Peter was almost 3 months old when I last wrote about how we’re doing with EC. Since it’s been another 3 months, I thought it was time for an update. I’m feeling kind of long winded, so here’s the 3 to 4 months old update:
Diaper covers
I forgot to put a diaper cover on Peter when we went out one day (I hadn’t been using them at home for a few days). He made it to our destination and we went to the bathroom when we got there. After that I stopped using the covers while out too. Most of the out-and-about misses are when we drive and he is stuck in the car seat but we have to pull over anyway because he’s VOCAL about his discomfort with a wet diaper in the car seat!
Staying relaxed
One night Peter threw up several times in a row. In the following week we were having a lot more misses. I thought he had a stomach bug (but now realize it may have been reaction to my diet). I was getting upset with myself for missing his cues. I talked to my husband about my feelings and he reminded me that Peter was only 3 months old! We agreed to return to using diaper covers sometimes and learned from this experience that EC only “works” (as in doesn’t feel too hard/stressful/too much work) when you keep a relaxed attitude.
EC gear
We switched from using snappis to a prefold belt and we got a second potty so we have one in the bedroom and one in the main living area. The prefold belt lets me get the diaper off a lot quicker and having a potty close by means a lot less partial misses on the way to the potty. The second potty we got is also very comfortable for a baby. At three months old Peter couldn’t sit up but the shape of this potty helped him sit comfortably with little support from me.
New challenges
Peter got too big for the small prefolds provided by the diaper service and we had to switch to mediums. If we have a miss with one of them on, it usually leads to two or more misses in a row because they are very thick. (He pees enough that he can’t go more if I put him on the potty, but he will have to go again very soon.) I experimented with washing diapers at home so we can try some thinner diapers and we do seem to have fewer misses when he’s wearing a thin diaper, but we also have little puddles to clean up sometimes.
There are times when we’re almost guaranteed to have a miss, like when he rolls on to his stomach. I offer him the potty before we get down to play and if we have a miss I don’t worry about it at all. We switch the diaper and keep on playing!
Yes, ECing does only work if you can stay relaxed. After Jonathan was born, keeping up with Emahry’s pottying and his became a little stressful, so we simply relaxed on Jonathan’s end. Did he consistently use the potty as early as Emahry? No, but did it cause him damage to wet his diaper a little more? Not that we could tell. We still changed him as soon as we knew he was wet.
The same has been true for Eliya. Although we can’t take her out without a diaper and she’s not even diaper free at home, she does tell us numerous times each day when she needs to go to the bathroom so we try to focus on the successes as bonuses instead of worrying about the misses.
Ideally, we’d recognize every cue and take each child who would then go in the potty every time, but we’ve found that just isn’t realistic in our situation.
I’m glad you were able to adapt and find some new ways to make ECing work for you and Peter. By the way, do you know if prefold belts come in anything other than wool? I’m allergic to lanolin so we’ve never been able to use them. I do love our Snappis though and actually need to get a couple more since Eliya flushed some down the toilet
Marija also carries fleece prefold belts in her store! I can send you a couple Snappis that we’re not using anymore if you’d like them.
Make your own fleece prefold belt.
Very easy.
http://nooneewilga.wordpress.com/
Scroll down almost to the bottom.
Good luck!
Which potty was small and comfortable? My baby is 6 1/2 months old, and I’m not sure if a regular potty will be too big. But as I also have a 2 year old who is potty training (traditional) (so far we have been using the regular toilet for both kids — just learned about EC last week!), I am hesitant to buy something very small!
We have both the Baby Bjorn Smart Potty and the Baby Bjorn Little Potty.
The little potty is great for young babies. Peter was able to sit on it before he could really sit up alone. It just had the right shape to support him. Now he’s about 25 pounds and 31″ long and he still fits, but it’s getting close to being too small.
The smart potty is more of an oval bowl than round so there is more room. It is also higher off of the ground and doesn’t offer the same sitting support. One thing I love about the smart potty is that the bowl is removable from the base. We often take the bowl with us when we’re going in the car (too cold for him to pee outside right now). It doesn’t take up much space and it’s very easy to rest it in between your legs and have the baby sit on your lap while on the bowl.
At home we currently only use a potty at night so that we don’t have to leave the bedroom. We mostly just take him to the bathroom. The only hard part about taking him to the bathroom is holding all 25 pounds of him! My arms are getting very strong. We are thinking about getting a toilet seat reducer. Have you tried one of those? It might be perfect since you have the 2 year old, they can both use it.
We have one of those sesame street rings that sits on top of the toilet seat. It works fine if I put her (2yr old) on it, but I can’t see her being able to climb onto it herself — it tips up because it’s not a good fit for our oval shaped toilet. This is what we use currently — she goes on the toilet when I change her diaper and every so often, but it is not a great solution for independence.
When my previous daughter trained, she quickly learned how to climb on and just use the regular toilet seat (though I always worried, she never fell in!). Other kids used the type of potty that doubles as a stool. It finally broke after kid #4; I am happy because I always hated it!
As for the baby . . . right now I have just been holding him over the toilet or a little bowl (when I nurse him!). But I thought he might be comfortable on a little potty.
Which would you buy?
Hi Ita,
Sorry I missed this somehow! I recently started having an EC support group at my apartment and found out from another mom that the Little Potty is discontinued. This is the other potty we have, which I really like as I mentioned above.
Between then and now, I found and purchased a Baby Bjorn Little Potty online (even though it was quite difficult to find this discontinued product). As it turns out, my little guy (now 7 months) will not go on it (he waits for me to move him over the sink!) but my 2 1/2 yr old daughter loves it! I am hoping little guy will grow to like it as he gets bigger.
Thanks for your help! And if I need a second one for upstairs, maybe I’ll get the smartpotty!