Starting in Oliver’s second week of life, we decided to try our hand at Elimination Communication (EC), something Emma heard about from a friend who has a five-year-old boy. (Note: She doesn’t practice EC with her son, but had read about it.) Emma has done tireless research on EC. When I get home from work, she reads me the best resources she’s found, we both try to absorb them, make our own interpretations, and then work together to find clever ways of applying the various suggestions to our little world with Oliver.
Waste management with Oliver started when we began discussing whether we’d do cloth or disposable. I hate the idea of waste (double entendre) and so I liked the idea of using something we could reuse, rather than throwing diaper after diaper away. Our friends Tina and John were a big influence in our decision to try cloth. They used them with their little boy Miles (who’s now potty-trained at age two!) and so we went to their house so they could walk us through their system and the different kinds of diapers available (cloth has come a long way from the fabric and clothespin). They suggested we visit Nurtured Family in Northwest Houston to learn more and find all the necessary goods. We finally did, spending hours with two different saleswomen, and walked out with several hybrid diapers, inserts, detergent, washable wipes, and a lot of hope.
In the first days of Oliver’s life, we couldn’t apply our cloth diaper plan because Oliver was circumcised two days after birth and thus he required ointment to be applied for healing that would have ruined the inserts. So, for the first couple of weeks we used standard disposable diapers (that we had gotten at our baby shower and as a hand-me-down from our friends Brandy and Christian).
One of the first decisions we wrestled with was determining the best place to change Oliver’s diaper. After much deliberation and moving things around, we decided that our bathroom double vanity was the best choice because the vanity:
1) is waist high so we can both work with Oliver comfortably
2) has warm water for cleaning up
3) is close to a toilet for quick disposal of solid waste
4) is covered in tile allowing easier clean up of flying urine that boys are so famous for
We felt as prepared as we could be. We had purchased a nice towel warmer for cleaning Oliver up at each diaper change, but we hadn’t even plugged it in for the first few days as we were so overwhelmed in our new world with a newborn. So, for the first few diaper changes we used the disposable baby wipes for cleaning him up (which we had also received as gifts). We discovered that brand new newborns expel something very similar to a thick, sticky, black tar from their bowels called meconim. Our first direct experience with this was at the hospital, watching as the nurses handled the first few diaper changes. Every time they needed to poke or prod him, they would check his diaper. And each time they changed his diaper, they used baby wipes to clean off sticky meconium. If a dirty diaper went unnoticed, wiping off the dried meconium was like scraping paint off your skin. It was torture watching Oliver go through it each time. Oliver hated it.
After being released from the hospital, we continued to battle with the dried meconium at home. The baby wipes were a horrible solution. A shower seemed like the ideal solution for a thorough cleaning, but we were instructed not to bathe him until after his umbilical cord falls off at about two weeks. Once we set up the changing station on the bathroom vanity, we quickly realized we could safely give him a partial shower under the faucet without getting his umbilical cord wet. We just slid the changing pad we placed on the vanity under the faucet to wash his lower half, then slid it back to dry him off and dress him with a new diaper. It was a great improvement. Since we weren’t scraping off dried meconium any longer, there was much less screaming and Oliver was much cleaner.
Very shortly after, these partial showers in the faucet lead to a small breakthrough for us. We would always run warm water over him for his partial bath and, as you might guess, this in turn led to Oliver emptying his bladder. The first few times this caught us off guard but we soon planned for it and expected it. Often he would empty his bowels at the same time. This was perfectly fine with us because each time meant we were avoiding one future soiled diaper.
The other wrinkle in the system was Oliver’s diagnosis of jaundice. Oliver had a bilirubin count of 9.5 soon after birth. The doctors checked him again a few hours later to find it had risen to 10.1, at which time they freaked us out by prescribing a bath of blue LED lights and blanket of optical fibers along with a heavy feeding schedule for fear of jaundice. We were instructed to continue breastfeeding, but supplement with formula after each feeding to provide his body with more fluids to flush out the toxins. To help with this, we worked with 3 different lactation consultants at Methodist Hospital in an effort to increase the breastmilk supply so we might avoid supplementing with formula. However, the milk supply is often scant in the first few days after birth and newborns sleep so much that it was very difficult to increase his feedings. In order to make sure Oliver got enough food to cleanse his system, we both worked tirelessly to keep him awake for feedings and followed as much of the advice from the lactation consultants as we possibly could considering our severely overloaded brains as new parents. Our new routine was to have Emma breastfeed as much as humanly possible while I massaged Oliver’s back or tickled his feet to entice him to stay awake so that the feedings could last as long as possible. After a grueling day of this routine, Oliver’s bilirubin count was back down to 8.5. A follow-up test a few hours later showed it had risen only slightly to 9.5, which was enough for the doctor to release Oliver to us for home care. We went home on Thursday, February 28th, with strict instructions to encourage heavy feedings and supplement with formula. Per the doctor’s orders we fed Oliver as often as possible and supplemented with formula to help purge his system as instructed.
On Friday, March 1st, we had a follow-up doctor’s appointment that revealed Oliver’s bilirubin count had gone back up to an astonishing 15. As before, we followed an aggressive feeding schedule for Oliver. Emma did the breastfeeding and we both shared the task of keeping him awake enough to encourage his feedings, as long as we could stay awake ourselves. The extra feedings along with the supplemental formula resulted in many more soiled diapers; we spent a lot of time at the changing table. We were determined to bring the bilirubin count down. On the morning of Saturday, March 2nd, we had yet another follow-up doctor’s appointment–the bilirubin count had dropped to 13. This meant that it was no longer increasing. We were told to keep the heavy feeding schedule, but to stop supplementing with formula after 1 more day. Oliver was now feeding more than ever and we were counting 15 diaper changes daily. The avalanche of diapers changes continued throughout the night.
Emma’s milk came in after about 5 days, which meant that Oliver’s belly was filling up much more quickly and he was soiling his diaper much more frequently. This surely played a large part in controlling Oliver’s bilirubin count. Oliver’s stools were becoming very light and watery, as expected. To our absolute horror, we found that Oliver was gushing urine from his diaper more than once a day. We were mortified each time it happened whether it was on the couch, in our bed, or anywhere else. In hopes of a solution, we purchased a waterproof mattress cover and Select® Kid’s Booster Pads to insert inside each diaper. The booster pads appeared to help, but sometimes he would still leak urine. The leaks seemed to occur only after the diaper had already been wet once or twice before. The diaper was likely so full that it couldn’t hold any more urine and therefore it would leak. We were now realizing that Oliver was frequently being kept in a wet diaper. This really bothered us. We didn’t want Oliver to get used to wearing a wet diaper and we desperately wanted to avoid the leaks. We started checking his diaper every 15 minutes for the little yellow line on the “Pampers Swaddlers Sensitive” diaper to see if it had turned blue, signifying a wet diaper. We were starting to realize how often newborns actually urinate. Some say newborns urinate every 20 minutes.
Between midnight and 6 am on Oliver’s 7th day, March 3rd, we found ourselves exhaustively waking up nearly every hour to rush Oliver off to the bathroom for a diaper change. Most of the time his crying was signaled us when it was time. He was still on a nocturnal schedule, so he was up at night wanting to feed while we wanted to sleep. This was unsustainable. Emma did a lot of research on the problem while I was trying to deal with many of our other pending priorities like taxes, bills, and laundry. We discussed our options at length. It became clear that we needed to reduce the time Oliver spent sleeping during the day, so we tried to increase the feedings right before bed, what’s known as cluster feeding. That seemed to work. He is now sleeping about five to six hours a night, with the exception of when he wakes to feed and go to the bathroom.
Our entree into EC began with just wanting to keep him in a dirty diaper for the least amount of time possible. Emma had read a little about it, but after all of Oliver’s accidents, we were encouraged to look into it more. We began trying to anticipate when he would need to go based on timing, taking him to the bathroom (aka the bathroom sink) every hour and a half. Oliver can hold his urine for at least an hour. He has been able to do this for several days now.
More about EC:
JourneyMaMa: http://www.journeymama.net/ecgear.htm
How to Have a Diaper Free Baby From Birth: http://parenting.amuchbetterway.com/diaper-free-baby-from-birth/
Excellent: http://annie.paxye.com/?p=4544
BabyCenter: http://community.babycenter.com/post/a26323651/standalone_potty_seat_vs._toilet_reducer
Professional Mothering: Elimination Communication: http://www.professional-mothering.com/2011/01/elimination-communication.html?m=1
