I'm a landlord. If anyone has pets that piss and shit all over carpets, they pay to replace them. NOT steam clean them. Human excrement is even worse. You're really inconsiderate.
I'm bumping this because feb is coming up which means OP should be having her baby soon and I'm so curious to hear how this goes...
There
are three reasons for breast-feeding: the milk is always at the right
temperature; it comes in attractive containers; and the cat can't get
it. ~Irena Chalmers
Most families in third world countries do this successfully. They have to do something, because diapers are way to expensive.
I live in a third world country and most people here use cloth diapers (or disposable if they can afford). It isn't until the child is potty training that they let them run around the house/yard with no diaper.
Well, my dd is now almost five months old, and my husband and I have been doing EC/diaper free from birth.
The first night after she was born was pretty poop-filled. haha. We both woke up with her and held her over a paper towel which caught most of the meconium. For the first two weeks we always had a cloth diaper under her but, but not strapped onto her. That way, we could see when she went and try to watch for cues. After that, we noticed when she would poop, and would cue her with a grunting sound. I held her on my lap, and held her butt over the toilet, and she would go right into the toilet.
Night-time pottying was a little rough for the first couple months. We co-sleep, and she would wake me up by kicking me. Then I would take her to the bathroom and hold her over the toilet. She usually went right away, but she woke up about every two hours.
I have size 18month potty training undies, and that is what she wears all the time. If I miss a cue, then she pees in those and my carpet only gets slightly damp. Then I clean it.
For a while from three months to four months she would keep her undies dry all day long, but now that she has started crawling, I think she is concentrating on that more, so she will go through probably eight undies a day.
Night-time pottying was always the best for her and even now, she will rarely wet in the bed. If she does, I have a waterproof lambs wool blanket and a baby blanket over that, so my bed does not get wet. She will wake up to pee about every three hours. I hear her and take her to a little potty chair right next to the bed. she pees and then we both go right back to sleep. She doesn't even wake up all the way.
She usually wakes up at 7:30 am to poop. I hold her on her potty chair and she sits there pooping for about 10 minutes. after she gets it all out, she is awake for the day. Maybe once a month she will poop in her undies, and even then, it is usually because we are on a long car trip and we can't get off of the highway until she has already gone. I never get pooped on.
Elimination Communication has been a very rewarding experience. My dd trusts that I will respond to her needs and I believe that we have a deeper level of communication because of it.
Her dad is helping her use the potty chair. She will happily sit on it when she has to go. When she is done she kicks her legs and straightens them. Then we wipe her bottom with a cloth diaper and put her undies back on. Sometimes when we set her on the potty chair she makes an unhappy noise and kicks her feet. That means she does not have to go and we take her right off again.
Actually, she was hardly ever on those carpets. So they were very un-peed on. Also, like I said earlier, she wears little undies and those catch most of the pee. The rental carpets got slightly dampened, and then I cleaned that up. Contrary to popular opinion, I did not hold my baby naked over the carpets and encourage her to pee on them.
Re: Is Anyone Else Doing Diaper Free?
There are three reasons for breast-feeding: the milk is always at the right temperature; it comes in attractive containers; and the cat can't get it. ~Irena Chalmers
I honestly think this whole concept is disgusting to be honest... but good luck to you if you try it.
Btw... we steam clean our carpets after each accident...pee/poop/barf... and god knows there is more thanenough of it.