First Annual "Go Diaper-Free" Week!

From April 21st to the 27th is the first annual Go Diaper-Free week!

http://godiaperfree.com/go-diaper-free-week/

https://www.facebook.com/GoDiaperFree?fref=ts


Day One

I started last night, and through the night I let Clay sleep in an AIO (All In One) diaper without the insert (so pretty much just a pair of underwear) and some pants. I put a couple of thick blankets underneath him so that if he had an accident my bed wouldn't get soaked. He peed three times and pooped twice throughout the night, and he had one miss (a pee). Throughout the day I'm keeping him in a pair of shorts or baby undies.

I was pretty excited when I discovered this event was taking place, because I've been doing Elimination Communication with Clay since he was a couple weeks old, but I've still been using diapers (which is fine). I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to take that next step towards being diaper free, for a couple of reasons. One, it kinda forces me to be more aware of his signals, because there's more on the line (like getting drenched with pee), two, I noticed that the cloth diapers kinda spread his hips/knees outwards (they are kinda poofy) and when he doesn't wear a diaper he has more room to move his legs around, and three, I LOVE feeling his cute little bum under his clothes instead of a big poofy diaper, his body is just to cute :)

So I'll keep you updated on our experience going a week with no diapers (this includes going out places! :P). We'll be using baby shorts and pants, tiny undies and the covers for the AIOs. Wish me luck! :D

Day Two

So last night went really well! No accidents, and he peed like three times. It's nice because he usually saves all his poop until morning lol :P

So, today I went out to a new parents group in my community which I've been going to for  4 weeks now. This time, there were actually other new moms there! :D Once I got there and sat down for a few minutes, I predicted it would probably be time for a potty break. I brought the inside of our toddler potty with me (which Clay uses all the time at home), so I took it out of my diaper bag and got him ready to go. I was sitting with the two new mums (T and V), and another friend I made with a 10 month old (K) and I whipped the potty out and got Clay to pee. I swear one of the best things about EC is the reactions I get from people! :D Everyone was asking me questions about it, and we had some really good conversations! T was really considering getting into cloth diapering (still on the fence), and V and I were already using them. Talking to us both I think inspired her to take the plunge! :) (yay!) Also all the mums there are fellow breast feeders, and the two new mums are baby-wearers! Squee! Like-minded people with babies Clay's age, finally! :D

Clay peed a few times at the family center (he had a couple of leaks on me too lol). He got weighed by the public health nurse (he's 13 pounds 11 ounces). At 12:00 I took him to the bathroom to clean out his potty and he peed in the toilet. Then we took off, to catch the bus.

I met a woman at the bus stop named Tammy. She mentioned that she was heading to the food bank (the one close to my house that I've tried getting a hold of for 2 weeks :P), so I decided to go with her. Clay was great the whole bus ride and the whole way to the food  bank. After I got registered I took him to the bathroom and he pooped in the sink :P Then I waited for my number to be called, and put Clay back in his sleepy wrap. He pretty much fell back asleep lol. I got all my food... It was A LOT. And the there were no volunteer drivers there today. So Tammy helped me lug all my stuff back to my house :P (it's like a 10 minute walk). My diaper bag was full of Clay's stuff, some canned food and a big jug of water, and I carried two heavy bags plus Clay in the wrap. Tammy carried the other two bags I had for me and pulled her cart full of food. I took my bags from her when we got to my house, and when I tried to stand back up from squatting I kinda collapsed cos of all the weight hahahaha!! I got inside and Clay had a HUGE poop and a nice long pee in the potty. Then he nursed for a little while, then he had another huge poop and pee like 10 minutes later lol. He's sleeping now. Everything is going well, and it's so satisfying for me to be aware of his cues enough for him not to have an accident and get me soaked while we were out and quite busy. I can't take all the credit though, if he had decided to go while I was waiting in line for my food, or walking home with all that food, I would've been very wet! Which is why I'm thinking while I have him in the wrap I may put a diaper on him next time, just in case!

So this evening so far Clay has had like 5 or more accidents on me! :S
He kept fussing and squirming while nursing, to me he very obviously had to go pee, so I would offer him the potty to which he responded with angry screams and tears! Then like 10 minutes later he would pee all over me! This happened like 5 times :P He's much calmer now, thankfully... I'm thinking maybe he's going through some sort of developmental milestone, with increased misses. Great timing Clay ;P lol! 

Day Three

So Clay didn't go at all last night, until about 8:00am when he had an accident. I tried him on the potty a couple hours later and he had his "big go" of the morning. At one point he was doing the same thing that happened yesterday evening, where he refused the potty with gusto, but still complained and fussed. This time it was gas. A lot of gas! I just stopped nursing him since he kept popping on and off the breast anyway, and just laid my hand on his belly. He totally relaxed after a few minutes, and then let out a bunch of toots that were quite powerful lol :P
It seems like today was ALL misses! 

Day Four

Last night I decided to start using diapers on Clay again lol. For one main reason: It seems that going completely diaper free can cause a lot more laundry if you have any misses (baby's pants get soaked, along with the multiple layers of blankets (and my pants) he sits on, instead of just the diaper getting wet and sparing his clothes (most of the time lol)).

So, we've been using diapers ever since last night, and we've been accomplishing the same ratio of misses and catches lol. Well, it was an illuminating experiment. I will still do diaper free time with him on a regular basis, but not permanently, at least not until we get better at the communication part of EC lol! Even as it is, I rarely change poopy diapers, which is a great feat in and of itself! :)

Day Five

So far I've just been going over exactly what's happened in my day doing EC, but today I'll go into my overall experience practicing it on a daily basis.

Like I said yesterday, we still have many pee misses, but on average I would say we have about a 60% success rate overall. Honestly, that's good enough for me! I'm certainly not implying I wouldn't want a higher "success" rate, but I'm quite happy with what we've accomplishes thus far. The communication between us has grown significantly, and I more fully understand his body language. I find myself gaining more confidence in my knowledge of when he needs to toot, or poop or pee, just as I know when he needs to burp, feed, be warm or just be held. Sometimes it takes me a little while to fully interpret what he really wants (in that time frame is when most of the misses take place), and sometimes he gets so upset that even if I hold him over the potty when he obviously has to go, he won't relax enough to actually do his business (resulting in a miss 5 minutes later, once his diaper is back on!). Sometimes it seems like he just wants to go in his diaper, which is fine, and through some research I've learned that perhaps this sort of thing happens because he's going through some significant developmental changes.

EC has become second nature to me, and it's just as much a part of our daily routine as occasionally changing diapers, feeding and doing laundry. Starting out it was a bit of a hassle (but the sensation of confusion means the brain is building connections! So I stuck with it, and it started to make more and more sense (I am still confused much of the time (but I guess that's inherent of being a mom or dad anyway!))

So, I'm here now. I may get better at understanding his needs, then I might find I all of the sudden have no idea what's going on. I think that's normal, and I think I'll just go with it :)

Day Six 

Today Clay and I went to a Pagan Beltaine Festival that lasted all day, and it's impossible to know how many diapers he'll need for the day! Sometimes he only needs 2 or 3, but today he needed 7 or 8, and I only brought 5 cloth (luckily I brought a couple (lighter to carry) disposables, just in case). He peed in his diaper again and again and again lol, but I caught three poops in the bathroom :)

I was talking to a friend about a little girl she just saw at this festival today, and how she thought she recognized her from years ago at another weekend long gathering. She explained that this girl's mother trained her to be diaper free, and that she would make some sort of sound and she'd hold her over the ground, and she would go!! Amazing!

I smiled and exclaimed, "me too! Sure saves on diapers." :)
Later on I approached the little girl's mother and started up a conversation about it. She's the first person I've met that did EC with her child! We really clicked and her little girl is such a sweetheart :) She started EC at 4 months, and told me about how potty training was a breeze and happened much sooner than the average of 3 years (her daughter is 4 or 5 now). I'm happy to have finally met someone who knows what EC stands for!

Day Seven

Today I walked down to Eric's work at the end of his shift to walk with him home. It was GORGEOUS out! A whopping 13 degrees :) the warmest day yet this year. While I was waiting for him outside I took a fussy Clay out of the wrap and nursed him. I knew he had to go but didn't really wanna go to the bathroom with him, so I squatted him with his diaper still on and cued for him to go. He sure did! and no mess or strange looks in public lol!

Well I hope this little glimpse into my life doing EC has helped, in some small way (or some mind boggling life altering way! Hey, who knows...). I'm syked to have contributed to the growing community of knowledge on the web regarding this practice, and I hope that I inspired some, and at least raised awareness for others. Thanks for following everyone! And please stay tuned for more fascinating posts about poop, breast milk, and other enthralling topics! Aahh, motherhood. Am I right?  

Here is a video of Clay cuing to go pee, me responding, plus the end result ;) 

and don't worry, soon I will be replacing this video with one where the end result will be easier to see! :P For everyone who has been following, I invite you to please toss me some topic ideas of things you'd like me to cover in my future posts. This is for you! :) Cheers!