Ec 101

[laralou]

Can anyone give me a how to primer on this? I need to know what clothes do they wear (just a tee?), what to do if you can't really let them pee on the floor, do you wear a diaper without a cover, how to teach them the cues, basically how to do this!

If there is a thread that already explains this, could someone give me a link?

I can't do this full time but I get frustrated now when I know they are fussing because they need to go and there is no way I can help them, so I would like to try it part time and see how it goes.

[bellee]

I am far from being an expert, but can tell you what I've done so far. I find that if you want to go diaperless but it's too cold or something, just put some strech pants or something of the like on them. There are actually really absorbant. none gets through to the carpet cuz you can tell exactley when the peed. I know alot of mom's chose to have babe go coverless but my babe won't sit still long enough for me to get the pins in. Your girls are sweet BTW. I give you alot of credit for trying EC with two! Good luck to you.

[loon13]

Here are some helpful links and threads:

http://www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm..._potty_training

http://www.timl.com/ipt/

http://www.freewebz.com/freetoec/index.htm

http://mothering.com/discussions/sho...threadid=44491


I am by no means an expert (have only been doing this about 3 months), but I am really loving EC, so here's my opinions based on my own personal experience:

I would first start out trying to find a pattern to their pees and poops. With my dd for instance, I found that she would generally wake up from naps and sometimes in the morning with a dry diaper, and would pee soon after that. We started EC part time just at those times.

If you know they have to pee or if they are already peeing, and you hold them over the sink/potty/toilet/diaper, make the cueing sound. When they start to pee, you can let them know "you're peeing."

As far as clothes, I generally like easy access. We keep our house pretty warm, so at home, I usually dress dd in just a long sleeve tee, socks, and diaper. When out and about, or when we dress her more than that, I like to have a simple shirt and pants. Easier to pull down, especially that I am now using fitteds for my active, crawling dd.

(I once did a nakey day with dd. I just spread out those mattress lap pads/waterproof covers for her to play on. It *really* makes you pay attention when they're naked. I found it far easier and less stressful for me to do diapers without a cover if I really need to pick up on her pattern.)

And above all, *don't get frustrated*! You want to be relaxed. You don't want the girls to feel any pressure. If you miss cues and the girls already have a wet diaper, you can simply say something like "oops! Mommy missed it. Let's get you a clean diaper."

I found the more obsessed I was about catching dd's pees, the less I caught and the more she protested. Now I'm more laid back about it. We catch what we can and use diaper back up, but if dd doesn't signal and/or I've missed a signal that she needs to go, she will let me know the minute she is wet. So she is definitely aware of her elimination.

Part-time EC is perfectly fine. You are still tuning in to your babies' needs.

HTH!
Good luck!

Loon