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Hawaii Babies
Speaking of poo
We've been doing solids for a number of weeks and oh gosh, the pooping is outta control. I've been feeding him solids 2-3 times a day and he's pooping constantly -- 3-5 times a day now!
It'd be one thing if we were using disposables, but we've been doing CDs and I'm worried that I'm about to give up. I used to love it, but now it's starting to feel like a hassle since I'm dealing with diaper disasters ALL the time.
Does this sound like my boy just getting used to solids, or is poop really this frequent and unpredictable for most kids? Life was a lot easier when we were just nursing.
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Re: Speaking of poo
Life was a lot easier when I was just nursing too. Now that we're on 100% solids and whole milk, the poops are unpredictable. Sometimes she poops twice a day and sometimes it's like 4-5 times a day. Sometimes they are like little peebles or "plopable" poops and sometimes we have to scrap them out of her diapers... That said, I wonder if life would be easier if we had a diaper sprayer. We haven't bought one or even really talked about it much... It was a brief thought but now that I'm going to have 2 in diapers, I'm really thinking about researching it more.
When you say "disaster diapers" do you mean blowouts? We've had two leaks and they've been pee, we've NEVER had a poop blowout. Just really messy to dump/clean.
No, no blowouts. We've never had one with CDs, only sposies.
It's more like what you describe -- sometimes plopable, but usually softer, stew-iery messes. And lots of it. I can deal with the former, but the other stuff gets EVERYwhere and is just pretty nasty. And it's happening so frequently, too!
It also doesn't help that he's super active now, so I'm sometimes wrestling with him to do the change. Like you said, it's gotten pretty messy and I am so tempted by the convenience of just wrapping it up and tossing.
ETA: It's 7 am and we're 2 for 2 on poopy diapers so far!
i found that they need to be on a lot of solids before their poop is ploppable and even these days, like Sarah said, some are ploppable and others are still a mash.
that's why EC is so great
i hardly ever have to deal w/poopy diapers! seriously. like once a week or sometimes even less...we had a 2 wk stretch where i didn't have to deal w/any. and she usually poops 2-3 times per day with an occasional day of only 1x/day or up to 4x/day but those days are rare. we are also down significantly on wet diapers too. for the last week, she is only having one wet diaper per day so if you don't count her night time diaper, i am only use 2 diapers per day with her! it's amazing. i just put her on the potty right when she wakes up and right before i put her down for a nap (times i change her anyway) and also right after a "meal" of solids. i think the only reason why we're even getting the 1 wet diaper per day is b/c when she wakes up from her nap sometimes she just lays there and i give her some time to see if she goes back to sleep (which she does sometimes) or to see if she is actually up and it is during that time that she will sometime pee. i am pretty sure if i went in and got her right away she'd still have a dry diaper. i know EC is not for everyone but it is just something to consider.... 
i also love the diaper sprayer and i do not think that DH or the babysitter would even touch the poopy diapers if we didn't have the sprayer. you can get one cheap on diaperswappers (i got a brand new one that retails for $55 for just $25 w/shipping).... or if you want, you can get one even cheaper for $12-15 if you go the DIY route and buy a kitchen sink sprayer at home depot/lowes and install it yourself. it is super easy and you can find instructions online on how to do it. you just need to buy the 3 way adapter for the toilet hose. you should definitely get one!!
i remember someone (maybe it was Sarah?) who was worried about child proofing the sprayer but you could always just close the door 
oh and Sarah's comment about the fleece reminds me - you could also buy these flushable liners too
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
I've actually tried the EC thing, but I usually get there too late and once I put him on the toilet, he just laughs. I guess he likes the feel of hanging over the thing! Any tips on EC stuff I could read so I learn more correctly how to do it?
I've been using my own flushable liners -- soft Viva papertowels folded in half. They do help, but the stewey poops are still pretty messy.
Re: a diaper sprayer. I have one, but am still waiting for DH to hook it up. Maybe I should make him change more diapers so he stops procrastinating! I hope that helps.
And, yes, after using cloth, I am afraid of going back to sposies, since they seem so flimsy in comparison. So far, just the grandparents use them when they're babysitting.
Gah!
this actually worries me, b/c even our most die-hard crunchy, home-water-birth, vegan, happy-to-bf-until-child-is-4-or-5 friends gave up on cloth as soon as their son started solids.
so MH is willing to try cloth until then, but i think he's already decided we'll give up then too. and i hope we manage to stick with it!
how does EC work though, with you working? I thought you had to watch for signs that LO is about to go, and then put them on the potty - but it sounds like A knows to hold it now (more or less) and goes at regular intervals? and do you just instruct babysitters/whoever is watching her to follow the same routine?
also, i had been wavering, but now i'm totally sold on a diaper spayer! and flushable liners, and whatever else we need to make this work once we have to deal with solids and poop!
I know. I don't think we'll fully give up, but even if we did, I figure we did 6 months of good and can use everything again with future babies. So it'd have still been a worthy investment.
Even now, I still am 100% in favor of using my BG pockets with extra inserts at night, even if he poops first thing when he wakes. Those things keep him amazingly dry, even though he pees a ton while he sleeps! I actually love the BGs now that he's on the go and will continue to use those (at least at home!).
Funny you ask this, because I was actually JUST going to write a post with the same question for those who do it!
How does it work with daycare or other child carers? I might be able to do it right now but it seems like it wouldn't be that effective once the boys are in daycare all day long, 5 days a week (since I strongly doubt they'd be willing to do it there).
the only site i used was diaperfree.org and i just used the general tips from there. when we first started i didn't have the toilet insert so i sat on the toilet with her and held her in front of me. once i got the insert i just put her on that.
i think early on you have to keep trying. the first few days i just kept putting her on there for a 3-5 minutes at a time. we started around 7 months so at that point she no longer had any signs of going so i had no idea when she was doing it...she gets quiet and stares sometimes when she poops but i also get a lot of "false alarms" if i go based on that! so the first few days i'd put her on every hour or so....you just keep doing it and hope that one of the times you do it, that they'll pee or poop and you "catch it" - if you do, then you can say your phrase ("pee pee on the potty" or whatever you choose) and make the pssssssss sound. once you are able to actually catch it and say the phrase a few times, they can start to associate the phrase/sound with pottying. i know you feel ridiculous sitting there w/your baby on the toilet just waiting for something to happen, but eventually it's bound to happen if you keep trying
it only took about 2 days before i was able to "catch" a poo and then day 3 i caught her first pee. from there she was able to catch on pretty quickly. once i was able to get her to make the association i was able to stop putting her on the potty so often (b/c the first few days you are doing whatever you can to "catch" something). i then started to do it only when she woke up, before a nap, and occasionally somewhere in between.
i think it also helps a lot to use positive reinforcement. in the beginning (and even now still) whenever she does it, i get SUPER excited, smile real big and say "yay!!! good job, annalise!" and she LOVES it and grins back at me
sandra, the start of solids poo is gross and i have to admit that i really missed being able to just throw the diaper in the pail after a poop
but, once you start doing it and get the hang of it (there is a technique to use the sprayer that i didn't realize until i read the abby's lane newsletter that makes it easier).... i think if you keep doing it for a little while you start to get over it a little bit....and, like i posted above, i really didn't have to do poopy diapers for that long 
she started solids on 5/17 and we started EC on 6/15 and by the 2nd week of EC most of her poops were in the toilet!
as for me working.... our 1st babysitter (worked with us until end of Aug) did not do it with her AT ALL and it did not affect her one bit. the sitter just preferred to use the sprayer ...i explained it to her and said "if you want to, you can try it, but if you don't want to, then here's how you deal with poopy diapers." she chose not to do EC and i was fine w/that. i really don't think they get messed up or "untrained" if you are inconsistent. when i am running errands she still pees in the diaper... i am not sure how long she holds it before "giving up" and just peeing in the diaper....though i do know that sometimes we get home and i am shocked her diaper is still dry so she is definitely trying to hold it.
after our 1st sitter moved at the end of Aug, we hired a new one. this one is completely on board w/the EC and thinks it's great/amazing that she uses the potty
i don't really think that her doing better w/the EC is b/c of the new sitter necessarily.... when they are younger their bladders are just so small so it just isn't
physically possible for them to hold it that long. i'd put her on the
potty when she woke up in the AM and then she'd be up for about 2 hrs
and even though she'd potty again before her nap, she'd have a wet
diaper while playing... i think that is more b/c her
bladder is able to hold more now.
and yes, ideally you do it based on their signs and put them on the potty but as i mentioned above, i started so late that it's really hard for me to know when she has to go. when she was an itty bitty thing it would have been perfect to do it b/c she always had the cutest fishy lips poo face whenever she pooped but alas, she outgrew that phase
i just figured out from experience doing this w/her that she HAS to pee as soon as she wakes up.....she will often poop after waking from a nap as well....she will also poop not long after eating solids (gastric-colic reflex) so i put her on the potty then, too (figured this out after finding a few poopy diapers!)....and the only reason why i do it before a nap is b/c i want her to have a dry diaper going down so i change her diaper...and i might as well try then too 
and as it turns out she seems to hold it during playtime now until i put her on the potty before naptime. babies are pretty good at figuring out routines i think.
again, i don't think it really deters them from picking up on things if you don't do it 100% of the time. DH doesn't do it w/her much, either (he doesn't have the patience - she will sit on the toilet for 10 min before pooping sometimes) and she is still doing well overall. (as an aside - since she spends about 10-15 minutes on the potty each time, i have a set of toys/books she plays w/when she is on there!)
even if you decide to switch over to sposies, you still made a HUGE difference environmentally over the course of 6 months!! some people don't have blowouts w/sposies but i know a large # do, so if you switched you might be dealing with a lot of poopy clothes instead
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
I forgot to add in my post above... the reason why part time EC still works is b/c all you are really doing is conditioning the baby to pee/poop on the toilet, not necessarily teaching him/her how to hold it (i think that part comes w/age and the baby's realization that he/she does not like to sit in a wet/dirty diaper). that's why when a large amount of time elapses and Miss A isn't given the opportunity to pee in the toilet, she just pees in her diaper. she is just conditioned to use the toilet, she is not potty trained per se and does not cry until i put her on the toilet. think of it this way - if Pavlov does not ring the bell, does the dog salivate? no. but does he still get hungry? yes. lack of a bell ringing does not prevent the dog from developing hunger, nor does it prevent him from salivating the next time a bell is rung. not a perfect analogy but i do think that babies make the association to pee/poo on the toilet and when you are not doing EC, they still pee/poo in the diaper when they need to. that's why you can still effectively do EC even if your day care (or DH) does not. i truly think that every little bit helps and even if you only do it 5% of the time, you are still going to get your baby potty trained sooner than if you weren't doing it at all.
Jaime & Brent
Oahu, Hawaii | Sept. 9, 2005
My Food Blog - Good Eats 'n Sweet Treats
Ahhh this makes sense! I guess I was a bit confused about it because I thought that it was (effectively) early potty training and I didn't get how they could hold it that young. This makes much more sense! I might discuss it with Ben, I think he might actually be down with this...