Michael and Jaspenelle

The Baby Bjorn Potty Chair has arrived!

(and the crowds go wild!)

Or at least… this mommy goes wild!

A potty chair might not seem like a big thing to most of you, but it really is awesome to anyone who ECs their baby.

We currently EC Damian by holding him over the toilet:

Which truly wrecks havoc on your back, arms and knees. Damian is also getting a bit to wiggly to like that position too. The potty chair can be moved around to where ever I want it so these problems no longer exists. It also alleviates our other problem of ECing in public.

Our main problem with ECing Damian is that he now HATES going in his diaper and will try to hold it as long as possible. This is great in its own way of course, it saves us a lot of diapers, however it is not so great when we are out. I refuse to kneel on the floor of a public restroom. (Gross!) So he has to go in his diaper, of course this makes for a rather cranky baby at times. Now that we have the potty chair, we can just bring it with us and EC him in the van. I’ll probably eventually make a bag for it so when we go over to friends I can carry it in with us.

Based on first impressions I like the potty. It seems to support him well with some help (he is not old enough to sit on his own yet) and seems to be the right size for his little tushy with room to grow. It also doesn’t get as cold as a toilet seat either which he appreciates. The white bowl pops out super easily and seems easy to clean. All the seams are smooth so I am not worried about him getting pinched. Damian wasn’t sure what to think at first since he is use to the toilet, but he did end up peeing in it and I am pleased to say the splash guard did its job.

The day has come, my son has a throne of his own!
Now to get him some reading material…

Cloth Diapers

Michael and I have been cloth diapering Damian pretty much since he was born. There are so many advantages to cloth diapering but our original reason for looking into it was cost, beyond that they are the more eco-conscious choice and healthier for the baby.

There are a lot of cloth diapers available on the market today, some make cloth diapers almost as easy as using disposables (all-in-ones.) There is almost a whole subculture out there that revolves around cloth diapers (there is even one type, called GoodMamas that can go for $100+ a piece on ebay. Organic bamboo mumbojumbo…)

If money wasn’t an option I would probably have some all-in-ones for when we are out, but since our original goal was to save money we use prefolds, the “classic” cloth diaper that seems to intimidate so many people. I am really pleased with them though, after you change two or three of them it is super easy. We bought our current diapers from softclothbunz.com and our order was just shy of $200. For that we got:

• 36 prefolds
• 36 washcloths (to use as wipes)
• 4 diaper covers
• 3 snappis (that blue thing holding Damian’s prefold on)
• Biodegradable liner sheets
• 2 large waterproof bags (for the diaper pail)
• 1 small waterproof bag (for the diaper bag)

This gives us enough diapers that we can go a day or two without doing laundry, since I am a stay-at-home mom, doing laundry isn’t really an issue for us. I do it every day as is. Of all the items listed the liners are our splurge and convenience item. Liners are a rectangular sheet that looks and feels a bit like a drier sheet that are placed in the prefold. If the diaper is just peed in they can get tossed in the laundry with the diapers several times before they start to break down (since they are biodegradable.) If the diaper gets pooed in, the liner can be flushed poo and all. They are really convenient for when we are out and I don’t want to rinse the prefold in a public restroom.

$200 might seem like a lot of money but it is quickly made back when you consider a 34-pack of Huggies disposables cost about $16. Michael and I can use 20 diapers in 24 hours that is 140 diapers a week. That is $65 a week! We make back our $200 investment in just over 3 weeks. In a few months we will have to get the next size up of prefolds but it will still end up being way cheaper then disposables. We can also use these diapers on our next kid of course. We alsoEC Damian so that is even more money saved for us.

Cloth diapers are also healthier for the baby. Very few people I know who use them have problems with diaper rash since there are no chemicals in them. Cases of diaper rash are normally solved by changing laundry detergent. Disposables on the other hand usually can contain:

• Sodium Polyacrylate: a chemical that has been linked to allergic reactions and toxic shock syndrome.
• Bleach: one of the byproducts of the bleaching process is a cancer-causing (according to the EPA) chemical called dioxin. Even in the smallest detectable quantities, dioxin can cause liver disease, immune system suppression, and genetic damage in lab animals.
• Not to mention all the reports the FDA has received that show the fragrances in disposables caused headaches, dizziness,rashes, chemical burns, noxious chemical and insecticide odors. As well as Consumer Protection Agency reports of babies pulling disposables apart and putting pieces of plastic into their noses and mouth and choking on tab papers and linings.

Beyond being cost effective, cloth diapers are ecofriendly, even when factoring the water used to wash them. Cloth diapers are reusable and are usually biodegradable. Compare that to the 18 billion disposable diapers America throws out every year. The outer later of disposable diapers is usually a waterproof polypropylene and the inner layer is usually made of wood pulp and sodium polyacrylate. Once at the dump, disposable diapers will not breakdown for several hundred years, not to mention that they are filled with human excrement that can potentially leach into the water supply.

So cost effective, healthier for baby and ecofriendly are a few of the reasons we use cloth diapers. I really hope more parents in my generation choose cloth, even if for no other reason then saving money - which is a big perk in our current economy! Anyhow, my little rambling here might not convince you but I hope it makes you think and leads you to do some research of your own.

All about EC

For those of you that follow my twitter, you would have seen me commend Damian on performing EC so well: Damian doing awesome ec. Didnt wet or poo a diaper all night. Even went in the potty.

Elimination Communication (EC for short) is a method of communicating with your baby about when he needs to go potty. It’s not potty training, it’s about recognizing the signals he gives you when he needs to poo or pee. Just like he gives a signal when he’s hungry (such as licking his lips, putting his fist in his mouth, or rooting), he gives very clear signals that he needs to go potty (grunting, tensing his legs, fussing a bit). If you learn to watch for these signals, you can help him go in the potty or wherever else you want him to go. Babies catch on to this very quickly - they do not like sitting in their own waste, and if they learn that you will help them not sit in their own waste they get very good at telling you they need to go. It’s about trust and communication.

From the beginning, Damian has been very good about letting us know when he needed to poo. Whenever we noticed that he needed to, we would take off his diaper and let him relieve himself on the open diaper on the changing table. There has been very few times that he has gone in the diaper directly. As far as going pee though, his signals have been much more discreet, so most of the time he would pee in his diaper. But last night, we hit a milestone. Not once did he pee in his diaper. He has learned to become more vocal about his signal that he needs to pee. All 3 times he woke up, he was dry, and when I encouraged him to go (by cuing him with noises such as ’ssssss’ for pee and ‘grrrrrrr’ for poo) he went.

Of course there is a long way to go on this, but I’m excited about how well he is doing. We won’t be out of diapers anytime soon, but we will be much sooner then most kids!

If you want more information on EC, I highly recommend the book The Diaper Free Baby by Christine Gross-loh.

Here are some other useful links on EC:

• Wikipedia: Elimination Communication
• Infant Potty Training
• newborn ec: nobody told me this would be so easy!