When did you start EC'ing?

[Radosny Matka]

I am interested in possibly trying this with my son (dh is gonna think I really lost it). He is 8 weeks old, and I'm not sure when is the best time to try it.

[cornflower]

From everything I've read (all online) I'd think that you could/should begin immediately. We didn't begin until Wren was 6mos -- b/c I hadn't really done any investigation until that time. ;)

It was actually quite funny. I thought, "Aw heck, why not try it?" and held her over the potty. She began peeing within 10 seconds. My jaw hit the floor. About an hour later, I "confessed" what i'd done (I didn't tell DH about it 'cause I figured he'd think I'd lost my marbles) and said, "See, I just held her like this over the potty." <demonstrating> And she peed again and he got to see it. His expression was priceless. :mrgreen

Though, as I mentioned in another thread recently, I'm not an ECing purist. :O I always kept Wren in diapers and just caught pees when it was convenient. Now, poops, she's pretty much done in the potty (or on a cloth diaper in the sink -- when she was little! not now! :lol) from 6mos old on. She was a very obvious pooper, so it was easy for me to take her to the potty when I could tell she was working on one. Eventually she was signing potty to me -- pretty early on... 8 or 10 mos old, I think -- when she had to poop. (I'm still amazed by this!)

We cloth diaper, and just having her do poops in the potty has been a great help with diaper laundry. So I guess this is why I never really strove to get the pee in the potty also -- I was too lazy to want to rush her to the potty when in the middle of Costco or Target if she was just peeing. :blush

[Irene]

we started around 3 months. My dh was not into it at first but then saw how much I caught the pees and was pretty impressed. Cornflower that is SO AWESOME about the signing! I am getting impatient for ds to use signs with me :(

we keep ds in diapers most of the time except when I am lazy and just take a wet diaper off
, sometimes I dont run to get a new one ;)

[Mother of Sons]

nt

[ChristineG]

With my second, I heard about it at 6 weeks and started right away. This was a great time to start. With number 3, we started at birth. I can remember my midwife doing a home visit at 3 days and watching me take dd to the potty successfully. She thought it was amazing! This was an even better time to start. It is definitely best to start in the first few months. If you really want to try it, it will me much less frustrating and more rewarding if you start right away. The longer you wait, the harder it gets. Many babies stop signalling at around 6 months and if you haven't taught them to use the potty by then, it is more difficult because you end up having to 'catch' them going as opposed to taking them when you know they have to go.

With this baby (#4) I was too lazy to EC and regret it. She is now 15 months and I am trying to do it. We are doing okay, but, obviously, not as well as we would have been doing at this age if she knew to pee in the potty from the beginning. I am totally amazed at how quickly she is learning, though. I can't believe that we have all bought into the idea that babies have no bladder or bowel control until 18-24 months! It is so completely untrue. (Now, I am not advocating some stressful early potty training thing, but some gentle EC is fantastic!)

Anyway, my suggestion is to start today! It is so amazing and so much fun. Just, please, don't stress out. It is very unlikely that you will get to be so good at it that your child will be completely pottying by age 1, like you read about in other cultures. Our culture is not conducive to this, though it is definitely not impossible. So much of it has to do with keeping the baby naked. That way, any pees on the ground, considered accidents here on our carpets, would not be accidents in cultures where the ground is outside or dirt, for example. It would just be another place to pee.

[Irene]

well said Christine! I remember with my dd I would know when she was pooping but somehow thought it would be disrepectful or something to put her on the pot because the AP thing to do was to let them be in dipes until they were ready :( she had diaper rashes and it was such a fight.
:(

[Radosny Matka]

Okay, may be a dumb question, but what are the signs? Do they vary from child to child? What should I at least be looking out for?

[Irene]

not a dumb question at all! I think I would at first leave him diaperless, or a diaper with no cover, and then you learn his cues. like, oh okay, before he peed, he _____. Mine usually fussed and wiggled a bit. if he was nursing he would stop nursing and look up at me, and and I would have a little bowl or jar and cue him and he would go. Course, as I said mine was 3 months, I dont know about such a little one. Maybe it would be the same. which is why you would need to learn about him.
I think every baby is different. As ds got older and we did the hip carry in the sling it was easy because he would squeeze his legs together.

[ChristineG]

It is pretty much the same for a brand new baby. The younger they are the easier it is to read their signals. The most common one is a fuss and, definitely, most babies cannot nurse and pee/poop at the same time. You will notice them pop off or pause while nursing. The tendency is to just keep sticking them back on when you know they haven't finished, but with your newfound knowledge, you will know it is probably time for a pee.

Also, remember that newborns pee A LOT. We're talking every 15 minutes sometimes, especially after nursing. It is actually great because it makes learning their patterns much easier. I said before the we really regretted being too lazy to EC this baby, who is 15 months. She can go for 3-4 hours sometimes between pees, which makes it pretty hard to figure her out!

Gotta run! The Amazing Race is on!

[tui_song]

We started ECing when our ds was nearly 3 months old, as soon as we found out about it. I have had so many struggles with my dd over diaper changes, and am glad there is an alternative! I thought it was a good age to start because he had excellent head control by then, and was soon able to sit on the potty with help. I would definitely try as soon as possible if I had another baby though.

Cues/signals - a good one to look for in boys is that the pen*s sometimes gets a bit bigger when they need to pee (I hope it is okay to post that please delete it if not). I have found that very helpful with my ds. Also he gets very wriggly and sometimes complains when he needs to go. He will keep coming off when he is nursing (though he does that anyway). He often lets off gas or a little bit of poop when he needs to do #2.

[Jillian]

I wanted to start at birth, even planned on using my "placenta bowl" for night time! I tried it a few times, but didn't really do it regularly until 8 weeks. We're at the point where he's pretty much diaper free at home during the day. But use cloth when we go out and at night.

[Roma]

we started at 11 weeks, had a month break at 5 months due to hurricanes and broken washer, then got back into it. we also had somewhat break at 10 months with teething. i've done ec at night off and on depending on teething.