Real-Life EC: 11th Month

This month felt like a big deal to me for some reason. I think its because I know that some ECers transition out of diapers around this age, but we are SO not there. And I am ok with that! Especially with it being winter now. Thankfully its still pretty mild out there, but the second I have to layer pants with snowpants, wool booties with Stonz outer boots, pottying is just not going to happen once we're all dressed up! I'm actually quite sure that going forward I am going to use disposable diapers as a back-up when I know we'll be all layered-up so that Alek will stay comfortable in a dry-ish feeling diaper, plus I hope they will fit better under his snow pants! ​

We have had a lot of ups and downs this month as far as EC is concerned. While the month started out pretty successfully, by mid-November I was seeing a lot of wet diapers all day long! Alek started to refuse peeing on his (ex) favourite little green potty, and frequently refused to pee in the sink as well. In those cases it can be really difficult to know whether he really needed to pee but was refusing, or whether the timing was off. Whenever I strongly suspect that he needs to pee but is acting like he doesn't need to go, I change it up, trying a different environment, receptacle, position or cue. If he refuses the potty in the livingroom, I'll take him to the sink in the bathroom, if he still doesn't pee, I will try the bathtub or the toilet. I might try holding him over the toilet or sometimes with the toilet seat reducer (which I would LOVE for him to begin using more often!). For the last few days I have been catching most of the pees, and lots of success in the sink and toilet but zero on that little green potty!

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Enjoying a book with his big sister.

Example of a prefold in a diaper belt from a few months ago.

For poops he is being super-resistant and for the last few weeks Alek has started pooping 3 or 4 times per day. He'll start in his diaper, I will move him to the potty (no way) then the sink and maybe he will poop a little more, but generally not. Then I'll put a diaper on him, and like an hour later he'll have a dry diaper but soiled with another stealthy poop! Its really annoying and getting more difficult to catch him in the act. Here's why I believe that its intentional... earlier this month I (two days in a row), made the mistake of removing Alek's diaper and leaving him naked while not paying attention to him. A terrible idea! Both times, even though he had already pooped a couple of times that day, and had been offered the potty before being left naked, BOTH TIMES when I came back into the room a couple minutes later, he had pooped on the floor! Poop on his hands! His feet! His legs! Toys! A book! Ewwwwwwwwwww...... I have not made that mistake again.

​Two weeks ago, I decided to make some changes in the sleep department. Alek sleeps in his own room (most of the night anyway!), but for many months has been waking every two hours to nurse. I was feeling chronically sleep-deprived and needed to do something about it. Not to mention that nursing that much at night resulted in extremely wet diapers in the morning (and lots of leaks before I switched to my beloved wool diaper cover) and I assumed that he might be waking frequently in part because he needed to pee so often or because he disliked the soaking diaper feeling. Anyway, after only a couple of difficult nights I cut down night feeding from 5-6 times per night to only two! Its been a glorious change and some nights I actually get 5 hours of sleep in-a-row!!! But as an added benefit, I have removed the extra booster from his night (cloth) diaper, and he generally stays dry until 3 or 4am. In the morning his diaper is not even all that wet! I felt before that night-time EC would be way to onerous, trying to potty him every two hours on top of nursing him every two hours! But now I think I could manage it. I won't though, not yet. It is way too disruptive to remove his sleep-sac and wool pull-up type cover in order to potty him, plus when he is already upset and hungry, the last thing he wants to do is to be undressed and taken to pee! However... I have just ordered a wool sleep-sac which has the potential to act as a waterproof protector if I had him sleeping in just a sumo-style diaper (a prefold tucked into a diaper belt), or I can just be lazy about it since he doesn't seem to be bothered at all with nighttime pee and wait until spring/summer when the sleep sac becomes unnecessary.  

Have you started EC with your little one? Do you practice at night or only during the day? I would love to know how EC is going for you and any tips you have about nighttime and winter time pottying! Please leave me a comment below.
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