Loon's EC story.
(Note, moderators, feel free to edit my post if need be!)
We moved into cloth diapering when dd was 5 months, because she began to get rashes from both disposable wipes and diapers. Once in cloth, I was pretty diligent about changing her frequently. I *hated* the idea of her sitting in a wet diaper. (Fleece liners also gave dd a rash, so I couldn’t rely on them.) DD didn’t seem to mind though, and I sometimes found myself wondering when she would potty train if she didn’t mind wet diapers. (The only time I can remember her being at all upset at a dirty diaper was when she passed meconium in the first days of life.)
However, dd did mind diaper *changes*. She’s always been active and a wiggle worm from birth. So to be laid down and cleaned and changed when she could be rolling or sitting or whatever…she didn’t like it. Sometimes distraction worked, most times it didn’t.
I came across
Ahleemah's website on EC while browsing the MDC diapering board. I was intrigued and I even mentioned to my husband that there were parents who were already pottying their babes. However, I thought it wouldn’t work for us because a) dd was just past 6 months, oops! too late and too hard to start now; and b) she didn’t seem to care about a dirty diaper, so how was I going to respond to her cues or teach cues?
I simply tucked the idea of EC in the back of my mind.
This is how we started: Dd woke from her nap one day with a dry diaper. I knew she had to pee and I didn’t know what to do: put the diaper back on and wait, or leave the diaper off and wait. DH came in when I called and asked his opinion. He took dd to the bathroom, held her on the toilet, and made a “psss” sound. DD PEED! I was so shocked and amazed! That did it. I was going to try EC.
We started part-time: in the mornings upon waking, and after naps. DD often nurses to sleep, so it was a good, predictable time to “catch” a pee. We didn’t always catch one because sometimes she did not have to go. But when she did, I would make a cue sound, and tell her that she peed. I also tried to watch her body language. I saw that she would get a “far-away” look, as if concentrating. We started using a Baby Bjorn potty, too. Since she could sit by herself now, it was easier than holding her over the toilet and she seemed to enjoy having her own “little chair.”
I then moved to night time Ecing. Sometimes dd woke with a dry diaper, sometimes not. Since we co-sleep, I put some prefold diapers under us on the bed, and put a diaper on her without a cover. I found that when she woke and wanted to go back to sleep, she would nurse and fall asleep right away. But when she woke and squirmed around, even though she would eventually start nursing, that is when she would wet the diaper. I started putting her potty beside the bed, so that when she squirms awake like that, I can pee her and then nurse her back to sleep.
Most nights now she can go the whole night dry, but sometimes she’ll squirm awake at least once during the night and need to pee. I do still use a backup diaper at night because there is still the every once in awhile miss, where I think even dd is too tired to get up and pee. (Haven’t we all felt like that sometimes? LOL!)
I was still relying mostly on timing. Over the course of 3 weeks, even if we were out and about, I kept a log of dd’s daytime pees and poops for about 3 weeks. If she peed on the potty, I would note that. If she had a wet or poopy diaper, I would note that. I did start to notice some sort of pattern: she pees quite frequently in the morning, usually within 45 minutes of nursing or eating, etc. (Poops are not as predictable. She is not regularly on solids yet, and still breastfeeding, so she can go some days without a poop.)
I wanted to start tuning into my “intuition”. I really started looking for signals from dd, because by now (almost 2 months into this), she WAS realizing that she could tell us she had to go. One day, she was playing on the floor and suddenly stopped, turned to me and tried to climb into my lap. I asked her if she had to pee, took her to potty, and sure enough, she peed! Most times she will still do this.
Usually when out, I would just let her go in the diaper. But then I started carrying the potty in the car with us. I told dd, “If you have to go potty, let Mommy know and she’ll try to stop so you can potty. If Mommy can’t stop, it’s okay to go in your diaper and Mommy will change you as soon as she can.” We were going to a friend’s house one morning, so given her pattern, I knew she would have to pee at one point. About 10 minutes into the drive, I heard her squirming and fussig. I pulled over, took her out of the car seat, pulled down her pants and voila! our first “pit stop”.
Today at 8 ½ months, I still use a combination of timing and intuition, although I asm trying to tune in more and more to intuition and cues from dd. I’d say we catch about 85% or pees and poops. Dd definitely minds now if I miss a pee or poop, she lets me know right away!
Although we are not 100% diaper free or accurate yet, I still consider us a success story because we started when she was 6 months old and we are able to do as much ECing as we do. Also, we are getting better at communicating every day. I hope parents who are interested will at least give EC a try!
Loon
