8 mth old after potty strike

[rachaellindsey]

I started ECing part time with my son when he was about 3 months old. We were doing really good and in December (he was 5 months) I had him home with me the whole month (I work full time but our babysitter had her baby in December) and we were doing really really good! I had 12 catches in one day and I was so excited! Then came Christmas and multiple days of being at other people's houses for entire days and grandparents who can't let the child out of their arms for 5 minutes to go potty (or recognize that he's crying b/c he NEEDS TO PEE now LEAVE US ALONE FOR A MINUTE!!!!) and everything came crashing down. :banghead: He got to where he didn't even want to sit on the potty at all and I know it's partially because I was missing his cues, but he'd also stand up off the potty and then pee on me! I tried letting him stand over the BBLP and that didn't work, either. We've had a few random catches since then, and for 2 days I caught his poo's both days, but otherwise, we are failing miserably. On top of it all, we're remodeling our house and I don't know what I did with my copy of Diaper Free Baby so I can't even read the chapters to refresh my memory on older baby cues and communication. Please help! Gray obviously has an idea about peeing outside his diaper, because he will now pee in the time between taking his dipe off and getting a new one ready to put on (I like to let him be nakie).

I'm going to try this morning to catch him as soon as he wakes up, that was always a guaranteed catch.

Can ya'll help me with other cues? I think we've got pooping covered... it's the pees I need help with! (Which is funny because originally i never caught poos, he just went too quickly, but now that he's on some solids things have hardened up and it's easier to spot in time for the toilet!) Should I just try timing? Let him go naked a day or two? A big problem for me is that I don't have time to just sit and watch all day long for him to pee like I did when he was littler.

Oh - another bonus - he can remove his diapers. So we're working on going potty but wearing diapers with pants because otherwise he takes them off and then there's little boy pee streams all over! LOL!

He is 8 months old now, if that helps.
THANKS!

[mel j]

Sorry to hear about the grandparents! :(

My little guy had a long strike while he was learning to walk and for a few months after my daughter was born and I was confused about what to do because he wanted to eliminate while standing up, but he's finally back to using the potty and almost 100% of the time, so, with a little patience (okay maybe a lot of patience ;)), it will probably end soon! You can try other things instead of the potty, too...even the bathtub if he wants to stand. I remember when he was that age my son would crawl right off the potty sometimes when he was getting mobile, and my daughter also currently tries to stand up off the potty when she doesn't want to be on it, too! I started either just taking them off if I thought they really didn't have or want to go, or giving them toys they liked to play with until they were ready to use the potty - and that helped. If he's often peeing on you as soon as you take him off the potty then that could be a guaranteed catch (he's cuing you right there! that he needs to go but just doesn't want to use the potty) - as long as you find somewhere he is comfortable eliminating that you are comfortable with too.

I have found that with my children, they DO usually have to go when they wake up in the morning or when they wake up from a nap (especially a longer one), however, they will often hold it because they are so curious about the world around them. For example, my daughter gets extremely distracted by her big brother, and if she sees him in the morning, she'll just stare and stare and laugh at him! So sometimes I'll just take her quietly to a place where she's less distracted, and she will go.

I did exactly the same thing with my son for MONTHS! He would always take his diaper off if I didn't have pants on him! LOL!

Hope this helps!

[rachaellindsey]

Thanks for the help! It is good to hear other's stories and what worked for ya'll! I have been getting catches first thing in the morning and right after naps, I take him to the bathroom sink and turn the water on :) he loves to play in the water and then pees too!

Two days ago he started grunting so I got him ready for the potty and put him on it - he kicked and bucked until I took him off (a few seconds) and then pooped a little in my lap and stopped until about an hour later - the little stinker! LOL. I even tried taking him to the big potty (which has worked before) but he was having none of it. We'll have to keep working and I'm practicing my patience, for sure!

Thanks again!