Tuesday, March 9, 2010

EC Update

ECing has become part of our daily lives at this point. Tye still wears diapers (cloth when we're at home, disposable on the road since she's so uncomfortable in wet cloth), but we go through significantly fewer diapers than we would without EC. I wash a small load of diapers twice a week just to prevent the stinkies, and we're still using the package of diapers Tyler's parents bought us when we visited them almost a month ago. The environmental impacts of both are minimized when they are soiled so infrequently, and I feel good about that.
Every day is different for us. We've yet to have a completely dry day, but we did have one with only one wet diaper. Other days are harder, like when we're running errands all day, traveling, or visiting friends or relatives. Since we started, though, we've always at least caught one pee a day. Our average number of wet diapers each weekday is probably 3 or 4, with 6-8 catches each day. Other than a poop while the grandparents were watching her and one very unusual nighttime poop, we've caught every poop over the last month. I can't believe we've only been ECing for a little over a month- it feels so natural at this point.
I know to most of our family and friends, this is pretty amazing- and really, it is. What is amazing is that such young infants are capable of communicating their need to eliminate and can learn to eliminate on cue. The other evening, we missed a pee, so I took Tye into our room to change her. As I was fastening the clean diaper, she fussed and looked at me, maintaining eye contact while she cooed in frustration. I unfastened her diaper and held her over her little potty on the bathroom counter, and she pooped almost immediately. Understanding and being able to meet her request was so exciting to me. It's so rewarding.

3 comments:

  1. Wow! I am so impressed by your dedication to ECing, and, I have to be honest, by the fact that it's working! I'll admit, as much as I like to think of myself as sort of "crunchy" in the parenting (and life in general) department, I was pretty skeptical when I first heard about ECing, and when you mentioned you guys were going to try it I did think "uh, okay, good luck with that!" But, now, I am thinking that when the time comes, Kevin and I might actually give this a go. I love the idea of it being good for the environment, and good for developing a keen intuitive bond betweem parent and child. You know I'll be writing to you with tons of questions! GO EM (and Tyler, and Tye)! :)

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  2. Once I realized that Tye was capable, I felt really bad not attending to her needs to eliminate. That made a huge difference. We're not completely diaper-free, but to me, this is something that's worth doing even if it's not done perfectly. And who knows, we might get to that point eventually! I can't tell you how many family members and friends have watched Tye pee in disbelief :) And you know, Tyler loves taking her to pee, too. I think it's a great way for him to feel involved in caring for her and like I said, anticipating her needs is so rewarding. It's an affirmation of our bond with her. You know I'm always ready to answer questions! I just figure the whole world only wants to know so much about my daughter's elimination habits :) Thanks for the support!

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  3. Thanks for commenting on my blog Em. EC is such a wonderful journey! I remember counting catches and misses in the beginning...we no longer think about it. I want to get brave with our next one and go diaper-free a lot more!

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I love your comments!
-Em

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