I haven't updated how EC'ing has been going in a couple of months because we've been so incredibly busy.
We took a road trip to visit family last month. I offered Galen the potty while we were on the road, though he didn't use it much. We drove for about 2 days with stops every 2 hours so Galen was in a diaper between stops.
When we actually reached our destination (my parents' house) I offered Galen to potty in the bathroom here and there but mostly I didn't worry about it too much. We had so many places to go and so many people to visit the trip felt like a whirlwind. The drive down was much more peaceful than the actual “vacation” lol!
We picked up on potty time pretty much as soon as we got home. Galen was happy to get back to using the potty and we had success with both pees and pooping right away.
One issue we had was with the way Galen crawled. He used sort of a “commando” style crawl to scoot himself along the floor. Since his belly was flat on the floor I think the pressure on his bladder would cause him to pee. That was very frustrating to us because anytime we put him down, he'd go!
Now he's moved on to a traditional baby crawl and he can sit himself up easily, so he spends much less time on his belly. He's having far fewer instances of just pee'ing while he's set down.
Last week I started homeschool lessons with Cassidy, Asher, and Brennan for our school year. I also started the year off with a bad cough and feeling like a train wreck! I decided to keep Galen in diapers while we got into the school schedule and I felt so bad. This week I've gone back to trainers and Galen has been doing really well.
I'd like to say that I'm one of those intuitive mamas who just knows when Galen needs to go. This tends to be true for when he needs to poop. But in general I'm still just going by timing with his pees. If it's been awhile since he's gone, I offer him the potty. If I'm going to be putting him down on the floor to play with a sibling, I offer the potty first. I offer the potty before and after naps and nighttime. For me just having a general sense of “its been awhile” is what guides me in offering him the potty.
I have greatly enjoyed the warm weather because I can keep Galen in a shirt with just trainers on. I don't think I'm looking forward to it getting colder and having to go back to pants! We'll probably use split pants again as we did in his early (cold!) months.
Nighttime has been somewhat of a step backwards. Galen has gotten to where he kicks and wants to be up a lot at night so we're swaddling him again. That makes pottying harder so I'm using diapers again at night, rather than just the undies and the mat I had under him. Once we've gotten good sleeping re-established, and I have time to get some sleep and feel like actually have energy again, I think we'll try the mat and undies. I really want to encourage Galen to potty at night (or stay dry at night) so I don't end up with more bedwetting issues.
EC'ing always has its challenges but then, so do poopy diapers. So all in all even though I don't feel a supermom with an intuition that senses every trickle, I'm very happy with how EC'ing Galen has gone thus far and I'm looking forward to continuing. Since I do use timing for most pees I expect that our set school year routine will help us have even more “successful catch” days – especially since Galen is now crawling and able to get himself into sitting position!
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hi there!
Thank you so much for sharing your journeys with your kids and e.c births ect. I found out that nappies/diapers where not necessity when i was about 12 years old as we had friends who ran the Rose of Sharon orphanage in India and their babies where all completely “trained” by 8-18 months but usually 12 months. Since I’d watched mama after mama struggling with a three year old trying to persuade them to potty and being very frustrated by it I decided then aged 12 that nappies where not for me.
Flash forward another decade and i found myself a married woman and my husband and i were expecting our first baby.
I knew i didn’t want to use the so called “traditional method” even though nappy/diaper technology has only been around since 1900’s (wikipedia) but i had NO IDEA where to start other than you made a noise when your newborn peed.
then i found your site when i was about 4 months pregnant; and i poured over every link you offered about most things! EVERYDAY there are very few links i have not explored on your site and i recommended it to other parents, by the time i was ready to deliver i was excited to try.
The labour was extremely long 68 hours from first contraction 3cm dilated and 55% effaced until 6 hours before the birth and it completely sucked- i had written a detailed birth plan and given a copy to all those involved which was not followed. E.c. and breast feeding came naturally to me though and we lasted on one nappy the entire hospital stay and i had no feeding problems so i was better able to deal with the devastation that was his birth. (it took five months maybe six for me to even feel a step in the direction of love for our son because of events that took place in the birthing suite but here is not the time or place to discuss it) but we have become a mama and baby unit now, bonded through breastfeeding and e.c.ing and day to day care.
Today our baby Edward is ten months old, hasn’t worn a nappy a full day in his life and rarely has any accidents. It’s funny to look back to where it started and realize that this was never option to me but I never wanted another option! But i never would have been able to if not for this site and one other, now i show other parents how to do this and support them in their e.c. journeys though my own is still going. So again thank you for helping me make it i can’t imagine having to potty-train a toddler. Blessings and much love Lana and Edward.