Night Time EC

Night time EC has been a bit of a sore spot for much of our journey. I think I might have had fewer nights of sleep-deprivation if we'd done things differently. But I don't know that for a fact! We started doing EC at night right from the beginning, for a couple of reasons. One, she pooped a lot, so it made sense to offer her the potty, and two, I didn't think about not doing it! I know some people who do full time or part time EC during the day don't EC at night. I am not sure if I would do it again. But it has made sense with Hannah, since she pooped multiple times each night up until at least seven months of age. So it was that or change poopy diapers. I remember in the beginning it took two, sometimes three trips to the potty for her to finish her poop! That wasn't exactly fun in the middle of the night!

One neat thing, though, is that from about 2 1/2 months to about 5 1/2 months (or maybe longer) she was clean and dry all night, with very few missed pees. (She had one little blip at three months that lasted three or four nights where she pooped in her pajamas- no diapers then- but it passed.)

I have tried to have a little potty by the side of the bed, but she never really has been much for using that potty. So I take her to the bathroom. By the time she's gone potty and I've gone potty and we're back in bed, both of us are usually wide awake. That doesn't help much for the sleep situation. Especially since she pees 4-6 times a night! (She was dry for long stretches when she was younger, which is normal!)

For the past couple of months, she's cried just about every time I've taken her potty at night. So I stopped doing that! I have tried to figure out the best set-up, because she won't sleep in a wet diaper. Typically she'd wake up, nurse, then pee just as she was falling back to sleep. This meant that I couldn't fall back asleep until she'd peed, and then I'd have to change her diaper if she was in one, or change the diaper she was laying on if she wasn't in a diaper. Or soak up the pee if it went on the blanket. It wasn't a good system! If she only peed once or twice, that would be one thing, but she doesn't! And I'm not in the best mood in the middle of the night. I have to admit, the lid to where I keep my wet diapers is broken from me banging it closed in the middle of the night, in a state of frustration. I do believe that this situation of her not wanting to potty OR sleep in a wet diaper has affected my sleep! So a couple of nights ago I put a disposable diaper on her at 2:30 in the morning. She slept all the way until 7:30 and so did I! The next night I started her out with a disposable diaper (the same one, actually, since she didn't pee in it) and got good sleep! Tonight she's asleep in a regular cloth diaper, I may switch her to a disposable again when she wakes up. It's not my first choice by far, but I do choose that over sleep deprivation! I wonder, too, how using one disposable diaper compares to having 4 fitted diapers, 2 prefolds, a blanket or two, and the occasional pair of (my) pajamas to wash in terms of environmental impact.

The other night (before the disposable diaper!) she peed and it soaked the sheet that was on her and soaked my pajamas, but somehow the diaper under her was completely dry!

It's been constantly changing, and I hope it gets better! That's where we are now with night time EC.