What should I get to start EC? (Baby boy coming any day!)

[monkeyscience]

We are expecting our first any day now, and we want to give EC a try. I'm really not sure when we'll start, or how gung-ho we will be - I'm kind of waiting to see how things go, because, while I love the concept of EC, I'm intimidated by it as well. We are planning to use disposable diapers until we're done with meconium, and then I have some prefolds and covers to use, but I want to know... what would you recommend for ECing?

We live in a small apartment, and I plan on using the toilet directly whenever possible - assuming baby is willing. But should I still get a potty? I've heard good things about this one by Baby Bjorn. Also, what about clothing? Mostly we have onesies and sleep'n'plays (aka footie pjs), but I'm wondering if that will really work well for our purposes, and if not, what we should get. What about the prefolds? Good option? Any other ideas? I totally get that EC can be done in many ways, including not getting much in the way of gear, but I'd like to feel like I have some idea how to prepare!

[Sharlla]

we got the high back potty.  dd was able to sit on it unassisted unlike the no back potty. 
 

[seraf]

That potty should be fine. We also have a high back potty, and we use the insert for our littlest guy. We have the little potty, which is like the one you linked but in one piece, and it works well for any age over a month or two.

We mostly use the toilet, too. The nice thing about having a potty is if you don't want to get up every time or if your bathroom is inconvenient for dressing and undressing the baby. We use a potty a night and at the far end of the apartment. You can also use a bowl or wet bucket if you don't think you will want a potty.

Prefolds are great, with a cover or a belt (fleece or wool covered elastic, easy to make or buy. Or, if you like, I have 2 newborn ones that our littlest just grew out of. They're dingy (sp?) but functional).

We use snap covers, wool longies, shorties and wool rectangles that tuck into the belt. On top we do snapped or unsnapped onesies, T-shirts or shorts outfits. T shirts ride up a lot, so you may like or dislike them. We use baby legs, soft pants or wool longies to cover their legs in the cold weather (right now our 9 month old is wearing a t-shirt, hand towel held on with elastic belt and shorties and our 3 month old has an unsnapped onesie, flat with belt, shorties and baby legs). I like to move into training pants around 3 months just because they're easier to fold and I'm usually catching a lot by then and that's about when my kids start to prefer standing over laying down for changes.

Congratulations and good luck! Don't be intimidated, it's one more trick to try when he fusses. In my experience, waking and wiggly babies need to pee. Popping off while nursing means potty ratt than "done." Tooting babies need to poo. Poo comes in waves and wiping usually speeds them up a bit.

[tbmum]

Hi Monkey,

I'd get the Baby Bjorn Little Potty - ours is going strong after 7 years of time in the house - other potties have gotten cracks from being tossed around.

I gave away all my onesies to a women's shelter - just kept some special gifts for ig grandma was looking after the baby, or if we would be in a nappy for a bit - they are just too hard.

Trackies are easier to get off. A pre-folt belt is cool for a little tot, they are wet all the time at the start and need lots of changes.

You might even catch that meconium if you are there when baby starts fussing - several of my friends did, I only caught part of number 2 baby's. 

Have a look at my free ebook on EC too.

 - Good luck!

Charndra

[nilatti]

I also recommend the Baby Bjorn Little Potty, but I hear that it has been discontinued. The Smart Potty is a good second choice. My son is sitting on his BBLP right now, and, frankly, he's sort of outgrown it (age 23 months, and NEARLY a grad). We might get him a smart potty soon, as it's bigger. When my guy was tiny, I also used a plastic mixing bowl, particularly to position under him while nursing (he pooed while nursing all the time).

We used prefolds with a Snappi (which my DH, after struggling with pins for several weeks, described as "The best seven dollars I ever spent"), plus a Thirsties Duo wrap cover if we were going out or, frankly, weren't going to be paying that much attention.

We found that we absolutely despised those all-in-one footie pajama romper whatevers. Hated them, even if the baby was just in a diaper, because you had to wiggle that one leg out of the side that doesn't have any snaps and then do your change and then there are a bajillion snaps. The ones with the zipper are less bad, but we still didn't like them. Our son spent most of his first three months in those elastic-bottomed nightgowns, or an unsnapped onesie and some baby legs with socks. In preparation for baby #2, I got rid of most of our sleepers with the feet and onesies. T-shirts and nighties were just easier.

I found that I was so overwhelmed with learning to nurse and all of that that we didn't start EC until DS was about a month old. I wish we had started earlier, as it explained so many of his random fusses.

[nstewart]

The great thing about EC is you don't need much!

We didn't use our BBLP at all.  DS never liked going on the potty.  Instead, I held him over the sink or toilet in the recline hold.  (I did this until really recently if we weren't at home with his potty seat, but now my 24 month old likes to stand and pee just like daddy. lol)  So, you can use a bowl, just use the toilet, or invest in a little potty.  

We used prefold diapers held on with a snappi like PP.  That way it was easy to get easy to get the diaper off in a hurry if DS signaled he had to go and easy to tell if we'd had a miss so we better new when to offer next (DS never signaled for pees, so we had to go on timing).  We also had some Thirsties covers to use as needed, for out and about or the like).  Along with the prefolds, just a good diaper laundry bag and detergent, etc.

We found Babylegs (or some equivalent leg warmer) to be really really great around the house.  DS was usually in just a prefold with a snappi, socks or slippers, babylegs, and a shirt, even in the winter.  Easy access, and they kept DS warm.  (they were great for babywearing in the fall/winter too.  They kept the bottom of DS's legs covered when out on walks, etc.)

At 7 months, we were ready for trainers instead of diapers (virtually no poop misses and maybe 1 or 2 pee misses most days) so I sewed training pants using the "tinkle time trainers" pattern.  But you are a ways away from worrying about that!

For books, I really liked Christine Gross-Loh's book "The Diaper Free Baby".  I took it out from my local library.

Don't stress, start with the easy catches and just remember that even one catch a day is one less diaper and one more opportunity to respond to your baby!

Good luck!

[EcoConsciousMom]

I was similar to you and tried EC when my daughter was about a week old. I used the disposable diapers you are given when you register until the meconium cleared too.

When she was so small I just held her over a small bucket or bowl in my lap. I have the high back version of the Baby Bjorn potty chair you showed and my daughter really liked it. Unfortunately, we moved a couple months ago and ECing took a big hit. She's going almost constantly in her diapers now and I'm trying to get her back on track. She's 20 months old.

For EC gear:

The elastic bands/belts are fantastic. They really make changes easy if they are just wearing a shirt and diaper with belt. I found some old elastic shorts for kids and cut the band off to make my own. The shorts were bought at a yard sale for a quarter and were really stained.

Onesies and full outfits are cut, but very impractical with ECing. Separates are much easier (shirts and shorts).

For the colder seasons I found it's great to make some crotchless pants. I just cut the inside seam to open a hole and put them on my daughter, then the cloth diaper on the OUTSIDE. So much faster to change her diaper at night or remove it to go potty if I caught it. Plus in the cold it kept her legs warm.

[thursday2]

We live in a small place and didn't get a separate potty - we just put him on the toilet.  I do recommend a seat reducer - we used the BabyBjorn toilet trainer because of the splash guard.  =)  I did end up getting a chamber pot from Nova Naturals which was good for when he was small - I kept it in the living room for quick catches mid-stream - and became great when he was a toddler - he can't fit his bum on it to sit anymore, but we can hold it under his penis as he stands in the back seat and no one is the wiser.

[EcoConsciousMom]

Originally Posted by thursday2 

We live in a small place and didn't get a separate potty - we just put him on the toilet.  I do recommend a seat reducer - we used the BabyBjorn toilet trainer because of the splash guard.  =)  I did end up getting a chamber pot from Nova Naturals which was good for when he was small - I kept it in the living room for quick catches mid-stream - and became great when he was a toddler - he can't fit his bum on it to sit anymore, but we can hold it under his penis as he stands in the back seat and no one is the wiser.

That chamber pot is really cute.

I looked at that Baby Bjorn toilet trainer and it looks like it has a safe splash guard. I have an older toilet trainer that has the removeable splash guard. I've heard that they are dangerous for little boys and their private area. Apparently they can catch and hurt them. In case anyone else has that style they will probably want to be careful with a boy.