18 Month Old Potty Training at daycare??

[Ava's Mama]

I have been ECing my daughter part time since 11 months. I rarely have a poop in a diaper, typically only if she goes during a nap for some off reason. Pees are a little harder to catch. When we are home she is mostly bare bottomed, but last weekend I started keeping her naked ALL the time except naps and bed time. Over the four day weekend she did pretty well, had more hits in the potty each day. But it is completely based on timing (and it is VERy obvious when she needs to poop, so that is easy), she never tells us she needs to go. Then I brought her to daycare yesterday and told them that she isn't wearing a diaper and that I want them to do that as well. She had some hits in the potty and some accidents as well. They seem a little annoyed with it. But I feel like we need to be consistent to reach the ultimate goal of not needing a diaper and teaching her to communicate that she needs to go. Wouldn't it be more confusing to her to be in diapers full time at day care and naked all the time at home? I am feeling stressed about. Is this what I should be doing or am I just causing stress on my DD, myself and daycare? I just don't know what to do. I really think she can do this, but I also get freaked out that I could be pushing too hard and moving too fast. Any advise is welcome!

[Phoenix~Mama]

Be glad your daycare is working with you?

I wish I could PT my DD now, because I think she would get it. She knows what the potty is and even goes to sit on it sometimes when she is going to go poop.

But the way her daycare is set up they won't do PT until the older toddler room, which isn't until 25 months, because they would have to hire another aide in the younger toddler room because of ratio laws.

If your daycare is willing to and able to work with you and things are going well, I'd say go for it.

[crosscat]

Does she wear panties or waterproof trainers at day care?

My EC'ed daughter is a few months older, and attends the infant/toddler section of a preschool. I send her there in waterproof trainers (though she is in cotton panties at home) just so if there is an accident it will be well contained. They were very interested in learning about ECing at her school and happy to work with us, no matter what, though.

She has only had two misses at school (she actually tells them when she needs to potty, and at home we still go more by timing and my intuition), but they really don't seem to think it's a big deal. Maybe your day care will get used to it soon and stop giving you attitude.

I wouldn't do diapers at all, though. If anything, some reusable waterproof trainers might be helpful (we love the Imse Vimse ones, but I've seen some WAHM-made ones on Etsy too).

Good luck!

[kimmypoo]

I EC'd my dd when she was about 7 months. We were VERY relaxed with it, some days I was just too tired/busy to sit her on the potty so I just let her go in her diaper. I don't think it's confusing to go in diapers sometimes and to sit on a potty sometimes. Diapers, potty, (or floor ) it's all just a place to poo to them. My advice is if you're getting stressed about it, just put her in a diaper and try again tomorrow or the next day. I think we got more catches when I backed off a little and stopped asking her if she needed to go every 5 min. And I think that's when she started letting me know she needed to potty.
Also, it might be asking a little too much of her daycare to constantly watch her for signs that she has to go, especially if there are other children to watch too.
FWIW my dd is 26 mo and has been out of diapers for little over a month now.

[redvlagrl]

Sounds like you're very lucky that they are willing to go along with it. Perhaps you could try a prefold 'belt' to absorb little accidents? It's quick to whip off the PF.

Also I think there is some info in the Gross-Loh book about part time ECing and that it's not a problem in a daycare/home setting.