EC Journey End

It's been a while since we checked in here! Our daughter is only four months shy of 2 years now! ECing has been few and far between. She took to protesting strongly at the use of the potty, so we stopped offering the potty and have been using cloth nappies full time.

We keep the potty around and offer it to her at nappy changes or when she points to her nappy or says "poo" (she is fascinated with her poo, by the way), but a lot of the time she just wants to have a chat about nappies and poo rather than actually needing to do any or be changed LOL.

So we had approximately 6 months of full time EC success, another 6 of part-time EC and since around her first birthday we've been full-time nappy users :) I don't consider this unsuccessful or a waste of time. I think the insights I gained from our EC journey will help us when the time comes to re-learn how to use the potty and the toilet. We intend to EC the next child, whenever that may be and will resume blogging here when the time comes, but until then it's farewell from us.

The blog will stay here for all to read and hopefully it offers other families some insight into EC and the links provided will be of use :)

Peace, love & poo catching to all *waves goodbye*

Offer The Potty

I need a self-reminder! So here goes:

• If she pulls off the breast but I know her to be hungry or tired and still wanting to suckle, offer the potty, not the other breast.

• If she tries to pull off her nappy, looks down at her nappy thoughtfully or is just generally playing with her nappy, offer her the potty.

• If we are lying down to feed and she gets onto her hands and knees and begins to sleepily crawl/stumble away offer the potty.

• If she is "winging" for "no reason" offer the potty.

• If she is suddenly gets herself onto her hands and knees (or hands and one knee), stops, and is silent/concentrating offer the potty QUICKLY!

I think we might be back in the EC game, I think her new post-becoming-mobile cues are becoming clear to me.

Playing Potty

I’m starting to feel like we are getting somewhere again (I mean since her growth and development spurt which saw to an EC strike). We still can't see any signals before she wees or poos so we are relying on the timing method. I've noticed that the breaks between when she wees or poos when wearing her nappy have become longer. It's like she's holding on for the potty, she definitely prefers not to do it in her nappy if she can help it and it seems like she is developing the ability to do that (our baby is approaching 9 months of age).

To ensure she still eliminates regularly the way that she feels most comfortable we offer her the potty regularly minus her signals. Usually when she is offered the potty she uses it.

She also enjoys playing with her potty if it's nearby. She beats on it like a drum with her hands or a toy - potty's make a good sound apparently. I think allowing her to play with the potty in her own ways is a good thing because it becomes even more a normal part of her life. The playing familiarises her with it. We make sure that it is clean at all times (emptying and washing with detergent after every wee or poo) so that is safe for her to play with.

Another thing we have noticed/had a laugh about is how fascinated she is with her wee. On occasion during nappy free time on her playmat we notice her sitting with her legs apart, looking down and swaying her legs back and forth. Closer inspection reveals that she is swishing wee back and forth with her legs lol. We have always made it to the mat with a wipe before her hands have joined in on the fun....so far....;)

Crawling & EC: A Diabolical Mix

On the weekend I was helping our baby poo into her potty, when she finished I looked away for a second to grab a cloth to wipe her bottom with, and when I looked back she had leant foward and got herself off the potty onto her hands and knees. And just like that she (and the pooey bum I was trying to clean) crawled away. Her first crawl!

Since then ECing has been a lot more labour intensive. Baby rarely wants to spend the amount of time it takes to do a poo on her potty. She'd prefer to poo on the go, which is just not on in a house with carpet LOL. I'm finding that it takes a couple of "goes" to EC with number twos now. I sit her on her potty and she does a little bit, then tries to stand up or crawl off the potty when I know there's more to come. So we take a brief break, wipe, get back on the potty.

Despite being able to sit on the potty she still requires support. Sometimes she prefers for me to hold her over the potty. Sometimes she is happy to sit there with me beside or behind her.

I am finding that ECing a crawling baby does require a little more patience than ECing the pre-mobile bub. But we have no intention of stopping, it's just a regular part of our day now. And crawling in itself demands more patience from parents and can be a trial, but I'm not going to try and make her stop for my own convenience. Parenting just don't work like that! :)

PS. For readers who use nappies October 13 - 19 is Reusable Nappy Week!

I learned the following from their facts and figures page:

"Every disposable nappy ever dumped still exists today as they take centuries to break down.
Washing/hanging out/putting away nappies for a bub in cloth full time takes 7 minutes a day - less time than it takes to go to the store and return home with a box of disposable nappies...

1.375 Billion disposable nappies used annually in Australia and New Zealand
3.75 Million disposable nappies dumped every single day in these 2 nations alone!
3 Million trees felled every year to make disposable nappies for Australia / New Zealand.

50% of total household waste will be disposable nappies, in a household with 1 baby using disposable nappies full time.
7 times better for the environment, reusable nappies compared to one use nappies.
2 Tonnes of landfill created by each baby in disposable nappies full time.
1 degree hotter the average temperature of a boy's testicles in a disposable nappy - possibly related to increases in infertility and testicular cancer of the last 25 years."

What's That I see In The Potty?

But of course! It's a pee.

More Potty Pics

We've been using the potty for a couple of weeks now and it's going well. She sits on it by herself, and we sit by her ready to grab her when she tries to stand up to get off :)

We're still experiencing quite a few misses on account of her growth spurt but remain calm and happy with the process on the whole.

(Please excuse the up-chuck on her face in the pics, she likes to start off eliminating with a burp a lot of the time LOL).

6 Months Old & Using The Potty

Our daughter did a wee and a poo in the potty today. Not a big deal given that we have caught plenty of wee and poo of hers in the potty before. The big deal is that today she sat on the potty and did a wee.

Recently I've noticed she's been getting a bit heavy for me to hold patiently and calmly over bowls and sinks for too long. So this week while staying with friends who have two tots, one who uses a potty, we started trying out sitting on the potty.

I lower her onto the potty, still supporting her thighs in my hands, then let her rest her weight on the potty, with my hands gently touching her underneath her thighs, so if she needs help I'm right there. She eliminates, and then starts kicking her legs out and moving as if she wants to stand up. This is her way of letting me know she's done. I lift her back off the potty, wipe, and dress her again.

My friend's 23 month old actually brought the potty to us when he saw me taking off my daughter's nappy. And she pooped with two tots standing by, smiling at her and excitedly observing "baby potty" and "baby weeing, baby pooing".

In other news she cut her first tooth on Saturday! And she has now moved on to trying to crawl (complete with her 23 month old friend cheering "come on!")