Further proof that ECing is really about communicating with your baby and not about a perfect catch rate is our daughter's preference for missing certain wees.
In sticking with our gentle parenting philosophies we don't hold her in the EC position, even if we know elimination is coming, if she clearly isn't happy about it. (There is a difference between when she was first adjusting to being held in the EC position and found it strange, to her "I'm not in the mood for this now" communication.)
Usually she prefers to miss than catch when she is just waking up, particularly first thing in the morning. We know after a long sleep that she needs to go, and when she doesn't but we haven't caught on and hold her over a bowl or sink she calmly waits until we catch on, sometimes whizzing her head up and back to look at our faces with a little expression of "what are you doing? I don't need the toilet" and we catch on. But when she does need to go but doesn't want us to make a catch she will cry with annoyance, as if she is saying "put me down!" (well, she IS saying that!). We put her down, watch her wee in her nappy and change it immediately.
If we were more interested with catching than communicating we would disregard her preference for missing and continue holding her in the EC position over her tub. But all that would do is communicate to her that we either aren't listening, or don't care what she's saying.
My guess is that ECing at these times wakes her up quicker than she would like. In any case these misses are evidence of successful ECing, because she communicates her desires, we listen and respond accordingly, all a little wiser for the experience.
In sticking with our gentle parenting philosophies we don't hold her in the EC position, even if we know elimination is coming, if she clearly isn't happy about it. (There is a difference between when she was first adjusting to being held in the EC position and found it strange, to her "I'm not in the mood for this now" communication.)
Usually she prefers to miss than catch when she is just waking up, particularly first thing in the morning. We know after a long sleep that she needs to go, and when she doesn't but we haven't caught on and hold her over a bowl or sink she calmly waits until we catch on, sometimes whizzing her head up and back to look at our faces with a little expression of "what are you doing? I don't need the toilet" and we catch on. But when she does need to go but doesn't want us to make a catch she will cry with annoyance, as if she is saying "put me down!" (well, she IS saying that!). We put her down, watch her wee in her nappy and change it immediately.
If we were more interested with catching than communicating we would disregard her preference for missing and continue holding her in the EC position over her tub. But all that would do is communicate to her that we either aren't listening, or don't care what she's saying.
My guess is that ECing at these times wakes her up quicker than she would like. In any case these misses are evidence of successful ECing, because she communicates her desires, we listen and respond accordingly, all a little wiser for the experience.
No comments:
Post a Comment