EC with a boy?

[HappyMonkey]

I slept with my daughter diaper free on a prefold with an organic waterproof pad under her... it worked great. With my baby boy I think he would pee on me... it goes far. How do people handle diaper free bed time with baby boys? He also tends to squirt poo about 2 feet!!!

We started EC with her at 3 months, and she was happy using the toilet or potty by 18 months. She still likes to pee on the floor sometimes though!

Edited by HappyMonkey - 11/8/11 at 12:41pm

[mum2sarah]

I am wondering a similar thing!  I was just cd'ing my ds at night and catching 1-2 pees per night (which isn't nearly as great as during the day but better than nothing), but then I had mastitis several days ago and sort of fell off the horse completely because I just couldn't potty him at night when I was sick.  Now we have been catching zero at night and he's just been going in his diaper and I'll change him about twice during the night, offering him the potty but nothing--we've lost our rhythm.  I was considering experimenting with diaperless but think we'd all end up soaked, and here in PA, it's cold enough that we need covers at night, so then we'd have a soaked comforter, too... I was thinking of fashioning some sort of loin-cloth idea, using one of those elastic prefold belts, I could maybe put a few prefolds under him and few above and then take wet ones out as the night progresses... But I'm hesitant about possible side-spray, and also because he's now a pretty heavy wetter at night...  So no advice, unfortunately, but I empathize with your question and am curious what more seasoned ECers of sons do (like you, I found it easy to be diaperless at night with girls, but the boy thing is new to me...).

[flyrabbitfly]

When DS was littler we did either a prefold belt with prefold or when it got cold, chaps with prefold at night and it was fine. We usually pottied a few times at night and if we missed the pees were small and nothing ever got wet. Then teething started around 8 mo and like mum2sarah we kind of fell off the rhythm for awhile and we went to waterproof ECA pants at night with about 3 liners (my sis made them from Zorb II, but the cotton ones they sell work ok too, just bulkier). It took a few months (like 2 or 3) to get back into pottying at night and not long after that we were able to go diaperless just becuase with a couple of potty times each night he always woke up dry. I did try about of week of nakie butt at night but it was pretty messy! It was during summer so we didn't have to use a top cover. We slept on a big fleece blanket that absorbed everything wihtout feeling too wet, but I hated the hot synthetic feel of it so we switched to several layers of wool with wool jersey on top. It didn't really work- too lanolized or something so I was always waking up in a puddle! Too gross, so we went back to ECAs until he started to accept nighttime pottying again. I do wish we had been able to be nakie at night early on- it is just so nice to snuggle with a naked baby!

[Ma Cactus]

We did not try naked at night until around 18 mos, and even then, we mostly used trainers because I was always afraid of 'the fountain'.  When it started getting colder we rediscovered a pair of Mamaroo split pants (http://www.mamaroobabysling.com/newsite/MamaRooPants.html) that overlap so they cover everything until you potty, but make pottying very easy.  They are also in this fabulous hemp/cotton blend that is super absorbent, so when he did have an accident, it rarely even got the sheets wet.

[milk monster]

Frequent lurker--my first post. We've been going nakey-butt with our 7.5-month-old son for six weeks. It makes night potting WAY easier--no diaper on-and-off nonsense to keep us all awake. I'd say it goes perfectly half the time, but if he's very tired he might pee while nursing, and if I'm too tired I tend to miss his signals. He pees about 3-4x/night. But naked baby in the bed is so cozy!

Logistics: he lies on a folded towel on top of a waterproof pad. If he pee-squirts, we just put down one of the waterproof cloths they sell at the pump station in Santa Monica (so available online). If it's cold, we just throw a soft fleece blanket over him. He does sometimes squirt the duvet (which is up to our waists; he generally rests his feet on top of it): we keep a spray bottle of 50/50 vinegar water handy. If you spray it, it doesn't smell. Although tbh I'm often too tired to use it! Good luck!

[mum2sarah]

Last night I tried a prefold belt with several extra prefolds tucked behind his butt and held in place in the back part of the belt but not pulled forward to cover his front; only the top prefold was covering everything.  Then when he wet, I slipped that top one out, and pulled the next one around his front and tucked it under the front of the belt and repeated this as needed during the night.  It was pretty easy and kept him dryer than when we diaper.  I think it will be our new routine when we are too tired or out of sync to try night pottying.