Elimination Communication - Page 4 « Back to Group Discussions

[seraf]

Joanie, when mine pees in his pants he goes every 20 minutes until he empties his bladder in the toilet. If he pees in the toilet, he goes 1-3 hours between pees. If you're changing Sora every half hour she probably doesn't need a very bulky diaper. The twist fold Jaimee mentioned is pretty nice for hip mobility. 

Jaimee, Shay nurses about every 1.5 -2 hours during the day and he pees right after he wakes and nurses right before he sleeps. Occasionally he will pee twice in an awake cycle. 

[Jaimee]

Originally Posted by seraf 

Joanie, when mine pees in his pants he goes every 20 minutes until he empties his bladder in the toilet. If he pees in the toilet, he goes 1-3 hours between pees.

This is interesting.  It does appear if I'm on the ball and catching his pee that he doesn't go as often.  But if I'm missing the pees, it's like every 20 minutes that I realize he's peed in his diaper.  The problem is, once he's peed in his diaper, then he won't go in the potty and then I miss the next pee again in a cycle of misses.  I can get back on track after the next nap.

Jaimee, Shay nurses about every 1.5 -2 hours during the day and he pees right after he wakes and nurses right before he sleeps. Occasionally he will pee twice in an awake cycle.

Avery is usually awake for about 1-2 hours between 1-3 hour naps during the day.  So he'll wake up, pee immediately, nurse, and pee a few minutes later.  Then he's awake for the next hour or so and I have a hard time figuring out when he's going.  Today I catch 2 pees and a poop pretty easily- he was fussing.  They were only about 20 minutes apart.  But yesterday I missed a ton.  Any advice?

[seraf]

Try to find the cue before the fuss? Shay starts wiggling, then vocalizing.

And it's harder to get out of a miss cycle, I totally feel that.

Shay also won't use the pot right after a miss, I just have to watch harder for the next opportunity. These are the hardest ones. And sometimes I just have to wait for a nap to reset.

[Jaimee]

With ds1 we ECed very part time.  I would offer at every diaper change and catch some that way.  I would usually catch after sleeping pees (even in the night) and the occasional poop if I was quick enough once he started grunting.  But we definitely missed more than we caught and it got worse as he got older.  I kept offering though and when we initiated potty training it was a pretty smooth transition so I feel good about what we did do EC-wise.

Now with Avery we started earlier and I'm catching a lot more.  So much more that I wonder about aiming for full time EC.  But I don't get how to handle situations like the car or going to the park or running errands.  It would be a major undertaking to try and potty him every 30 minutes while doing anything outside the house- especially with two other kids in tow.  How do you handle it?

Also, at night I'm sure I could keep him dry if I pottied him when he woke to nurse, but I fear that it would wake him up enough that getting him back to sleep would be difficult.  Right now our nights are going so well I would hate to change it and ruin things.  I know with ds1, it helped calm him to offer the potty and he would go right back to sleep with some nursing or snuggling. Would it likely be the same with Avery or am I opening a can of worms?  I find the closer we are to full time ECing the more passionate I feel about it and dislike the idea of him being in a wet diaper.  It's odd how my perceptions have changed about EC from my first to my third kid!

[seraf]

Jaimee, we keep a potty in the car. Babies usually pee less away from home. 

Sara pees more than Shay (day and night). So it's no big deal to find toilets for him. I diaper still in the car but I offer before we get in and on arrival. 

At night I keep a potty by the bed so I don't have to get up. Shay nurses back to sleep without incident. Lately  he has been going back to sleep before I even lay him back down for one of his wake ups. 

Sorry this is so brief, I typed a more detailed post but it was accidentally deleted TWICE!

[Jaimee]

Thanks!  I keep a potty by the bed as well.  That's how I did it for ds1.  I'm just not sure if I want to start with Avery since things are going so well.  I'm undecided. 

I have noticed the less peeing when out phenomenon.  I could try offering before and after an outing.  It's just so cold and windy, I'd feel bad about taking his diaper off!  I usually rush to get him out of his car seat, into a carrier and into the building.

[birdhappy85]

I caught my first two pees this morning! Sora started squirming and grunting at 5am and kept waking me up so I thought if I held her over the toilet, maybe the air on her bottom would make her poo easier. Well, no luck. But she did pee. I think I'd have to buy a little baby potty in order to do more EC because it was hard holding her over the toilet for so long waiting for her to go. She has now been trying to poop for almost 4 hours..... This is horrible! She's crying and miserable. How could I try ECing when she has to poop if it takes her so long to go? I'd say at least 80% of the time she has to poop, she's bubbling in her mouth and pushing for a good hour or two. What would my cue be that she is *actually* about to go? Also, does anyone know about what age a baby stops freaking out when they have to poop?

[Jaimee]

Joanie, I highly recommend the Ikea potty.  It's the one in the picture I posted and it's only $4.  Get three or four of them and put them in convenient places in your house, in your car, etc.

So, Sora is straining to poop for hours?  That hasn't been the case for any of my babies.  It kind of sounds like constipation!  Usually breastfed babies do not get constipated, but I do know that it's possible.  The other possibility is an allergy.  You mentioned that you're eliminating things from your diet?  How long has that been going on?  Is Sora on probiotics?  Does she poop daily or go days between poops?  Generally babies stop freaking out about pooping by the 2 month mark, plus or minus.  So around now.  My babies seem to out grow their elimination issues by the one month mark, but every baby is different.

My experience with poop has been some grunting, a "poop" face, pushing while flexing limbs, etc. and then the poop comes.  Usually all at once, but sometimes in two sessions separated by a few minutes.  It's always been my experience that if I get them on a potty in time, all the poop will come out at once.  I would suggest trying a different position with Sora so that it's more comfortable for both of you.  The root of elimination is the ability to relax and let go.  If she senses your tension and can't relax then it could be harder for her.  I prefer the position I'm using in the pic- everyone seems comfortable.

Nice job catching those pees!  It feels good doesn't it? 

[birdhappy85]

I caught a poop! I caught a poop! And boy, what a poop....  I'm glad that one didn't go into a diaper; it probably would've been a blow-out (she was working on this one all morning). Yes, it does feel good doing the EC thing! If someone would've told me how excited I'd be when my baby first peed in a toilet, I think I would've told them they're crazy... 

Jaimee - I love that IKEA potty! I think DH, baby, and I might need to take a drive down to Schaumburg to pick up some baby supplies. To answer your questions... I do wonder if Sora is constipated. She successfully poops multiple times a day and doesn't seem agitated every time, so I just figured we were still in that stage where it takes babies extra time to figure out the pooping sensation and that's why it takes her longer to get it out. But now you've got me wondering if she should've grown out of that by now.  When I caught her poop a little bit ago, she didn't let all of the poop out at once either. I think it came out in three increments. I had to keep holding her there wondering how I'd know when she was done! But that was over open air hovering above the toilet; maybe she'd do better with the kid potty. As for eliminating foods from my diet... I've been off of dairy and gluten almost exclusively since about 3-4 weeks postpartum for my own sake. So, for 8-9 weeks now. I started eliminating soy about 4 weeks ago. I stupidly reintroduced it last week briefly and that's when I noticed Sora had the really bad mucous and a spot of blood in her diaper. She was miserable when trying to poop. Those days are such a blur to me now; it was rough. But then again, I still wonder if it was soy. I know I felt like crap when I ate the soy, but maybe something else bothered her? I just don't know. She's had some foam in her poop this past week now. No idea what that even means. I do not have her on probiotics. I suppose I should look into purchasing the ones you recommended.

[seraf]

I hear that people with dairy problems often struggle with soy as well. Shay still poops in waves wiping in between sometimes helps. Warm wet wipe. Foamy, we have that, too but were just starting to eliminate foods. 

[seraf]

And yay poop!  It is funny how cool it is. 

[Jaimee]

Argh... just caught a poop, put him in the car seat to drop dd off at school, come home to find he had pooped his diaper!  Frustrating...

[MrsKatie]

OK, I am going to start this!  What's the ideal first step?  What do you guys think of that ebook on ecsimplified.com, did anyone read it?  I want a concrete guide in addition to all the info here...

I'm excited!

[seraf]

I haven't read that one.

I started when my babies were younger but a cover less diaper or even laying the baby on a diaper with nothing on bottom and observing is a good place to start. Setting her on the potty when she wakes and at diaper changes is great, too.

[Jaimee]

I think it's easiest to start putting her on the potty when she first wakes up, after feedings, any time your hear grunting/pushing, and any other time your intuition tells you that elimination is on the way.  Once you have a few catches under your belt you will start to get the feel for it and figure out how to go from there.  I'm not sure you need any books.  You can check out some tips on www.diaperfreebaby.com. 

[MrsKatie]

OMG she just peed in her new little potty.  NOBODY TOLD ME IT WOULD BE THIS AWESOME

[Jaimee]

Originally Posted by MrsKatie 

OMG she just peed in her new little potty.  NOBODY TOLD ME IT WOULD BE THIS AWESOME

[seraf]

Yay!

[Abraisme]

I was inspired by this thread to try to catch a pee after nap time.  I've tried twice and both times she acted like I was torturing her the moment that I held her over the sink.  Maybe she associates the sink area with bath time?  She hates baths, so it's possible..  She's a pretty easy going baby, so it's odd that she gets so offended when I hold her up.

[Paigekitten]

Éowyn acts like that if she doesn't have to go. She doesn't have to go immediately after waking, but about 5-10 minutes later.   

I started at 4 months with Libby and we started out with naked time on a blanket and me cuing whenever I noticed her going.