Spotting

Tommy is the third baby this Mommy has worked with to establish Elimination Communication. Two out of those three babies experienced what TM calls "spotting".

As the name implies, spotting means that something leaves a spot. In this case, it means that a spot of poopy is left in the diaper. The spots are small, ranging in size between that of a dime and a quarter. (My apologies to all non-United States readers who won't be able to gauge the size of the spots being described based upon American coinage)

The problem of spotting is easy to manage with the Diaper Belt system described in the previous post. You may recall that the prefold cloth diaper is folded into thirds then placed between Tommy's legs; the diaper being held in place by mean of tucking it into/under the Diaper Belt in front and back. Upon arriving at the potty place, such as the bathroom sink, the diaper is untucked from the front of the Diaper Belt and removed from between Tommy's legs. It remains tucked in the back to keep it from falling off all the way - because we are assuming the diaper is still DRY and will not need to be removed.

At this point, if "spotting" is discovered, it is dealt with thusly: rather than just removing the diaper and putting it in the diaper pail, it is removed and re-folded so that the spot is contained within the folds rather than up against Tommy's skin or on the outside where it may contact TM's clothing. Ick.

In this manner, the diaper with the spot can continue to be used until it gets wet or gets another spot. This saves on laundry. Isn't that clever?

By now you be wondering, why does the spotting happen? I have my own mini-theory. It goes like this: the poopy is sort of watery in a young baby, and the liquid part of the poopy just manages to leak out of the anal sphincter. You will be glad to know that both of my spotters outgrew the problem by 3 or 4 months. And, as my second EC baby proved, the problem is not universal.

The big question TM had upon encountering the problem was, "Why isn't this problem addressed in the expensive books purchased on this subject?" The title of one of these books is Diaper Free. As the name implies, the author actually had her baby go bare bottomed. Either she didn't have a spotter, or she has an even greater tolerance for poopy than even she admits in the book. Even with leather furniture and no carpet, no one wants dots of poop all over their clothing and home. TM is not overly squeamish about poopy, but this phenomenon nearly caused her to give up ECing, thinking EC baby #1 had a physical anomaly.

Anyway, take heart if you have a spotter. The baby will likely out grow the spotting and in the meantime, you can use diapers to catch the mess.

The Diaper Belt

Today I want to do "Show And Tell." I will both show you a Diaper Belt and tell you how it is used. My oldest daughter must be credited here, as she is the one who created the Diaper Belts I use. While I could make them myself, she was kind enough to do it for me, saving me the time and effort.

A Diaper Belt is nothing more than a piece of flannel, sewn as a casing with a bit of elastic threaded through it. It looks something like those little elastic headbands you see that are made for bald baby girls.

Here is a photo of Tommy wearing his diaper belt.

To use it for ECing, I simply put the Diaper Belt around his waist, take a prefolded cloth diaper folded in thirds and tuck into the Belt in front and back. When pottying the baby, I merely have to untuck the diaper from the belt in front and flip it out of the way.

Accountability Overcomes Sloth

Since starting this blog, TM feels some responsibility to give the readers something new. Being naturally slothful, she might be tempted to just let Tommy pee in his diaper instead of offering him the pot, but just knowing there are readers encourages her to meet his real need, which is to eliminate away from his own body.

So, this morning, right after his first nursing, she held him over the red potty bowl, gave the cue "psssssssssss. Go pee-pee". And a stream ensued! Not only that, but it was immediately followed by a blast of poopy.

Speaking of blasting poopy - this next section will be graphic and probably of interest only to mothers. But then again, most mothers are already familiar with baby poop, so maybe it will be of interest to those who are less familiar. Not knowing who actually reads this, TM will just assume the minimum of knowledge and explain things "from scratch" so to speak.

Human babies who drink human milk exclusively have feces which is very different from the adult variety. It is even very different from the older baby variety. It has the color and consistancy of yellow mustard. More liquid than solid, peppered with seed-like elements. Many first time moms are surprised to see this, as they may have mostly encountered, during their babysitting years, the stinky blobs of older children who have been eating solid food.

But more interesting for first time ECing moms is the surprise they get at seeing how forcefully these movements pass from the tiny baby bottom! With TM's older children, she was familiar with the sounds of these explosive poopies, but until she held the little one over the sink and watched as the stuff flew out she had no idea of the power and speed with which they pass.

Many of the readers who are moms are familiar with this scenario: You hear the baby poop. You know by the sound that it was a "big one". You turn the baby over and see that the poopy has been forced out of the back of the diaper through the leg openings as well as up the back. Baby's entire shirt back is soaked with it and it exited the shirt via the neck opening. This is known as the "blow out." Moms every where pack their diaper bags in anticipation of just such an event. Usually both mom and baby need a bath after this.

Well, with EC, an attentive mom and some quick action, the above scene can be completely avoided, but take care to aim the baby's bottom properly, or that type of poopy will completely miss the sink and land on the counter!

Some are probably saying, "The sink! Oh! That is so GROSS! You let your baby poop in the sink?" But you must understand, this poop is mostly liquid, if not completely liquid. With a bit of running water it goes right down the drain and into the septic tank, the same destination as the stuff that goes into the toilet. TM also keeps a spray bottle of bleach water nearby and sprays the sink after using it to catch bm's.

Not everyone uses the sink, but TM finds it handy. When the stuff is caught in the big red potty bowl, it is rinsed and dumped into the toilet.

When baby poops directly into the sink or other receptacle, there is little or nothing on baby that needs to be cleaned or wiped. That is one of the benefits to the force of the blast. Baby's bottom stays clean and dry. There is never an issue of diaper rash. That is one of TM's favorite things about ECing. The clean baby.

In between starting and finishing this post, TM managed to catch two more pees and a poop. All the books on this subject say that best time to try catching a pee (if using timing and not watching or waiting for a signal from baby) is right after a nap or right after nursing. When Tommy woke up from one of his little naps, Mommy held him over the bowl. He didn't go and he seemed pretty hungry, so Mommy held his bottom over the bowl while she nursed him. This was one of those few times when he didn't poop while nursing. But as soon as Tommy finished nursing, Mommy held his bottom in the bowl with his back resting on her chest, and she gave the cue, "Psssssssssssss. Go pee-pee". And he did!

Then, it was time for Tommy to nurse on the other side. Mommy left his bottom bare and just slid a cloth diaper underneath him. After a minute or two Mommy heard the sound of a bm and quickly switched the diaper for the red bowl. She got 1/2 a catch as more poopy and pee pee landed in the bowl.

Fun, fun, fun.

Tommy and Mommy had one more catch before bed time. All in all it was a good day. Hopefully this blogger will be returning soon with a post containing pictures of some of the equipment we use for ECing. Surely everyone wants to see the big red potty bowl?

Post # 1 - Clever Title, eh?

Yesterday Tommy was 6 days old. Mommy "caught" (see definitions below) her first pee!

After the catch, Mommy thought it would be good to keep a journal of the "EC" (see definitions below) process with Tommy, since she can remember so little of the way it went with the last two kiddos. Then she thought, "why not do it on-line so that others can learn and be encouraged?"

There are probably other moms doing an EC blog, so what makes Tommy's Mommy (referred to hereinafter as "TM") uniquely qualified to share? Nothing really. But this will be the third ECing baby for TM. Since most American families have only 1.8 children (or something like that) and since very few families choose to use EC, that means there are very, very few moms with as much experience in EC as TM.

Tommy has a big sister who is now over 3 years old and is pretty much completely independent with toileting herself. She needs help wiping every now and then. Tommy has a big brother who is not yet 2, and he is NOT toilet independent, but he doesn't wear diapers and he goes through most days staying pretty dry and clean.

For the uninitiated, Mommy will give a brief explanation of UC, then some vocabulary. After that, the posts will consist of our progress, little vignents of how EC is working for Tommy and Mommy. I hope to include what is sadly missing from TM's former EC experiences, cute photos!

Elimination Communication is a term we use to describe how a person, primarily a mother, learns to communicate with her baby about his elimination (pee and poop), to recognize when he has to go and to train him to go on cue. One of the results is that the baby doesn't spend the first two or three years of his life sitting in his own filth. Even more importanly, he is not taught that his clothing is the appropriate place for elimination for two years, then abruptly forced to change all that he has learned when one day, suddenly, his clothing becomes the absolutely wrongest place for elimination. There is a consistency from birth that says "there are appropriate places to eliminate and, whenever possible, your clothing is NOT one of those places"

Definitions:

EC - Elimination Communication. Also called Elimination Timing, Infant Potty Training, Diaper Free and Trickle Treat. As a verb: "We are ECing"

TM - Tommy's Mommy, blog author

Catch - this is the term used when TM recognizes that Tommy has to eliminate and she is able to hold him over a receptacle where the waste lands. Usually a bowl or the bathroom sink at first, then later, the toilet. Also used for "catching" are potty chairs, grass, cloth diapers, the gutter, etc. As a noun "I had 3 catches today"

Miss - opposite of a "catch" When TM does not notice a signal from Tommy that he has to eliminate, or when she is not available or when she does not take Tommy to the potty in a timely manner. This results in a noun, namely, "We had a miss just then."

Potty - This is a verb meaning to hold the baby over a receptacle for the purpose of catching elimination products. "Time to potty the baby."

Our progress so far for week one has been slower than Mommy had planned. Due to a post partum hemorrhage, TM is feeling pretty weak and is unable to hold Tommy for any length of time over a receptacle. You can read the birth story from Tommy's big sister's perspective over here.

So TM has been observing Tommy as she holds him, trying to recognize his signals for when he is about to pee or poop, as well as announcing to Tommy when he has just eliminated. TM states, rather matter-of-factly, "You pooped" or "You pee-peed."

What Mommy has seen so far is that just prior to pooping (which Tommy does nearly every time he nurses) he squirms, kicking his legs and grunting. This is usually accompanied by the skin on his eyelids and eyebrows getting red. Before urinating he usually cries and squirms as if he was in pain. He tends to pee after nursing and often sortly after having a diaper removed.

His umbilical cord is just hanging by a thread now and seems to cause some discomfort when touched, which would explain the crying at every diaper change. TM predicts the cord will be gone by morning, which will make everything easier as we can start using the cloth diapers and diaper belt.

TM caught one pee-pee yesterday in the big red mixing bowl. Today she caught another pee in the same bowl. After spending 30 minutes moving the bowl around on the bed to keep the toddlers from spilling it, TM managed to tip the bowl and dump the urine right between her own legs, soaking her undies and the bed spread. (TM is on bed rest while her body works to make new blood cells to replace the ones she lost through the hemorrhage. Therefore, the toddlers spend a lot of time up on the bed with Mommy, helping her and keeping her company).