Baby Talk | Living Outside of the Box

Potty Pause

Posted by livingoutsideofthebox on Nov 30, 2011 in Baby Talk |

I’ve mentioned before that we practice “Elimination Communication”, which means that at only a few months of age, our baby has used a potty, instead of only his diaper. Soon after making the decision to try “ECing”, we came across the book, The Diaper-Free Baby: The Natural Toilet Training Alternative, which was a great resource in giving us confidence to be be “part-time” EC’ers who aren’t overly obsessed about our child running around naked and never using a diaper. EC’ing has always been great for us! Well, at least for Ethan and me (I confess that my husband, Jared, has absolutely NO intentions of ever putting a baby on the potty, and while he is supportive, he will not do it himself. But I digress…)

On our trip to the states this summer, Ethan wore diapers (of course!), but he went a minimum of three days without even wetting them during our 12-14 hour van treks! In fact, he was less demanding than our older girls, who often insisted on potty breaks. Not to mention our 3 year old who seemed to have forgotten she was potty-trained at one of the most inopportune moments in Mexican Customs. I’m telling you, it is a COOL feeling to not have to change a diaper, and I was shocked day after day by his amazing potty abilities!

But, there is a downside. Our trip to the States set us back. I must have neglected to give my baby the potty attention he needed, and we all suffered for it. On the trip back, he had one diaper mess after another (literally), and it was not very fun cleanup! After all, I admit that I am spoiled to not have to change nearly as many poopy diapers as most moms!

And when we returned home, he absolutely refused to use the potty. He was 13 months old, and his constant refusal to to even sit on the potty really weakened my potty morale! I kind of let things slide…and would try it when I could…but he would squirm and scream at me!

I had already lent the “Diaper Free Baby” book (mentioned above) away, and therefore didn’t have it as a resource at home. Instead, after about 3 months I got on author’s Facebook page and begged for some help and advice to assist in my baby’s refusal the use the potty! They reminded me there was a chapter on the dreaded “Potty Pause” (which I probably skipped over, because it hadn’t applied to me at that time). They told me to keep trying, and suggested a few other options (such as teaching him to pee standing up…which I find to be an impossible thing to try to teach a baby, in all honesty)!!

Then, our friends from Discover Share Inspire visited us, and with them arrived a nasty bug that had everyone running to the bathroom for almost a week. It hit Ethan, too…and suddenly…he suddenly was willing to sit on the potty again!

So, 16 months old, and I can happily say that Ethan has gotten over his “Potty Pause”. Well, mostly. He now is very opinionated about whether he even wants to even try to use the bathroom, and lets me know immediately if he has no intentions of sitting on it.

Sure, he may pee 2 minutes later on the floor, before I’ve even put a diaper back on him. But such is life…

After all, no baby is perfect, right? Then again…this one is pretty close!

For those who experience a similar “Potty Pause”…don’t give up! You can get through this, too!

And don’t miss reading this book!

My baby poops on the potty…

Posted by livingoutsideofthebox on May 24, 2011 in Baby Talk, Uncategorized |

9 comments

No, really. He does. Doesn’t yours?

I don’t mean to brag…
but…
wait…
Well, I guess I DO mean to brag…Because, let’s face it, if YOUR baby pooped on the potty, wouldn’t you be bragging, too?

Ethan has been using the potty since he was just a few months old, and he is quite happy doing it! And I am quite happy that I rarely have to wipe a poopy bum!

As it turns out, there is a growing community of people who practice “Elimination Communication”, which is the art of learning to read your child’s cues, and communicating with them when it is appropriate to use the potty. “EC” people refuse to call it potty-training. But let’s get real…it basically is. When your child is young, you hold them over a potty, make a hissing sound when they pee (or a grunt sound when they poop), and they learn to make the association of where/when to go to the bathroom. They know the sounds, they know the positions, and they go without a fight.

After learning that my Brother-in-Law’s sister does EC, I got curious one day, and looked it up online. After watching a video of a mother EC her 3 DAY old baby…I decided it was worth a try. I took Ethan over to the potty, and sat down. He peed and pooped almost immediately!

Uh. SWEET. That was one less diaper for me to change!

So…it became a fun challenge. Sometimes it required a longer wait sitting on the potty with him, and sometimes he’d go almost immediately. I discovered he would typically do his business right after a feeding. So, I would nurse him, and take him to the bathroom.

Now, there are some EC fanatics that don’t put their babies in diapers, and let them run around naked, etc…until they are fully “diaper free” (without the need for one at all)! I am classified as a “part time EC’er”…which works just great for us. It means that I practice it regularly, but don’t insist on every drop landing in the potty. He was in diapers all day, but I offered him the potty after every feeding (at least). If he went on the potty–great! One less diaper change!

But I didn’t stress about it, and he still peed in his diaper regularly. However, we generally “caught” all of his poops on the potty. He would sit in his own little mini baby potty, which he seemed to like (Ella is sitting behind him to hold him up–he was probably only 4 months old in this picture).

Nowadays, we just use the adult potty (no extra washing!). Now, you’re probably wondering how you hold a baby over an adult potty. There are several different ways. This is one (also demonstrated by Ella…who probably was only allowed to do it this one time):

You sit on the potty (clothes on, silly!) with your back agains the lid. There is just enough room between your legs to hold a baby over the potty, and balance them quite comfortably! Another option is straddling the toilet the other direction, and holding the baby over (it works great until they get active enough to kick the seat). Boys are a little tricker to “direct” than girls…but still a breeze once you figure it out!

So…back in the days when I was preparing to have my first baby…I wandered across a website about EC. I didn’t give it the time of day. I saw a hippie looking Mom holding her baby over a bowl, and I laughed, pointed it out to a co-worker, and moved on. Seriously…who wants to walk around with a naked baby and a bowl all the time? Oh…how misinformed and judgemental I was! Now, 6 years later, here I am–having become one of those hippies!

At 10 1/2 months old now, he is doing pretty great. He happily pees when offered a toilet, and he always makes an effort to poop, as well (sometimes he doesn’t need to–but he knows to check!). We do not have to hang out on the potty for a long time. We sit, he does his business, and we are done. Many of his diapers in-between these potty moments are turning up completely dry, too…which is pretty sweet! It means that he is learning to “hold” it between being offered the potty! And did I mention that when a baby poops on the potty, there is almost no cleanup?!

Who would have thought pooping could be so cool?!

After he poops…I let him watch it swirl down the toilet drain, so both of us can cheer on his super-power baby abilities.

You should try it

The end.