Thinking of starting ec with a six month old?

[mamabev]

My dd is 6mths now and I would love to try ec with her. My house is pretty busy though, I also have a 5yo and 2yo. I have not practiced ec with my other babes. I'm not sure if it would just end up being loads of extra work (and I would end up being a super cranky mum).

Any suggestions out there on how to get started, what it would look like and how much work from me it would involve?

My dh probably wouldn't be very involved in this until it was established so I want to make sure it's do-able for me.

Thanks in advance.

[Banana731]

I started right around then with my third. When she started eating food, pooping became more predictable. I just caugh her in mid poop and put her on a potty seat. She wasnt thrilled, but after a day or two she was fine with it. Lots of singing and cooing and such helped. My goal was to get the poop, and that happened pretty fast. Every one that I caught was one less diaper to wash. So I looked at that way. It's good be low stress about it. If you catch one awesome, if not, try again later.

She connected the Pee to the Potty pretty much on her own, but I think if I had spent more time on the potty with her it would have happened sooner.

You can set your own goals. You can spend as little or as much time on the potty as you like. Once they catch on, it's pretty doable. She isn't 2 yet, and she is pretty much potty trained. I intend to start even sooner next time!

[EchoSoul]

Go ahead and try it! It can't hurt. The sooner she connects her eliminations with the potty, the better, anyway. I started at 3 months, but sometimes I wish I hadn't because there was just *so* *much* of *everything*!

Honestly I'd start with offering the potty after she wakes up, before/after eating, and before she goes to bed to get it started. Do you have a potty seat that would be on the floor for her to get on? That'd probably make it a lot more efficient.

Is she in cloth diapers? Cotton? Being able to feel when she wets would also help it.

[mamabev]

Banana, thanks for the encouragement, good to hear that you started around this time with success. I think I may give it a couple of weeks to see if she does settle into some kind of pattern, it's all over the place just now and I have no idea how I would catch anything in time just now.
Echo soul, yes, she is in cloth the majority of the time, we do have a low down potty, ds2 is just toilet training just now so there is always a potty nearby! Good idea with the specific times to try, I think I may have more success with that initially as it will help me remember.
Cheers for the tips guys.