Catching ZERO pees or poops with six month old...

[vetabeth]

Hello all,

I have been doing EC with my boy since he was about  2 weeks old. I have never been diligently full time, but I would offer pretty regularly and pick up his poo cues and was catching fairly regularly ( at least once or twice a day). Ever since he turned 4 months and started peeing and pooping much less frequently, I go for days and days without catching. I give him almost an hour of naked time every day, and he'll always pee at some point, but I really can't see any cues. He really needs to cuddle when he first wakes up, so I'm not sure if it will work to put him on a schedule of always trying when he wakes up and before he goes down. Anyways, does anyone have any tips/encouragement??

[Kuba'sMama]

I think it's fairly normal to have little regressions like this. We had our ups and downs too. Right now (at 8 mos.) she has really started to communicate with me and it's more of a two-way thing, with her saying sometimes she has to go (not actually "saying", but somehow i get it). She is not a cuddler post-naps so that helps. My older two were cuddlers, I know exactly how you mean it could be difficult to get them to do anything other than nurse, lol. I have a little routine, usually pre-sleep, post-sleep, anytime the diaper is dry for a long time (like an hour) and then anytime she signals (she blows rasberries for poo and says shhhhh for pee :)). I don't sweat it if the diaper is wet though, just proceed as normal. I find having a cue sound or word helps (I used the shhh sound which my daughter now says, and either "poo" or a grunting sound... she opted to blow rasberries instead). I always use the same word/sound when placing her on the toilet, when she does do something, we say the sound together a couple more times. Now that she's starting to respond to simple words and phrases, when she signals, I say it back to her "you have to go shhh? lets go". I hope that helps!

[hrsmom]

It's totally normal to have pauses like that. Your LO my be getting ready to crawl or whatever it is six month olds do. Ha ha! I definite noticed fewer catches right before new developments. Just keep offering and doing whatever you're doing. It's always changing!

[vetabeth]

Thanks so much for the tips and encouragements, I'll just keep at it!