Awesome progress!

The past week or so has been really cool! I've been missing a lot of poop (that's not the cool part) and she's been pooping way more often than she used to for some reason (also not the cool part). Maybe because she's eating so much solid food. BUT (and here's the cool part) we've been having LOTS of pee catches! She's responding to my cues really well and really consistently. She also seems to recognize that it's better to go in the pot than in the diaper if she has the opportunity. Just about every single time I offer her the pot, she pees! We still catch some poops but not as many as we were. Maybe she just wants to work on one thing at a time? It's also really interesting to see her awareness of going potty. If I offer her the potty and she has to go, I can tell right away because she looks down between her legs, waiting and watching for it. If she doesn't have to go, she looks at herself in the mirror or looks around the room. I still don't take her often enough for her to being peeing predominantly in the potty, but when I have time to take her and I think of it, she goes every time! This is so very much better than it was just a week or so ago! It's really exciting and gives me hope that she's NOT getting diaper trained. And that will make it SOOOO much easier to get her into underwear full time. So despite the fact that she's almost 9 months (my goal for being diaper-free) and we still aren't super proficient at this, I'm really happy with where things are at the last little while and I hope that I can maintain the foundation we've build and add to it.

Yesterday I kept track of how often she went and had her diaper free or in cloth diapers for pretty much the whole day. In the morning she went every half-hour except for a longer stretch during her nap. In the afternoon, she only went once every two or three hours until we went up the canyon for family night and I put her in a disposable diaper for the rest of the evening. It was a good way to learn her timing and I hope to spend a few more days diaper free or in cloth this week and see if we can really get moving on this. She's so close to signing (she has two or three things she's just starting to sign) that I think we could do really well if I learn her elimination schedule better AND she starts to sign. We'll be golden!

Making cloth diapers

So, I decided I wanted to switch over to cloth diapers full time (or nearly full time) in order to help Alaina stay in tune with when she goes pee and doesn't loose that sensation of needing to go. I figure that since I'm catching about 95% of poops, it really isn't a big deal to use cloth full time (EC is SO much cleaner! Hence it's other name of Natual Infant Hygiene). I only catch about 5% of her pees at this point (although, the past few days, those percentages have been reversed for some reason). The other benefit of cloth for me is that I am better at monitoring and paying attention when she's in cloth. I check more often and I take her more often. I have some cloth diapers that my sister-in-law let me borrow, but they are big and bulky and don't really fit under Alaina's clothes. They're great for at home though. The other problem with them is that the leg holes are too big for Alaina's skinny little legs, so if I miss a poop it will just leak out the sides. Not my favorite. I guess I could sew some elastic into the legs of them, but I haven't asked my sis-in-law if it's okay with her for me to alter her diapers. So, I decided to try making my own. I also thought that if I made my own, I could make them in a way where I could see when she was wet by making them just the right thickness to hold one pee and making them out of colored cloth that would be darker when wet. It's been working out famously! I've toyed with the pattern until I have something that I really like. I like the fit and best of all I use old t-shirts so they cost virtually nothing to make! Any of you that know me well know how much I love cheap and free! I just buy some elastic and some velcro and I use whatever old shirts I have (there are always plenty of those around out of Brice's work clothes pile). They are so cute! So here's my tutorial:

Here are your basic materials: some velcro, elastic, a template, and an old t-shirt or two (depending on the size).Here's a close up of my template. If you click on it, you'll be able to read the numbers. Alaina is 8 1/2 months old and she weighs about 14 or 15 pounds. Also, my template is lacking a seam allowance (I always forget that part) so I have to make sure to add a bit as I trace it onto the t-shirt. Place the template over the part of the shirt with the logo or picture you want on the bum.

Cut through both layers of t-shirt.

Fold it in half to make sure it's even.

Use the part you've already cut out to trace the shape onto another t-shirt (or another part of the same one if it's big enough) for the inner layers.

Cut that out (through both layers) so you have four diaper-shaped t-shirt cutouts.

Use the scraps to cut out 6-8 rectangles of t-shirt to use for soakers. I made mine about 4 inches by 8 inches.

Split them in half so you sew 3 or 4 to one inner diaper layer and 3 or 4 to the other inner diaper layer (it's much easier on my sewing machine than sewing through all 9 layers!)

I usually just sew around the edge of the soakers, but some of my other diapers have bunched a bit in the laundry so I thought I'd try sewing down the middle and across the width in two spots.

Then sew a fuzzy strip of the velcro to the front of the outermost layer of the diaper (I forgot to do this at the right time when I made this diaper, but it's a lot easier if you do it before this piece is sewn to anything else.). Make sure you leave enough room for your seam allowance (I should have left a little more room on this one).

Then lay your layers with an inner first, then the piece with the side you want to show on the bum facing up, then the piece that will be against the baby's bottom (face-down if there you have a side you want facing out), then the other inner layer in top. It doesn't matter which way the soakers are facing, but I face the bottom one down and the top one up so the soakers will be the innermost layers.

Start at the front flared out edge and sew around the edge of the diaper (flared bottom edge to leg to tab to back to other tab to other leg) to the other flared out edge (leave the bottom length un-sewn so you can turn it right side out), adding in elastic along the legs and back at you go. I think the back elastic piece is optional as you will have the velcro to adjust the size as well. I just sew a little piece of elastic across the back and longer ones for the leg pieces, cutting them off at the right length as I am sewing. I run the elastic from where the tabs end and the bum begins down to about where the soakers end. So I guess I just start and end at the level of the soakers maybe a little beyond in each direction. I've just been sewing right into the elastic as I sew my seam, stretching the elastic to capacity as I go.

Turn it right side out

and top stitch around the whole diaper, tucking the opening along the bottom under and sewing it closed. (Here's where I realized I'd forgotten the velcro on the front. Oops!) Then sew the hook side of the velcro to the tabs with a fuzzy square next to it so you can close the tabs when you wash the diaper (that way it won't catch and snag on everything else in the laundry)

And you're done! Pretty simple and SO CUTE!

Here are some others I've made:


The Peanut one:

And the Volcom one:

I love the fit. They're so little and snug! If you're familiar with gDiapers, I wanted a fit like that. I think I got it! I've made a few others as well, but I don't have pictures of them. I didn't like the style or fit quite as much as I do on these ones. Also, the peanut one has exposed velcro tabs and I like them better backed by fabric. The black fabric also isn't quite as good for seeing when she's wet. Oh, the other change I would make is that I would trim down the flares that go at her tummy. There is more than necessary for wrapping around her waist at this point. Especially since the tabs come so far around the front. Well, that's it! If any of you decide to give it a try, I'd love to see pictures and hear about any improvements you come up with. I'm also not the greatest seamstress, so if you know a better way to sew this (particularly the elastic) please let me know!

Update

Things are going well with Alaina and our efforts at being diaper free. I wish they were better, but for that, I'd have to spend more time on it. And as I'm sure everyone else experiences, time is always short. Now that she's eating some solids, her poop signals are easier to catch. My other two kids had constipation problems when they started solids, which was part of my motivation for baby pottying. It's supposed to help with that. Anyway, Alaina hasn't had any constipation problems so far, but her poop is harder so she has to bear down more to get it out. It's easier to notice when she has to go. So we've had more poop catches lately. Which I must say is very nice. I LOVE not having to change poopy diapers. The last two that I had to change were because she was in the car seat the first time and taking a nap the second. Other than that, I haven't changed poop in about two weeks. And she's pooping more than she used to, so that means we've caught about 4 or 5 poops in that amount of time. I feel pretty confident with poop these days. I feel like if we have a miss it's because I wasn't with her, but if I am with her, we will always catch it. I do still take her more often than she needs to go because I miss-read her cues, but I'd rather that than miss because I wasn't taking her often enough.

Pee is still going okay. I wish it was better but I think time is the issue. We are still making progress so I should be glad for that. I still can't find her cues but she's responding to mine. I haven't done very well at just taking her fairly frequently like I set goals to do. Maybe I need to revamp those goals. But at least she's trying to go every time I take her. I can see her muscles working trying to get some out, but lots of the time she's just empty. She's so ready to start signing, so maybe that will help our cause. If she can sign to me that she has to pee and if there's enough of a foundation built that she would prefer to go in the pot, then we might just be in luck to have her diaper free not too long from now.

I'm a little discouraged that it isn't going better than it is, but I'm trying not to be too hard on myself given the fact that I have two other kids and lots of housework and other things to balance. I think maybe the best thing for me to do would be to get a new book about it (any suggestions?). It might help me to get excited about it again to get some new ideas . Which is not to say that I'm not always way excited when she poops or pees in the pot and not in the diaper! That's still exciting every time. Alaina gets excited too. I cheer for her and she smiles and smiles and wants to look at it. Gross.

Can it be?!

Is the potty strike really at an end!? Today is going so much better! During the potty strike (which has lasted several weeks), I only caught two or three poops and NO pees. Not a single one. No matter how often I took her, she would wait until I had to leave the room without her. She wouldn't pee any time I was holding her or even in the same room, let alone when I made the cue sound and held her over the pot. Then, yesterday I was changing her and thought I'd just give it a try like I have been at least once a day through the potty strike and lo and behold, she peed! I held her over the bathroom sink and I think she likes looking at herself in the mirror. I cheered for her and clapped and she smiled and smiled. Then she stayed dry (in her cloth diaper) until she woke up at 10:00 or 11:00 to eat. Today, I took her after my morning started to settle down and she went pee almost right away! I put her in a cloth diaper and she played on the floor for a while until I took her again, and after a few seconds she went pee! Two pee catches in one day! Hallelujah! It's a been a while since that's happened. Right now she's in a cloth diaper taking a nap. She usually stays dry during her naps, so we'll see if she'll pee in the pot when she wakes up.

I made a little scrunchie that goes around Alaina's waist to hold the cloth diaper on and allow for super easy access when taking her potty. There are a couple of websites where you can buy them, but you just sew a tube and slide some elastic through and close it up. Pretty simple and really effective. Though, not exactly cute. When we get better at this I want to make some fleece unders (that's what Ryker, my 4 year old, calls underwear--I love it!). They are really cute and they hold one pee miss (just in case) without soaking whatever the baby is sitting on. But you can probably still feel that they are wet like you can through a cloth diaper. I'll let you know how it works whenever I get to that.

I've also been noticing that, like her pooping habits, she just doesn't go pee that often. That really lengthens out our learning curve because we have fewer opportunities for me to teach her my cue sound and get a response and fewer opportunities for me to observe her cues. And if we miss, it's going to be a while before we get another chance. If she went more often, there would be lots of opportunities for us to learn together and a higher likelihood of success and reinforcement. But I'm happy that we are making progress again. And if she's anything like Raelin, she just needed a break and after the break, she'll have it down pat. I've started using the ASL sign for potty as well, and at the rate her motor skills have been developing, I wouldn't be surprised if she starts telling me with the sign when she has to go in the very near future. She's crawling all over the place and, as of today, she can pull herself to standing. I had to lower the matress level in her crib today after I found her standing up holding on to the rails. She's only 6 and half months old!

Potty Strike!!!

Alaina has been on a potty strike for the past 4-5 days. Our first real hiccup. I even spent one day where I had her in cloth diapers for the whole day and I watched her really close. I took her potty very diligently and frequently. But she would always wait until I had to put her down to go do something else and then pee. She hasn't been pooing much at all during this strike either. Maybe once, I think. But it might have actually been no poop at all for 4-5 days. That was normal for her a few months ago so I'm not worried, but she's been pooping more frequently lately. But seriously, no matter how often I take her pee, she will hold it and hold it until the moment I put her down and turn my back. I'm sure other ECers (elimination communication is the most common term so most people refer to themselves as ECers, but I prefer baby pottying) have encountered this before and I think I even know why she's doing it, so hopefully it will pass. Just when she was getting so good at responding to my "go pee" cue, she decides she needs a break. Bummer. I think it's because she's learned to crawl and sit up and she's got one tooth and is cutting a second one. I might go on a potty strike if I had all that to deal with too. So hopefully it will pass and we can pick up where we left off. To any of you other baby pottying folks out there, if you find this blog and have had this experience, maybe you can give me some info about how long I should expect this strike to last and what I can do to get us back on track.

Making progress slowly but surely

Things are going well with our diaper free goals! I catch almost every poop these days, which is nice and a whole heck of a lot easier to clean! Pee has been harder, but I think I mentioned before that I wanted to try teaching Alaina my whistle cue and not to really worry about finding her pee cues because they are so subtle. It's going well! She pees on cue more and more all the time. We're still no where near being good enough at it to go diaperless, but it's a work in progress and I'm confident that by the time she can sign she'll just tell me when she has to go.

I'm gearing up for cloth diapers (if Wal-Mart would ever get diaper pins in stock!) so that Alaina and I will both be more aware of when she pees. I need to know how often to take her and I don't want her to lose that feeling of discomfort from being wet (regular diapers pull the wetness away from the skin so the baby doesn't feel wet). I want her to react to being wet and to notice that she's wet. Before it was still instinctual to hold it and not wet on herself, but at this point that instinct is probably starting to shut down because I don't catch nearly enough pees. She doesn't usually pee during naps, so that is an asset to knowing when to take her, but she also seems to pee several times in a row. At least, she did that the other day. I thought she might have to pee or poop (can't remember what I was reacting to), so I took her and she peed! A lot! I was totally out of diapers and she's so mobile now that laying her on some pads just doesn't cut it-- she just scoots right off of them. So I laid her down diaperless. She peed again within minutes. Pooped again too (I'd had a big poop catch just a few minutes before). Fortunately, Brice was due home with diapers any minute. We borrowed this cool little bumbo chair from my aunt and it's great... Except that it holds Alaina in a position similar to her potty pose, so she often poops if she's in it. That's what happened this day. I forgot about that, and she pooped all over her onesie. Fortunately, the chair is easy to clean and disinfect (Sorry, Ange!!).

In other Alaina news, she is SO ready to crawl! She's barely 5 months old! WHAT!!?? She gets up on her hands and knees and rocks and then gets up on her hands and toes! Again, WHAT!!?? We thought she'd be a strong one from the get go since she was so stinkin' wiggly in the womb, but this is ridiculous! We're going to need another baby gate...

Hiking

I have to say, it's pretty cool to be out hiking and not have to change a poopy diaper or get exploded on. We were out hiking one day last week and we stopped so I could nurse Alaina. I realized she needed to go poop so I stopped nursing her, took her over to some bushes, took off her diaper and gave her the cue. She pooped right away! It's so much easier to clean and so much better than carrying around a poopy baby or diaper for the rest of the hike. That was a highlight of this adventure for me.

All in all, it's going pretty well. If I'm right there with her, I always know if she has to poop and we always catch it. Lately I've been letting go diaperless a lot more to watch for pee cues but I rarely catch it; I just giving the pee cue when I notice her going. Not very many catches, but we had one today! I'm starting to think that I'll have more success by just teaching her my "go pee" cue than trying to learn hers. I'm motivating myself this week by having let us run out of disposable diapers. That means I have to pay good attention and really focus or else do LOTS of laundry. Let me just tell you, laundry is motivating! I hate laundry!

So that's where we're at for now. I'm pretty happy with how thing are going and hopeful that we'll continue to have more and more success. I can't wait to be done with diapers by the time she's one. That's the goal anyway.