Elimination Communication Support Thread

[bug in a rug]

I mentioned this already in the thread over in baby club - but it's still cropping up and I'm baffled. Before I put a nappy back on baby after play time (which is when we go nappy free) I offer him a couple of different ways to pee - standing up using a bowl, sitting on the potty, lying down in a flannel - nothing (and they're all ways he has liked to wee). Then I put the nappy on and get an instant wee. What is it about the nappy that makes him feel comfortable weeing, and can I make him feel like that without a nappy?
TIA

 

[grandbleu]

Bug - Sorry no answers for you as I'm a newbie ECer but hope someone pipes in!

We are having trouble too - We started off really well the first couple days and now I've only been able to catch on pee in the last 4 days....pathetic I'm a part-time ECer because we are out and about a lot so I'm not expecting to catch all his pees/poos but at home I offer him the toilet after naps, feeding, changing times and I'm getting nothing and if he's being held in the squat more than 2-5 minutes with no production he gets annoyed so I take him off...Feeling like a bit of a failure to be honest. Any suggestions about how I can catch more poops and pees

 

[Sam Pearson]

I mentioned this already in the thread over in baby club - but it's still cropping up and I'm baffled. Before I put a nappy back on baby after play time (which is when we go nappy free) I offer him a couple of different ways to pee - standing up using a bowl, sitting on the potty, lying down in a flannel - nothing (and they're all ways he has liked to wee). Then I put the nappy on and get an instant wee. What is it about the nappy that makes him feel comfortable weeing, and can I make him feel like that without a nappy?
TIA

I'm not sure you can or even should try to change what he is doing if he's comfortable. I'd keep the communication up i.e. when he does wee or poo, wherever that be, talk about it. Keep the communication up about your own elimination - patting over your bladder and saying the cue words when you have to use the loo and take him and let him see you use the toilet and talk about it. But ultimately, if he is preferring to use a nappy right now your choices are let him do that or remove the nappy out of the equation altogether. Perhaps choose a time when you have a day or two with nothing else on where you can leave him nappy free all day and see where that takes you. But never do anything that makes him feel distressed or uncomfortable or pressured to perform. And also don't put that pressure on yourself. It's not about the tally of catches but about the communication. When it's not a secret what the big people do eventually he will want to copy you and not use a nappy.

 

[Sam Pearson]

Bug

We are having trouble too - We started off really well the first couple days and now I've only been able to catch on pee in the last 4 days....pathetic I'm a part-time ECer because we are out and about a lot so I'm not expecting to catch all his pees/poos but at home I offer him the toilet after naps, feeding, changing times and I'm getting nothing and if he's being held in the squat more than 2-5 minutes with no production he gets annoyed so I take him off...Feeling like a bit of a failure to be honest. Any suggestions about how I can catch more poops and pees

It's often the case that the first attempts are more successful then it tapers off. I'm really not sure why but it's common. Don't loose heart. You are doing well. What you are doing is called toilet timing. It's a huge tool that EC Mums use - you' have observed the times he usually goes and are offering him an option of the pot. Eventually he will go and he will know that you are happy and hopefully will be encouraged to do it again.

I think 5 minutes is a really long time in the world of a baby so I would probably not wait that long unless he is really happy to wait, too. I waited 30 seconds because when they did eliminate it usually happened that quic and if they didn't go and I still held them they got cranky so I felt it was best to avoid that frustration for us both.

I'd keep up what you are doing (offering at those times) and I'd use clear cueing sounds when he does go (wherever that is) and I'd start looking for his cues. These can be sublte. Goosebumps on the thighs or shaking legs can mean a poo is coming. Going suddenly still or a faraway look on their face as if they are distracted by an internal feeling might be all you get. Try to pay attention to any sounds he might make before, during and after peeing - there may not be any.

 

[cheese lover]

So hopefully we're back on track. We got 2 pees in the potty today, first thing in the morning and before bath. Catching the pee this morning made me want to make myself a medal! Its really hard for me to catch her pee after she wakes up since she's usually so clingy after waking up.

I find that the more relaxed I am about it, the easier it is. If I don't catch it, no problem, we'll talk about what happened and try again next time.

Keep up the great work everyone!

 

[Macmad]

Hi ladies thought I'd update on you all on how we are getting on with EC. Think we are on about week 4 now and doing really well. I am offering her the toilet a lot more than more and I think it is paying off. We seem to be going through less cloth nappies and she has longer drier spells then goes on the toilet. I started putting her on the toilet while daddy runs the bath before bed, hoping to involve him to :thumb up: Well last night was the first time she peed before her bath after a week of trying :happy dance: so i was so pleased with her.
I keep doing the sign language for 'all done' but not sure if she understands me. My husband tells me I'm getting good at it though

Hope everyone else doing ok. Oh and here's a picture of madam having fun on the loo!

 

[cheese lover]

That is such a cute picture! I do the sign for all done too and she just smiles at me. I'm having a hard time determining when she's done because she loves sitting on her potty so much. Before she would reach for me and want to be helped off. Now she just sits there and smiles.

 

[serenas_song]

I am so hooked on EC! really can't imagine doing it any differently now. Quick question, my lo is 3 months now and I want to get her a potty for when she's starting to sit up a little better. Any recommendations? Baby Bjorn "Little Potty" or "Smart Potty"? thanks!

 

[cheese lover]

in hindsight I'd probably buy the smart potty. the little potty is what my LO has but its a pain to get the pee or poo out of because you have to dump the whole thing and then wash the whole thing. with the smart potty you just take out the little insert thing. She loves her little potty btw and will just sit there and talk with her mommy while going potty

 

[bug in a rug]

It's often the case that the first attempts are more successful then it tapers off. I'm really not sure why but it's common.

This is certainly true for us at the moment - my husband thinks it's fluke when I catch one. To be fair, if I hadn't seen it working so well the week before I would too at the moment!
I'm home alone with mini-bug all weekend, so I'm getting all my terry squares and flannels clean and dry and planning two nappy free days. Gulp.

I'm also wishing he had some clothes that aren't romper/dungarees or otherwise all in ones to make potty offering less cumbersome (and misses less chaos causing!)

 

[cheese lover]

Hey even if it is a fluke, its still less waste that's being produced in a diaper.
For example, the other night I was waiting for DH to put the final touches on dinner and LO started to grunt and passed a little gas so I took the opportunity to put her on the potty. Not only did she poo but she peed first! I couldn't believe it.

Funny story for you guys! Yesterday I went to nurse LO during lunch and the girls at her school told me a funny story. LO had her back to the mirror on the wall, was squating, grunting and watching herself poo in the mirror! They thought it was the funniest thing ever. So I explained what we do with the potty (show her the poo or pee, talk about it, put it in the toilet and say goodbye as we flush it) and they said, oh so she's starting to understand what she's supposed to do! and I said yeah and she was probably confused why she couldn't see her poo coming out

 

[bug in a rug]

aw - how cute. My mum says I had a phase of insisting on waving goodbye to my poos as they went down the loo... I'll have to remember that when the little one gets a bit bigger!

 

[RoxyRoo]

Hi ladies, I haven't been on in a while, I hope you're all doing ok.

It seems to be going well for us. DD is in a bit of a routine for using the potty now, we put her on it after naps, when changing her nappy and again before putting her new nappy on (after nappy off time) and also when it's been a while since she's been. She always at least tries to push a little wee out, even when she doesn't need one which is great

She's full of a horrible cold and cough at the moment so we haven't been as successful over the last few days, but I don't blame her. She looks rough

 

[cheese lover]

Isis now knows the routine of potty use. I've noticed if I don't take her to the potty when she thinks she should go she goes in her diaper.
I'm pretty proud of her, we used a pair of training pants yesterday and she was fine until we struggled with nap time and she peed in it while I was trying to get her down for a nap. It was great though, we only used 2 diapers all day Sunday and this morning she woke up dry even though I know she woke a couple times in the night. She's definitely making progress!

I worked on a prototype pull-up fleece diaper/training pant this weekend. I'm going to use snaps to add inserts so they can be pulled on and off easily. The patterns I found were too big. I really want it to be trim because LO is pretty thin. I'm also going to make some out of wool. I bought some old wool sweaters at Goodwill a while back and was going to make longies out of them but I also can make soakers with them and still make longies out of the sleeves.

 

[LockandKey]

hey ladies

Stalking this thread as I would really love to start EC with DD now that we are moved into our new apartment. Hoping I can buy her a potty tomorrow or sometime this week. Any quick tips on where I should start? Or do I just have her sit on it?

 

[cheese lover]

I started by having her sit on the potty first thing in the morning and before bath. If there are other times when you know she goes potty you can try those too. If she cries or doesn't want to sit on the potty don't make her. I also started watching for her to grunt indicating she was going to poo. I would run her to the potty when she would do that. Now she actually gives me a warning grunt. We celebrate every time she's successful and say something like "oh well, try again next time" if she's not. I let her look in the potty to see what she did and then we dump it in the big toilet and say bye bye while its flushing. She's started to clap now whenever she's done because we would clap and celebrate when she was successful.

DH and I were talking about it last night and how many diapers we're saving by putting her on the potty and he was all about it. He wasn't too sure when I first started but now he's happy.

 

[bug in a rug]

Mwa ha ha our nappy free weekend has made a big difference! It's like its clicked for the boy. He sits on his potty quite happily and done quite a few wees and one poo on it - and if he doesn't want to go he stands up (he's not some standing up prodigy, I support him from behind when he's sitting on the potty and he uses his head pressed against me to stand!).
I'm mostly using timing rather than being able to spot signs in advance - so after naps, feeds and if he hasn't had one for a while. Interestingly, there's been several times that I've thought I'll take him when we've finished doing something - and he's peed before I can, so I wonder if I'm picking up a signal I'm not consciously aware of yet.
Learn from my fail ladies! Make sure the tail of the baby vest isn't in the potty before you cue - or the whole operation becomes a lot more complicated... :/

 

[cheese lover]

Learn from my fail ladies! Make sure the tail of the baby vest isn't in the potty before you cue - or the whole operation becomes a lot more complicated... :/

We came close one time and now I make sure everything is up! We throw the legs of her sleepers over her shoulders when she goes potty in the morning.

 

[bug in a rug]

We throw the legs of her sleepers over her shoulders when she goes potty in the morning.

Cute and sensible too!

I am ridiculously excited having just taken off a dry nappy for the first time and cued for a successful potty pee

...the husband's on board too now!

 

[cheese lover]

she loves to play with the feet too!

I love taking off a dry diaper! Makes me realize that this is totally the way to go. I just can't believe that we're already getting dry diapers in the morning! We didn't today but we did yesterday.