This month we've taken a big step with EC'ing – Galen is going diaper free at night. It has been an interesting experience thus far, and a pretty good one 🙂 Now that our big kids are dry all night I felt a little more enthusiastic about working with Galen at night.
I began by laying a waterproof mat out on the bed, underneath where Galen and I sleep. I put a light baby blanket over the mat because the mat's material is kind of scratchy. Then I put Galen in his little trainers. I want him to have something on so our sheets don't get wet 😉
It's just been recently that Galen has been sleeping without being swaddled. I don't think he sleeps as well at night without swaddling, but the weather is warm (most nights) and I just think it's too warm for him to be swaddled. I also felt it was too warm to be bundling him into a bulky diaper, which is what prompted going diaper free at night.
Most nights Galen will stay dry through the night. I offer to potty him when we take him upstairs for the night (he sleeps downstairs near us until we go to bed). Then he'll often stay dry the rest of the night, but he pees almost immediately upon waking. So if I don't catch him quickly enough, he'll wet. Sometimes he wets in the night and I'll just change him and our mat when that wakes me up. I haven't yet held him over the potty when that happens but I probably should, so he will come to understand that he can go potty at night too.
All-in-all it's going well. We're using the same setup at naptime and he's dry through naps 🙂
In other elimination communication news things are going very well. Galen's little “potty strike” appears to be over in that he's pooping on the pot again. He's going several days between poops right now, though, which makes me a little nervous. He's working on getting solids in, nursing tons, and peeing a lot though, so I'm trying to assure myself that maybe he's just using so many nutrients right now there's not a lot coming out!
When I'm holding Galen I still catch almost all of his pees. However, when he goes down on the floor I get a lot of misses. I've noticed that putting Galen on his belly is generally the perfect way to get wet trainers! If I put him on his back, he rolls to his belly and pees! It's a little frustrating but I really think it's the pressure on his bladder. He's not crawling yet – just getting up on his knees and rocking. I'm hoping when he actually gets crawling down and spends less time on his belly maybe he'll wet less when he's on the floor. If not, though, I don't mind too much because I can easily change his little trainers.
He's in trainers pretty exclusively at home now, and still diapered when we go out – though I have started taking walks with the children with Galen just in trainers.
All in all EC'ing is still going well, and still pleasing all around. I feel more confident this month than I did last month. It's really an enjoyable thing to know that I'm helping Galen maintain awareness, and that I can cut down on our laundry and diaper use 🙂
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Congratulations!! We too have been diaper free at nights since about 10 mos with only a handful of accidents during illness and a high fever with teething. My son has always woken up because he had to pee. He’s just recently started sleeping through most nights at 21 mos. Some cues for me to help know when the bladder is full are lots and lots of tossing and turning and sleeping with his butt in the air. I still get up each night to potty and then take him also, but he generally doesn’t really wake up now. Much luck on your success!! We’ve been completely diaper free since he was 15 mos. We do still have the occassional oops when he tells me after he dribbles a little. We have always used the ASL sign for potty too and that has helped so much!!