Mothering Forum banner

Some observations and some logistical ???

890 views 5 replies 4 participants last post by  turquoise 
#1 ·
Hi! We have been doing EC very part time from 3 weeks old. Mostly I do timing, after naps, nursing, when she wakes with a dry dipe, etc. I can catch them best if I hold a bowl under her while she's nursing, but sometimes even that makes her mad and she fusses and kicks at the bowl like she doesn't want it there.

This morning she woke up just as it was time to take big sister to school (8:30). I scooped her up and she went with us. She was happy the whole time. She had last eaten about 6 or 6:30. I had last changed her dipe around midnight or so. When we got home I set her in her car seat in the window seat for a second. She started to fuss. I took her out of her seat and she did that little excited panting thing. When I picked her up she bobbed her head on my shoulder and started trying to scootch herself down from my shoulder to the cradle position. I'm sure you all have figured out by now that she was hungry! I knew from past experience that if I had tried to even remove her diaper so she could be over the bowl when she was that hungry she would have screamed bloody murder!! After she ate her nursing pattern changed and she pulled her legs up and grunted. A half second later she pooped. I've noticed sometimes in the morning she squirms in the bed if she has to poop.

Another time her diaper was only damp and cold when I took it off. I held the bowl under her while she ate and she didn't do anything. I took her in and held her over the sink and after a long time she pooped. I knew she had to pee, but she started fussing. I tried to encourage her, but she fussed louder, then cried. She finally went, but she was still crying. Sometimes she cries, then pees, then is very happy because she feels better. Other times she cries and I just can't keep her there because it feels like I'm torturing her.

At the grocery store I changed her when I had to use the bathroom. She was kind of squirmy and grunty and there was just a little poo in her diaper. I felt that I should try to poo her, but was too self-conscious with all the other ladies in the bathroom. Sure enough she pooped again after we'd left the bathroom!
:

She gets very angry with me mostly when I try to pee her. If she needs to poop she is pretty cooperative. It also seems to me she will try to poop every time I hold her over the sink, but even if she has to pee she will fight it.

I'd like to do a diaperless day just to see what her patterns are and to see what signals I may be missing. I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions for me or what you've tried, or how you know your little one has to go, or the logistics of your day. Do you take them every time you change them? Some of you take them on waking, but that just makes Ellie mad. What does your baby do when he or she needs to go? How do you know? Do you have enough time to get baby to an appropriate receptacle? I'm just confused as to how all this works. As you can see from my example above it's pretty clear when she is hungry. I can also tell when she is sleepy. She fusses and rubs her eyes and tries to hide her face. I have some idea of when she has to poop, but other times I'm surprised to see it in her diaper. I didn't realize she'd even gone. Usually I can at least hear it! I haven't got a clue how to tell she needs to pee, though, except if she has a dry diaper.

One mom said she took her baby before an errand, and before coming home, etc. Sort of like pre-emptive pottying I guess. Do others of you have babies that go pretty much whenever you take them? Or are they like mine and get really upset if you try to potty them and they don't want to?

Help! I want to do this, but I can't figure it out!!
 
See less See more
1
#2 ·
I'm pretty new to this too (only been doing it for 2 months now) but I'll try to answer as best I can:

I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions for me or what you've tried, or how you know your little one has to go, or the logistics of your day.
I think pees are more of a timing thing for us. If I'm a hair off in the morning, I'm off until her next nap. I potty her as soon as she wakes up, but in the morning she may pee 3 times in the first hour or so.

Do you take them every time you change them?
If she's only a little wet, I take her to the potty just in case it was a warning pee. She usually still has to go.

Some of you take them on waking, but that just makes Ellie mad.
If Trinity starts getting squirmy, I give her a moment but if she's getting mad I stop trying right away…potty time should be happy time.


What does your baby do when he or she needs to go?
Trinity is 6m, she will cry, kick her feet, or even pat the front of her diaper. (but she can do any or all of that at other times too
: so I try to potty her if I see her do it, but if she just got done potting I don't worry about it) although she's had diarrhea from antibiotics and there was one time when I took her from changing table to potty 4 times because she kept signaling that she had to go…and wouldn't ya know, she did!

How do you know?
Lucky guess? I try to watch her, but with a limited vocabulary it's hard to tell sometimes.
If she signs then I try, but thanks to the ladies on this board I stopped worrying about it so much and all is well now.


Do you have enough time to get baby to an appropriate receptacle?
Trinity does really well, I usually take her diaper off in one room and carry her over to the bathroom to potty, being sure to hold her on my hip or in my arms but avoiding putting her in a squat position - wouldn't want to tempt fate! DH was getting ready to hand her to me for a shower and he was holding her in a seated squat
and she peed all over him. Couldn't blame her though, she was in the bathroom and in the position!

Anyway, I hope this helps! HITH sounds like you're doing a great job!
 
#3 ·
Thanks!
That's cute that Trinity pats the front of her diaper! Ellie sometimes will put her hands in the way when I am trying to fasten her cover. I wonder if that means anything?

I tried to do a diaperless day the other day and I only lasted 3 hours! We went thru three lap pads, two changing table pad covers, two receiving blankets, a CPF and a shirt! I caught a pee and a poop and the two pees I missed happened after I'd laid her back down on the changing table after giving up on her peeing in the sink. The poop I missed was because she cried when I tried to take her because she wanted to keep nursing. She had a cloth diaper under her, but she'd turned her body so her bum was pointing out of the diaper instead of into it!
: After all that rinsing stuff out and it was hanging all over my bathroom I gave up for the day. I was hoping this might mean *less* laundry!!
 
#4 ·
Yes, some days are bigger messes than others . . . my diapers will be clean, but clothes, bathroom mats, and sheets all head for the washing machine
. It does get better though.

Liam might give a little cry if he needs to pee, but it is not a protest and is over after he goes. I don't try to EC him if he is upset. Sometimes I try to make him laugh if he is fussing, and that calms him down, so I know it is just the need to pee that is making him upset not the peeing itself. Now that he is a little older (almost 5 months), he will protest immediately upon entering the bathroom or buck on the potty if he doesn't need to go. I love that because I know that he doesn't want it, as opposed to needing to go.

It took a while to get to this point though. Sometimes I will walk him around for a few minutes and then try him again. If he is still not willing, then I drop the subject and if I think he still needs to go then I put a diaper on him. I used to get a lot of fussing too (not all the time, but enough) and pulled him off each time.

Now he generally won't fuss or will do his "song" (argghhhhhhhhh -that is what it sounds like) when he needs to go and is waiting for more. I'm trying to introduce hand signals for potty and "done", but his bucking and fussing are working for me right now.

I've never done a diaperless day, but have done diaperless hours. Now that he is moving around though, I'll probably do them less.

He holds it until we get to the potty. He is great. I miss a lot of pees, but if I get him early he will hold it.

Gotta go because mr. 3 yr old is awake - basically be patient with the fussing, make it fun for her and it will all work out.
 
#5 ·
I'm curious if anyone has any suggestions for me or what you've tried, or how you know your little one has to go, or the logistics of your day.

for us, it is timing, intuion and cues. definately after nap pees, also whenever she fusses i try the potty then try the breast. also if i get the feeling, hhmmm woner if she has to pee?, i just take her and usually she does. i have something she can potty into in every room, so a bowl or something is never far away

Do you take them every time you change them?

well at home (and now out too
) she didn't wear diapers much. i found that if she had a dipe on i was less likely to take her on those "i got a feeling times, iykwim ) when she did have a dipe on it was without a cover so i knew right when she peed and what she did just before the pee. also she didn't have to sit in the pee that way.

Some of you take them on waking, but that just makes Ellie mad.

i try at waking and if she doesn't have o go and starts fussing i just try again in a couple of minutes. i really feel that if a babe starts to fuss that their wish to stop should be respected, i do try to have toys around to distract her though.

What does your baby do when he or she needs to go?

mainly fussing type signals, sometimes she just stares at me too, kinda funny, she gets this blank stare

How do you know?

i always try if i have the feeling. i would rather try than get peed on and have to clean up

Do you have enough time to get baby to an appropriate receptacle?
like i said above i have something in every room, so it's not far away. also she seems to hold it until i figure out that she needs to pee.

now all of this didn't happen over night...we have been working at this for 7.5 months.

you are doing a great job !!!

maybe try more diaperless time.... the laundry really will decrease over time! i was doing a load every day there for a while, but now we hardly have any misses

**oops... this isn't kev it is his wife "bowentherapist"
i need remember to log in...
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top