Trying to EC 3mo, 2 questions

[emsparrow]

I've been trying to EC my 3mo for about a month now, though only very part-time (usu. try 1-3x a day and cue her if I notice she's going during diaper free time). I've caught one poo by accident (was cueing for a pee) and a good amount of pees, all by timing/my instinct, but it's far from being anything significant. I'd like to do it most of the time, but she doesn't seem to cue before she poops, and she only seems to poop every other day, but not ever at a regular time - sometimes in the morning, sometimes in the afternoon, etc. Any ideas/advice? And re: diaper free time. I give her about 10 min. to a half hour every day, but I know a lot of new ECers do a few hours. Do you just carry them around diaperless and let them go on your clothes if you have a miss? I have put her in just diapers w/ no cover, and that works ok. What do you think?

Thank you!!!

[emsparrow]

Oh, I should mention - I would looooove to start catching poos - I hate cleaning up poopy diapers and hate that she's sitting in them. So I get that EC is about communication and that part time is okay, but I really want to do more.

[Perdita_in_Ontario]

I didn't start catching poops consistently until DS was over 6 months at least for the same reason - they happened inconsistently and didn't seem to come with any warning. I would say neither my DD nor my DS signal before they pee/poop - although I have my suspicions that they do and I just don't notice!

Personally I've never done any consistent diaper-free time because DS tends to pee willy-nilly when he's diaper-free, whereas if he's wearing a diaper, he will hold it if I get him to the toilet in time (let's hope this bodes well for underwear too... LOL).

All I can say is just roll with it and do what works for you, and the successes will come more frequently as time goes by :)

[nstewart]

We do part-time as well, but it seems to be becoming more and more full time as time goes on.

We started with DS at 2.5 months.  I'm lucky because he cued for poops right from the outset (that's why I started EC, in fact bc it was so obvious!) so we started catching most of those right away.  So I haven't been in the same position as you for poops, so not sure if this is helpful or not...DS usually poops after eating.  This is pretty normal as eating gets the bowels going.  Maybe try this: If DD is "due" for a BM (it's been a day or whatever the "average" interval is) take her potty shortly after she eats and cue for a BM and give her a good 3 or 4 minutes to relax and go, cuing every 10 or 15 seconds.  Not sure if this will work or not, maybe she'll get the idea.  DS went 3 times a day consistently, but his schedule did change (went down to once a day, now back to twice a day).  If she doesn't signal for poops and doesn't have a consistent schedule it'll make it hard to catch them consistently.  Do you use a probiotic?  I know DS really got on a "schedule" once we started giving him a probiotic daily.

As for diaper free time, we did this early on but don't really do much anymore.  We did diaper free time when I was trying to learn his cues.  I've decided DS doesn't cue for pees (after much careful study!!  Maybe I'm just missing the obvious!)  So then we went the prefold with no cover route as well.  This worked well bc I could tell as soon as DS peed or even while he was peeing.  If I caught him while peeing I'd cue.  If it was right after, I'd say "Duncan went pee-pee" and change his diaper right away.  So I think using prefolds with no cover is fine.

I agree with Perdita, just go with the flow, offer as much as you can, and DD will catch on and you'll start having fewer misses and more catches.

[emsparrow]

Thank you! I think encouragement is the main thing I need just now. I will definitely try that post-eating trick, nstewart - thanks!

[hrsmom]

Do you wear her?  That was the best way for us to get in synch with EC.  I offered when she wiggled in the wrap, first thing upon waking, and if she did weird things while nursing at that age.  :)  You'll get in a groove.  For us, 3-6 months was the golden era of EC with very few misses.  :)