Can't read her signs :-( Help!

537 Views 5 Replies 4 Participants Last post by doitmyselfmama, Apr 4, 2006

Fllwrabbit

Discussion Starter · Mar 29, 2006

I just started EC. My daughter is 9 months. I know it's only been three days but I haven't even caught 1 pee! I put her on after every meal and ever nap. She is too quiet in the morning when she wakes up so I can't catch her then. I use cloth diapers so I was leaving the covers off to monitor her. Once she went for a whole hour after a meal without peeing! I put her on the potty 20min and then 40 min after she ate -- and nothing... If I leave her naked she pees on the floor. I have carpet, so I know I'm not getting everything out! I can catch the poos right after she is done...I do recognize her "poo face" but it's too late by the time we get to potty. I got Baby Bjorn little potty and she doesn't mind sitting on it but nothing happens. I usually put her on it for no longer then 5-7 minutes. Do you guys have any suggestions? Thx a bunch!

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caedmyn

· #2 · Mar 30, 2006

Keep watching her and eventually it will click...even if you don't notice cues you will get some sense of her timing. I didn't catch anything at all for the first week after I started EC'ing my DD (3 weeks old at that time), and didn't catch much for a couple of weeks after that. It may even take you longer as your DD has been used to going in a diaper.

I usually only keep my DD on the potty for maybe 90 seconds and if she hasn't gone by then I figure she isn't going to, unless she is obviously trying (grunting and/or little poop drippys are coming out). Oh, and if you aren't catching anything right after naps, you might try again in 5 minutes or 10 minutes--I've noticed that as my DD gets older she doesn't potty until 5 or 10 minutes after she wakes up from a nap (she 3 months now).

Some common cues are: getting really wiggly, kicking like crazy, waving arms around, stretching arms out, grunting or breathing funny, arching the back...I'm sure there's others but that's all I can think of right at the moment.

If you don't want pee on your carpet, you can try putting her in a coverless fitted diaper or a prefold with a prefold belt--that will contain messes but you can easily tell by touch, and probably eventually just by looking at the diaper, when she is wet.

HTH!

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Fllwrabbit

Discussion Starter · #3 · Mar 31, 2006

Thank you for your response. I caught her once since. Purely accidently of course. I seem to always get her after the fact or just before. I guess you right about her being used to going in the diaper. I just need to be very patient. Thank you for your encouragement.

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ottermonkey

· #4 · Apr 1, 2006

since your dd is older i might try not to worry so much about catching them (try of course) but try to use a cueing sound when you notice that she is going or has just gone, i think she is probably old enough to use the sounds back to you...my ds is almost five months and recently started using sounds to let us know when he has to go (we've relied on timing and facial expressions until now...oh yeah and intuition...which is sometimes on sometimes off)...because you are just getting started she may not be giving you any signs so if you help her figure out how to tell you she just may.

good luck and happy ec'ing

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Fllwrabbit

Discussion Starter · #5 · Apr 2, 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by ottermonkey
since your dd is older i might try not to worry so much about catching them (try of course) but try to use a cueing sound when you notice that she is going or has just gone, i think she is probably old enough to use the sounds back to you...my ds is almost five months and recently started using sounds to let us know when he has to go (we've relied on timing and facial expressions until now...oh yeah and intuition...which is sometimes on sometimes off)...because you are just getting started she may not be giving you any signs so if you help her figure out how to tell you she just may.

good luck and happy ec'ing

Thanks for the tip. I'm working on sounds. I give her "psspsspss" for pee. I don't really have one for poop. I also sign potty whenever I put her on.
We've been doing this about a week now. It requires a lot of patience.
Anyway, one day I caught 3 pees almost in a row. I was so happy! Most days so far I don't catch a thing, I'm too early or too late

Though today I caught my first poop by accident, just set her down and she went. Usually I'm too late for those even though she makes certain "poop faces." She is just waiting for me to look away

It's nice that my hubby supoprts me in this or it would have been very tough otherwise. I'm going to try to be consistent and very patient

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doitmyselfmama

· #6 · Apr 4, 2006

A good "poop noise" can be made like this: take a deep breath in from the abdomen. Hold it, then slowly, using all your abdominal muscles, squeeze the air out of you nose. Does this make sense? It will produce a soft grunting noise, like baby makes while she goes. Added bonus, if you are holding her in a squat position with her back to you belly, she can feel your tummy tightening and may mimic you. I find this works quite well with ds! As far as signals go, raising the eyebrows, going quite serious when she was previously animated, suddenly stopping activity she's engaged in, a look of 'inner concentration' are some more to add to your list. Keep it up!

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