EC Update

Can I just say I love elimination communication? It's going quite well with Zari. Most days, if I am paying attention, I catch almost everything. If I am occupied with other things, we have more misses but since she wears her cloth diapers as backup, it doesn't bother me too much. I do EC based mainly on timing right now. As babies get older, they often start cueing when they have to go, first by body signals and later by signing or speaking.

So, here's how I do it:

1. Every time she wakes up from nap, I hold her over a receptacle and make the cueing sound ("pssssssss"). She usually pees and often poos as well.
2. Either before nursing, or after she eats on one side, I do the same thing.
3. At night, she is usually dry when she wakes up to nurse. I nurse her on one side, burp her, then potty her. She will go once she wakes up enough; sometimes I have to wait a few minutes because she is so sleepy.
4. If she all of a sudden starts fussing out of the blue, I will potty her.

That's it! It translates into pottying her twice per 3-hour nursing cycle during the day, and whenever I feed her at night. It takes perhaps a few extra minutes of my time, but I am changing diapers less often so it equals out.

She is starting to signal more clearly when she has to pee. Right before she pees, she gets really fussy and tense. Then as soon as she starts going, her whole body relaxes.

It's fun to see how well she responds the potty sound. My sisters joked that I could use this as a secret weapon: hand her over to someone I don't like and say "pssssssssss"!

Zari thinks this would be pretty funny, too.