What is the best age to start EC?

[Evergreen]

I tried to EC with Dylan when she was 3 or 4 weeks old, but she NEVER made any signal as to when she had to pee. The only ones I ever caught were when she'd just finished eating or woke up from a nap, and I watched for any kind of cue at all, there was none. I could easily tell when she had to poop, though, but she hated being held over the sink. I now realize (thanks to this forum) that she did not feel enough. I want to try again (she is 7 weeks) but she takes over an hour (start to finish) to get a whole poop out and its a bit traumatic for her. Should I wait until she has better bowel muscle control and isn't pooping 10 times a day for an hour each time?

[ShannonCC]

I don't understand, what is traumatic? Don't do anything that is traumatic! If she doesn't like what you're doing, find something else! (or do you mean just pooping is what upsets her?)

We didn't start EC til 6 months old (I didn't really know about it earlier) so I don't have info on newborns, but I have a thought. You might need to find a different way to hold her. I know that most do the holding thing but my baby HATES that. He doesn't want to be held over anything. Instead, what I do is sit him down on a potty or on the padded insert. When we started I would hold him up so he wouldn't fall but of course, he sits just fine now. Not that I walk off or anything, lol! but I don't need to hold him up, yk? I still like to stay in physical contact tho, and play and have fun.

But maybe she would be better if you sat her on something? I've also read that some hold the baby reclining in their arms with a prefold under to catch a poop.

Also, you can start EC even if she's going in a diaper. You can put a diaper on without a cover so that when you feel the wetness, you can immediately say "psssssssssssssss. You peed/pooped! Let's get a dry diaper on you".

Good luck and I hope you figure out what works for you both

[Ahleemah]

baby's cues

The important thing is just patiently trying to understand your baby's cues. Babies *do* have the ability at least to "release" their sphincter muscles on cue, if not "hold" them, and some moms find that once they start EC'ing with some regularity, their babies will start to poop in fewer, larger installments. That was my experience, certainly.

HTH,

Ahleemah

[Evergreen]

Yes, pooping in general is traumatic for her, whether in a diaper or not. Sorry to be so vauge on that.

[NaturalMom]

We tried to start with Nolan at birth but he hated it, too. Screamed and cried, no matter how I held him - I had two books and had looked at several websites, so I had alot of pics to go by! So we quit doing the potty part but continued to communicate with him when he peed or pooped. He grunted when he pooped, so we'd grunt, too. We usually only knew he was peeing if he did it while we were changing his dipe. Then we'd make the 'sss sss' sound.

So we started again with the potty two weeks ago when he turned three months old. It has gone SOOO much better this time around! He's not so floppy and fragile, and we can hold him in a sitting up position on his Little Potty or hold him over the toilet (he prefers the Little Potty for pooping).

I suggest that you just keep trying it every now and then, until you daughter is ready. If she's not ready to actually potty for you, then just keep the lines of communication open until she is. That's what I'd do...