Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Parenting

For free parenting resources please check out the Early Years Alliance's Family Corner.

Ds 7mths - is it worth starting to sit him on the potty? Has anyone found this helped long term?

71 replies

theprecious · 18/02/2008 11:08

I have found this link which is really good about early potty training and may have missed the boat kellymom

I wondered if it was worth trying with ds. He is quite obvious when he poos and it seems crazy to sit and watch him. Should I whip off his nappy and sit him on the potty? I use disposables at the mo.

Questions are - will it make any difference long term?

Also I am going back to work four days a week in July and I can't expect my childminder to do this so again, is it pointless?

Any views appreciated. I might post in parenting as if it's worked for people they won't be looking in this section.

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
Tea71 · 22/02/2008 09:55

BabiesEverywhere - if I can't get a potty today, am thinking of holding DD over toilet. One question for you - when you do this, do you hold your dd facing towards the back of the toilet (towards the cistern) or the other way round (which would be a bit awkward)? I know it doesn't matter, but just thought if training them to use toilet properly in later life, maybe they should sit the right way round, as it were?

Maveta · 22/02/2008 10:11

Great to hear a husband´s input too my dh is very supportive aswell although maybe a little less proactive than me just now at actually getting ds to the loo if he looks like he´s trying to poo

Tea71 - I use a toilet insert and sit him on it in the normal direction, I just kind of squat in front of him and hold on while he has a think when he was smaller and a little wobblier I would lean forward and let him lean forward on to me iyswim.

I have to say lately our poo catches are down, he seems to be going easier so his poo face happens but then he´s done it, by the time I get him to the loo it´s all over We´ll persevere, it always happens when he´s in his walker so all that movement must be conducive to getting things going which is still a good thing

Maveta · 22/02/2008 10:13

oh sorry Tea71 I misunderstood.. before we had the insert I would hold him facing the cistern as I found it easier, i imagine you won´t do it this way long term anyway as your baby gets heavier and more cumbersome to hold so once you do move to an insert or potty you will use it the right way round. I´m sure it won´t make a difference

Interested in this thread?

Then you might like threads about these subjects:

BabiesEverywhere · 22/02/2008 10:15

I used the cradle hold see here for picture

Baby's back to my tummy, hold her legs under her thighs. The baby's weight leans towards you, bottom over the toilet !!! Worksbest for girls, boys will need more aiming.

BabiesEverywhere · 22/02/2008 10:20

Oh, yes now she is heavy and sits on her own, she sits the right way around now

Maveta, Babies aren't designed to be upright until they have the strength to pull themselves up on their own steam. However I am biased as I have issues about the safety of walkers and wouldn't use one with my babies.

But using walkers or starting to walk and be naturally upright has different pressures on the bladder etc, even children who are quite consistant on a potty can temporarily lose control for a few days when walking begins. My DD did it and it sounds like wherethewildsheepare child is just going though that stage too.

Maveta · 22/02/2008 11:17

oh he can pull himself up on his own, and loves walking holding onto anyone´s hands just can´t do it on his own yet (although he seems to think he can judging by how he tries to free his hands even though he clearly can´t fully support himself yet ).

I know walkers are controversial but he doesn´t crawl so loves the freedom being it in gives him (don´t worry he gets much more floor time than walker time )

BabiesEverywhere · 22/02/2008 11:31

Maveta, As I said I know I am biased about walkers, you know what is best for your child and I wouldn't worry about a child of yours, who is so clearly well loved and cared about.

TigerFeet · 22/02/2008 12:51

Waves to BE's DH

Tea71 · 22/02/2008 17:50

omg - I've just had my first catch! bought a Baby Bjorn Little Potty today - put her on it after her nap - nothing, but plenty of pee in nappy before bath time when I took it off. Put her on potty as I know she tends to poo and wee before her bath, and caught both poo and wee.
Once she'd finished, she tried to lift herself up - is this what usually happens?
Also - very silly question because I'm a first time mother - how do people clean potties? In this instance, I flushed the elimination down the toilet and rinsed potty in washbasin.
Also - what do people wipe their babies bottoms with? I don't want to use toilet paper but the wipes I use are non flushable.

BabiesEverywhere · 22/02/2008 18:52

Tea, Congrat on your first catch, a double one no less !!!

As for the standing up, I guess your LO wanted to see what happened where.

I use to pour wee in the toilet and swill the potty with tap water and pour that in the toilet to, dry with toilet paper.

For poo, I ran water on top of the poo and swilled it around (makes it much easier to get out of the potty and poured that into toilet and again rinsed with water, dry with toilet paper.

Or you can put one sheet of toilet paper on the bottom of the potty before use to prevent poo sticking apparantly but I have never been that organised.

I use toilet paper to wipe DD bottom and just flush with everything else. Why don't you want to use toilet paper ?

Other suggestions moist toilet paper or washable cloth wipes.

theprecious · 22/02/2008 18:57

well done Tea71 and her LO! I caught 3 of 4 poos today.... and a few wees. And he wasn't sat on the potty all day btw. I THINK ds seems to have the idea - am I kidding myself?

My parent's tip is to put a bit of water in the potty first, then it's easier to flush. But I haven't been that organised yet.

OP posts:
BabiesEverywhere · 22/02/2008 19:02

theprecious, Sounds like you have had a good day too

Children can catch on fast and it sounds like your DS has done but ECing can be a rocky road, two steps forward, one step back...but it is so much more enjoyable to deal with potty/toilet eliminations than those endless nappy changes

Tea71 · 22/02/2008 19:05

Thanks. Think I'm going to put toilet paper at bottom of potty b4 I put dd on it.
Reason why I don't, or didn't, want to use toilet paper to wipe her was because I thought it might be a bit harsh (I use recycled toilet paper, not the lovely soft Andrex stuff). But, I guess if that's what you use, BabiesEverywhere, I might try it too - saves on buying very expensive baby wipes!

BabiesEverywhere · 22/02/2008 19:09

We buy the next to cheapest toilet roll from Aldi but she doesn't seem to mind and we use it. That said I never used moist wipes even when we used nappies, I used flannels as washable wipes.

scottishmum007 · 07/03/2008 20:21

hi babieseverywhere, nice to see you have a positive spin on early potty training, or EC? I think there's no reason why not to. we have done this since ds was 4 weeks old on and off. i think because it's not the 'norm' here in western society, people just assume that it's best to let it happen when it happens.
i personally don't see any harm in putting a baby on the pot regularly.

Washersaurus · 07/03/2008 20:48

Well, I'm slowly being converted. BabiesEverywhere has mentioned to me about EC on threads before and I must admit although I thought it very impressive, I also thought she was a little kooky .

Well, I have a 2.7yo in cloth who is showing no signs of getting out of nappies on his own and a 7mo, am thinking maybe I could just get the potties out and start this with both of them. I could definitely tell when they need to poo but have no idea about the signs for wee (although my mum always seems to know).

scottishmum007 · 08/03/2008 19:20

washersauras, that's good that you're willing to be open minded about this topic too, it's ashame other people don't give it a shot with their own babies.
good idea starting two of your babies at the same time, might work out to be more successful than you think as the younger one might want to copy everything that your older one does! let us know how it goes.

Washersaurus · 08/03/2008 20:05

I might have to start without mentioning it to DH though, he isn't very open to 'alternative' approaches to things.

BTW I meant kooky in a good way BE . EC is one of those things I just assumed that I wouldn't be able to master.

BabiesEverywhere · 09/03/2008 08:19

Washersaurus, A new convert (nearly)
Most new things in life are worth a try, you can always stop if it doesn't suit you or your child. If it does work you'll have to namechange to Kookywashersaursus...LOL Seriously, I would be very interested to see how you get on with two children of differing ages and who picks it up first etc.

scottishmum007, Interestingly ECing is/was the norm for most of the world. The ultimate enviromental friendly way of dealing with babies eliminations, especially when you don't have a lot of money or running water for buying disposables nappies or washing cloth nappies.

In the UK many mums would ECed full or part time, usually just called 'catching the wees', holding the baby over newspaper on the floor, which would be burnt in the fireplace/range. To reduce the amount of handwashed terry nappies, a hard necessary job.

In the 1960 with the invention of the disposal. They were hailed as the best modern invention to free mothers from excessive washing (sod the landfills). At the same time Dr Brazelton (working for Pampers and still does today) stated babies could NOT be trained and that children should be left until 6/7 years old to train themselves

Medical staff embraced his words and even today modern medical staff (see Tori's posts below) are taught the same old advertisment lines. Sadly the earlier advertisment spin is today considered a true fact, despite the lack of medical proof, yet everyone knows that babies have no bladder control (lot of rubbish).

Coupled with an campaign to rubbish real nappies as old fashioned and too difficult for modern mothers to cope with, the sales od disposable nappies have hit an all time high.

All in all a very convincing and sucessful advertising campaign, which is why it makes my blood run cold when I see similar tact being used to advertise Baby Forumla.

scottishmum007 · 09/03/2008 13:51

I know what you mean, babieseverywhere. I agree with your last post. we are all brainwashed in the world of 'babies' and their paraphenalia!!

Sadly so many new mums will not try ECing because it's not the 'norm' these days. Just like tori32, I'm also a nurse (so what) but a psych one (perhaps more open minded?! - sorry) and tend to try various ideas, even if I'm not 100% sure, it's always worth a try! I tend to look outside the box...

My HV was astonished when I said to her that from roughly 4 weeks old, I was holding ds over the potty, now and again (not every day, was too exhausted some days) just to get him used to the 'feel' of it. She said it wouldn't make any differnce and that it's far too early, he has no control over his bladder muscles yet blah de blah de blah..... DH is defo for all this, as he believes it works too. Thankfully I've got the support from him and my MIL. My own mum doesn't see the point in ECing, too much inconvenience for her!!

BabiesEverywhere · 15/03/2008 10:03

Your mum might come around, my mum thought we were crazy but now admits it does work for our DD. But she now thinks it ONLY works with my DD and that no other child could be ECed

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread