Any Slacker ECing Mamas?

[dancebaraka]

Anyone out there like me who does their own slacker version of EC?

Talk to me! What do you do, How's it going, etc?

dd is about 6 months old and we catch most poops and also pee her in the toilet between dipe changes and when we get a feeling to. She almost always pees into the toilet. And she gets some regular naked-butt time. But we don't EC at all at night and except for when she's in the buff and those rare occasions she just has a clothie on, she almost always is straight up diapered...

So far, this is a great happy medium for us. I want to step it up here and there but TBH only if it is easy...
:

We certainly use less diapers than the average family, many times I go to pee her and she isn't even wet, but then will pee in the toilet. I also think she is benefiting physically and emotionally.

Anyone else? Or any Mamas that were where I am with it and it naturally expanded into something more??

TIA!

[Carlyle]

Doesn't sound to me like you are slacking at all! We have kept our dd in diapers TONS, and are only now starting to use pants without diapers at nearly a year old (since she's pretty on-it most of the time), and we still use dipes if it's been a while since she's gone and she's not interested in using the potty at the moment. I think it's all about doing what you need to do while staying relaxed...and having dipes on sometimes helps us stay relaxed!

[Arwyn]

We did almost 100% diapering until it just got too hard to do by myself - maybe 6mo ish? And we're only just starting to potty at night again, but that was his choice - it was good for the first 2-3 months, then he decided he'd much rather pee in his diaper at night, and now he's just starting to think he'd rather potty (like, he'll scream and flail if he has to pee, worse than he screams when we potty him - to me, that's "would rather potty" ).

I don't consider myself a slacker, but I do consider myself relaxed, and happier for it.

[runes]

we were super relaxed part time ec'ers (we started at 6 weeks). we mostly ec'ed at home, and occasionally did nakey butt time. at 18 months, we even hit a full blown potty pause and i thought we'd be in diapers for a long time still. in fact, i had just started researching which cd's i'd build her large stash in.

at 22 months, one morning dd refused to put on a diaper and told me "no diapers...PANTIES!!" and that was it. you could have knocked me over with a feather!! a few oopsies here and there but for the most part she goes both pee and poop on the toilet 100%. she is even dry at night, which is incredible to me because we did NOT do any nighttime ec'ing at all, and she was previously a super soaker at night.

so our experience is that even if you don't do full blown ec 100% of the time, giving our little ones opportunities to relieve themselves appropriately instead of soiling themselves really does sink in and it's worth it.

[Leilab]

yeah, I don't think you're slacking off, either. With our 11 month old dd, we keeo diapers on her all day but take her when she signs "toilet" or when she cues in other ways. She doesn't cue for poops (darn!) anymore so on "poop days" I definitely keep a diape on her.

At night she sometimes cues so we can take her but since she's learning to walk she's kind of all over the place. Oh. and we didn't take her to pee overnight until she asked for it. (we tried when she was younger but she didn't want to, so we stopped)

I hear babies/kids are the ones that expand their "ec repertoire" so I'm following her lead (and being ready to modify)

[emiLy]

Sounds like ECing that's working for you! I am so much more laid back about it the second time around, but I think I may be "catching" just as much, if not more. Who knows because I'm not counting and my memory is crap, but my point is, you're doing what works, A is used to peeing in a potty, she's working those muscles. Even if she wants to concentrate on other things at times over the next year, she'll always have these experiences and memories to fall back on. Any EC is great EC.

[dancebaraka]

Thanks Mamas for your votes of confidence and ideas!
:

I love the thought of just following dd and that SHE will be the one to expand the ECing... that makes this all the more empowering for her and takes the pressure off.

I appreciate your words!

[MommaGreenBean]

We do our own version... which is high motivation to catch poopies My 'goal' with EC is pretty much to just not have a 2yo who would be toilet trained but they're afraid to go poop anywhere but in their diaper. I just like her to be comfortable going in the pot and not train her that she only goes in her pants.

We catch almost all the poopies- I really don't think it's hygenic for her to go in her pants if I can help it

[lactivist]

I think this pretty well describes me. I just started EC with this babe and have been doing it for about 5 weeks now. It is actually going much better than I thought it would. She is always diapered and dressed but I just regularly change her diaper and give her a potty opportunity at that time. We don't do any EC at night. She seems to have a regular schedule for pooping so we have been doing pretty well catching most of those. I am just trying to be very relaxed about the whole thing as I have a tendency to obsess and be perfectionistic. It is going so well that even my dh is pottying her now and he wanted nothing to do with it.
Wendi

[L'lee]

We're also pretty relaxed but consistent ECers. I had read about EC while I was pregnant and we started on day 1, but after a couple of months of getting peed on (especially hard when I was asleep) and having more laundry to do than if we were washing cloth diapers regularly, we started using diapers all of the time. Every time we change a diaper, we sit him down on the potty (first "in position" over the sink, then alternating that with the BBLP on the bathroom counter because poop in the sink grossed us out but he still preferred the sink, then ~8 mos a child adaptor on the toilet seat because it's easier to clean up, and then ~12 mos just the adult seat because it was easier and he fit OK) We caught a lot of pees in the first 6 months, and gradually that started to decrease. I had more luck than DH but he's a good sport. Around the time DS started crawling, he went through what I'd call a potty strike - he pretty much never went pee for either of us unless he had just woken up (nap or morning). That has lasted until about a month ago when he started going more regularly. Mostly he is not cueing us that he has to pee, sometimes he'll sign "potty" when he has already gone, but once in a while he'll walk over toward the bathroom and look at me and I ask him if he needs to go potty (if I realize that's what's going on) and he signs or says "yah" so we go and catch a pee. Poop, on the other hand, has been more similar throughout - his poops are not at predictable times, when he has to go he looks at me or DH with a very concerned look, then grunts a bit, then starts to push and turn red. If we recognize the look and get him FAST we catch the poop, otherwise he goes some in the diaper and some in the potty. I think he's just starting to be interested in the process, so we had a diaper free day last week. I used a couple of Imse Vimse trainers and the rest of the time I used 3-6mo shorts (don't absorb much, just prevent spraying) and we had a pretty good day. He didn't want me to put his diaper on later! I'd like to do that again soon and often since he was so receptive. I left our BBLP in the living room that day and he enjoyed practicing sitting on it and peeing in it, but I need to figure out how to stop him from putting his toys in it! DS has had long stretches of dryness at night, but lately he's been quite wet at night, sometimes leaking through his diaper. I know I should be more proactive about taking him to the potty at night, but if I try to go before nursing him, he gets extremely upset AND he won't pee or nurse on the potty which can help him to pee (and DH wants to strangle me) and if I try to wait until after he nurses I'm already asleep.

[mamalex]

hey baraka...
i just wanted to add something that was basically a theme at the EC gathering we had tonight...and that is that it is KEY to remain relaxed about EC. so, being a slacker ain't so bad

with elie, i slacked for the first six months of his life- as in i knew about EC and changed him every time he was wet because i realized it was not cool to allow him to sit in wet/soiled dipes if we could help it. but still, it wasn't until one day (autumn equinox '04) that he clearly told me- without words as he was 5.5mths- he would prefer not to go in his diaper at all. from that day forward, i tried to meet that request as best i could- some days better than others. i developed a deeper communication with him because of it. when he was almost 2 and outa dipes, he decided he wanted to be more independent from mommy and daddy and needed to figure out for himself how to maneuver getting to the potty, etc on his own. so, i let go a LOT and watched him have more frequent accidents in his efforts to become more autonomous. EC taught me (like homebirth and now homeschooling) to trust the process, trust my child's lead, trust my intuition,...

[youmb00]

I'm doing almost exactly the same thing..

In fact, I'm probably even worse, I use disposable..I do try to use cloth diaper after her morning poop but sometimes that morning poop turns to afternoon or evening poop.
I started using disposable because she was having reflux issues at 4 weeks and since then I've gotten kind of lazy.

I agree to everything said above, relaxed attitude is what it's all about. I'm just glad I get a chance to understand her better. plus, it's probably not as stressful when it comes to "potty training" later on.

[BarefootScientist]

I guess I'm also lazy!

We are using diapers just about 24/7 right now. And I don't think there's anything wrong with that.

I think any EC that occurs will be beneficial.

[dancebaraka]

Hey Alexa

I had to miss the mtg b/c of dress rehersal for the show this weekend- can't wait to hear all the deets


Ah Mamas it seems we are all in good co with each other

ITA whatever EC that happens is ultimately beneficial...

I had thought that I waited too long as I was trying to finish my grad work during Akasha's early months, but she has picked up on things beautifully...

Our babes are wise!

[savienu]

DS is in diapers most of the time except when we are home. Oddly enough, I've found that he signals better with a diaper ON then when he's nakkie butt, probably because he doesn't want to be wet. So yeah, whatever works best for you!

[elisheva]

Whew - so glad to hear that we aren't the only EC slackers out there We go through spurts - ds will often poo in the AM right after he wakes, so we try then. We catch pee sporadically during the day - sometimes. I'm trying to keep him in a cd and babylegs when we're home (it does get chilly here in the winter).