EC folks - come one come all!!!

[nurturinglovely]

So, can we start a question/answer/support etc...sticky??

well, if not - may this thread be it.


Matais is our first experience - but our 3rd boy. And we are loving EC!!

I want to write more but MUST sleep - so - if you are interested, please join the discussion!
:rockon

[knitlove]

:popcorn

I am looking forward to this.

:hey I need a flag to camp out.

[nurturinglovely]

sooooo...here i was - sucked into reading all the posts here, i missed matas' cues and i totally just got his butt explosion on my lap!! i had to laugh, cause - he's 7 weeks old, and in the 3 weeks we've been doing this, that's the first time i have been pooped on!! :phew :giggle

[Iarwain]

:raise Rosebud is my first ECed baby. I tried it briefly with Noodle but it didn't stick. With Rosebud we started at 2 weeks and it's going great thus far! We settled in to a rhythm that has been pretty consistent. We catch about half her pees or a little more and she only has 1 or 2 poo accidents a month. She's dry most nights unless I'm really, really tired and don't wake up enough to take her in the early am hours when she needs to go. Actually she usually sleeps in a fitted diaper with NO COVER. :jawdrop It's a whole new take on a nighttime diaper. It's been like this since she was oh, a couple months old or so.

[Mother of Sons]

I'm not currently EC'ing. We are trying some early PT though. was initially EC'd until about 8 months when she was hospitalized. I tried to keep going and did for awhile but eventually with her health etc, it was too much. It did save her from being cathed and bagged on 2 separate occasions!

I did EC with from 2 months on and he was potty independent when he was between 18-20 months old. It was great.

[shercurrie]

I don't know if I count... I guess what we do is a form of part time EC. I started putting dd on the potty at 6 months at each diaper change. She learned very quickly how to "go", and there have been stretches of time where I wouldn't change a poopy diaper for weeks. It has fluctuated a lot, though. Right now I am trying to find a way to step it up a little, without it turning into "potty training." She has recently begun signing for potty, but only while she's already on it, not to signal that she needs to go.

She also pees a LOT more than she used to, for some reason, especially at night. There was a stretch of time where she was waking up completely dry, after sleeping all night. Now, she's such a super soaker that I've begun using sposies at night. :bag

Anyway, that's where we're at. Hope you don't mind me joining in. :sillygrin

[blossomnatalia]

Well, Maya has been *potty independent* for probably a year now....(I don't know....it is such a slow transition).... She has been ECed from birth...and yeah...when you are on the computer talking about EC is when you miss all their cues :lol :giggle


I thought I'd join in even though I am not ECing right now.... Maybe I can still contribute. :shrug
I absolutely loved doing it and cannot concieve doing it anyother way... it was all soooo worth it.

[waterbaby]

No longer doing EC. I started with dd when she was 2 months...I agree with Nat...I couldn't fathom doing it any other way! Navae, have you checked to see if there is a local support group through Diaperfreebaby.org near you? It's great being around other parents who are on the same journey! :rockon

[mollobe]

We're at the very beginning stages of ECing with Ian. We make the cue noise when we hear/see that he's pooing, but we have yet to catch a pee. :/ I definitely need help with this - every time we've let him go diaperless to try to catch a pee, he only poo's! My quesion is, what are the tricks of ECing with a newborn? I know he's still very new, but I feel like we'll never get to the potty stage. :shrug

[mollobe]

oops, double post.

[waterbaby]

We're at the very beginning stages of ECing with Ian. We make the cue noise when we hear/see that he's pooing, but we have yet to catch a pee. :/ I definitely need help with this - every time we've let him go diaperless to try to catch a pee, he only poo's! My quesion for the EC veterans is, what are the tricks of ECing with a newborn? I know he's still very new, but I feel like we'll never get to the potty stage. :shrug

Is he diaperless all the time? It may help to carry him around with a prefold or towel underneath his bottom that way you can know right away when he pees. Right now is still the "observation" phase, so don't feel discouraged! :hug2 Once you learn his patterns, it'll be easier.

[Iarwain]

I took the opposite of the diaperless approach. I kept a diaper on her but checked it really frequently. I held her over the potty bowl after nursing and after naps. She was still in that stage where brand new babies go as soon as you take the diaper off so I took advantage of that and made the cue sound whenever she went. If we had an observation stage it was probably only a day or two. Later I started to pick up on her cues. Learning her timing was much easier for me than relying on her to show me at first. I was really surprised at how almost effortless it was. Perhaps we had it easier than most. I don't know.

[Mother Duck]

:popcorn I've thought about EC'ing since baby #3 but have yet to be committed :O I'll be following this thread with interest and hopefully learning lots :)

[mollobe]

She was still in that stage where brand new babies go as soon as you take the diaper off so I took advantage of that and made the cue sound whenever she went.

Ian has never peed during a diaper change yet! I keep expecting the "baptism" that everyone talks about from baby boys, but it has yet to happen. :shrug

[schmamy]

I took the opposite of the diaperless approach. I kept a diaper on her but checked it really frequently. I held her over the potty bowl after nursing and after naps. She was still in that stage where brand new babies go as soon as you take the diaper off so I took advantage of that and made the cue sound whenever she went. If we had an observation stage it was probably only a day or two. Later I started to pick up on her cues. Learning her timing was much easier for me than relying on her to show me at first. I was really surprised at how almost effortless it was. Perhaps we had it easier than most. I don't know.


OK, totally clueless about EC--what's "the cue sound"?

[shercurrie]

You make a "psssss" sound while they pee, and they begin to associate that sound with peeing. Then, when you put them on the potty and say "pssss", it triggers them to go. Same with pooping, only it's a "hnnnh" kind of sound, like when you're pushing. I know some people use slightly different sounds, but it's the same idea. Think Pavlov's dog. :P~

[crunchymum]

ooo, can i sit in? we're planning to EC this new little one... :rockon

[waterbaby]

I took the opposite of the diaperless approach. I kept a diaper on her but checked it really frequently. I held her over the potty bowl after nursing and after naps. She was still in that stage where brand new babies go as soon as you take the diaper off so I took advantage of that and made the cue sound whenever she went. If we had an observation stage it was probably only a day or two. Later I started to pick up on her cues. Learning her timing was much easier for me than relying on her to show me at first. I was really surprised at how almost effortless it was. Perhaps we had it easier than most. I don't know.


OK, totally clueless about EC--what's "the cue sound"?


most parents use "ppsssss"


ooo, can i sit in? we're planning to EC this new little one... :rockon


woohoo!! :rockon

[me]

What a great idea to start this.
I first signed up here and there wasnt much help for me then, I think there was maybe 2 moms here then that ec'ed so I had to kind of stumble around and ask for help from anyone that would read my posts :giggle even non ec'ers.....hey I was desperate.
I learned not to use the word "go" for a cue because I couldnt avoid saying the word in conversation with the other kids without the baby wanting to tinkle :giggle Same with the pshhhhh sound, she would confuse shhhhhhh with pshhhhhh. And I would just tense my tummy muscles while she leaned on my stomach to sign for poo and sometimes a soft pushing sound in my throat. That way our signs and cues were pretty discreet anywhere we were and they couldnt be confused with other day to day words and sounds. But thats just us and what worked for us.

I had a little one too that would hold potty when the diaper was removed. Maybe it was the change in temp, I dont know, but she is very mindful of releasing and has been since she was a newborn. I would nurse her with a towel under her and when she unlatched I would shift her off of me and talk to her in a calm, soothing, encouraging way. If my voice was excited or raised even a bit like when I would say "good!" she took it as not desirable. So I learned to reinforce her pottying not on cloth by using a soft voice. Then once she realized what she was doing was where I wanted her to go she would. But none of my kids pottyied during diaper changes or while they ate :shrug, which was what led me to find a way to let them potty (didnt know then it had a name) Oh, my son did once go during a diaper change when he was about 2 or 3 days old but only that time.
For me, I think with younger babies finding a way to "know" when they are going is key. Wether you do this by going nakey bum or by holding them so you can feel the warmth (1 reason I loooove wool, you can do that without getting wet). Once you know when they are going on their own timing then you can start teaching them cues. And cues dont matter either as long as it is one that you use consistently. When dd was 4 months she knew verbal and signs. I believe even blind and/or deaf babies can be ec'ed too :yes
And when my kids were even babies they knew when they were to use the diaper and when they could wait for me to take them. Like during car rides.
And one thing that sometimes moms dont realize is that being in arms sometimes helps them hold it a tad longer. If they want to be held while they wait you should hold them to help them make it to the potty. Or during car rides, often the crying baby in the backseat is protesting soiling themselves. I noticed with my third that she didnt go through the cry during car rides stage like the other two did because I would offer her the potty before and after the ride. If I forgot to offer we would have a crying baby in the backseat :shrug I think its just the uncomfortableness of the temperature change while going potty and the natural instinct not to soil ones "area".
Oh, and one cool thing I learned was that dd knew me as the person to potty her. So if dh held her as a baby she would hold her potty and fuss. Once I took her she would cue me that she had to potty (this was around 4 months old). So sometimes I would walk in the room and she would cry. Dh learned to hand her to me because she just had to potty. Then I would hand her back and she was fine. Somehow she had learned at that early of an age that she did not want to "go" on anyone! But that she could cue me and/or if I missed the cue she would just go and not cry.

I love ec'ing so much and there is so much more I could say. Like how foods and allergies can be detected easier while ec'ing. But for the sake of not hogging up time I won't.
I dont have any areas of GCM flagged for new posts but if anyone has any questions regarding Ec'ing and I happen to not catch the post feel free to Pm me. I know how it feels to have questions and with ec'ing timing can be a world of difference, and every persons tip or hint counts :yes you never know which ones will work and which ones wont :)

[blossomnatalia]

And one thing that sometimes moms dont realize is that being in arms sometimes helps them hold it a tad longer. If they want to be held while they wait you should hold them to help them make it to the potty.

That is why my dd lived in a sling. I would wrap her in a way that I could get her in and out without undoing the wrap at all....and she almost NEVER went on me... she could go for hours wrapped on me and when she signaled...I would have plenty of time to go to the bathroom and let her go.
That was great. Putting her down was harder to follow her cues. Not impossible, just harder.

[mollobe]

most parents use "ppsssss"


:yes and for pooing we use a grunting noise - which is really funny because DS actually does grunt as he's pooing and it sounds just like the cue! :giggle

[nurturinglovely]

So, ds is 8 1/2 wks – and enjoys ec enough to refuse too poo in a diaper…..but he is still really resistant to poop.

It is very frustrating. Cause, he will show his signals and then when I go to potty him, he just gets upset and it takes a few hours to get him to poop…


He always seems uncomfortable – like his tummy always hurts…


I feel like nothing I do helps…

It’s not dairy, we don’t eat it….he’s not constipated – afa we can tell; no chunks, you know?

Anyway – I am at a loss.


Help.


I am low on energy…. Having to deal with the other two ds fighting all the time doesn’t help.

[me]

]
So, ds is 8 1/2 wks – and enjoys ec enough to refuse too poo in a diaper…..but he is still really resistant to poop.

It is very frustrating. Cause, he will show his signals and then when I go to potty him, he just gets upset and it takes a few hours to get him to poop…
....



what position do you potty him in? :think and what position is he usually in when you see him showing signals?