Later Starters Support thread - Page 14

[MommyKhuong]

Originally Posted by Fluga

I havent been doing EC with my 11 month daughter but we have been putting her on the potty for a long time. We started sporatically when she was 3 months and stepped it up when she was 6 months. Now she goes when she wakes up, after solids, at diaper changes and after her nap. More often than not she will at least pee. I would like to add some communication into the mix since she is also wetting her diapers. I do not use any sounds to cue her, I just have her sit on the potty for a little while. Do you guys have any pointers to where I can find info? I have read about EC but am fairly clueless to what signs she might be displaying.

We are in a simular situation as you. Our dd is 8 1/2 months and we've been doing this for almost 4 months. We don't have any specific signals from our dd. We go mostly by timing and occasionally we'll get her to tell us by using the baby sign for potty, though this is rare. Do you use baby signs already or would you consider using it? I have always loved the philosophy of it but even more so with pottying!
As for cueing her I think she just knows what the potty is for and goes. I usually say go potty while doing the sign for potty but truthfully she just knows that potty means go pee or poo.
Good luck! Keep us posted!!

[Mama2Rio]

HI! we're just starting some EC with dd, 9.5 months. About 4 days into this. i feel like this is going to be a lot of work. i caught her pee in the potty once yesterday! but that's all the success we've had.... i don't think she's a "typical" pee-er... she doesn't pee right when she wakes up from naps. she has been staying dry for some of her naps for the past month or so.

i'm going to start peeking around for tips. :

[brookescott88]

mama2rio: my daughter goes about 10 minutes after a nap, which is convenient for me right now!

i am wondering if anyone else is experiencing what we call the leaky bum around here...
we have been ecing for about 6 weeks now (starting the week before she turned 6 months) and quit diapers cold turkey. we have misses.....
anyway...back to the leaky bum...she seems to have quite a few poo leaks. always when she pees and many times during the day when she doesn't. she is still mostly breastfed with tastes of banana that she can not yet swallow. we are a gfcf and soy free family due to one of her older brothers food intolerances but i have been slipping and eating gluten lately. i stopped for a week and it was still happening. i know that one week won't make one bit of difference but i am thinking she is constipated (we have been down this road before with the older brother and i am nervous)...has anyone else been here?

[huminbird]

It can be done!

We started at 10 months and now at 11.5 months he has pooped in the potty two times in a row! That's our first and second catch and so far its a winning streak, even if it is a short one. I am telling everyone that will listen. LOL.

The pees are on and off but I catch more on poop days it seems. He only poops every 2-5 days.

I know what you mean by a leaky kid. My son went through about a week of this when he really started eating solids. Lots of little poops in the diaper. We never went diaper free completely.

[Fluga]

Originally Posted by MommyKhuong

We are in a simular situation as you. Our dd is 8 1/2 months and we've been doing this for almost 4 months. We don't have any specific signals from our dd. We go mostly by timing and occasionally we'll get her to tell us by using the baby sign for potty, though this is rare. Do you use baby signs already or would you consider using it? I have always loved the philosophy of it but even more so with pottying!
As for cueing her I think she just knows what the potty is for and goes. I usually say go potty while doing the sign for potty but truthfully she just knows that potty means go pee or poo.
Good luck! Keep us posted!!

I have started to sign her potty when I remember. We have had a bit of a problem with her refusing to sit on it. I'm wondering what is a good fix for that. I try to entertain her but sometimes she'll have none of it. We also have been having a "dry spell" she wouldnt pee in the potty but right after (I got the bright idea to try to potty her every 30-45 minutes during said dry spell and was catching her before she peed but she still wouldnt go in the potty).

I'm wondering if she'll night train before day training, that'd be something lol. I finally figured that if I potty her when she wakes between 2 and 3 she wont supersoak her diaper (it keeps her up when she does which keeps me up and half the time I'm too sleepy to figure why). When I have remembered this her morning diaper has been fairly dry and yesterday it had only a trickle in it. She hates the night potty and will cry a bit but settles as soon as she gets off the potty. Poor thing, cant be nice to be sleepy and having to sit on a hard potty.

[huminbird]

Does anyone have a good idea for an OBVIOUS potty sign. I think that my 1 year old isn't catching onto the thumb wiggly potty sign. He waves byebye and can give the milk sign but the potty sign seems beyond him and even if he could and did make the sign I doubt I would catch it very often.

Thanks!

[Yiskah64]

I'm teaching DD the "pee" sign. Which is the P sign while touching your middle finger to your nose.. which I like a lot.

That being said I don't know if it'd be worth it to try and continue with the sign you've been doing. But you're the mama, so you be the judge :-)

[strmis]

Originally Posted by Fluga

I have started to sign her potty when I remember. We have had a bit of a problem with her refusing to sit on it. I'm wondering what is a good fix for that. I try to entertain her but sometimes she'll have none of it. We also have been having a "dry spell" she wouldnt pee in the potty but right after (I got the bright idea to try to potty her every 30-45 minutes during said dry spell and was catching her before she peed but she still wouldnt go in the potty).

Originally Posted by Fluga

She hates the night potty and will cry a bit but settles as soon as she gets off the potty. Poor thing, cant be nice to be sleepy and having to sit on a hard potty.

Yes... how DO you keep her on the potty? I end up pottying DD in the sink with her squatting on the side, but when she goes it gets quite messy sometimes... I'd like her to sit on the potty but she would rather not stay on, or worse, play with it and try to get her mouth around it!!

I know this sounds really silly, but how does one 'night potty'? Do you just roll outta bed and put them on top of the potty? What if they do that back arching thing, do you still potty them? (I've never done it, so I don't know, but DD wakes up quite a bit during the night).

I usually nurse her to sleep. Do you potty DD before or after nursing (sometimes she falls asleep after nursing, sometimes not).

ps, she is 10.5 mos

[lsmama]

Hi all. I just found this board. By comparison, we are definitely late starters. DD was 11 months when we started, and is 19 months now. OUr experience has been great, though I would say that it really is still a journey. DD has just begun telling us when she needs to pee. I've been cueing her with the sign and pssshhh sound for about 6 months, and she just started doing it back. I never realized it could take that long. That said, I'm still really proud of what we've accomplished. She still wears diapers for naps, overnights, and long car trips, but I'm ok with this for now. Otherwise, she's diaper free and has only pooped in a diaper about 4 times since we started.

Our main struggle right now is public restrooms. We've begun carrying her toilet insert in what used to be our diaper bag. She will tell us when she has to go, but when we get in there, even with her seat, she kind of freaks out and will pee but then stop mid-stream. Any suggestions? We have a cross-country flight on Friday and I'm a little worried.

Meg

[winter singer]

Hello everyone! I was determined to try ECing when my DD was born but she was one of those babies who seems to pee and poo completely randomly at first - and she was producing about 15 poos a day! - so i didn't happen for a long time.

However, much to my amazement, we're now doing a kind of EC-lite with our DD who is currently 9 mo. From the time she was tiny she almost always peed when we were changing her diaper and I tried to help her be aware of that by commenting whenever it happened and making a 'psss' noise. Then someone gave us an infant potty when she was about 7 mo, and since then we've been offering it to her whenever we change her diaper, and roughly every 45 minutes to an hour. There are on- and off-days, but on average she probably pees in it about two times out of three, and usually she has a couple of dry diapers a day which we can just put back on her.

I haven't been good at figuring out when she needs to pee other than through timing, and poops are hopeless- they just seem completely random to me and she's a silent pooper! It would be great if we could start catching them as her poops have become a bit formidable since she went on solids at 6 months....

I have one question - sometimes she gets upset when we go into the bathroom or when we sit her on the potty. I'm assuming it's always best not to force it, right? I mean I shouldn't try to make her sit on the potty if she's crying. I think it may be because she's at a stage where she's dying to be off exploring (crawling), but also, sometimes I have a feeling it's because she's already peed in her diaper, or doesn't need to pee just then.

Thanks for the great thread!

[anyalily]

I am definitely one for not making them sit on the potty but we will try different things in a short period of time. I will have her sit on the potty, she'll crawl off, I'll wait a few minutes and take her to the big potty. Nothing. Then I'll take her to the sink... Then to the tub... Eventually something works, or not.

So I have to have a moment of joy :: We had a bunch of catches today! Three pees and a poop! Wowsa! Two of the pees were in the sink after sleeping. This seems to work for her when she first wakes up. She definitely prefers being held right now... Another pee was when I expected a poop. The poop came later.

If she starts going in her diaper and I move her to the potty between pushes, is that OK? If we miss are we supposed to just let it go and change their diaper when their done? Is there a "rule" about this? (I know, no rules, but I don't want to effect her toileting negatively, like make her stop or something...) So far it seems like if she is in the middle of a poop and I move her she will finish no problem...

I think we're getting the hang of this. Been doing it about a week - first few tries were hard! She is figuring out the cue now! Such a smart girl...

[Gusanita]

New to this

Hi, I've only just found out about EC. My girl is 8 months and have decided to give it a go but am worried it won't work especially with everyone willing me to fail!

[foodmachine]

We were late-starters, (around 14-15 months I think) with the actual potty but have been signing and "chhhhhh"ing and "communicating" about pee and poo from the beginning. Now at nearly 18 months, things are really taking off. I think the book "No More Diapers for Ducky" has helped. DD has the same potty as in the book (blue BBPC) and she loves to read the book while sitting on her potty, points to her potty and to the one in the book.
Go slow, take a break, go back a few steps, follow their lead. That's what I have learned. The EC tricks sticky is very helpful.
Good luck to us all!

[Gusanita]

We're 4 days in with my 8 month old. So far we've been able to catch her morning pee and if we're lucky the pee after drinking or feeding and the couple of poos she's done but not much else. My other half isn't very keen on the whole thing and thinks it's more hassle than it's worth. I really want it to work, but am finding it hard at the moment. I'm also feeling really guilty for not realising about EC till a week ago. Hopefully it'll improve soon

[maribudlo]

New Late Starter Member

I started EC with my daughter when she was nine months old. It took about a month for her to be willing to sit on the little potty, and I never forced her. When she did start using it, she was pretty quick to start peeing and pooping in it. By the time she was eleven and a half months old, I was catching about half of her pees and most of her poops. When she turned a year old, she stopped, and wouldn't go near it. Then she started learning to walk, and now that she's walking and about fourteen months old, she's liking the potty again, but she won't go on it. She just likes to sit on it and read her books. Then she goes as soon as she gets off the pot, either with or without her diaper on yet. She's started pooping in private, and she now HATES diaper changes. But she loves sitting on that potty. She also likes sitting on the seat that goes on a regular toilet, but has never used it for peeing or pooping. Any suggestions as to what I could do to help her back to using it? Or will it happen on its own if I keep giving her the opportunity? I've been cleaning up a lot of pee and poop right next the little potty. Any advice?

[LoveLife]

My DS will be 9 months old tomorrow and I'm thinking of starting this. I'm almost finished with the book infant potty training. But I'm really intimidated by the whole thing.

I think that I'm mostly going to have to go off timing, since I've never noticed a pattern for his pees and poos. Do you try every hour? More, less? Right now I'm thinking of trying to sit on the big potty with him to get him started- does that seem like a good idea?

Any suggestions to help me get the courage to start? Thanks!

[Laurie Boucke]

-- I think that I'm mostly going to have to go off timing --

This is fine. Our son never gave any signals for pees. We did fine with timing, and once you start with timing, you might notice a few general patterns. I say general, in case you were expecting something precise. Don't expect precision and definitely don't strive for perfection.

-- Do you try every hour? --

I think it's better to try at 2-3 likely times per day at first, usually in relation to sleeping and meals. If he is content with sitting on the potty or toilet and if you feel like increasing the potty visits, you can slowly increase. Don't let it become overwhelming for either of you. I wouldn't make him sit more than a few minutes at first, unless he wants to stay there.

--I'm thinking of trying to sit on the big potty with him to get him started- does that seem like a good idea? --

If you mean you are thinking of sitting on the toilet with him between your legs, this is fine. A variation is for you to sit on the toilet and baby to sit on a potty next to you.

-- I'm really intimidated by the whole thing. Any suggestions to help me get the courage to start? --

Yes . . . don't feel intimidated. It's a very natural thing. Don't make a big deal out of it. At first you're only going to help him get used to the potty or toilet. If he goes in the potty or toilet for you during the first days or week(s), consider that a bonus; if he doesn't, don't worry, just try again at another time when you think he needs to go.

It's no different than teaching him anything else. Make a start, see how it goes, assess the situation, and then proceed from there.

Stay relaxed and make it fun!

Laurie

[jljones81]

My son is almost 7 months and we started (on a very part-time basis) at 5 1/2 months. I've decided not to push the issue too hard, mostly because full-on EC just doesn't work with our lifestyle. As a compromise, I hold him over his Bjorn potty as soon as he wakes up in the morning, before and after each nap, and before bath time at night. He pees in his potty 50-75% of the time. I do the sign for potty each time I take him to his potty and I make a "psss" sound when he pees and when I catch him peeing in his diaper during the day. I'm starting to notice that "psss" sound will prompt him to pee at his potty most of the time, as long as he needs to go. I praise him like crazy when he does go. He still hasn't pooped in his potty but I don't really expect that to happen until he gets the peeing down.

We also cloth diaper, and when I change his diaper, I make the sign for "change diaper." I'm hoping that between the signing for change diaper and potty, he'll be communicating with me soon because I have not been able to pick up on his own signs yet.

I think the basic idea is that the more you offer, the more the baby will catch on.

Even with my part-time efforts and my late start, I fully expect my baby to be potty trained by 2 years.

[sere234]

Well, my DS is 6.5 months and I am trying EC (again, gave up after 2 days a couple weeks ago ). He shows no signs that I can tell when peeing and I only know he's pooping during the fact! Rggg. Frustrating. I kinda want to give up....

[jljones81]

Don't give up! When I started, the first week, I took DS to the potty every 1/2 hour when he was awake just to get a feel for his rhythm before settling into our current schedule. Maybe you could give that a shot to figure out a routine or level of investment that works for your family. This is definitely not the kind of thing that has to be all or nothing.