Real-Life EC: 8th Month

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This month's progress has been super-interesting to me, because I began doing EC with my daughter when she was this age.  The contrast between starting at 7 months with her and starting at 4 days old with my son has been huge. For my son, this month brought about an increased ability to hold-in urine and to release it at will. Signalling by signing is quite rare, however we are still managing to catch a lot of pee and I am finding that I can go up to 4 days between washes of my cloth diapers (not sure how good that is for the diapers though?!?!). In contrast, starting at 7 months with my daughter I found naked observation time a real trial as she would sometimes pee every 10 to 15 minutes, especially in the morning. I never did find any signals or timing that made sense and she never caught on to the ASL sign for potty. Eventually we did have a successful EC experience, but no where near the catch-rate I am achieving with my son.

After last month's poop roller-coaster, this month has brought about new changes and we are catching almost all the poops now. His bowel movements are now about every two days and since they are much thicker now, it is very obvious when he needs to "go". All of the classic signs are there, the grunting, a serious or red face etc... And catches in the toilet have been a dream; little to no clean-up! We were doing so well in fact that one day Alek began to grunt in the car. I knew right-away that it was a poop, but I hoped it wasn't! I considered pulling the car over, but with two car seats in the back and a trunk full of groceries and a stroller, I was worried about the logistics of it all. So I continued on. Well... upon arriving home, I was met with a stinky, sticky mess in his diaper which is especially bad in cloth when you have to scrape it all off and rinse (for the record all poop in disposables is supposed to be dumped into the toilet too).
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I cannot imagine NOT trying to catch all the poops in the potty.... EC makes my life sooooooo much better. 

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EC at Edmonton Folk Fest!

Two weekends ago the four of us attended Folk Fest and I brought my top hat potty (the Tiny Baby Potty) along. I chose to use disposable diapers at the event, just to minimize what I needed to lug around, and to keep the little guy comfortable and dry-feeling in case I could not change diapers as often as usual. My plan was to pour any pee into my wet-bag, lined with a cloth or a used disposable diaper inside to absorb the wetness. It would have worked well... we tried, but we didn't catch any pees while out and about that day :(

For anyone reading this blog post who is interested in doing EC but has not started yet, just go for it! You have nothing to lose. As long as you always approach pottying with love and respect for your baby, you cannot go wrong. And if you are looking for help or support, check out the Go Diaper Free of Edmonton group on Facebook! 
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Alek in his wool Flaparap

So... what are we wearing for EC this month? At home I am loving being "diaper-free" more and more. That doesn't mean naked, most of the time it means having Alek in a diaper without a cover. Easy to change, easy to potty and easy to see/feel when he is wet. The diaper belt/prefold is becoming a favourite for its ease but we seem to have the most success at staying dry in the fitted cloth diapers for some reason.
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​The photo on the left shows my super-mobile 7-month old climbing the stairs in his wool Flaparap. Up until now I did not like the way these EC diapers fit, and found changing them to be a real challenge. At 7 months and over 20 lbs I do find them a bit better but for at-home use I still prefer the simpler (and much cheaper) diaper-belt solution. Part of the challenge of these is the way that you install the pad, you kind of scoop it in from behind - which is ideal for a crawling baby, but not so simple on a non-mobile back-laying baby. I do think that Flaparaps will come in handy for trips out of the house when Alek is wearing pants, since the cover is waterproof and yet really easy to open for pottytunities wherever you are. I'll have to give that a go soon!

Curious about EC and early potty learning? Check out these books and get started today!
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