Elimination Communication -Week 4

Day 22-7th Jan 09  Wed (Not in sync)

I’m not feeling too well today and missed several the whole morning. Finally managed to potty him before nap but he still woke up wet. He stayed dry for the afternoon nap though for 1hr 50mins. Tried to potty him when he woke but he didn’t want to. Then, ten mins later, he pee a bit and I quickly took him to the bathroom sink when he released more.

Then, due to me feeding him water because he suddenly turned feverish too in the afternoon, I kept missing his frequent 10mins pee. But when he napped evening time, he was dry again for 1hr 30mins. Again, he didn’t have the mood today to potty so I kept missing right after til we called it a day.

What I noticed:
- Need to pee him after he has a slight missed pee to make sure that he really has eliminated. Yesterday the same thing happened. Sometimes, it might be an on-top pee only.

Pees caught – 4     Average Stay Dry – 15mins    Longest Stay Dry- 1hr 50mins

Day 23- 8th Jan 09  Thu

He woke me up several times during the night so we were both really tired out today. He was still not feeling comfortable.

He didn’t signal for me today and I missed several in the morning. Then, he pooed after he ate on his nappy cloth just before 1100hrs. He remained dry though for 1hr 10mins but then immediately peeed after he woke when I couldn’t get him to go to the bathroom in time.

Afternoon time, I caught a pee before his feed and he then stayed dry for 45mins where I missed. Then during the afternoon nap, he wetted himself again and we totally not in sync with each other that as he kept quiet and didn’t communicate.

At night, it was more encourage though as I got him to potty after his evening nap and then just before bedtime where he had stayed dry for 50mins.

What I noticed:
- When he’s not comfortable due to teething, he just doesn’t want to communicate his needs to go and we tend to have more misses.

Pees caught – 3/13    Average Stay Dry -  20mins    Longest Stay Dry- 1hr 10mins

Day 24- 9th Jan 09  Fri (Crying as a New sign for potty?)

He didn’t poo in the early morning today unlike what happened last week and only pooed during feeding at 0900hrs. Then, he was bought to the bathroom for a pee just before bath at 1000hrs.

During his feed, he started crying a little and I tried pottying him and caught one. Is that a new sign from him for potty?

Then, I didn’t potty him before nap and he ended up with a wet nappy. I found poop too. He must be not feeling well to poop twice in such a short interval.

I fed him cereal at 1330hrs and he as usual pee during the feeding. Then, he remained dry for 1hr 10mins before I got him to potty because he was crying suddenly again while lying down.

He remained dry during his nap and woke up with a cry for me to bring him to potty.

Had to go out after that though so EC was put on hold.

What’s new today:
-He indicated his need by suddenly crying while placed in the walker or lying down.

Pees caught 4/7    Average Stay Dry – 30mins    Longest Stay Dry- 1hr 10mins

Day 25- 10th Jan 09 Sat (Crying when out-and-about indicating his need and holding it til we cue him)

He has resumed to pooping in the early morning before 0700hrs. Lately, his poo is very watery. I wondered if it is due to his slight fever or teething.

Hubby took care of him in the morning and only removed his diaper after 0900hrs. But right after, he managed to potty him.

He woke up wet from his morning nap however which has been rare for the past one week.

After that, we waited for his sign and he suddenly cried again while doing an activity. We brought him to potty and he peeed promptly. Hmm, I hope he is starting to communicate with us now about his need so we do not need to potty him based on timing or intuition.

Alas, while in the walker 20mins after, I noticed he has a puddle of water beneath him. I was astonished as I thought he has just pee, why did he do it again? Then, I got my answer. He has pooped in his pants.

Why is it that lately he has been pooping twice in a day? That’s unusual for him. Luckily, his pants caught all of the poo easily.

Then, we went out for the day and changed him around 1700hrs because he was asleep for quite sometime. He didn’t pee upon our cue though.

As we walked on for about 1hr 30mins, he was being fussy again and this made us think whether he’s indicated his need to pee? He might be telling us something but we have been thinking it’s due to restlessness.

We brought him to the changing room and opened his diaper. It was quite dry! Hmm, maybe he had held it for very long, hoping we would bring him to potty! Ooops…We quickly gave him the cue, “sssh sshh” while holding the diaper slightly over his private. And he peeed. We were both very happy that we managed to communicate with him and laugh a bit.

When we reached home, we potty him again and he went. It was 1hr later and the diaper had remained dry which can be reused again! Ha.

Then, he didn’t go even after his wipe and thus he was diapered again for the night at 2030hrs.

Night-time Elimination

When I changed him after the 2230hrs feed, I noticed his diaper was very dry though as if it has never been used before! I was surprised and told hubby about it because it has been more than 2hrs. So he could actually control his pee now during the night?

I just changed a new diaper for him though and didn’t cue him as he was quite asleep.

However, approaching 2345hrs, he cried again and this time, we feel sure that he must have been woken up by his own peeing because when we changed him, he was already wet.

What I noticed today:
-Still communicating his need by crying so it might be an actual sign from now on.

What’s new today:
-We got him to pee on cue while out-and-about when he indicated his need for pee by crying.
- We had tried it twice during timed diaper changes when out where he did it on cue but never when he cried to indicate. So it’s a good sign that he’s trying to communicate with us.

Pees caught 4/7 Average Stay Dry – 20mins Longest Stay Dry- 1hr

Day 26- 11th Jan 09 Sun (Caught First Morning Poo & Night Pee)

Today I finally decided that I MUST-CATCH-THE-EARLY-POO. So after I fed him at 0730hrs and changed him out of the diapers, I put him on the potty and tell him to “HMMMM….HMMMM…”, squeezing his thigs upwards while doing so in a pushing motion. He didn’t quite get what mummy is doing, asking him to poop in his bed on a little potty bowl.

I almost gave up after a while because it was a little tiring holding him slightly bent. Just when I want to move him away, I noticed a poo coming out when I caught the reflection of him in the mirror of my dressing table! I quickly put him back on the bowl and he managed to poop inside! Yeah! There’s always a rush of happy feeling whenever I succeeded in helping him eliminate…ha. That’s only what a parent will feel.

Then, he had a missed pee 20mins after when I thought he could last longer but I quickly cue him in the bathroom again while washing up and he peeed more into the sink. Another of those ‘on-top’ pees?

He stayed dry for 40mins and took a nap. I took a nap with him too because I was too tired.

I woke up when he cried and found myself touching poo on him! I look in astonishment as he had gotten himself smeared with poo on his legs, sleeve corners and also his COT LINER because he kicked at the end of the bed and his feet had poo. The mattress protector has shifted a bit and the mattress itself has gotten poo too. The blanket…the bolster..It was a big mess! Arghh.. I couldn’t move myself and waited for hubby to come over to help.

Luckily, he came in when he heard Darius cried and took him to wash up while I moved myself slowly out of bed because I couldn’t use my hand. Gosh! It was mad frenzy as I got him to place Dar on a changing mat on our bed, then while he cleans up Dar, I cleared all the soiled items away to wash. Dar remained very quiet and still, probably knowing that there’s a crisis with us running over the room.

Finally, we got him cleaned up with a bath and sat down to think about where he should sleep for his noon nap. In the end, we used the mattress from the living room to place on our bed, with our bolsters and pillows at the sides and the bottom to prevent him from turning over.

I never expected him to poo again since I had gotten him to poo in the potty and was still basking in my great success in the morning! No wonder the amount wasn’t much and I was still telling hubby that maybe he will poop more later.

I think it was my fault that I was too sleepy to notice his cries for help to eliminate and he couldn’t wait. We were thinking that this is really part of ECing. You will get some messes along the way. Importantly is that, we just laugh it off after a while. Really funny experience.

Later on, he only pee during the feed and we managed to potty him successfully three times after with one before and one after a noon nap. I think he KNOWS not to pee in bed now. ^_^

We went out again and this time at 1500hrs, while changing him, we cue him to pee again into his used diaper and he did! He’s getting very good at EC. We still diaper him in case of mess.

When we came back, he was changed into cloth nappy again and this time, he pooped yet again. Third one in a day which has never happened before! But after the poo, I sat him on the potty and he peeed. For babies, poo doesn’t usually come immediately with pee. They like to poo first then only pee later so I was able to catch that.

Night-time EC

He was diapered again before his bedtime and this time when he cried during the night at 2200hrs, we decided to EC him too instead of just pacifying him as we recognised that he might be telling us he wants to pee. We put him on the potty while he was still asleep and he peeed upon our cue! We both were grinning that he wasn’t even fully awake while he’s sitting on the potty in bed. This was our first time cueing him on potty for the night. Maybe we should start doing this or let him use the diaper?

What I noticed today:
-We can just give him a chance to poo in the morning after a feed at a regular time. No need to wait for him to tell us he needs to as we might missed it.

What’s new today:
-We got him to pee on cue while out-and-about AGAIN when he indicated his need for pee by fussing and during the diaper change.
- He pooped thrice today which caught us unaware.

- We managed to cue him to pee when he woke up in the night crying signalling his need and got him on the potty with success.

Pees caught 5/7        Average Stay Dry – 30mins    Longest Stay Dry- 1hr

Day 27- 12th Jan 09 Mon (New Record for holding longer)

I didn’t catch the poo in the morning after the feed. I was too tired out by yesterday. Monday morning is really a moody day. 20mins after his poop, he peeed several times and I missed them all. Very rare for him to do that now.

However, he stayed dry for the morning nap for 1hr 10mins and I managed to potty him because he didn’t want to release in the bathroom sink. Alas, while I was preparing his bathwater and coming back to carry him for bath, he has suddenly pooped again! I wonder what’s wrong with him that he’s pooping in such short intervals? Must I be expecting two poops in the morning now? It happened yesterday.

After his feed, I managed to potty him and then we went out for a little while. On coming back, I potty him again. Because based on EC practice, you are supposed to ‘offer potty opportunity before going out, after coming back’.

I then waited for him to signal to me for potty but I missed 30mins. 20mins after, he cried a little, so I decided to potty him and caught one.

After his meal, I again potty him again. As another EC practice is to ‘offer potty opportunity after a meal‘. He did pee during the meal but I thought to let him know that he will have opportunity to pee after. Maybe that will stop him from peeing during meals?

He then took a long nap of 2hrs10mins and stayed amazingly dry. Is it because he had peeed a lot before bed? Upon wakening, I got him to pee into the bathroom sink.

Then, he was fed and he didn’t pee during it. Some progress here.

But he didn’t signal to me after that and I missed two. After his bath, he was so tired that he napped and woke up dry. Then, he stayed dry for 50mins and we got him to pee after 40mins just before bedtime as a regular practice.

What I noticed today:
-He’s pooping twice in the morning at short intervals in-between.
-If we offer him the potty before nap, he will try to stay dry during.

What’s new today:
-He stayed dry for a very long period of 2hrs 10mins. A new record!

Pees caught 48/18 Average Stay Dry – 30mins Longest Stay Dry- 2hrs 10mins.

Day 28- 13th Jan 09 Tue (Caught poo halfway during feed)

Again he has pooped in his diaper in the early morning but I only fed him after. Maybe he is doing at a regular timing but it’s just that I couldn’t wake up enough to catch it. He also doesn’t call out to me much for pooping. He’s contented to lie in his wet poop for a while until he finally discovered it. How to make him call to me for poo? Or must I keep based it on timing and offering potty opportunity?

Just before morning nap again, I potty him and then he was dry for the nap til after 2hrs when he woke up and I potty him in the sink. I think this will be regular practice from now on. ‘Potty before bed, potty after bed’.

While feeding him after, I noticed him doing the pushing motion where some has landed up on the nappy cloth. I hurriedly wipe him a little and put him onto the potty where thankfully I managed to catch the rest of them so it’s not one whole big mess later.

After his bath, I missed two however as he didn’t cry to signal his need. He’s still rather irregular.

He then took an afternoon nap and remained dry for 2hrs again with a 10mins before his nap. Wow.

I also tried to catch his pee during the feed with the small potty bowl but it’s still difficult with him lying down. After 50mins, I missed his pee as he didn’t signal to me while in the walker. Seemed that he always peeed while in his walker without signalling to me. Why is it so? pressure?

I then tried to listen to his signs again and this time after lying down for a while, he suddenly cried. So I quickly potty him but he only peeed after 5mins on the potty with a lot of coaxing as he was crying on it and couldn’t relax to release.

I noticed he was tired. So he actually was wanting to sleep but I thought he want to potty. Hmm, it’s hard to distinguish his signs. But anyhow, it’s good to potty him before a nap and he indeed remained dry for 1hr 10mins calling out to me to bring him to potty.

We went our after that and he was diapered while in my in-law’s house. Couldn’t help him over there as we didn’t let them know yet. We did notice he cried at some intervals and wondered if he’s signalling to us like what he did when we were out-and-about. So hubby tried to potty him in the bathroom and he just cried and cried. In the end, we just changed him into a new diaper because there’s too much commotion.

At this stage, we were not ready to let them know we are doing EC yet as we are afraid of criticisms or skepticism from them. Will see how later.

Coming back home for the night, we tried pottying him but he was too tired and just slept quickly.

What I noticed:
- He likes to poo during the feed but I can quickly stop him and put him on the potty for the rest.

What’s new today:
- He stayed dry for close to 2hrs two times during his nap, showing that he’s capable of holding it for longer and longer now.

- He doesn’t signal while in the walker and I know only because I always pick him up after less than 20mins to potty and found that he has already peeed.

Pees caught – 5/10 Average Stay Dry – 20mins Longest Stay Dry- 2hr 10mins