EC Update - 8 Months

This is going to be brief in the interest of getting something posted...

EC Update

* Age of EC tot: 8 months

* We started at...1.5 weeks, cueing from birth

* Generally speaking we are doing...very well. I have to think much less about EC. I can easily go all day without a miss, even if I'm out of the house.

* How do you know your baby has to go / when do you offer baby a wee?

timing: Poops - no timing - I either hear a gas, feel tightening of tummy or he is fussy. For pees, I'm not relying nearly as much on timing anymore, other than upon waking and when I leave and arrive anywhere.

signs: Easiest signal is that in the wrap, he pushes his body away from mine; Sometimes blows raspberries; Tightened tummy muscles; Squirming; Fussing; Crying (if we don't catch the other signs); Sometimes gas for poops. He has also responded to verbal questioning - I say, "Do you need to go potty?" and he gives a big smile.

* Is there a difference for poos and pees? More discomfort before a poop, so the cueing is clearer. Only one poop miss this month - I was on the computer and he pooped on the floor. I was so engrossed, I really don't know what signals he gave prior to the miss. He was nakey butt at the time.

* What cues do you use?

I say psshhh for both pee and poop.

* Which positions/receptacles do you use?

Insert for Baby Bjorn potty (with my hand in front to help catch the pee); sitting on the Baby Bjorn insert on the regular toilet with me holding him under his arms and squatting in front of him; sink or tub (with hand in front). For out of the house: peeing into a small wetbag with a prefold inside; the great outdoors (for this, I squat down and hold Elie with his back to my tummy in the basic EC position, so it's fairly discreet)!

* Nappies, training pants or other?

During the day: Mostly naked or Gerber or Under the Nile trainers while at home. When out, I use Poquito Pants, Little Beetle training pants.

Night: Naked.

* What are you doing away from home?

Training pants - Poquito Pants or Little Beetle with Babylegs as pants.

* What are you doing at night?

Pretty much always naked now. Most nights are miss-free, but sometimes I'm just too tired and am so tired that I actually forget about EC when he stirs and we miss a pee.

* Who takes baby to the toilet?

Me and Jeremy

* Catches or Misses - how many and what times are especially interesting?

Pretty much catching all poops now (see beginning). Missing very few pees - many miss-free nights and an average of 1-2 misses a day. We do have a lot of miss-free days. Most misses occur in the morning, when frequency is greater and I'm more tired.

* What's your next EC goal?

Work on helping Elie learn the pee sign. I do it some, but I usually forget...

* A tip for this age/stage?

Frequent pottytunities; go with all instincts. RELAX! I have the fewest misses when I think the least.

Dry Night

Elie was dry from 10:30PM (when I went to sleep and peed him) until 6:30AM! I don't know if he even woke to nurse - I only know he was dry because his pee bowl was empty in the morning.

It's getting to be so easy for both of us. I've been out of the house several times recently with Elie diaperless or even naked with no backups with me.

one miss

One miss again with very little effort!

Verbal and Facial signals

We had an amazing EC day today. We went to Lee & Jen's house in Greenwich for Jeremy's aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary. So Elie was in the carrier more than normal, but we only had one miss and that was with Jeremy first thing in the morning. At one point today, I said to Elie, "Do you have to go potty?" and he smiled at me and made his little psshh sound! And he went right away when I took him! I did that again for the rest of the times today that I sensed he had to pee and got the same response!! It's so amazing to me that he can understand what I'm saying and verbalize a response to me at his age. I guess not so crazy since babies already are doing sign language at his age or a little older. Unrelated, I think he's starting to make the sign for milk as well, but I'm not sure. I've seen him do it but not sure if it's necessarily when he wants to nurse.

I used a cotton Tushies diaper a friend gave me for the car ride. It worked well - I just opened it and stuck Elie's penis out the corner and he peed onto a cloth diaper. The only problem was that the stickiness of the tab was totally gone by the end of the day. I wonder if they do that on purpose so people don't reuse the diapers? Seems weird that they can't use better tape. Or maybe usually it just isn't needed and people prefer to be able to get them off easily.

36 Hours with no miss

We went about 36 hours without a miss - Saturday evening until this morning. Last night Elie didn't even need to pee all night. I guess he peed around 6am when he stirred awake because I was dry when I first woke up and realized I was wet soon after :)

Yesterday was so easy - Elie was in the wrap most of the day because we were outside and moving around a lot. He's been verbally signally a lot, both for pee and poop. It's so cute. He puts his tongue out a tiny bit and blows lightly to try to make the psshhh sound ;) I think he gave a verbal signal about half the time yesterday.

Outdoor Nakedness and Signaling

We just went to Union Market. Elie was asleep in my mei tei on the walk over and woke up just as I was about to go in. I took him out to pee him and found that he was only wearing a shirt! I've been wearing him naked or at least diaper-free at home and hadn't even thought to check before going out :) Not such a big deal while out, I guess, but it would have been embarrassing to have a miss in the grocery store since the pee would have likely dribbled to the floor without undies on.

Speaking of misses, though, I only had one miss today and that was first thing in the morning when we were lying in bed, me dreaming of being asleep LOL. I think we have the signaling down pretty well now. Elie has been consistently blowing raspberries (or at least doing something similar to the pssshhh sound that I make - I'm still not really sure what it means to blow raspberries, but I think that's what he's doing based on other EC posts I've seen). He also makes a noise (feels like an "aahhhh"-type noise - relief) AS he's peeing. Which isn't so helpful in getting the pee in the potty except when I miss the original signal and then if I hear the during-pee signal, I can say, "Wait" and move him to the potty to finish.

Going nekkie outside

Elie is completely naked in a wrap and I'm supposed to me Jer and Yoav (who are on a walk) for breakfast in 10 minutes so I'm taking him out naked :) I usually don't wear him naked in my wraps b/c I don't want them to get peed on, but I got lazy today.