I practiced part time EC with my first. I was a busy student midwife at the time and we did it full time at home (not at night because I had to prioritize sleep for births). We used cotton diapers when I was out at births with her. Anytime I was out in public I’d pottty her. So I was working full time as a home birth student and in school and it really FIT well. We just did it and it was so convenient to have a 5 month old pooing on the potty full time. She eventually started holding births and that was so cool. Night time diapers until 18 months. Daytime free of diapers though. I am due with # 2 soon and I’m hoping to do more full time and do nights this time.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience with EC! It just goes to show how personal the needs of your particular life and family can be, and you can still do EC successfully and enjoy the benefits of convenience, developing her ability to hold it and wait, and ultimately enjoy full diaper freedom by 18 months! Love this so much ☺️
My baby is 8 weeks old, would love to start. The potty you show here is however not available in Mexico (i could order it from the US but that would make it $50 😅). Any alternatives?
Thank you for making this video! I’ve been thinking to myself through my whole pregnancy that there has to be a better way than dealing with diapers for the next 2 years, & then a friend sent me a video of yours on Instagram. Grateful for your knowledge on this. Getting a top hat potty today & I downloaded your guide. Thank you so much! ❤
Absolutely! Hopefully you have at least some time home with your baby before your baby would start daycare, and establishing a routine early that you can then practice part-time with your baby when you're together will still have the same results ultimately. It's also a good idea to just be really transparent with the daycare or nanny and explain your routines, your child's cues, key times that THEY should be offering the potty, etc. A good daycare will be willing to work with you, and the result is a happier baby so it's a win-win!
Hi! Just wondering about baby getting cold out of the diaper whilst feeding. Do you use anything to cover their legs and keep them comfortable once nappy comes off?
Yes! Great question. It's definitely important to keep your newborn warm, a very young baby is still learning to regulate their body temp! You can use tall thigh high socks or leg warmers, or just lay a blanket over top. Note for little boys though, having a visual on your baby can help you see when he is about to pee, and you may need to manually aim to get his stream to actually go IN the top hat potty as sometimes it will just come straight out.
If she signals, I take her to the bathroom! Its basically exactly the same as if you had a potty training toddler who's learning to let you know when they need to go. If at the park, find a nice tree. On an airplane? Go to the lav. A classic EC hold (their back to your chest, hold legs under the thighs) works great for on the go!
It will be twice as much work, but it's important to remember you don't have to catch everything! If you can potty after naps and feedings, that can really help. And I highly recommend you get two potties for once they can sit unassisted around 5-6 months! There are moms in my community who do it with twins, it is more work but can definitely be done! And we'll worth it, otherwise you'll be changing twice as many diapers for twice as long!
How do you do the potty with the thompson method of breastfeeding. I don’t see how i could hold the potty for him to go in the thompson method (pain free breastfeeding method). And thats the only breastfeeding method that works for my tongue tied baby and I. Every latch style and procedure the IBCLCs gave me made it worse. And im not going back to blistered nipples after just healing😂
I had never heard of the Thompson method of breastfeeding so I looked it up, but so far am having a hard time figuring out what it is specifically (that makes it different from breastfeeding in general). Do you know of a good source where I can learn more about it? I absolutely agree, you do NOT want to go back to painful breastfeeding! I want to know more about it before offering thoughts on this
Q: for night time feeds I never ever sat up. I only did sidelying. I assume that won’t work for night pottying. So optimal to sit up at night to nurse to use the potty hat? Or could I offer the potty, side nurse, offer potty again before switching sides ??
Great question! You are correct that you can't potty while side lying (at least I haven't figured out a way to do it yet), but you also can know your baby's usual patterns and cues and offer at the key moments, for example if you KNOW your baby always poops at the 4-5am feed you could sit up and feed over the top hat for that one, but do side lying otherwise. Your baby will also let you know if they really need the potty, and usually will NOT settle back for sleep if they do. Many times I would try to nurse my daughter back to sleep side lying, and I would be nearly asleep and then she would sit up in bed and look around 😂 that was my cue, and I'd offer and then she could quickly go back to sleep after that. So you don't have to offer EVERY time at night, but it helps to pay attention to patterns and tune in to your baby's needs in the moment
In public, I either find a public restroom and hold her in a classic EC hold over the toilet (or sink at the doctor's office 😂) or if I'm outside it's easy to find a private-ish spot to potty a baby over the ground! I don't try to feed over the top hat in public though, I would feed and then potty sequentially
You're definitely going to be tired regardless! But the poop and the diaper change are inevitable, so I just offer a chance to potty as soon as they wake up, then either breastfeed over the top hat or offer again right after you're done feeding. They usually pee/poop during or immediately after the feed so I personally think it's easiest to just leave their diaper off and feed over a potty! The baby bjorn white insert works well for this too, several mamas in my Community have shared that that worked for them!
Is it not unpleasant because of the smell? Big fan of the concept in general but the idea of breastfeeding whilst they're pooping seems a bit icky, not to mention like a really easy way to accidentally knock a small bucket of nastiness everywhere when you're done 😅
I mean, the poop is coming whether they do it in the potty or in the diaper! personally id rather clean a speck off their booty than have it squished up everywhere and hiding in folds and crevices, but that's a personal preference 😂 And yeah, knocking it over is definitely a risk, although I can say from experience that's never happened to me and the blowouts that happened in her diaper when I didn't reach for the top hat potty were definitely much more of a mess and an outfit change!
Agreed. It’s a lot simpler to clean a poop that’s not been squashed in a diaper. And if you’re only breast-feeding, then breast-feeding poop is a lot simpler to wash and doesn’t smell bad in my experience (2 babies and counting!). Poop from formula fed babies is a bit more tricky to clean, but nothing drastic either, from what I’ve heard . Best of luck.!
This is such a gem of a video. Thank you so much! Holding the baby in a cradle instead of leaning against the chest is such a good tip
Thank you, I'm so glad it was helpful! As long as they feel supported potty time will be much easier!
such a helpful video. excited to try it with my newborn once she's born in the fall. thank you!
Glad it was helpful!
Wow this was a really informative video
I practiced part time EC with my first. I was a busy student midwife at the time and we did it full time at home (not at night because I had to prioritize sleep for births). We used cotton diapers when I was out at births with her. Anytime I was out in public I’d pottty her. So I was working full time as a home birth student and in school and it really FIT well. We just did it and it was so convenient to have a 5 month old pooing on the potty full time. She eventually started holding births and that was so cool. Night time diapers until 18 months. Daytime free of diapers though. I am due with # 2 soon and I’m hoping to do more full time and do nights this time.
Thanks so much for sharing your experience with EC! It just goes to show how personal the needs of your particular life and family can be, and you can still do EC successfully and enjoy the benefits of convenience, developing her ability to hold it and wait, and ultimately enjoy full diaper freedom by 18 months! Love this so much ☺️
I found this very helpful! Thank you!
I'm so glad, thanks for watching!
My baby is 8 weeks old, would love to start. The potty you show here is however not available in Mexico (i could order it from the US but that would make it $50 😅). Any alternatives?
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Such a good explanation, thank you for this!
Thank you, I'm so glad it was helpful!
Thank you for making this video! I’ve been thinking to myself through my whole pregnancy that there has to be a better way than dealing with diapers for the next 2 years, & then a friend sent me a video of yours on Instagram. Grateful for your knowledge on this. Getting a top hat potty today & I downloaded your guide. Thank you so much! ❤
Yay!! I'm so glad this information found you just in time!! 💗
Is this possible to achieve if baby will be attending daycare?
Absolutely! Hopefully you have at least some time home with your baby before your baby would start daycare, and establishing a routine early that you can then practice part-time with your baby when you're together will still have the same results ultimately. It's also a good idea to just be really transparent with the daycare or nanny and explain your routines, your child's cues, key times that THEY should be offering the potty, etc. A good daycare will be willing to work with you, and the result is a happier baby so it's a win-win!
Hi! Just wondering about baby getting cold out of the diaper whilst feeding. Do you use anything to cover their legs and keep them comfortable once nappy comes off?
Yes! Great question. It's definitely important to keep your newborn warm, a very young baby is still learning to regulate their body temp! You can use tall thigh high socks or leg warmers, or just lay a blanket over top. Note for little boys though, having a visual on your baby can help you see when he is about to pee, and you may need to manually aim to get his stream to actually go IN the top hat potty as sometimes it will just come straight out.
How do you manage this when in public? It seems slightly more practical for when at home.
If she signals, I take her to the bathroom! Its basically exactly the same as if you had a potty training toddler who's learning to let you know when they need to go. If at the park, find a nice tree. On an airplane? Go to the lav. A classic EC hold (their back to your chest, hold legs under the thighs) works great for on the go!
Really would like to try this. Pregnant with twins so will be a bit more of a job I’m guessing. Any ideas of how this would work with two?
It will be twice as much work, but it's important to remember you don't have to catch everything! If you can potty after naps and feedings, that can really help. And I highly recommend you get two potties for once they can sit unassisted around 5-6 months! There are moms in my community who do it with twins, it is more work but can definitely be done! And we'll worth it, otherwise you'll be changing twice as many diapers for twice as long!
How do you do the potty with the thompson method of breastfeeding. I don’t see how i could hold the potty for him to go in the thompson method (pain free breastfeeding method). And thats the only breastfeeding method that works for my tongue tied baby and I. Every latch style and procedure the IBCLCs gave me made it worse. And im not going back to blistered nipples after just healing😂
I had never heard of the Thompson method of breastfeeding so I looked it up, but so far am having a hard time figuring out what it is specifically (that makes it different from breastfeeding in general). Do you know of a good source where I can learn more about it? I absolutely agree, you do NOT want to go back to painful breastfeeding! I want to know more about it before offering thoughts on this
Q: for night time feeds I never ever sat up. I only did sidelying. I assume that won’t work for night pottying. So optimal to sit up at night to nurse to use the potty hat? Or could I offer the potty, side nurse, offer potty again before switching sides ??
Great question! You are correct that you can't potty while side lying (at least I haven't figured out a way to do it yet), but you also can know your baby's usual patterns and cues and offer at the key moments, for example if you KNOW your baby always poops at the 4-5am feed you could sit up and feed over the top hat for that one, but do side lying otherwise. Your baby will also let you know if they really need the potty, and usually will NOT settle back for sleep if they do. Many times I would try to nurse my daughter back to sleep side lying, and I would be nearly asleep and then she would sit up in bed and look around 😂 that was my cue, and I'd offer and then she could quickly go back to sleep after that. So you don't have to offer EVERY time at night, but it helps to pay attention to patterns and tune in to your baby's needs in the moment
I would like to try this, how do you do on public?
In public, I either find a public restroom and hold her in a classic EC hold over the toilet (or sink at the doctor's office 😂) or if I'm outside it's easy to find a private-ish spot to potty a baby over the ground! I don't try to feed over the top hat in public though, I would feed and then potty sequentially
First time mum here, I'd love to hear more about your breastfeeding journey & opinions!
Thanks for the idea! I have a lot to say about that 😂
What about when the newborn wakes up in the night? How do you accomplish that being so tired 😅
You're definitely going to be tired regardless! But the poop and the diaper change are inevitable, so I just offer a chance to potty as soon as they wake up, then either breastfeed over the top hat or offer again right after you're done feeding. They usually pee/poop during or immediately after the feed so I personally think it's easiest to just leave their diaper off and feed over a potty! The baby bjorn white insert works well for this too, several mamas in my Community have shared that that worked for them!
Is it not unpleasant because of the smell? Big fan of the concept in general but the idea of breastfeeding whilst they're pooping seems a bit icky, not to mention like a really easy way to accidentally knock a small bucket of nastiness everywhere when you're done 😅
I mean, the poop is coming whether they do it in the potty or in the diaper! personally id rather clean a speck off their booty than have it squished up everywhere and hiding in folds and crevices, but that's a personal preference 😂 And yeah, knocking it over is definitely a risk, although I can say from experience that's never happened to me and the blowouts that happened in her diaper when I didn't reach for the top hat potty were definitely much more of a mess and an outfit change!
Agreed. It’s a lot simpler to clean a poop that’s not been squashed in a diaper. And if you’re only breast-feeding, then breast-feeding poop is a lot simpler to wash and doesn’t smell bad in my experience (2 babies and counting!). Poop from formula fed babies is a bit more tricky to clean, but nothing drastic either, from what I’ve heard . Best of luck.!