A Testament That Babies Prefer to be Diaper Free

Today we had a semi-catch! A poop one too! She hasn't been pooping much the last few days. She had a couple of big poops after the meconium poop was over, but then she stopped having big about-to-leak-out-of-the-diaper ones and just had little squirts. And lots of smelly gas. So today I just had some prefold diapers (AKA cloth diapers--it took me forever to figure that out) under her and was holding her in my lap. She'd been kinda fussy for a while and I was trying to help her be happy. Finally, I looked down and she had just started to poop on the cloth that was under her so I had time to give a cue. It was a big poop too! Then she peed and I gave a cue for that too. I didn't catch any of it in a tupperware, but at least I could give a cue. Afterwards, she was completely calm; a total turn-around from how she'd been acting the half hour before. I don't think it was a coincidence that after several days of little poops, a big one would come when she happened to be out of her diaper. One of the things that appealed to me about this philosophy was that Raelin and Ryker both had really bad constipation and this philosophy suggests that not using a diaper could help avoid that because the baby doesn't try to hold it indefinitely. We'll see how Alaina does, but it seems to me that she's been trying to hold it, waiting for an "appropriate" place to be provided.

While typing this post we had a pee catch too! Again she's much calmer now than she was before she went. Now she's sleeping like a.....um.....baby.

Any ideas on a cue I could use? Apparently, most people use different cues for poop and pee. I don't want to use sshhhhh for pee, which is the common cue, because we use that for white noise to calm our babies down, so I was going to use tthhhhh. But for poop, I'm stuck. Most people mimic the baby's grunting noises, but I just feel too silly doing that. The author of my book uses caca which is French for poop, but I just can't see myself out and about saying "caca" to my baby. Same thing goes for "poop." One culture I read about uses "unga, unga." I'm not sure what I think of that one. Any ideas?

Our Second Catch

Well, I haven't been working on this since the first time; busy-ness is going to be an impediment, but I'm going to just commit myself to it, busy or not, and try not to let it be an excuse to throw in the towel. We did get another catch the other day (well, the date of this post, when I started it; it's taken me a few days to get back to it and finish), but I'm starting to think that just taking the diaper off is a cue to go. I tried taking off the diaper today (Sunday) when she was sleeping and started getting restless, but she didn't go. I laid her down on some towels and after about 5 minutes or so she went. The cues to go potty, I think, are more subtle that needing to eat or sleep--no crying. But I've been trying to feed her and help her sleep before she starts to cry anyway. It's just hard to distinguish the grunting and squirming to tell if she needs to pee, needs to nurse, needs to sleep, etc. We'll keep at it though, and I'll try to be more diligent. So far, I only get to it for an hour or so every couple of days. Today we tried for quite a while and all we got was two misses. I think I need to focus on timing as well. Most people, babies included, tend to have a schedule, or so I've read. Maybe if I can combine learning a schedule, learning cues, and intuition, we'll get someplace. It's kind of discouraging to not be able to focus on this as much as I'd like, but I think Alaina appreciates not being half naked all the time. She doesn't like to be cold. I think maybe I need to set a goal. Something like an hour a day where she's not in a diaper. And also a goal to monitor and record when she goes even if I don't catch it. We'll see how this week goes! I'll try to be more consistent and more diligent. I do need to get a picture of her "in position"--it's pretty funny!

Intro

Here's the new blog that I'll use to talk about our adventures in potty-land with an infant. I'll just copy the post from my other blog to introduce you to the subject and from here on out I'll keep you updated as to how things are going, what's working, what's not, and eventually, whether I'd say we were successful or not.

Some of you know about the diaper-free concept we've been planning on trying. I think I'll start a new blog (this is it) to post updates about this since not everyone wants to hear about baby bowel movements, but for this first one, I'll just give you the overview and the first update. The idea is that no animal poops or pees where it lives and humans are no different. Babies don't want to mess on themselves and they can actually hold it for a very short amount of time until provided with an appropriate place to go. They also give cues that they need to go just like they do to tell you that they are hungry, tired, need to be burped, want to be held, etc. We just don't tune into those cues and the baby is taught to ignore those signals and not to try to hold it, but to just go whenever and to go on themselves in their diaper. Then they get to be about 2 and we start to tell them that it's yucky and bad and their body has to relearn to pay attention to a sensation they've been taught to ignore. When I heard about this idea, the pieces of the puzzle just fit for me. I had always been bothered by the idea that there would be a shame component to potty training, or that kids needed to be "ready," whatever that means, or that they couldn't possibly use the potty until they were older than 2. I hated the power struggle that potty training brought with it and I abhor cleaning poop off the carpet and out of clothes. I would just get angry with the child and it would damage not only the potty training efforts, but the relationship. So I got Brice on board with this diaper-free thing and I hope it works! I figure you either invest the time now, with a docile infant or later with a willful toddler. I'd rather do it now.

How it works:
You watch for the baby's cues (what's one more cue when you are already tuned into learning so many others?) and try to make a "catch" if you can. But really the catch is secondary to just noticing cues at first. You also issue a cue when you notice them going, whether you catch it or not. That way you can get them to go before you get in the car or something like that. The idea is that, never having learned to ignore the signals, the baby is always aware of needing to go and will always go somewhere appropriate because going in a diaper has never been an "appropriate" spot. Why would it be? It makes no sense. By the time the baby is mobile, they will take themselves to their potty, and by the time they can get their pants up and down they will be going independently!

Our first try:
So since Alaina was born, I've been trying to just pay attention and see if I can notice any cues. I found that I almost always know when she has to poop. She didn't really pee much at all until yesterday, and the one time she did was when Brice was changing her diaper--ever wonder why boys always pee when their diaper comes off? This philosophy suggests that it's because they don't want to pee on themselves, not because of cold air or whatever other reasons are typically given. Anyway, last night I decided to really give it a try. I laid her down on some rubber sheets and prefold diapers and worked on homework while paying attention to her activity level. At one point I thought she might have to go, so I held her over a tupperware (don't worry; they're labeled and won't get mixed in with the regular ones!), but she cried and kicked so I put her back down. But she kept fussing so I went and picked her up and she had peed! I was right! I just didn't wait long enough. I changed her and put her back down, dry. A while later she started to get restless again so I held her over the tupperware and after about 30 seconds or so, she went! Our first catch! This might actually work! Wish us luck!