The Growth Spurt Strike

EC has become a part time operation for our family at the moment. Since beginning the teething process our daughter's signals have changed and we have yet to catch-on to her new methods of communication. We are confident that we'll get back on track at some stage, but for now going part-time is what's working for us.

Experiencing a challenging period of communication with EC is sort of a blessing because it makes us look back and appreciate the times in the past that have been easy. I have also heard that it is fairly standard for babies to go on a bit of an EC strike during major stages of development such as getting teeth learning how to walk.

Tribal Baby Org Says:

Teething pain plays havoc with his signalling and level of cooperation.

Bilingual Baby Says:

That really threw me for a loop. I read on the Mothering.com EC forum about how teething can cause misses. As could starting to crawl, learning to walk, learning to talk, and any other developmental stage.

Dr Sarah Buckley Says:

Maia went ‘on strike’, coinciding with teething and beginning to crawl. She stopped signalling clearly and at times actively resisted being "weed." I took it gently, offering opportunities to eliminate when it felt right and not getting upset when, after refusing to go in the laundry tub, she went on the floor. Even on "bad days," though, we still had most poos in a bowl, bucket or the toilet.

Our daughter is teething, has just learned to sit-up independently and appears to be on the verge of learning to crawl. So we understand that it is completely normal for EC to steer off course for a little while. We are still making a couple of catches every day, usually based on the timing method (eg. holding her in position over a catching bowl or bucket when she wakes up, or after some time on one of us in her carrier). But we are having nowhere near the number of catches or good communication that we were having a month or so ago.

Having read the wise words of parents who have EC'd before us (as quoted above) we remain calm and confident about our poo catching future. In the meantime we are enjoying these growth spurts and watching our little baby blossom into a little person.

EC Moments

• At a hotel Daddy EC's bubba girl but doesn't quite get his aim on target and BANG baby poop gets spurted into the complimentary toiletries basket instead of the sink.

• Out shopping Mummy misses baby's cues and feels her bub wee into her nappy. Changes her nappy where she is and gets told off by a cleaning woman full of her own importance for not doing it in the change room. Mummy giggles to self about what cleaning lady might have to say if she'd noticed the cues and made a catch in the nearby rubbish bin?

• While ECing at home baby girl leans back and reaches up, she flicks Mummy's hair back and forth, mesmorised by it, and makes fascinated baby-talk sounds.

And coming soon: an article about ECing from a father's perspective and an article about ECing when parenting more than one child (my critics think I have too much time on my hands with one baby and I EC to fill the void, so I've asked another mother who EC's to write about it).