EC Update at almost 6 months old!

Prepare yourself for information about bodily functions with detail only a parent can provide...


We've now been ECing for over three months.  Tye is a pro at ECing... me, not always.  When I take Tye to sit on her potty, she almost always goes, even if it's only a few drops.  We mostly take Tye on routine- upon waking, when we take her out of her carrier, and whenever we change her diaper.  I still have a hard time reading Tye's signs that she needs to pee.  The biggest challenge is Tye-who-needs-to-pee looks exactly like Tye-who-is-excited.  Now that Tye is interacting with her world in so many new ways, I'm really having a hard time telling those two apart.  When we're out and about, it's even harder because everything new is so exciting.  To add to the challenge of ECing while out of the house, Tye has developed a fear of some unfamiliar toilets, and I realize that not everyone wants baby pee in their sinks (even if I can't relate).  At the end of the day, our catching rate can vary from just a few pees a day to almost all of them, mostly depending on how much of our day was spent at home.  By the way, Tye peed in the hotel room sink each day we spent in Mexico, continuing our streak of catching at least one pee per day, no matter where we are, since we started ECing.


Catching poops continues to be easier, and very rewarding in that a poop in the potty is significantly easier to clean up than a poop in a diaper.  If it's been a few days since her last poop (Tye's averaging 5 days between poops now), and I can tell there's one coming (fussing + gassiness, gas that smells like poop, "wet farts" in her diaper- TMI yet?), I'll make the grunting noises we use to cue her while I gently squeeze her legs closer to her torso.  That physical prompt mimics her movement when she eliminates and also stimulates her bowels- a pooping double whammy.  She always imitates the grunting/clenching combination, quite frequently resulting in a caught poop.  Right now, this is the best way to be sure we catch the poop because Tye's signs that she needs to go are less obvious than when she was younger.  Apparently, pooping is an easier job for her now and requires less straining prior to the event.  


Even on the days that we only have a few catches, we're still saving diapers from being washed (or used, as we were using disposables in Mexico).  We aren't diaper-free, and we most likely won't be for a while.  But I'm happy with where we are.  We're doing our part to conserve energy and resources, and we're laying a good ground for toilet learning in Tye's future.  Who knows... perhaps someday soon Tye will initiate a trip to the potty herself using the American Sign Language I've been practicing with her.  If that happens, you'll be able to hear me scream with joy- from wherever you are in the world.  Until then, we'll catch what we can.