when he can't relax. There is a window and I think that helps.

[Snapdragon]

cute- the singing.
Yeah- I think I figured out that if he is crying he just will not poop so no sense in pushing it!
He is actually great with the pees pees most of the times we offer it.
Anyway- he is actually crying less than when I posted the original thread- just somehting he was doing for a while. Maybe still some but I guess like I said I am learning as I go that if he cries he likely will not poop!