Nakey butt toddlers on the loose

[pitchfork]

We EC our 13 mo old, started late, at 8.5 months, when he was already fully mobile.

Now he's walking, and I like to leave him nakey butt around the house, but we have two problems, 1)Now he is not always in my sight at every moment, and so I miss pees this way what do those of you with toddlers so when they are fully mobile and on the loose?

2) He is resisting being on the potty, struggling to get off, crying sometimes, and will get off and pee a few seconds later or go into a corner and pee immediately after getting off the potty.

He will sometimes say peepee, and then go, but won't let me put him on the potty, and sometimes will ask for potty, but not go.

Any advice from the more seasoned?

[ShaggyDaddy]

As far as resisting...

DS(20m) has always been more willing to pee with me holding him over the sink... The potty is for pooping.

He loves to pee in the sink.

[SuperMama]

:

[RockStarMom]

Also curious...

[rumi]

2) He is resisting being on the potty, struggling to get off, crying sometimes, and will get off and pee a few seconds later or go into a corner and pee immediately after getting off the potty.

sounds like potty pause to me!!

we really ought to have a sticky on potty pause: what was it like for you? i think that everyone has a much better time once they understand the potty pause.

[pitchfork]

thanks, I was wondering what constituted a pause and if we were having one. how do folks respond to pauses? educate me please!

[LeslieB]

Originally Posted by pitchfork

thanks, I was wondering what constituted a pause and if we were having one. how do folks respond to pauses? educate me please!

Speaking from the last 4 months of potty pause experience , I just kept offering the potty and catching what I could. It's hard not to get frustrated when you go through a day of missing nearly every pee or 3 days straight of missing poos that you previously caught 98% of the time. But you really do just have to shrug it off and focus on what you have caught. I think it's better to just let the pees and poos go, if your DS is getting upset. I think it's important that they don't associate negative feelings with using the bathroom. I'm learning that EC can be a very slow yet very rewarding process.
And oh yeah, DS loves to go pee when he's running around naked.

[Sherah]

I 100% agree with LeslieB. We went through such a long potty pause with my very active son and he is finally showing interest in using his potty again at 22 months. For us, the pause consisted of my son simply not wanting to sit on the potty for more than a few seconds. He still announced when he was peeing and pooping and even told us when he needed to eliminate, but he couldn't be convinced to interrupt play to sit on the potty. The potty pause started around 8 months. We began EC at @ 2 weeks. At this point, we catch some pees during the day and once in awhile, a poop. Between 4 and 8 months, we were catching 100% poops and maybe 75% pees. I think for some of us, EC is a much longer journey than for others, but I don't feel that this has been a waste of time at all and will do it with any other future children.

You asked about your son eliminating while you are in a different room. Don't worry about it. You'll find the pee or poop soon after or if he isn't already, he'll eventually run over to you after going and say, "Mommy pee pee" or "Mommy, poo poo". Before Arik started to tell me when he hadn't quite made it to the potty, I'd find his small messes and say, "Oh, you peed. Remember, we sit on the potty to go pee pee." Then, he'd help me clean it up. Soon, after peeing on the floor, Arik would get a towel and wipe up the mess without even telling me. Now, YAY!, we're at the stage where he says he has to go right before he goes. Or...he says he has to go when he wants a story read to him while he sits on the potty and doesn't go. Oh! And we've gone through many times when Arik sits on the potty for 5+ minutes, nothing happens, he gets up, and promptly poops on the floor! I think it's just part of the process.

Funny EC story from today:

Before his nap, my son sat on the potty for a little while after telling me, "Mama, pee pee. When a few minutes had gone by without elimination, I left the room to do a quick toy sweep. Arik followed me, holding his penis as if he was holding it in with all of his might. I noticed a few drops of pee on the floor, said, "Oh, you have to pee pee. Let's go sit on the potty." On the way back, Arik grabbed an empty cup off of a table, held it to his penis and peed into it! He's never done that before, but you see, even if our kids aren't always eliminating where they are supposed to, they still are aware of the need to eliminate, make us aware of their need to eliminate and have a certain amount of control over when it happens. Isn't that what we signed up for by choosing to try EC?
Good luck!

[pitchfork]

Originally Posted by Sherah

Arik grabbed an empty cup off of a table, held it to his penis and peed into it!

that totally cracked me up! how sweet! Sometimes I grab the insert from the potty and hold it under DS while he's peeing, but it mostly splashes everywhere. I also started trying pants with no diapers, they get wet (but hey, I'm washing diapers anyway) but it at least might save the furniture or rug from taking the full brunt of it. He hates diapers right now, wet or dry.

Thanks for the encouragement, it's making me feel much better. I'm going to hang loose with my runabout pee-er for now.

[LeAnnie]

This is a great thread. My ds is 15 months. We had a long peepee pause from 9-12 months, a return to pottying, and now a pause again, I think because of an ear infection/upper respiratory infection.

Anyway, he is either nakey or wears just pants. He is pretty good about telling me when he goes. Sometimes he will let me pick him up and take him to the potty to finish. Amazing-he can stop midstream with no problems. And who ever said babies have no control over this!

I have to work at this (the frustration of misses, cleanups,etc) but my main goal for him and me is to acknowledge that he needs to eliminate, preferably before, but during or after is ok. When he goes on the floor, I say 'oh-pee pee' as neutrally as possible, then we wipe it up. Fortunately, I have been able to let go of any sense of success/failure over misses and catches.

I do find unidentified puddles from time to time. Now that he has juice boxes for a treat, I'm never sure if it is apple juice or what The other day I spied a puddle and before I got a chance to wipe it up, our house bunny hopped over and started drinking it...That one was apple juice..

[MAMARUSA]

Originally Posted by Sherah

even if our kids aren't always eliminating where they are supposed to, they still are aware of the need to eliminate, make us aware of their need to eliminate and have a certain amount of control over when it happens. Isn't that what we signed up for by choosing to try EC?
Good luck!

I SO agree with this! IMO this is what EC is about, not catching so many pees or poos. Thank you Sherah for putting it in words so nicely.

[GradysMom]

We've been using Undies, Question...

opps..
read below

[GradysMom]

We've been using Undies, Question...

We were late starters, about 5 mo. Now Ds is 7mo. Is it possible to get started right away into potty pause? :

I have just started to read "Diaper Free" and so now I feel like I'm learning some key things... but I have spent alot of time over the last month dealing with refusal to sit on potty and fussing... peeing two minutes after he get off.

I am feeling very tired and frustrated which I can acknowledge is kinda silly... the clean up is really no more than with diapers. I just have a related question here...

We are using undies instead of cloth diapers with covers - for two reasons; first ds hates diapering and second I wanted him to start to be able to notice his elimination again via wet pants. I miss almost all his pees but I will notice, usually within a minute that he has wet his undies. I say something like "oh look you pee peed, lets go change you undies" and recently I've added a stop on the way to change undies to point at the toilet and say "see the toilet is for pee pee".

Is this about right or am I totally screwing my kid up? I think half my stress is that I might be screwing this delicate process up.

Should I be saying "look you are wet" and then use the word pee pee only when I'm pointing at the toilet or when we are cueing on the toilet?

I've been trying nakey butt and at night it seems to be going really well but during the day he doesn't seem to notice himself... I'm starting to think more is getting accomplished over night. He actually waits for a buckett or toilet and the cue and then potties himself no problem when he is half asleep.
But Undies seem to be best during the day, however I'm starting to think they feel like diapers and nakey butt would be best.

Great thread - suggestions please

[LeAnnie]

I always said 'wet' if ds had wet pants or clothing and 'potty/pssss' for times when we went on the potty. He learned the difference pretty quickly and now uses both words. Wet is sort of an after the fact observation, but acknowledging that is just as important as potty catches.

I try not to talk about potty after he has gone elsewhere. He will use the potty or ask me to help him use it when he is ready. If he chooses to go on the floor, then that is his choice. Sometimes I say 'If you tell me you need to go pee, then we'll go to the potty together'. They do understand a whole lot more than we think.

[GradysMom]

I just wanted to add that my 7mo is nearly a "toddler" here - standing and psuedo cruising so i figure my post belonged here

thanks for the thought on "wet"... makes sense

[Kokopelli-mana]

Yeah we had almost 100% success with poos and great success with pees up until around 9 months. Ds is 15 months now and still lets us hold him over the potty to poo (he even holds diarrhea in until we get him there!), but her prefers to pee where he wants to. After naps he'll still let us pee him, or if we catch him mid-stream, he'll let us finish peeing him, but usually he prefers to do this on his own. I chalk it up to his growth and independence and just use the psss sound or tell him that he should use the potty. I know he will soon be walking over to the potty and peeing in it, or maybe even grabbing cups like the pp said!
I agree with another pp - what's important is their awareness of their elimination. And ds has 100% awareness. That's all that matters to me right now.