new routine for potty pause?

[Adasmommy]

DD is 6.5 months and we have EC'd day and night from week one. It's been super awesomely great (compared to ECing my first daughter from 4 months).

She has always pooped first thing in the morning, in the potty, once a day, so I never had to worry about whether I'd miss a poop.

Now she's crawling and pulling up and most often when I put her on a potty, she gets off right away. Sometimes she doesn't need to pee, but sometimes she pees on the floor within the next 1-2 minutes. I can't tell the difference.

I've never been good about cues with either girl. Mostly I just offer the potty often. So now that she's not interested in sitting still, I don't know what to do!

Unfortunately, this mobility coincides with exploring solid foods and now her poop rhythm is all out of whack and can happen any time. Again, I can't tell when to expect it. I've read about other babies' cues but haven't noticed anything consistent with this one.

I know it's common to have potty pauses around developmental milestones, but I'd like to know how you ladies think is the best way to handle it to delay ECing the least:

1. Do I put her in diapers more often (she's usually naked)?
2. Do I let her pee/poop on the floor? We have hardwood, I'm close enough to notice and clean her right away, and I don't actually mind this.
3. Do I stop offering the potty every two minutes less I piss her off and make her hate the potty?
4. Any other tips for staying on track or for figuring out cues/encouraging her to cue me?

I should add that I'm not sure she cares where she goes. I'd hate to "train" her to eliminate in her clothes by putting her in a diaper more often. But I don't particularly want her "trained" to pee on the floor, either!

[Adasmommy]

As if the original post was not long enough, I wanted to add that it's not a full potty pause. She still pees on the potty at night (but I'm putting a diaper on her now for the occasional miss). She doesn't pee when I'm nursing/holding/wearing her, so I offer the potty afterward and she often goes. And usually she's naked in the car, sitting on a prefold. Sometimes she pees in the car, but if not I offer the potty when we get to our destination and she often goes.

I'm just getting a lot more rejection of the potty than I'm used to (and a several more puddles a day) which causes me to hover, and offer it again every minute. Which I worry is counterproductive.

[doulawoman]

my dd is just about 5 months and we're basically in the same boat. we were using the toilet/bucket though and have just gotten her a potty which is closer to the action and she goes more on it. I've been using timing more (sounds like you do this anyway?) like about 5 mins after naps, before going out, after arriving, and after eating, or anytime she seems squirmy. I still end up with puddles, even when I use diapers! (I don't use covers so she won't stay in a wet diaper. I also make the ueing sound whenever I notice her going, keep my hand on her diaper while she nurses at night and cue when she pees then change her...we use prefold+ ec belt) generally we've backed off and offer at the times I mentioned above, sometimes she likes it/has to go, sometimes not, if she gets madI let her pee in the diaper. I'd love to hear other advice though as we are just muddling through.

[emmaegbert]

this sounds a lot like how my girl was around that age, she started crawling just after 5m, and was very resistant to frequent pottying after that. I decided to split the difference, tolerate some peeing/pooping on the floor (but we have carpets so that gets a little gross) and just have her in loosely fastened diapers, always diapers when out-and-about (she totally refused to potty when we weren't home for a long time, so I backed off on that one). My sense of the goal is that it certainly is not to engage in power struggles over potty, right? So if she's resisting the potty, then personally I'd say, back off a little, and do not worry if there are more wet diapers/undies/puddles. I mean, the last thing you want to do is teach her to argue about the potty! Instead I'd focus on maintaining communication (oh you just peed! pee goes in the potty!) and being ready to help her get into a rhythm of using the potty more frequently when she's ready for it.

my daughter didn't signal or seem to care one tiny little bit about peeing on herself, her clothes, a diaper, or the floor from when she started crawling until after she was comfortable walking. So, between about 5 1/2 months and 13 months. (pooping has been usually predictable and regular for her and she almost never has poop misses, which may be what has kept me going all this time! Since she was 2 months old I've had to change like 3 poopy diapers, and have had to clean up maybe twice as many misses from the floor...) So, I could have been frustrated and worried but I just tried to relax and bring my expectations in line with what she was doing, and not stress that I am "training" her to do something wrong.

I've read people on here just suggest literally offering the potty on a schedule (every hour in the mornings, every 2 hours in the afternoons) or just at the times when baby is not resistant (upon waking... whenever else works). I've definitely done both of those things with DD.

GL!

[Adasmommy]

Today most pee was in the potty, so either the rough spot is over, or every day is different!

Either way, I'd still like to know if anyone has opinions on the best way to treat a missing streak (in diapers or on floor) so as to most quickly get back on track.

I do agree with not making her stay if she doesn't want to!

And she had a tiny little pebble of poop (in the potty, though) today, so I am still clueless about when and where the next poop will hit...

[pixiepunk]

have you tried a book or a toy to hold her attention for a minute while she sits on the potty? while i think we absolutely need to honor our children's wishes i they don't want to sit on the potty, i think that also at this age they are so busy that sometimes it's not so much that they don't want to sit as that they can't sit still because something else catches their attention. so a special toy or book or song or something that peaks her interest might encourage her to sit still long enough to relax and go if she needs to. and if she's still not interested then let her up.

i would personally choose a diaper or trainer vs the floor, but for me poo and pee on the floor stressed me out more than a diaper did, and my youngest especially hated being wet so it actually worked for us because she was better about telling me she had to go if she had something on (vs nakey butt when there was often a much subtler and easier to miss signal, like she thought "oh, i'm already naked so i should just go" whereas when she was wearing a dipe or trainer she wanted it off to go so she fussed more to let me know). i your LO is really used to being naked, she might really hate the feeling of a wet dipe, so it might work for you.

EC'ing between mobility and about 13 months was much more of a challenge for me than EC'ing a small infant. but i found that when she emerged from all her development at 13 months she was really amazing at the potty. i think she knew all along, but was sometimes just too busy with other stuff to worry about it very much.

[emmaegbert]

oh yes, I second special toy (or object... crinkly package or something else that holds attention) or reading a book while she's there. Not if she's super resistant, but sometimes it can hold baby's attention long enough for her to relax and eliminate.