Confused about diaper-free time

[GuavaGirl]

I just started reading "The Diaper Free Baby," and the "EC'ing your mobile baby," and I'm just not understanding how I let him go diaper free (to experience wetness and so I can read his cues) without making a huge mess. He crawls everywhere. The only thing I could think of is to let him play in the empty bath tub or on the bathroom floor while I watch him. Hmmm, I guess that could work. What do others do?

[sk8boarder15]

I know my sister lets her son play on the kitchen floor and she watches him so she can clean it up quick.

[Carlyle]

Do it when it's warm enough to do outside (and then do it as often as you have energy for!), and don't stress about it otherwise (unless you want to sneak in a short one just before bath time in the bathroom). It's not a "necessary" step to ec...you can do ec and still use diapers full time.

Diaper free time is definitely easier before your baby is mobile, and I definitely didn't do much diaper free time with my older dd after she started moving around (even though she was pooping in the potty pretty reliably by then)...I just didn't handle the mess well, and found myself able to stay more relaxed about it when she was wearing a diaper. Ultimately for us, having me stay relaxed about it was more helpful to the process than having diaper free time (i.e. it let me relax enough to stop offering too frequently, and let my daughter take the lead more...which she needed, being the, um, strong-minded individual that she is...).

eta: in terms of wanting to help him experience wetness, are you already using cloth diapers? If you do, that will already help him learn to associate feeling wet with peeing...especially if you aren't using the diapers with "feel dry" fabrics.

[GuavaGirl]

I'm using 7th generation disposables.