[mon_aranha]

I am having an interview with some students of my university that hopefully will accept to take care of my ds while I attend classes (2 hours, 5 times a month).<br><br>
They are students of infant education and may be interested on EC, even if I m sure they don t know about it (in Japan nobody knows about it) <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/greensad.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="greensad"><br><br>
What do you think I should say to encourage them? I will accept if they don t EC him, but just want to make them so interested so they ll try.<br><br>
Now my ds is 4mo but I will need them from his 6th month.

 

[cheery]

hi, not speaking from experience, but if i had to do this i would assume most college students have no significant experience with infants and no opinions on childcare either. So I'd just tell them, this is what we do. If by that age your ds has regular times / signals, then let them know that that is when he expects the potty. If you don't think they can handle taking him to the potty or if he doesn't signal much, you can simply ask them to change diapers immediately (they would know by sound or smell?) and at least once / hour unless he is asleep or something. I am really not sure what would be the best approach.<br><br>
But I do remember that as a college student when I babysat a 1 year old I avoided changing diapers but basically let him sit in his stroller while I studied in the park! He didn't complain and I thought, this is great! In retrospect I guess I just didnt have respect for the baby. You'll probably find someone way way better than me! good luck!

 

[lizabird]

Hi! When DS was about 7 or 8 months, we had a young woman come over a few hours/week. We told her about EC and she was really interested and thought it was really cool. So I would go ahead and tell people up front, and if they freak out, maybe you don't want to hire them... If they think they're wiling to give it a try, then go for it!<br><br>
When we went to visit family last summer, they were all very interested in the whole potty thing. They were actually quite amazed that DS would sit there and even sometimes pee/poop in the potty, and they still ask about it, so you just never know.<br><br>
-lizabird

 

[AmyB]

I have found that it isn't absolutely necessary to do EC all the time in order for it to work. We don't have a 100% diaper-free baby the way some EC moms do. Instead we do EC with a diaper back-up so we don't need to catch every single elimination.<br><br>
My first EC baby spent time with grandma and in daycare and with other caregivers who didn't put her on the potty consistantly but she still got the hang of it. I did EC with her mornings, evenings and weekends and she gradually got more and more accurate until around 16 months she was accurate enough so that I switched her into panties full time.<br><br>
For 2 hours of babysitting I would probably not worry about EC. I think your baby can distinguish between Mom (who has milky nipples and helps her go on the potty) and somebody else (who is kind of fun to play with, but just isn't as good as Mom).<br><br>
--AmyB

 

[tippie]

I agree with AmyB. Part-time ECing is a chapter in Infant Potty Training because, like AmyB alluded to, successful EC can happen without it being done 100% of the time. I believe they're still able to maintain their awareness of their elimimination control even if it's not done all of the time.<br><br>
We use cloth diapers as backup, and we're quite good at minimizing poopy diapers in the wash, which is really nice. <img alt="" class="inlineimg" src="http://www.mothering.com/discussions/images/smilies/smile.gif" style="border:0px solid;" title="smile">

 

[mon_aranha]

thanks! in fact my mum is staying with him and she also avoids the nappy/potty thing, but she cues him so it`s easy for him to go and cries less. It `s wonderful how babies understand that mum is bussy !