EC Update

[NaturalMom]

Okay - I've returned to trying EC. Nolan is now three months old and we tried it as a newborn, but it didn't work so well for us. Anyway, it's going really well! I think the age difference really matters - he's much more cooperative and seems to kinda 'know' why he's on the little potty.

I catch poop/pee first thing in the morning and after naps. I usually miss a few during the day, but that's okay b/c that's not the point.

Today, we've had no poopy dipes - only poops in the potty . However, I'm running errands later, so he'll just go in his dipe then.

Thanks for all the encouragement and support here - it really was the decisive factor in trying it again.

[mrzmeg]

Yay!
That's fabulous. I'm glad it's going so well!
Catching pees in the morning and after naps was how we started too. Then, all of the sudden, we got a lot better at communicating. The past few days, we've been diaperless all the time he's awake. It's great! And it seems to have happened so quickly.
Keep us posted!

[HeatherSanders]

If we are home, I usually miss about 4 pee dipes a day, but that is a significant reduction.

However, quick funny - cable guy was here a moment ago and Kenny was sitting on my lap. I had him 'covered' with a blanket b/c the cable guy didn't need to see his privates, but then he BLEW all over the leg of my jeans. The cable guy said, "Whoops, looks like you're going to have to change that diaper." Here I am trying to figure out how to stand without dripping poo on the carpet and wondering how deaf I could have been to miss his grunts. Goes to show me how much I turn my ears off when others are talking to me.

[Pam_and_Abigail]

We've been doing it sice last tuesday. Some days are better than others, but yesterday, the load of diapers had not one poopy diaper in it. A few spots, but no big poos. She often pees as soon as I sit her on the potty, and it actually seems like she holds her poos for an opportunity to be on the potty... :

I've noticed her lower lip quivers when she needs to go, but I'm doing poor catching pees. I honestly didn't know it'd be this hard, and I think I get lazy. Still, every time she goes in the potty, I am amazed. I try not to praise her, but it's hard.

[pamelamama]

We're missing a lot, and I'm getting a bit distracted, but we're trying every day! The little potty is still on duty!

IthinkIcanIthinkIcanIthinkIcan......

[NaturalMom]

I think one thing that was helpful was that even though we weren't using the Little Potty over the past two months, we were still grunting when he grunted/pooped. So at least we were communicating with him about what he was doing...

I had read (in Diaper Free, maybe?) that it's best to start before about 4 or 6 months. Since he's just turned three months, we decided to go ahead and give it another go.

I'm just intrigued by the whole idea!

[NaturalMom]

Okay! Getting excited here - only one poopy diaper today and it's 10:00pm...

And - I've caught several pees today just by timing: checked diaper, it was still dry, so took it off, put him on potty, and - he peed! Happened about three times.

I'm really liking this EC thing. I kept sending DH text messages on his cell (he was in a meeting today) - the messages said 'caught a poop!' and 'caught another pee!' I'm sure if his colleagues had seen them, they would have really thought his SAHM wife had really lost it...

[MammaMel]

LOL Heather!!! That is soooo funny

We are doing great here, Sebastian only got 2 diapers wet today.
I love doing EC, I can't believe how well it is going. I wish I would have done it with dd too.

[HeatherSanders]

THERE ARE DAYS . . . when I get lazy.

I know that it is ME and not Kenny b/c he still hollers full throttle when wet . . . he does NOT want that ick on him. Yesterday I was not feeling so hot . . . very sore throat . . . swollen glands and the works. I wasn't communicating effectively - heck, I wasn't even moving around effectively (and we were moving our office even). So, he was not put on the potty on our normal sort of 'timing' after nursing and we even missed a poop - which I described earlier.

Do other moms find that they just have 'lazy days?'

[emma00]

Well I missed my dd big poop yesterday am because I was soooo tired (read too lazy to get up) And sometimes if she's all dressed and ready to go out and think she *might* need to pee - I'll sometimes just forget it and change her as soon as we get to where we are going. Sometimes she's still dry and sometimes not - frankly the pees are pretty much luck / timing for us anyway. One day I'll 'catch' at least half or more and others it always seems that I'm just a few minutes shy of the right time. Oh well - she seems to connect the potty with elimination - so if I can keep that association, even on a part-time level, I will be happy.

Question for you EC'ers: My dd usually pees as she's arousing from sleep so I almost never catch those ones. Do others experience this? Has it changed as you've continued practicing EC?

FYI: We started EC poops around 5-6 months and pees 6-7 months. She's 7 1/2 months now.

[Almamiel]

We're not doing so well right now Mieke has had a decided aversion to pottying the last couple of days. We were doing really well, and she still gets upset when her dipe is wet, but she doesn't want to be pottied....now, I have NEVER "forced" her to potty (i.e. held her for any length of time over potty/sink till she went) and have tried to be totally laid back and generally communicative about the whole thing. Is this just a mini-strike? She liked e.c.ing so much until the last couple of days....so we're holding off, and just changing dipes the minute they're damp. Maybe it's just because she's almost six months and making HUGE cognitive and physical leaps and bounds (so fun )?

[NaturalMom]

Emma,

DS goes as soon as he wakes, also, but I still put him on the potty and he almost always goes again...? Anyway, I've gotten a pee/poop combo every morning this week, even though I'm almost sure he's already peed by the time we get him on the potty.

As for misses, I remember reading somewhere that EC is not like formal potty training where the goal is to get 100% into the potty. It's just keeping a connection and the communication lines open about what the baby is doing so that when they are old enough to walk/crawl to little potty, then they can do so themselves. My philosophy of EC is just to not let the baby forget what they were born with: the knowledge of when they were eliminating... So when I have 'misses', I don't think of them like as 'misses' - and I still grunt with him even if he's going in his dipe. (my mom really does NOT get that part!)

[HotMama]

We have lazy days! Some days I put dd in a diaper cover, I'm so off on catching pees. Of course it's wool and it gets warm when she goes, so I can change her right away.

Lately though, I have been going out and about with only her diaper loincloth...I made a little elastic belt that I tuck her birdseye flat diaper into. It's way easy to take her to potty and I can't wait to try it with some Chinese split pants we're getting!