Thin Moms (thin expecting graduates) - Page 2

Amy2006 · 03-18-2008, 11:34 PM

Wow, thanks Trisha! I was starting to feel a little ignored on the other thread, I guess it is time to move on over here.

What is elimination communication?

Karol: Way to go on the BF'ing! Try not to be so hard on yourself when it comes to the formula, you do what you need to do. You are doing a awesome job! I almost had to give Alexa formula around Christmas b/c I had a bit too much wine at a party. She ended up rejecting the bottle all together. To this day she refuses any liquid that doesn't come from the boobs.

Amanda: How are you? What does your daughter think about being a big sister?

TrishainAZ · 03-19-2008, 01:56 AM

Amy- here's some info from wikpedia about elimination communication...
"
The terms elimination communication and natural infant hygiene were coined by Ingrid Bauer and are used interchangeably in her book, Diaper Free! The Gentle Wisdom of Natural Infant Hygiene (2001). Bauer had traveled to India and Africa, where she noticed that most mothers would carry their diaperless babies constantly, yet she saw no elimination "accidents" as would be expected in industrialized countries where babies wear diapers almost continuously from birth. Subsequently, she raised her own children with minimal use of diapers, and eventually began to share her approach with other mothers and caregivers — initially through Internet-based parenting support groups and eventually through her book and website.

Prior publications introducing Western parents to this ancient practice include the book Trickle Treat, by Laurie Boucke (1991), and a pamphlet entitled Elimination Timing, by Natec (1994). Boucke was influenced by an Indian friend who taught her how mothers in India care for babies without diapers, and she adapted it to fit her Western lifestyle. Boucke later authored the more extensive Infant Potty Training (2000).

While the terms elimination communication and infant potty training have become somewhat synonymous, many caregivers who practice EC do not consider it to be a form of "training," per se. EC is viewed primarily as a way to meet the baby's present needs and to enhance attachment and communication in general. In that sense, EC is often likened to breastfeeding. "Toilet mastery is, of course, an inevitable consequence," writes Bauer, "Yet it's no more the goal of Natural Infant Hygiene than weaning is the goal of breastfeeding." (2001, p. 217)

Today, one often hears the terms natural infant hygiene, elimination timing, and infant potty training used synonymously, although they are not exactly the same. EC is a bit more specifically referring to the communication aspect of the elimination process.

The main components of EC are timing, signals, cueing, and intuition.

[edit] Timing
Timing refers to identifying the infant's natural timing of elimination. Newborns tend to urinate every 10-20 minutes, sometimes very regularly, which makes timing extremely useful. Older babies may still be very regular, or may vary in timing based on when they have last eaten or slept. As infants get older, the time between eliminations will increase. By six months, it is not uncommon for babies to go as much as an hour without urinating while awake (babies, like adults, rarely urinate during a deep sleep). Timing varies radically for defecation, as some infants may have several bowel movements a day, while others may only have one every few days.

[edit] Signals
Signals are the baby's way of informing a caregiver of an elimination need. Some babies signal very clearly from the beginning, while others may have very subtle signals, or no signal at all. These signals vary widely from one infant to another, and include a certain facial expression, a particular cry, squirming, a sudden unexplained fussiness, as well as others. Babies who are nursing will often start delatching and relatching repeatedly when they need to eliminate. For defecation, many babies will grunt or pass gas as a signal. Older babies can learn a gesture or baby sign for "potty."

[edit] Cueing
Cueing consists of the caregiver making a particular sound or other cue when the baby is in an appropriate place to urinate or defecate, in order to develop two-way communication. At first, the caregiver can make the cueing sound when the baby is eliminating, to develop an association. Once the association is established, the cue can be used to indicate to the baby that he or she is in an appropriate potty place. This is especially useful for infants who may not recognize public toilets or unfamiliar receptacles as a "potty." Common sound cues include "psss psss" for urination, and "hmm hmm" (grunting) for defecation. Older babies (late starters) may respond better to more word-like cues. Cues do not have to be auditory.

[edit] Intuition
Intuition refers to a caregiver's unprompted thought that the baby may need to eliminate. Although much intuition may simply be subconscious awareness of timing or signals, many parents who practice EC find it an extremely reliable component."

I don't practice it as religiously as some, but she does use the potty a fair amount of time. Some people actually go diaper free, but I'm definitely not there. I don't really try to prevent "accidents", I'm jsut getting her accustomed to going to the bathroom in a potty. I think its instinctual as she's been doing it since she was 3 weeks old. I just sit her on the potty when I change her diaper (I used to do it everytime, but now i can kind fo tell when its not likely that she'll go... i guess the intuition they are talking about) when she does need to go, she'll go within a minute or so of my setting her on the potty. Its pretty amazing!

TrishainAZ · 03-19-2008, 11:26 AM

Yeah! second night in a row of a full night's sleep (of course i ended up getting up to take care of the new puppy, but at least I wasn't up for both that and nursing!) She nursed at about 8:30 and then not again until 5:30 am. She had an early morning and was up and squealing at 6:30 though.. which in this house everyone is pretty much up aroudn 7:00 anyway (much to my chagrine!) If you only knew how long it took for me to get that long of a stretch with my first! (Let's just say at least 3x that long!) Hope you all are having a nice day!

Amy2006 · 03-19-2008, 11:52 AM

I remember seeing the video and you saying something alot EC but then I forgot about it. That is awesome. Go you!

Tiara51 · 03-19-2008, 12:32 PM

HELLO LADIES.

Trish- That is great to hear about the good night sleep.

Amy- She is loving it. She has been sick so not in his face, but she does help a lot when she is not outside. LOL

Does anyone have a maya or moby wrap?

TrishainAZ · 03-19-2008, 12:58 PM

NO, I have the hotsling. Its hard to get her in and out, but once she's in it, its great. I've heard good things about the others though.

Karol · 03-19-2008, 01:34 PM

Dang Trisha, I'm jealous! My kids were up 3 times last night

We're exhausted around here!

Amy, I can't believe you have a 6 month old already! Boy the time sure does fly.

Tiara - we have 1 Baby Bjorn. I've considered buying a Moby Wrap so I can load both babies in it & work around the house, but they're already too heavy! Their combined weight is about 18-20 lb right now, and I'm a weenie. It would hurt my back. We need to get another Bjorn - both babies love that thing, and they're WAY easier to use than a double stroller.

Welp, it looks like pregnancy may have cured my infertility. My hubs and I absolutely do not want to have any more kids. Pregnancy & childbirth (literally) almost killed all 3 of us, and it was the most scary, horrible thing we had ever been through, well, until the kids were born way too early and had to fight for their lives in the NICU. Neither of us want to risk having another high-risk pregnancy or another preemie. I had a Paragaurd IUD put in about 3 weeks ago, and it's a good thing because I thought I felt ovulation pains about 2 weeks ago, and today my period is starting. Life is so unfair. I wish I could give my apparently fixed ovaries to somebody on the ttc thread.

Tiara51 · 03-19-2008, 02:26 PM

Trish- I have to find something that will allow me to ove in the house with RJ. The only chair he seems to tolerate is his carseat. LOL

Karol- I was wondering what we were going to do with TTC as well. Being that I got PG so fast after my m/c I am a little scared that I may get pregnant again fast.

TrishainAZ · 03-19-2008, 03:25 PM

Yeah, I got my first PP period around 8 weeks, but looks like that was the end of it. We'll see. My hubby has pretty much decided HE won't mind if I get pregnant so quickly. I want to wait at least until she's 6 months old though. He's not the one trying to keep everything under control!

Karol- don't be too jealous. I was up at LEAST 3 times a night with my first and that was just ONE baby! When my son was born 18 months later, I was up probalby 5-6 times EVERY night between the two of them. It sounds like you have that twin thing down!

I have the bjorn and the hotsling. The bjorn is MUCH easier to get baby in and out of, but the sling si actually easier on my body... it gets supported by your frame instead of digging into your shoulders. My thighs get sore though! You can also SIT while wearing the sling!

TrishainAZ · 03-20-2008, 04:03 PM

So, another pretty good night... 8:30-3:00am and then up for the day about 7:00am. Can't complain about that. She is pretty fussy today though.

We've had a fun morning though. Colored Easter eggs for the first time. Kids had fun (was hard though with a fussy baby!) We also tackled cleaning teh kids area (basically the whoel upstairs.. we have 2 bedrooms and a loft up there) Surprisingly I actually enjoy it these days as my daughter is so cute and helpful these days (can't take it for granted as I know that won't last!) She cleans ALL the time. I finally asked if she likes cleanign (cause I don't!) and she said, "no, but I like to surprise you" how sweet is that? She usually cleans up for her brother too. I couldn't ask for a sweeter daughter.

in dog news, she's in the kennel now. diahrrea has subsided thankfully. she seems to like it. we'll wait for a decent bath to totally introduce her to the house so hopefully after the weekend. the kids are doing great with her considering how timid she is. how is everyone else doing?

Karol · 03-20-2008, 04:30 PM

I smell weird! I'm determined to stop using all formula supplementation ASAP, so I started taking fenugreek and blessed thistle supplements. They're working to increase my supply, but they're making me smell a bit like pancake syrup. It's very strange to have sweet smelling BO.

I have a really dumb question: How much do all of your babies sleep during the day? My kiddos basically wake up to eat, then they fall back asleep. I know this is normal behavior for a newborn, but they're over 2 months adjusted age now so I'm starting to worry that something isn't right with them. I just started keeping track of when they eat/sleep/poop today, and I'll bring my little charts to the pedi's office next week, but I'm wondering what's normal.

I'm a busy bee today. I have a goal of packing 2 boxes and dragging 2 pieces of furniture into the garage every day, to get ready for our move. Today I packed up 2 bookcases and dragged the empty cases into the garage - and it's barely 12:30! So I'm hoping to pack at least 1-2 more boxes today.

TrishainAZ · 03-20-2008, 04:54 PM

Karol- she's starting to stay awake longer now, but its still pretty common for her to sleep a lot. I'd say about 1.5 hours between naps. She's just over 3 months old now. My guess is that they are still very much in the normal range for sleep. (of course I'm no expert though!)

As far as sweet smelling BO... hey, thats a good thing isn't it?

You shoudl go over to the expecting board cause you sound like you are doing so well that you'd be a HUGE reassurance to some fo the twin moms over there that are being freaked out by moms who DON'T have twins.

Karol · 03-20-2008, 05:05 PM

I'm doing well now, but I wasn't for a long, long time. I don't know that I would be reassuring at all! But I'll peek over there and see if I have anything to contribute.

Amy2006 · 03-20-2008, 05:56 PM

Hey girls!

Amanda: I have the Bjorn and the hotsling. I love the Bjorn, its just much easier to load. Alexa is over 18 pounds now so neither are very comfortable anymore.

Karol: I know...time goes by so fast!!

I started back on Met last week. I am hoping to start ttc #3 this fall/winter when we start building our new home. I am getting excited.

Tiara51 · 03-20-2008, 06:21 PM

Thanks for the arrier info.

As for TTC#3, FDH says no more. I would like to have one more in about 2 years. We shall see. If I have to get another c-section I do not want to go there.

Karol- I heard that your BO will smell like syrup when using that.

As for sleep, RJ seems to stay up for about an hour max and goes back to sleep during the day.