Meconium happens. You know, that black, tarry poop babies have for a few days after birth? I was really hoping to make some meconium “catches” by using elimination communication from the start with Corwin. Alas, it didn’t happen :p We caught a lot of pees but no poops until it was the easier-to-handle yellow stuff 😉

Starting with a Newbie

I started EC with Galen and Honor within days of birth, so I set up to do that with Corwin, too. A big difference with Corwin, however, was making the commitment to go with cloth diapering from the start. I’d always used disposables the first few weeks with my other babies.

The cloth helped me be more vigilant with pottying in that first week – I didn’t want much wet to be against his skin.

I’d planned to do a lot of diaper-free observation with him, but that didn’t pan out as well as I’d have liked. Corwin was born at the end of January and we live in northern Michigan. Cold is an understatement. We heat our home with a wood stove, which is an enigma at times!! It keeps the whole house toasty warm (almost tropical!), but our bedroom stays cool. It’s like the heat is afraid to come in.

Since we were in my bedroom for Corwin’s first week it meant it was cooler. I didn’t want my newborn chilled, so we stayed bundled together most of the time, and I kept Corwin diapered. I probably could have kept him well-bundled being just on top of diapers, but since I wanted baby poop-free cuddles, we went with the newborn sized dipes!

This meant I mostly ended up pottying him based on timing that first week, and that went pretty well. My goal in those early days is to establish the cueing as just “part of life.” I don’t want to stress about anything at all – especially not pottying :p

Up and About

As we finished our lying in and ventured out front I felt more comfortable keeping Corwin dressed lightly (I was serious when I said the stove keeps the rest of the house tropical), which made pottying easier.

I’ll admit that I still haven’t really ever put him down and just watched his cues… he’s an in-arms little guy and I’ve been mostly consistent with diaper usage.

Corwin does not like being wet, however, and frequently starts fussing even before he goes. He’s a classic “easy EC” baby in that sense, but it’s not without problems.

At around 4 weeks old all my kids got colds, including Corwin. Then they got a stomach bug. Corwin never seemed “miserable,” but he did get fussy and he pooped at least five times a day for a few days in a row (more than the 1-2 poops he’d been having).

Before that experience he was pretty laid back. After that sickness he got fussy, and he’s stayed pretty crabby since then.

I was able to help him stay more content by increasing the number of naps he takes, but he’s still grumpy a lot of the time when awake.

Before he grumped only when I missed a hunger cue – or when he needed to potty. Since the sickness I miss cues because if he’s awake he tends to be grumpy, so he’s grumping all the time 😉 Again, adding in additional naps is helping that, and I’m thinking about getting some infant proboitics in case the sickness wiped out some gut flora.

But, overall, my goal is to try offering him the potty more frequently, even if I discover he has a wet diaper. And, as the weather warms up, I’m planning to go to split pants and diaper free, since we’ll spend most of the summer outdoors on our land – no more neighbors to stare! I’ll keep updates coming!

Click Here to read our diaper free adventure updates from Brennan, Galen, and Honor while you wait 🙂

Corwin is wearing L’il Baby Chaps from EC Wear – my favorite easy EC and diaper-free pants 🙂