Urinal for night-time ECing?

[~Denise~]

Hi all,
I'm 32 weeks pregnant with my first, but I've lived in China and observed EC there, and am pretty interested in giving EC a try.

We're having a boy. What I REALLY want to know, and what I haven't seen anywhere in the books I've read or this forum, is "do you have to use a squatting position for urinating a boy, or can you use a 'urinal'" - I'm picturing a recycled pill bottle here. Every time I imagine assisting him in urinating at night or during breastfeeding or babywearing, it seems like it would be easier to whip out a pill bottle and aim his penis into it, then give the signal, than to lift him over a potty or bowl.

Does anyone do this? Any downside I'm not thinking of? Obviously for pooping a hovering position is necessary, but it seems like I might as well take advantage of his aimable penis when he urinates?

Thanks!

[Crunchier]

The downside is the poop. Newborns tend to do both together at every feeding. You would catch the pee, but you'd have a very messy lap. You may want to try a bowl or bowl-like potty (I have a little teeny chinese potty bowl) held in your lap under his naked butt while you nurse. I still use mine with Jeff at 10 months. Usually I sit up, undiaper, sit him on the potty in my lap facing me, he pees (sometimes he nurses in that position), rediaper, then go back to sleep, sometimes nursing lying down. It sounds like a pain all written out like that, but it's really no big deal at all.

Once the baby is pooping less frequently you could try it during the day. It would be handy for a baby who is upright and wants to stand, but for a little bitty one, it's easier to hold the whole baby wherever you want the pee to go, and for an older baby it's easier to park the whole baby on the potty.

[~Denise~]

Oh! I just assumed they urinated and pooped separately!

Hmmm. Urine I can handle. I'm a little worried about getting pooped on trying to balance a bowl between my legs though. This suddenly seems messier than I originally had in mind. When they're not in bed or breastfeeding, hovering over a toilet seems pretty clean, but does the bowl thing get messy sometimes?

Sorry, I'm clueless! :

[evansmamma2003]

I've seen threads in the past where mommies used empty bottles to catch nighttime pees. Of course, this is once the newborn pee/poop simultaneously thing is over. That happens around the 2nd- 3rd months. I never saw any comments on it being messy, either. They just liked the ease and convenience of it. Hope this helps, and good luck!