Just how annoying are all the misses/messes?

[Mamaste]

I don't have a backyard, I have 100% wall-to-wall carpeting, I have fabric-covered furniture -- so I've not done diaper-free potty learning or anything similar (yet, anyway) and I've always wondered ...

Just how annoying are more-than-occasional misses and messes, as far as cleanup? What about carpet stains? Smells? Problems with the furniture? Would you advise caution or more "covered" tactics for people with 100% carpeting and fabric furniture?

I suppose I should also pose this question to the CDing ladies who let their little ones go diaper-free while potty training, but I figured you ladies would have the, err, bottom line! :

[HeatherSanders]

Well, with Kenny and EC'ing . . . it really isn't a 'thing' unless I just don't diaper him period. And then I am SERIOUSLY attentive (for the most part). Usually he's in a cpf with a snappi (quick off and on) and I can feel, sometimes hear if he goes without me getting the signal. I pick him up for a quick change, and the diaper is thick enough that I can tell he's wet, but he hasn't really soiled the area he's in.

As far as older kids - I don't know. Meredith when potty training had two days worth of serious accidents - enough to pull out the carpet shampoo-er. And we too have fabric/cloth/carpet everywhere.

[Mamaste]

Yah, that's it, Heather -- the older children who aren't always right there with you. One time when DD had to pee when she was running around playing nakey-nake before bathtime , the feeling evidently freaked her out and she ran across her brother's room to hide out in a corner, leaving a nice little trail of drips (as well as evidence she could cut off her flow long enough to dash across to a "better" spot). If I hadn't walked in right then and seen her in the corner, I might not have found that pee ... So I guess I'm a little gun-shy thinking about the clean-up potential for diaper-free-ness.

[rubelin]

I'm probably a good one to put in a bit on this topic. We started EC at 2 mo but didn't start going nakey butt until about a year, and that's just about when the infamous "potty strike" began )basically when bbes are newly mobile, working on lots of developmental stuff and are too busy for sitting on the pot, in cultures where EC is the norm, they jsut go on the dirt/tile floor, no biggie, but it's upsetting for us westerners with our wall-to-wall carpet)

I have to say, there were days when the messes made me nuts and I did have a limit of 3 misses and the pants/dipes go back on, to same me from getting all uptight and upset about it. I can say I can't recall many messes on the furniture (he peed on the couch maybe twice in a 1 year period), and he almost always told me either as he was going or right after. The other thing is that it is rare for an ECed child to hide when they are going, so the messes are right in front of you

The truth is, in hindsight, it wasn't all that bad and our carpet now is SO much worse from general toddler crud, spills, dirt tracks, "cooking" experiments, etc than it ever was during those days of early ECing.

Hope that shed a little light

[Mamaste]

Yes it did help, Robin, thanks. My DD is 20 months old now. While we're not ECing *or* potty learning, we're working EC-style to become more aware of her functions as they happen. She's gotten to the point where she wants to tell me and change poopies right away, and she's also beginning to be aware of when she's peeing and that it's more comfy if we also take care of that ASAP, too.

When she peed in her brother's room, I don't really think it was a case of the ol' traditional hiding potty-trainer -- it was more like she was simply dashing around the room trying to think of somewhere suitable to pee, since she didn't have a diaper on. (If there was any freaking out, it was on her brother's part. "Mo-ommmm! Gross! She peed on my carpet!") So I think we're on a good track there, too, not bringing in any of that guilt-obligation-hiding cycle.

Overall, though, I am still pretty ambivilent about letting her bottom "be free" in the process of helping her perceive her bbody functions ... I just can't seem to wrap my mind around cleaning up more than the occasional piddle puddle. : Any other words of advice?

[FreeRangeMama]

Well, my ds is almost 2 and we EC'ed from about 2.5 months. In the beginning I was not too thrilled with the idea of pee on me or my carpet so I kept him diapered if I was wearing him (especially if he was on my back-one warm trickle down my back was enough for me LOL) and over a few blankets if he was on the floor. Once he became mobile and was able to crawl off any blankets I put beneath him the carpet accidents became somewhat common. At first it was frustrating, but soon it wasn't a big deal. I guess we just got used to it, once you get peed on a few times you learn not only to pay better attention, but that a little pee is not really a big deal. What I ended up doing was buying a big stack of homemade diapers from the thrift store for $0.25 each. Whenever ds peed on the floor I would say "oh, you peed. Lets clean it up." Then we would go get one of the old dipes and mop up the pee. Soon he would pee and automatically get a cloth on his own. We also made sure to steam clean every 5 months or so (my MIL rents them from the grocery store for quite cheap and everyone takes a turn using it at their respective houses). As for furniture....our futon has been peed on a few time. I made an effort to put something under ds if I saw him sitting on it naked. That helped, as did just explaining to him that that was absolutely not the place to pee. During his potty strikes he was at least good about hopping down to the floor before peeing.
Sorry to ramble on an on, but I hope something was remotely useful.
Laurie

[Mamaste]

I'm actually thinking it sounds more doable for a true ECer during the early months than with a mobile toddler ...

Hmm ...

[HotMama]

We have wood floors, and a big wool rug in our living room, so it's not as much of an issue for us. I do want to try some poquito pants, which hold one "miss," but we're tight on money right now and I'm not buying anything. We use a single birdseye flat tucked into a little elastic belt, which is great for catching one missed pee.

[rubelin]

Mamaste, LOL at your son's reaction! I was also very ambivalant about nakey time, it took me almost a year to try it. By that time, we had extra little potties around the house and our place is only 3 main rooms (downstairs living/dining/kitchen, is all open, upstairs there's 2 rooms and the bathroom) so a potty was easily found, though he did sometimes go on the floor right next to the potty (totally exasperating!)