Tonight after a good feeding I noticed he was in a good mood and getting ready for bed so I thought I’d change him for the night (or the first portion of the night . . . ) and try placing him over a bowl rather than the potty, which may be a bit big for him since he can’t sit happily on it and there’s not enough room for me to support him in it. Anyway, after some fussing I found a way supporting his little bum with my hands without being in the line of fire while his body rested on my chest and he sat low enough in the bowl to be effective (I think girls must be easier in this regard) AND he seemed happy. That made me happy as it was, but I asked him if he wanted to “pshsh” or “bthth” and told him happily that he was sitting on the potty and after what must have been less than a minute of this comfortable position he started peeing and then pooped! That someone would be excited enough about poop to write a blog post might seem strange, but if you have ever just changed a baby only to have him soil his new diaper, or had a baby poop all over while you had the old diaper off and the new diaper on it’s way to being on, or if you’ve had a baby poop in your face as my poor Mom did, then you too might be excited about a good load of poop during a change going right into the “potty” (which gets dumped easily into the toilet) and leaves the slightest trace on the baby’s bum instead of making a huge mess!
It was hard for me to contain my excitement, but the EC book warns not to praise the baby when he goes poop or pee, but simply to praise him for being on the potty. This avoids negative energy (probably unconscious from the parent) and frustration when the baby doesn’t go on the potty and keeps the pressure off so the baby can continue to relax the necessary muscles when on the potty. The gentle approach of going with the flow (no pun intended) with the goal of awareness, not producing potty trained super-babies, is what attracted me to try the “method” in the first place. Now that we’ve had our first big “catch” and all excited about learning more about my son’s pooping and peeing!
Um, have I lost my audience yet?
Could you have even imagined yourself talking about this a year or more ago?
I wonder if you can find a small bedpan which has a "guard" on the front to keep the pee contained.
When you mention the "potty" are you referring to your toilet or does he have his own little potty? We used both (although the kids were walking by then). We had a "ring" that fit over the regular toilet so they didn't have to worry about falling through. We also had a kid sized potty. In both cases, we removed the pee guard (it just got in the way when they tried to sit and I imagine it could be painful if they hit it) and taught them to push their you-know-what down so that it was aimed into the bowl.
I still haven't figured out how your mother's face was in the line of fire, but I hear that she thinks boys are harder to clean than girls. Really? It's all external.
S
The changing table is built for father-height, the "cannon" was aimed upwards a bit, and it was quite an explosion. Yes, it's all external, but it's a more corrugated surface.
We have a little potty we bought, but this success story happened into a plastic bowl since I was better able to hold him above/in it in a comfortable way.
And no, I don't think I imagined anywhere close to what life would be like after birth.
This afternoon we had the perfect baby time. He slept from noon until four, then he ate, pooped and peed a plenty in the potty bowl, ate some more, had some happy awake time and then went to sleep easily just before six. If life with a baby was always that simple I might actually get some other work done!
Nope, still here! :)
As he gets older do you bring the bowl along when you go places?
Yes, the idea is that you can do EC on the go by having a little bowl in your diaper back and dumping it in a public restroom. It's still challenge enough for me to nurse in public, so we haven't thought about trying public pottying, but someday we will! Yesterday I had another "catch" and another "nothing happened" (both during diaper changes - I can't read his signals yet). We'll see where it goes!
Congrats! Keep relaxed about it and you will have fun. At least public pottying is appropriate in public restrooms. Practice holding him over your home toilet so he'll be used to it in public. (That can wait a bit, too)
