A bit about ECing...

For those of you interested in infant pottying, this post is for you... If you don't like "potty talk", don't read :)

Training Steven as a baby ~
With Steven, I started his training when he was 5 weeks old. I put him in a cloth diaper without a cover and stayed close by him for a day. Whenever he'd pee or poo I would tell him "Go pee pee" and "Good boy!", let him finish his business, then put a clean diaper on him. Within that day two things happened. First, I started to see a pattern to his timing of going in relation to eating and sleeping and would start putting him on the potty, telling him to "Go pee pee", in anticipation of him going. Second, by the end of the day he understood what I wanted him to do when when I held him over the potty and said "Go pee pee"; he would try to go even if he didn't need to.

Training Hannah ~
With Hannah, I started just holding her over the potty sometimes after changing her diaper and telling her to "Go pee pee". (With a newborn, you hold you baby in the cradle position with their little potty under their bottom.) The first time I did this she was just over 24 hours old and I caught her first pee and poo. Starting midday Saturday (she was 6 days old), I started doing this everytime I checked/changed her diaper and would check/change her diaper everytime before feeding her. In the wee-hours of Monday morning (this morning) it was evident to me that she understands her cue! During the night she went everytime on her little potty just before feeding, often going pee and poo. She stayed dry for 6 hours - with some poo on two diapers (out of three) in that time.

Dairy-free ~
Because I'm lactose intolerant and don't feel great after ingesting too much dairy, as well as some potential benefits to infants being breastfed, I decided to become as dairy-free as possible before giving birth to Hannah. Another benefit to dairy-free babies, besides avoiding possible tummy issues, is that dairy-free babies need to pee less often as dairy is a diuretic. When Steven was first being trained, he had to pee every 20 minutes or so when he was awake. Hannah seems to need to go about every two hours, which is typical of dairy-free babies, making pottying less time consuming for mommy!

Closing ~
I've enjoyed infant pottying with Steven and am enjoying it with Hannah. I share our experience with you, as I know it's not very common and many of you have expressed interest in following our pottying journey. :) I hope to focus on Steven's pottying starting next week, focusing on him becoming diaper-free. I'll let you know how that goes :)