[Rainbow Brite]

Hey there, I'm just reading about this, and it sounds really interesting. I have a dd who just turned 4 months. We are currently using cloth diapers.
I have only read one article on ec'ing, but plan on going through this forum and reading as much as possible online.
I just have a couple questions. It's winter here, and we usually have the heat around 20-21 during the day. I think this would be too cold for a naked newborn, but don't want it warmer b/c I don't want to dry out her nasal passages and it gets too warm at 22. Are your babes all naked during the day? What about when you go out shopping or to ppl's houses- how do you incorporate ec'ing?
I have a sling, but mostly just hold her in my arms all day, how would I prevent us from both being covered in pee while doing the observation phase- or would I just keep changing? Most of her cloths are sleepers and outfits- how could we incorporate what we already have (w/out having to buy special outfits) with ec'ing?
Thanks so much!
This really seems like a great idea!

 

[JennInSeattle]

I don't know a lot about early EC but I know that this is popular EC wear for winter babies: http://www.theecstore.com/index.php?...products_id=97

That website also has articles that might help you until someone with more knowledge has time to answer.

Happy EC'ing!

 

[Daffodil]

When I was getting started on EC with my dd, I dressed her just the same way I did before EC. I used diapers and covers (or AIOs), with clothes over them, and I just took everything off when I took her to pee. It wasn't any more inconvenient than taking everything off to change her diaper (though I did have to do it more often than changing a diaper.) And any kind of clothing really worked okay, even footed sleepers. I didn't worry too much about using only stuff that was super quick to remove.

Then when the weather started to get hot, I started giving her more naked time. Some naked time or coverless diaper time is useful for observation purposes, but you don't have to do it for days at a time, or even hours at a time. A half hour or an hour here and there is enough to teach you a lot. And just checking the baby's diaper really often is almost as helpful. Do you have some kind of small waterproof pad - like the ones they call "lap pads" or the ones that are supposed to go in a bassinet? If the baby is bare-bottomed on your lap, you can put a prefold under her, with the waterproof thing under that.

When I was out of the house, at first I just used diapers and didn't try to do EC at all. Then I started to take her to the bathroom sometimes if it was convenient, and then, as I got used to EC and dd began to go longer between pees, it got easier and easier to do it away from home. I kept using diapers on outings until I was pretty confident we weren't likely to need them, and then after we stopped using diapers I would sometimes put a pull-on diaper cover over a pair of training pants if I was worried about accidents and didn't want any puddles on other people's floors or furniture.

 

[Hemiola]

Hi and Welcome!

I just made a fairly lengthy post at www.pregnancy.org with several good EC links. If you go to pregnancy.org's cloth diapering board, you'll see a thread called "Hemiola and your blinkie." I made a NIH blinkie for my sig and have had several questions about it so I'm trying to "spread the word" about EC

Good luck...this is a great way to meet the needs of your baby!

Laura

 

[rumi]

we went through all the same questions you posed .... our approach was really to do coverless as much as possible, which was mostly at home and only later out of the house. it is a very gradual process so take your time trying different things and figuring out what works best for you. i tried to get as many 2 piece outfits as possible so that i would only have to change the pants, but yes, we were changing a lot of clothes! eventually weather got warmer and our ec had improved by then anyway. but it really was a slow process and much of the time we were only catching wake-ups - then somehow we got a breakthrough. of course things may go more smoothly for you but my point is, even if it is slow, it is happening, and not to worry if you can't do it every day.

good luck

 

[Rainbow Brite]

Thanks so much everyone!!!! I'm going to check out that site soon. I didn't get to read anything on ec this weekend b/c we were busy!

Daffodil I think I'll start out exactly like you - with just reg clothes ect. I figure even if I don't get to do full ec, if I learn her signals and change her right away, at least she's not sitting in pee!!!!

Thanks again, you guys are great!!

 

[vegmom]

But we EC. DD#2 actually caught on really quickly. We have only been doing it for about 3.5 weeks and we only have about 3 misses in a day. Most of them are when she is sleeping and slightly wakes up and then goes back to sleep. DD#1 was alot harder to EC. But just wanted to let you know that it can be done in the winter. First few days we did have the heat up a bit and just had her in a cloth diaper and shirt but she soon caught on that we will give her an opportunity to go so she waited until she was out of her diaper to eliminate. I found at the beginning that it actually confused her to have pants on and we had more accidents.

 

[ewp11100]

My ds is 6 months and I keep the heat pretty low as well. I dress him in a long sleeve shirt and a LARGE pair of socks. I by them extra big and they fit like knee highs, they keep his leggs warm. If his bum seems to be getting cold or I have to put him down I put on a fitted cover less.

my $0.02

~Erin~