Oliver is 3 weeks old now and for the past week has only been doing one poop a day but OMG when he goes does he ever go! There is not a nappy in my stash that can even nearly contain it! He literally fills his babygrow, covers me and the sling every time. The last two days we’ve both had to get in the bath afterwards, I’ve never seen anything like the amount this boy can produce!

I was thinking ec would be a good solution but I know nothing about it. How do I know when he’ll poop? From the threads I’ve read before I’ve gathered that it’s about learning his rhythm? He seems to do it about half hour after waking after a feed but the time of day is random. What signs should I look for? Is this possible with a newborn? Any tips appreciated.

*lol* Yet another thing that I thought was a bit too alternative for us but now makes perfect sense. I blame this forum!

Hello, from my experience with Nina, a baby might make grunting (?) noises, show a not so happy face, start to push (and then, you have to be very quick!)
Soft cotton trousers that are easy to remove are good.
Also, when I carry Nina a lot (this was all day when she was newborn) I instinctively know she needed a wee or a poo.
I used to feel it in my body,like it was me who needed to go.

Hope this helps a bit…

Sorry Dawn, but that post made me laugh quite a lot! I’ve found a strained face and bigger than usual eyes, and quietness after a short period of uncomfortable sounding crying to be reliable cues, but I did have a very strange experience over the weekend, when Cerys, who was naked at the time, stopped eating to stare very intently at me, and though I felt that she was trying very hard to tell me something with those piercing eyes, I had no idea what it was. A few seconds later came the explosion.

Laura M - 11 October 2010 01:22 PM

I used to feel it in my body,like it was me who needed to go.

This for me too - also I used to find myself (especially with peeing) thinking “I haven’t taken baby to pee for a while” and then start to second guess it, no, I couldn’t possibly KNOW, did she signal, am I missing something, what if this is all just in my head, aha I have a wet lap.

squeedledee - 11 October 2010 03:30 PM

Cerys, who was naked at the time, stopped eating to stare very intently at me, and though I felt that she was trying very hard to tell me something with those piercing eyes, I had no idea what it was. A few seconds later came the explosion.

  This also sounds very familiar!

The thing that started me off was taking them as soon as I took the nappy off for any reason, and before putting a new nappy on again after a naked period.  Because at those times I wasn’t putting pressure on myself to “read” them, I learnt their cues quite quickly.    Rowan still does what she did when she was very tiny - she holds herself stiff and her little tummy starts tensing long before she gets to a grunty push.  Little shallow breaths too.  I know the funny breathing so well that now she’s verbal I say, “Need the toilet?”  And she nods furiously and grins and says, “Yoyet!”  She rarely directly asks yet, and I’m still spotting her signals, and she has been in nappies at least half of the time since ten months.

Whoohoo! Thanks for advice, we got our first catch today! Well…sort of! He came off after a feed and was looking at me and taking little shallow breaths. I quickly undressed him, he was already going in his nappy but I managed to transfer him to the potty before the nappy overflowed as it usually does. I think that’s a pretty good first attempt huh?

I’m also putting him on when I change now. He wees as soon as is nappy is off so it works really well and is saving us a little cloth. Why didn’t I do this with the others? x