Some questions...

[azhie]

1. I read in a couple of threads here that some mamas leave their babies without diapers while at home. So do you just carry them around uncovered? Do their butts get cold? I'd never considered the idea until now, but since my baby needs to pee every 20-30 minutes, having to remove and put a diaper back on is a hassle...

2. What potty do you all use for a younger baby? I've been experimenting with a) a small potty to hold her over; b) the sink; c) a basin under the bed. The basin is easiest for me-- when dd needs to go, I sit her on my lap between my legs so her back is against my belly, and she just pees into the basin. Unfortunately, my dh doesn't like having her waste sitting under the bed (I empty it whenever I get time, but sometimes I forget..). Holding her over a small potty requires my squatting a little, and I find that I cannot hold her comfortably that well. She doesn't seem to be comfortable sitting on the plastic. The sink works well height-wise, but all her poops are explosive, and I imagine her poop would go everywhere. What do you find easiest?

3) After baby poops, how do you clean up? Lay the baby back down and wipe? So far I've been trying to squirt water on her bum to clean off the poop (Indian-style), but I don't have enough hands to coordinate properly as baby is in-arms position. 

Thanks in advance... :)

[AliceMay]

1. I guess short answer is "yes". Now that it is getting chilly here I have DD in leg warmers and warm (wool) sweaters - my theory is that if the rest of her is toasty she;s ok. And she seems fine. I lay her down on a pre fold onto of something like a change mat though recently I've started putting her bum on a fleece blanket because if I do miss it doesn't soak in and I can quickly wipe it up.

2. Sink, toilet (holding her between my legs), out-side and pottier the potty I lean way forward and hold her between my legs on my arms so that she is almost touching. Not the most comfortable, and it will be hard when she is heavier, but it works now. Or failing that I just sort of squat holding her over it. I just have a regular potty. But when she started to see herself in the mirror she really liked the sink. DH finds the sink easiest. Interestingly, DD seems to prefer to poop in the toilet, but of course if she HAS to go...

3. When I'm holding DD mess is minimal so I ether use a bit of toilet paper (an follow with a warm cloth after I lay her down, just to make sure, or do the spacing water thing... but I've never had much mess so maybe others can give you advice...

good luck!

[HawaiianBlesing]

This site has some good gear for EC.She makes potty covers so they aren't so shockingly cold.  Also has some other stuff.  I find Andrea Olsen's blog ( http://ecsimplified.com/portfolio/top-hat-potty-by-continuum-family-com/) pretty helpful as far as gear and stuff.  I read her digital book and found it informative.

I don't always leave DS diaper free but we do have regular diaper free time.  You could always try split crotch pants to make it easier to see when your baby wets.  I find that his feet get cold so I live to leave socks on booties on him.  I'm going to try the baby legs and Rock a Thigh Baby Socks to keep his legs warm now that fall/winter are approaching.

Right now we use the sink for pee and poops.  I tried the toilet but it was too hard on my back and harder to clean.  The poop always got stuck to the bowl.  DS had "explosive" poops too and the bathroom sink was always able to contain them.  Aiming for pee is a different story but that may just be us.  I have aim issues whether I use the toilet or the sink. 

Clean up is minimal unless I have a miss in the diape.  I just use the sink water and a cloth wipe to wipe his bum after a poop.

[azhie]

I like the sink, but my dh was not happy when he saw me pottying dd over the sink. So that one is out. The toilet is convenient for cleanup, but it's further away and takes more time to go there and position correctly, and yes harder on my back. So... the basin under the bed it is. 

I'm also experimenting with tiny underwear for dd now to see how they work. My dh told me about these little undies, and here in India, they are so cheap, only about $0.5- $1 each! They make them in tiny sizes and you can use them for newborns. He doesn't like dd in diapers because he thinks they're too hot and gives dd rash. The undies don't hold any pee though, so all misses go on me. Now that we catch all poops and maybe 3/4 of pees, I'm more comfortable with her in them. Poop misses cleanup in underwear is not fun at all. 

[Juggling3]

I have a young baby so to hold him diaper free, I put a pre fold under his bottom and throw a blanket on his legs and just hold him on my lap.
I found the suggestion for a container here, we have been using an old baby wipes box. Just the right shape for a little boy. After he poops, I find that he is not very messy if he pooped over the container, so I just use a few dry sheets of TP. I don't like to wipe hi down with a cold baby wipe after a successful potty-unity. To me the baby wipe seems like something for a diaper change.
I usually go back and empty the container once he is settled down or asleep so I can use both hands to rinse it out.

[Juggling3]

I have a young baby so to hold him diaper free, I put a pre fold under his bottom and throw a blanket on his legs and just hold him on my lap.
I found the suggestion for a container here, we have been using an old baby wipes box. Just the right shape for a little boy. After he poops, I find that he is not very messy if he pooped over the container, so I just use a few dry sheets of TP. I don't like to wipe hi down with a cold baby wipe after a successful potty-unity. To me the baby wipe seems like something for a diaper change.
I usually go back and empty the container once he is settled down or asleep so I can use both hands to rinse it out.

[AndreaOlson]

Hi Azhie!

I'm the "Andrea" who HawaiianBlesing mentioned in her post (thanks for that, btw, Becky!). I have a few thoughts....

1. If you carry baby around naked, you can put her in the RockaThighBaby socks that were mentioned above, or babylegs legwarmers, or cut the bottoms off of long kids socks, or even cut the crotch out of baby tights! We use split crotch pants around here, with long socks underneath, during cold weather. I got the pattern here: http://doityourselfec.blogspot.com/2008/01/three-seam-split-crotch-pants.html The undies you mentioned in your 2nd post sound awesome!!! Wish I had access to those here. We may visit India soon so I'll email you for where to get them. The idea is that if you only use undies, eventually baby will signal louder and help you help her not soil them sooner, so in the beginning you may have some washing to do, but not later. ALSO, try carrying her in a sling or carrier so that she will still be warm.

2. At 6 weeks with some neck control (14 lbs), we set our baby on a mini potty, holding him up of course. We used a warm potty cozy (still do!). We also peed him over a washable waterproof pad during the young months. Too bad DH isn't into pottying in the sink. Does he know that unless your baby had an immunization recently or a case of ecoli, that baby poop is benign? And that pee is sterile? That some people drink it for health reasons. Anyway. :) That was our fave place. Esp for splattery poops! GET a warm potty cozy. My site has sources for those made by WAHMs. Hope this is a good start....Oh, and also, if you squat with baby over the big toilet you can "lock" your legs around the bowl (if you have a US-type toilet).

and

3. If you poo her over the sink, run warm water, splash on her bottom, and pat dry with a soft cloth. I hardly ever used disposable wipes. I still have the same pack from 13 months ago, in fact! Sink is best to keep her skin healthy, IMHO. To hold her while doing this? Place her torso over the crook of your elbow, sort of over your forearm, and use your other hand to scoop the water up. Of course, use your own judgment with safety and such, but I've found that babies are way less fragile than we think!

Let us know how it goes!! And congrats on your new babe!!! <3

[azhie]

Andrea--  I actually went to your website and got some ideas on EC! The picture of baby in-arms was especially helpful :) I cannot aim my baby's poops and pees into such a small potty though. Even with a relatively large basin I still manage to get some poop or pee on the floor occasionally. 

I like the tiny undies because they give more air circulation to my baby's bottom. However, if we miss a poop, it gets rather messy-- poop smears everywhere. Lately, my dd has changed her pooping pattern, she doesn't always go during nursing anymore. And it seems that she doesn't pee quite so frequently as every 30 minutes, as I've noticed she seems to pee more at one time instead of lots of little pees. 

Our toilet bowl is western-style but quite low, so usually I have to sit on the bowl with her facing the tank. But she doesn't seem to like it as much, maybe because her only view is on the water tank, lol! In the bedroom, she's always looking around while I'm cuing her. 

I'm super interested in split-crotch pants now, I would think those are very convenient without having to pull off underwear everytime. I saw some toddlers in them when we were in China (before I was pregnant) and thought them to be strange, but they make sense now! 

Sometimes I get worn out taking dd to the potty all day-- anyone else???

[seraf]

We had a big spiral bound book with black, white and red pictures.  I think the visiting nurse who did DS' PKU gave it to us.  We hung it over the lid so that he had something to look at while going.  Occasionally he would let us know that he would like a different page.  It worked pretty well.  I'm wondering what I could use for the next baby.  I could probably get one of the big kids to make some paintings to hang around there.  Hmm.
 

Originally Posted by azhie 

Our toilet bowl is western-style but quite low, so usually I have to sit on the bowl with her facing the tank. But she doesn't seem to like it as much, maybe because her only view is on the water tank, lol!

[EchoSoul]

1.  I use prefolds and prefold belts, with a cover only in the morning when I'm still groggy and more likely to miss bowel movements which are messy in just a prefold. Other than that I make sure to carry him around for a few minutes several times a day every day to hone my instincts on his eliminations.

2. We use a Baby Bjorn, outside, the sink and tub. I use the tub if I suspect my MIL will be walking by because I don't think she'd appreciate seeing him eliminate in the sink, we use outside when we're walking around outside or when I'm close to the door and get that feeling, and the Baby Bjorn is used for all those other times. I find using the sink/tub the easiest because I can splash him down with water and just wipe him dry, whereas with the Bjorn I have to wipe him, set him down, dump out the potty, wipe the potty out, then put his diaper back on. Too much hassle most of the time!

3. If it's in his Bjorn I grab a semi-wet wipe that's sitting next to it, and wipe him while holding him one-armed and grasping one leg. Then I set him down and put his diaper back on, no point drying him off because they're only wet enough to remove matter. If it's in the tub, I use a peri bottle filled with water while still holding him and then lay him down to pat him dry and put his diaper back on.