I can't remember NOT doing this...

You know it's amazing when you start something and then before you know it, it is like you were always doing it. The other night our two big kids Eli and Ebony went to Nan and Grandpas house for a sleepover. Rand and I had a nice hot Thai soup for dinner and while he made it chatting with Logan I had a shower. As we ate, we laughed at how quiet it was. Rand asked if I remembered when we had no kids and it was quiet... and you know I remember lots of things we did alone, but it is truly hard to remember them not being here.

I know there was a time when I put on a nappy, and after enough time had gone, or Logan was going to bed etc, I would change it. Now I don't actually even really like putting a nappy on him... strange huh! I mean I did it that way for two other children,and not a single part of it ever seemed strange. It is really like not knowing something,and then once you know it, you can't 'unknow' it. I remember learning Dutch, and looking at others thinking it was like a bubble and I just couldn't wait to be able to get my head in. Then before I knew it I was in the bubble, and I couldn't remember NOT being able to understand what people were saying.

Randall said to me today, why do you want to 'toilet train' for so long anyway??? Interesting question, but easy to answer really. I'm not toilet training. That implies I am training him so that in x days/wks he will be able to take himself to the toilet and my job is done. My intention is just to care for him as I do with everything else. I feed him, put him to bed,bathe him change his clothes, clean his face after eating and toilet him. I simply give him the opportunity 'NOT' to wee or poo on himself if I can and it is possible. 'Hmmm" he said, OK,with a smile.

I guess in many ways it is a bit like the sign language (which we didn't do with the other two)and RB has come around to it, but sometimes still laughs and thinks it is funny and wonders why. He is a sponge and everyday learning probably a million new things, and one day he will  start to sign back to me. Then he will probably add signs at a phenomenal rate and away we'll go. Whenever that is -7 months to 10/12 months, it will be because of what I am doing now. I know that if I started then knowing what age he would begin, he wouldn't start that day cause I showed him.  It is a bit like this with the EC. If I start to unteach Logan to go in a nappy at 18months, there will be a delay in working that out and gaining control etc. AT this stage he is automatically learning that the toilet (or another apt place like a potty etc) is where we go,and I am sure he would already prefer to have a BM in that seated almost squatted position that standing upright (or laying as the current case may be) and pushing it against a nappy. For me the benefit is obvious, far less pooey nappys to clean, and a VERY easy bottom clean after. I am confident (even with any setbacks) that he will be somehow signalling to me (even if I am giving significant assistance to the process) between 12 and 18mths. Then it comes down to semantics as to when he is officially tted. He may not be able to have his clothes on and take himself when out without accidents till after 2, but hey what toddler doesn't have accidents and need help with the details? We will hopefully avoid any constipation issues or 'where does the poo go' question or concerns.

I love surprises. You know one thing with this journey, and the surprises can still be significantly small, but they are still awesome. I guess as time goes by they progress too. Although I daren't take a single toilet break for granted, it's a little something beyond my expectation that takes me by surprise and delights me. 

I guess I should give an example. The other night RB was home early enough to get out in the garden with the kids and plant a few more veggies in their patch. I had dinner ready and told them to come in in 5. In the meantime Logan woke up. I had put him in a nappy about 1/2 hr before he went to bed. He woke after about 45mins as expected, and was still dry (yep that still always gives me a kick everytime). I thought OK you must need to do a wee. Nope,nothing. I left him 10mins finishing up with dinner. Still nothing. Dinner was then done and going cold. I called them all in again to clean up. RB gave them a quick bath. I was starting to obsess... thinking if I put trainers on him,as soon as he sits at the table with us, he will wee... surely he can do one. I must have offered 3 more times in 10 mins or so... as I went for the last one I thought... what am I doing???? This is not what I want to do... if he doesn't wee now, we can just sit up, and be done. No wee, no probs, popped trainers on and up we sat. About 15mins into dinner (and he hasn't weed now for maybe 1 3/4hrs to 2 hrs) he gives us a bit of a grunt like he maybe want to go. RB and I look at each other and I jump up, and take him to the loo. To my amazement he was STILL dry, sat straight up and did a 1 and 2. Then came back to the table. After we finished I bathed him and put him in his night nappy. Night done...

Sorry it was a bit lengthy that story, but like I said such a surprise! I have now made (6) and altered (4) and bought 2 pr of training pants so I have enough for him to be on them during the day if I am at home. If I miss a wee in between offers, I just change his pants. One day this week he wore the same pair between 8am and 5pm, woke dry both sleeps and when we went out (for about an hr) I had him in a nappy which was wet when we got home. I missed a few wees in the am and after 5 another... but that is the closest we have come yet to a totally dry training pants day. In fact on Fri Vicki and the kids were over for the day.We took the kids in the arvo up to the school for a play. We were going to go just close by and decided after we left to go to their school. For the first time I took him out in trainers and just carried him in the sling. We were the only ones at the school. Logan had done a wee just before we left. I offered once we got to school and he went again.After we had been there for abit he did a pop off and I felt he needed to go again, bu had brought NOTHING. Vick said you need one of those doggy bags like people take when they walk their dog. Now interestingly they have them at school, so knowing we were alone, we figured lets see. Vick grabbed two (we needed 'wipes' LOL) and of course he did his business, I wiped his bot, and away it all went in the bin. Now maybe this is me getting a bit 'weird' about the whole thing, but in realistic terms... we were discreet, clean, if we had an 18mo training and they needed to go, I really don't know what we would have done other than trying to tell them to hold it. He atleast didn't go in his trainers (and believe you me it was not one you'd want to have to clean up) and we made the trip successfully home. Now Vick and I thought this was quite funny/amazing/clean and good. Unfortunately I think I have gone too far for Randall with that one. I certainly wouldn't have done it, if we weren't alone or it was during term... but if you're travelling I'm sure there are many people who have had to use the roadside or bushes and just tried to be as discreet as possible.

Anyway, to finish off... I am truly enjoying the journey. I was LOVING raising Logan before, but I think this has added a whole new dimension. I also hope that this is sort of teaching an oldish shall we say tradition to Eli and Ebony for their future.AND I love NOT washing out pooey nappies!!!!!!!! Yay!

Till next time, happy ECing. This long weekend I am enjoying some quality one on one time with each of my big kids. Ciao!



  

Oh oh oh, I think he is communicating with me...

Now as I have said before, as a result of starting later (than newborn/3monthsish) I missed looking out for his natural cues and as a result I think he has stopped doing them.This in turn means we have to start communicating a different way and learn together.

I think this week we have had a breakthrough though. Although Logan is not yet able to 'tell' me clearly with any sign that he needs to go, when I take him and if he needs to do a BM, he has started do the raspberry I have been doing to indicate number 2. This happened for a day or two, which I sort of noticed and dismissed.By the third day I was looking for it. He doesn't actually do it to tell me to take him, but whenever he has done a poo however large and even once just pop offs he has made this raspberry like sounds.It is quite distinctive.

More to the point he doesn't do it in general with relations to going to the loo,because if he just does a wee he doesn't do it. It is often even a little delayed from being first held in position. He usually wees with a BM, as all the muscles are relaxed, but a little less than a normal wee. If he starts the sound, I ask him and cue him. It has given me confidence to wait a bit longer than I would have, and invariably something has come out. (And I tell you -without being too graphic- one day they were pretty runny and I was sure glad I wasn't cleaning that off his butt and out of a nappy).

I guess I am going to just monitor this to be confident this is truly happening. It has been another growth in his/our learning though, and we have had great success this week with all sides of elimination. Now we need to continue with consistency and eventually that true communication to ask me to take him.That will be amazing. I feel very close to him and very pleased to be able to instinctively read him (sometimes) so well!

I have made 3pr of training pants now, plus the 2 ecaware I bought. I hope to have 12 or so in the end... so we can use them all the time at home. I have to say though I have made them so absorbent they take a bit to dry. The summer will be great because they will be able to turn around quite quickly. I am just putting 2 layers of bamboo now although the first one has 3,and I am making some seperate boosters so they can be dried seperately. I will start going through my nappies now too I think and see which ones I can sell. With the training pants I don't need my newborn prefolds so much although they have been invaluable 1 wee catchers!

Well this one was just going to be quick, so better make tracks!

The journey has more clarity...

You know I truly feel I have grown as an ECer! I can imagine some mature ECers reading the start of my journey and either thinking... hmmm she is going to try too hard,or she's too planned and set on goals. I have read and learnt more both from online and my little gem of a boy 'Logey Bear'. I truly understand what people say when they talk about starting out with it being about toilet training or whatever and then realising it isn't about the toilet it is about communicating with your baby and the bond you share.I think it strengthens the bond that much more. I have developed in my thinking and realising it is not about the 'catches' or the 'misses' for that matter... nor the 'stats' on how it is going. (Although I have to say when I started it was SO AMAZING,and I was so pleasantly thrilled by the whole concept, I could not help but keep some stats. Even it this was just to believe this couldn't just be luck!) I have officially relaxed into it and stopped counting.I have also come to terms with the fact I know there will be some potty pauses,and some days or weeks once he starts to crawl or walk etc that he may seem to be too busy and have difficulty relaxing. I must remember not to stress!

Now in saying that, I think we have had such a fabulous success rate with wees over the last 5 days it is soooo cool! I love to think he can wear a pair of training pants for a few hours or the same nappy on and off for 3 or 4 hrs with all the wees caught,wake up dry,another wee and away we go. The mornings are tricky with 2 other children,trying to get them ready for school etc, and he wees much more regularly in the morning after waking. So I usually get one, miss one, get one, miss one,till school, drop off. He has certainly got both the cue 'chsssss chssss' and the position down pat!

Fri I started taking him outside,which i never thought I would do. I didn't really like the idea with my other children, so why would i TEACH it to my baby? But again I have come to realise again it is about communication. Logan is getting to rely on the fact that I will take him to the toilet. Invariably even if I have missed a wee,I still offer. He can often still do a pretty decent wee. He can't stop wee if his bladder gets past a point (we know this isn't developed yet) but he can certainly (if relaxed) release the bladder at will. As he grows and develops and his 'holding ability' improves (and he has held up to an hr or just over while awake and even longer counting sleeps.) even the mornings will be easy. BTW, he LOVES it outside at the moment. I have the potty sitting out there at the bottom of our big step and I sit on the bottom step,hold him in a comfy position and aim for the potty. Makes it easy if he does a number 2,and he visually gets the picture that the ideal goal is to wee in a specific spot.

I know one of the fears people have is that it is very time consuming. I have to say although it probably is a little more so than just leaving him in a nappy for 4hrs or so... it really isn't that bad. By the time you take out sleeping in the day,he is only really awake for 10/maybe 11 hours a day. An offer takes a few minutes. He either goes or he doesn't and you move on. If you notice a miss in between I just change the insert or nappy prefold. I mostly save the nappys for going out now,because at home it is easier to have something small that holds a wee and quick to wash and replace. I haven't finished all my trainers yet as I decided to buy some propper PUL, some bamboo fleece, elastic to make drop front ones and some plastic studs and stud pliers... so just waiting on their arrival. Will be much easier to just change pants or a little bamboo filler in them when required. Anyway, my main point is that it doesn't stop me doing most of the things I am doing. Someimes I set the timer just to 20 or 30 mins,so I get a little reminder. I find this handy if I am busy doing things at home.

Marnie and the girls came around today.It is so nice to have someone who knows exactly how you feel and where you are coming from. Also to be able to freely do what you want to with someone around, because it must seem strange to some people if they see you taking your baby to the toilet/potty etc. I don't have many people yet I would feel that comfy to do what I want to in front of them.It is also amazing the great puzzle of life, the poeple that come in and out of your life because of different things. I wouldn't have ever met Marnie if it wasn't for EC! I bought 2m of PUL for the training pants and Marnie went halves,so she collected that today. She too has decided some trainers at home would certainly be handy! We even enjoyed some yummy little mango and lime tarts, as it is Elis birthday today...8 yo, and he loves this tart, so I made a bigone for his b'day cake and a few littlies as spares.YUMMO!

Oh and one last thing to finish my post... I spoke to Nanny tonight when she rang for Elis b'day. I have been meaning to ring her, and just had to ask about tt and nappies etc from bringing up mum and the gang. Mum has 10 brothers and sisters and I knew there were no disposables then so cloth it was. She said that she always bought a new set of cloth for the baby and then the older ones passed up to the next baby, after you'd feed them you would 'hold them out'... YES 'HOLD THEM OUT". This was in her own words. I was surprised to hear it. So I confirmed and repeated, and she said yes that's right.I said that is what i do,after feed and after sleep and she said yeas that is the most common times, 'that was what they taught you to do'... hmmm I thought, no one teaches us to do that anymore. She said when you don't have many you can do it more and put more time,as youhave more children there isn,t as much time and you let them train in their own time. (Still making these general offerings though)She said some were early some were late. I said some are not training them till later nowadays, maybe 2 and a half... she laughed and said oh no, my longest one was still done before then.

This was my first real contact with an older generation, and my family what's more, that certainly did basically what I am doing. She said if you have the time then why not? Of course it didn't have a name because it was the norm and was even partly the way they were taught to look after their baby!I wish people were given this basic knowledge so more babies from younger ages saw and experienced the potty ot toilet so it was the norm before they had a chance to think about it. She did say some did it from birth but she felt that was a bit much.In hind sight I would have loved to of observed my newborn giving clear signals and possibly started around 3... but I am happy with our progress and know that whatever the case, going to the toilet will certainly be something that is just 'normal' to Logan and there will be no specific transition to speak of... it will be a matter of learning control and then independance. He will probably need my help up to 18mths/2 yo and even longer for wiping or clothes maybe when we are out etc. He will still have accidents to this stage and beyond. But I am saving money, I will and already am slowly washing less and less nappies and eventually wipe very few poos off of a bottom that has had it mooshed against it. Yay yay yay, what mum wuldn't LOVE this!!!!!

few days wrap up...

You know the old saying the 'simplest things in life are often the best'? Well I have to say there has never been a time more appropriate than right now for this very phrase. I am not sure when I will come to terms with the fact that this is actually real.Now I appreciate the fact that this sounds a little extreme,but I think my point is the that it seems too good to be true. I was telling a girlfriend today about my journey so far,and she understood that this is just a simple teaching and learning curve with a baby,much like any other part of a babys life. I commented on how dad asked me how I knew he needed to do a poo... the fact is I DON'T yet always know,or not always in time anyway. And she commented how do you know when they need to go to sleep???? The real issue is you read their cues, and when you first become a parent you're not necessarily all that good at it... but you get better. (Really we are both learnng together).

Vicki commented the other day about how good it was to have made some friends who have walked the walk,as I can 'see if it works'. I have come to realise there is no see if it works... Will all babies learn to walk? Of course they will, some at 9months and some at 18months but if they are physically capable,they will learn.All babies will learn to go to the toilet, if they are not introduced to the concept till later they don't get the opportunity the begin the journey.

The one thing I know for sure,he is already getting the idea/ better than he was 3 weeks ago with simple things.He can hold his wee a bit longer.If he needs to go,he will. truth is he'd prob go if I cue him or not,but I find cueing him good in case I need him to go somewhere 'different' to the norm.I need him to have a clear sign that it is ok. I remember flying home to my parents with Eli around 2 yo and newly toilet trained.We were on the descent,and he needed to go to the toilet.The poor thing was desperate,but I had Ebony in my arms,and no way they would let me get up and take him to the toilet.I had to put a nappy on him and tell him to go in the nappy. I envisage in the future a similar thing happening,once he gets more control. If he gives me a look,which I know means 'I need to go',but it is not a possibility,I may need to cue him to go in his nappy????

I have had many more successes with him going to the toilet,and by now you don't need stats or how many per day.For the purpose of EC none of this is relevant. I offer him regularly and he goes if he needs to.I miss both,but we get plenty. There are a few occasions at this stage that stick in my mind.

1. On Sat he woke at 9:30am and I was taking the big kids to taekwondo.I offered him the loo but suspected he had just gone. I continued to get ready,and offer a couple of times in between...by 10 to 10 we had to go.I whipped a nappy on and away we went. I took his top hat potty.Once we got there I dropped the kids (5mins late) and then parked and jumped in the back of the car. I took his nappy off and it was still dry! Yay! Then he proceeded to do a nice big wee in the potty, I put his nappy back on and in we went. Fab!Knwing how regularly he goes in the morning I was sure he would go on the way.
2. Today after lunch with Michelle, I had to go and pick up the kids from school. We were home by 3:30pm.I put him on the potty and he went. I put a clean nappy on and at 4 he went gain,and his nappy was still dry. That was great,he went to bed by 4:15 or so.Once he woke,I went straight in, unzipped his sleeping bag and took off the nappy... still dry. Of course it was just after 5:30pm by this time.Then I offered again at 6pm and he didn't need to go, but was still dry. So same dry nappy for 2 and a half hours... so far that's a record!!!! Yippeeeee!

HAPPY 6 MONNTHS LOGEY!

Oh yeah,happy 1/2 a year Logey. Logan is 6 months old today, 9/9/10.Amazing how time goes!

sewing machine almost out!!!!

Good couple of days. Logan is going in a variety of different places (as in the two different pottys and the toilet. I missed two poos today,and although I am trying not to beat myself up,he gave me clear clues both times which I suspected and was ust too late. I was making a coffee the first time, and I DID stop frothing and go down... but unfortunately he had already done it. The next time was after dinner after a bath. I was expecting it, I didn't put him in his night huggies... he was in the bouncer towards the end of dinner (he had spent most of it on my lap as I ate... eventually I put him down . He got crankier and crankier and then went quiet.... darn it.I should have picked up. I guess we are both learning tho,and every time it happens I trust my instinct more and more.

Told my hairdresser Nadia yesterday about EC and what I am doing. She's great, and I knew she'd be someone happy to hear me rattle on. (Thanks Nadia) To whatever extent you do it,it really is one of those things that the more you think about it the more sense it makes. I love realising that Logan is learning everytime he goes that this is normal and what we do. I do feel like it is not that what I am doing is strange,... as a friend said,it is 'just the way we do it around here'!

I have almost 7 pairs of training pants cut out ready to sew... will get the machine out tomorrow night!Can't wait to start using them at home during the day.They will be easy to get up and down and the leg warmers are perfect to give us access and yet keep the leggies warm.My pairs from China arrived today.They are fab and were an abs. bargain. Worked out to about $3 each delivered I think.So I have plenty of pairs now and we are living in them all!

Great day on the journey of ECing Logan.

I received my toilet seat today,my top hat potty and my split pants. Yay!Fitted the seat after picking up the kids from school. Seats quite nice but will probably be even better when he is a little older. The holes is not quite as small as the padded insert and he could fall though if I wasn't holding him well.

We had great success with sitting on the potty in other places besides the boring toilet,like in front of Tom and Jerry this morning with the kids. We had caught 3 wees and the start of a poo before heading off to Vicks. I knew he needed to do more poo,and unfortunately in my rush to get out the door after the gym,I didn't do a final offer,so as I suspected he went on the way. We had a couple of successes at Vickis (of course she had to see him in action...which I 'totally get' cause it STILL amazes me!) and a few more at home, he was essentially naked or in a dry nappy until bed at 5.20pm.Then even after his sleep I don't think there was more than a dribble in it...

I would say today was one of our most successful yet. (Certainly as far as wees go, and his ability to hold and go as I offered). I think we had about 7 wees and 2 poos and a decent miss of course. I can say he certainly seems to wee a lot more regularly in the morning. Today certainly showed me an ability to hold on. From a new nappy at 2pm, then a dry nappy and a wee at Vicks at 2:30pm before I left, to a dry nappy when I offered just before 4... and then another big wee...mummys impressed!!!! I am getting the picture that if I over offer in the arvo he probably will get cranky... wouldn't you?

On that note I think I need to go back to my cuppa and hubbys (Randalls) fathers day Toblerone!

Monday 6th September, I meet Marnie and begin on the training pants.

Well today was lovely.I met Marnie and her beautiful girls Erin and Hayley. I think we barely stopped talking the whole 2 hours, but I did get to enjoy a lovely cuppa and some gorgeous fresh banana bread (Thanks Marnie!). Logan was eager to look at and interact with Hayley as they faced each other on their tummys a little like beached whales.(Maybe more Logan than Hayley) they were both quick to turn onto their tummys once placed on the ground.

I needed to hunt for some more long sleeve tops that didn't button up in the crotch (although they use to be my fav. sort) as it is easier to offer the loo without having to take too many layers off at home. So I ducked into Marion (Westfield) and did that on the way home.Then without my pattern and remembering what I could from the instructions and cutting out the pattern for my OneWetPants,I stopped in at Spotlight for my fabric. I found they had some bamboo wadding which should be really absorbent (based on my fav. fillings for the MCN), plus flannelette and polar fleece was 50% off, so for $20 I think I got enough gear to make maybe 10 pairs... time to get motivated!

We broke the wee drought from the weekend and he seems to be happy to go again. I make a point of never seeming stressed or like I am pressing the issue,it is literally just an offer. He knows then if he wants to... he can go.Anyway, we still seem to have show bags and their contents and toys scattered all over,so time to tidy and get organised for dinner.

The Journey Begins

Hi,my names Kirsty and I have 3 beautiful children.Eli (will be 8 in Sept 2010) Ebony,who has just turned 6 and Logan who will be 6 months on Thursday 9th Sept 2010.Before Logan was  born,I had decided that this time around I  would use Modern Cloth nappies (MCN). I knew it would create a little more washing,but hey lets face it with a family of 4/5 the washing never stops anyway. I looked at all the beautiful differnt sorts that were available and started to buy some on special throughout my pregnancy. This gave me a variety of different sorts, both sized and one size fits all!

When Logan was about 4 months I started to introduce some solids.It occurred to me one day how convenient it would be to me if he could let me know he had had sufficient. I asked Eli to google 'finished' in sign language. Then I discovered you had Australian and American etc. This led me on to decide to introduce some baby sign language which would potentially help with communicating with Logan while he was still pre-verbal. I decided to follow the AUSLAN dictionary,although it does vary slightly from state to state.

I was aware that by using cloth nappies a baby would be more aware of being wet or dry and this could potentially lead to earlier toilet training. When you are washing nappies, this is of course even more incentive that this may well be the case.Again, I considered how I could incorporate the sign language with early training.I figured if he could tell me through sign he needed to go, then maybe by 1 or so we could think about beginning.

One Friday night 2 weeks ago I thought maybe I would 'google' early toilet training or 'toilet training with sign language'. To my surprise I discovered Elimination Communication (EC). Funny the things in life you get a glimpse of but don't really see,because the timing just isn't right.18months ago one of my best friends (Vicki,hope you don't mind me using your name) and I went for a fabulous holiday to China. We walked the great wall, did kung fu with a Shaolin Monk and had some massages you'd die for,but one of our most memorable experiences were the 'split pants' or 'kaidangku' that the babys/toddlers wore.We were so fascinated (and yet uneducated on the whole story behind them) we even looked out to capture the image as a highlight of the trip.

SO back to EC.Of course I have come so far and learnt so much in the last two weeks it is amazing. To the extent that I have even shopped for where I might (in Australia) get myself a pair of these split pants!I discovered that outside of us westerners (although some are rediscovering something that has been lost over the last 2 or 3 generations... the the extent that it now has a name,when before it was common place) a huge percentage of the world don't have nappies, or certainly can't afford disposables and hence use cloth... and they teach their children much earlier (as you do feed them,bathe them,keep them warm and help them get sufficient sleep) about infant hygiene and elimination. Some begin as early as birth (so really I was dragging the chain!!!!)

Now my experience is only from 5 1/2 months,so everyones experience would be different and the time you begin also varys how it works for you I guess.I am really learning as I go along and have been both thrilled and amazed at the last 2 weeks. I have found some fabulous mums in Australia who have been doing EC for between 9mths and 2 years.They have been a great encouragement for me and great source of info,not to mention shared a good laugh. It is really one of those topics that many may feel uncomfortable with,or have no knowledge on and think that I am quite weird. This is what led me to find some comrades in arms.It is a subject that can be shared more openly with someone who really understands.

I guess one of the biggest points for me is that my aim is not to outdo eveyone I know and have Logan out of nappies in 2 weeks etc. It is about helping him eliminate  that makes the whole process easy,makes him comfortable and potentially less washing.Now I would be lying if I didn't say I had some goals. I guess if I was going to list them (2 weeks down the track) they would to be:

• trained before the age of 2 (hopefully night and day)
• out of nappies at home during the day by 12months????
• start signing and clearly letting me know through communication (be it eye contact etc) by 8/9mths
• bowel movements in the toilet 85% of the time by 8 months.(I'm actually being lenient here, in reality I am hoping 4-6wks from now)

So how have we gone so far? Well I officially started Sat 2 weeks ago.I have a spare padded toilet seat insert Vicki left here for her son, and I think for me to use in the future when necessary (neither of us expecting that could POSSIBLY be soooo soon!) So I figured I would use that.The very first few times I tried I did try and have his head to my chest and hold him in a squatting position over the toilet.This is quite common for newborns or infants not yet mobile.One of the important points is for both him and I to be comfortable.I didn't find this to be the case.This is when I moved to the padded insert. Although he is not yet sitting,he is strong enough with me holding his torso to sit comfortably without falling through the hole.PLUS he was facing me,which we both like better.With EC you cue them with a sound or word to wee/poo when you take them to the toilet. There are a number of key times you can take them which are after waking up from sleeps and after a feed. Then there are times you can look for cues like suddenly getting unsettled or grizzly,facial expressions,or typical concentration/grunt etc for bowel movemets. At this stage I don't consider I am too good with obvious cues so I figured it couldn't hurt to go with the obvious timing trips.
Now sometimes when they wake,they pee straight away,and you will often miss that one... I think as time goes by they get better at holding it,and you can probably start to catch this one. I believe some people have their first successes this way. I found if he didn't wee then,I would only leave it 10 mins or so to offer again.

This first day I 'caught' 5 wees. I was so excited I can not tell you. In fact the first wee was such a shock to me, that the poor thing only got half out. I gave a little squeal and jumped and he got stage fright.I couldn't get the grin off but was more controlled for the rest of the day."chssssssss,chsssssss" I would say, and then big grins and lots of 'good boy' as he'd wee.I was thrilled at day one,and wondered how excited I'b be if I caught a poo.

I won't give you a rundown of everyday till now, but day 2 was also a great day. I took him before his bath , after having some dinner and getting suddenly a bit whingey  to the toilet to find within seconds he gave me my first poo.One of the fabulous things about EC is there is no right way about going about it.You can go from one extreme to the other or anywhere in between. They could never wear a nappy, you squat them wherever and whenever you want to or they could wear a nappy full time, and just be offered these key opportunity times.This gets them use to the toilet, they see you going and realise that this is ultimately the norm, not learning to go in a nappy for years to then have to unlearn the skill.I am trying to be inbetween this to help the process along. This means that of course at the moment we always go out in nappys. I give him some nappy free time at home whenever possible,especially if the kids are at school. I feed him without a nappy on,and just hold something there just in case.But he almost never wees while I am feeding and very regularly will go on the toilet between 5 and 10 mins after the feed. I am actually going to make some training pants to put on him at home (with leg warmers cause it is still to cold to go nakey bottom half for awhile yet) from a pattern I bought from Marnie at http://www.nooneewilga.com/ . She has also made me some split pants I am looking forward to receiving this week,especially made to measure. I highly recommend her site for resources and top hat pottys for young babies.

So the last 2 weeks I have had many wees and about 14/18 poos caught in the toilet (missed one tonight...dratz.) I am constantly amazed at how it works and that he is doing it,and I feel fantastic that he will get the hang of it more and more as time goes by. I know (from the other mums) different things can happen and they might protest,or be bored or you might be offering too often as they hold it in longer etc. It honestly has felt like if I gave him the opportunity,unless he has just done something he was glad to take it. When you are washing nappys,any poo caught is one less to wash and I am excited to have begun this journey with him.

This weekend he hardly weeed in the toilet,and I think he was getting a bit bored with hopping on.I have a potty now too (which he will use more later once he is crawling and mobile and probably walking) and it may help for me to offer him some more places too.Sometimes I find singing him a song or something different distracts him and helps him relax to just do his wee.This weekend I pulled back from 'over offering' and I was thrilled this morning when he did a nice big BM for me. (My husband laughs at how easily I am excited.) At this stage lets face it, if I never caught another wee but we did well on the BM's that would be a success on it's own.

Tomorrow I am meeting one of the mums I have been contacting who has 2 girls.Sh ehas EC'ed both of these and I can't wait to find out some more info.Her youngest is still a baby,so she should be a lot of help.

I have ordered a great toilet seat that will replace ours in the main toilet.It has a lid,an infant/toddler seat and an adult seat with soft closures on all.I am looking forward to getting this,this week as moving the padded insert in and out and around about is a bit tricky when everyone is home.

Well I think that is the beginning of my journey.If you're interested to see how I get on, I will keep you updated. Thanks for reading!