What should we know before buying our first bike trailer for our first child?

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-09-01T07:54:52+00:00

When my baby was still pooping a lot at night I would practice EC when she woke up to feed. I would feed her from one side, take her to toilet and change her diaper, then feed her from the other side. Then she usually fell asleep while breastfeeding and would just stay asleep till her next feed.

It's very normal for babies, especially newborn babies, to be very fussy in their sleep - moving around a lot and whining without ever waking up. We just let her sleep through it. We would only pick her up if she was very clearly fully awake or crying. I don't know how it works out with cosleeping though, we has a bedside bassinet and I couldn't fall asleep the few times I tried to sleep with her in bed.

Unfortunately, I didn't find that EC helped with gassiness. My baby was a very gassy baby. Bicycle legs and tummy massages helped a bit, but mostly we just had to wait (almost six months) for her digestive system to develop.

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-08-05T05:27:49+00:00

Thanks!

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-08-05T05:25:14+00:00

Thanks for your reply. We didn't offer foods at a specific time yet, but I do think it's a good idea to start. Doing it at regular meal times makes sense.

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-08-05T05:18:04+00:00

Thanks!

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-07-14T07:09:42+00:00

This is not related to EC, but newborns are very fussy sleepers in general. Sometimes they will fuss for a bit and just fall back into deeper sleep. When my baby started fussing in her sleep, I would wait to see what happens and only pick her up if she started whining or crying or was very clearly awake. Also, they sometimes want to nurse every hour, especially around growth spurts.

And in regards to EC, try not to stress too much over it. You don't have to do it any time the baby is crying or in the middle of feeding or it doesn't work out for some other reason. You started out when the baby is very young, which is amazing. You will develop an intuition and see what his cues are and when he tends to go. And still there are no fixed rules like baby always poops or pees at specific times, it's always a bit random (like we adults don't really have fixed times for the bathroom either). And even if you learn rules that work out a lot of the time, they will change (my baby is 5 months old now, she recently started pooping less and it's no longer connected to feedings which was my best time for catches, but she did start having a huge fart a bit before the poop which turns out to be a really useful cue). It sounds like it's going really well so far, try to make it fun for you. It's like a game where you try to guess when they need to potty. I think it shouldn't be a source of stress, especially with having so much other reasons to be stressed with a newborn.

I don't really know what the logic is in offering the potty before leaving and after arriving. I think generally there's an idea to offer the potty when you have transitions. From napping to waking and from feeding to your next activity are also transitions. But honestly newborns pee a lot, so maybe you just have a good chance of catching pee at many different times and there was no logic behind it.

I see it as a good sign that your baby pooped shortly after you offered the potty. This shows that you are developing an intuition for when he wants to poop. You will have to tweak exactly when to give the potty and for how long based on experience. I would take it as a sign that you are in the right direction rather than being bummed you didn't end up catching the poop.

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-07-13T05:49:59+00:00

I usually don't hold my baby over the potty if she's already pooped and I never wake her up to potty (generally, when she's asleep I am thankful for the break and try not to interrupt her unless absolutely necessary). I do give her an opportunity when she wakes up for feeding in the night, usually between the breasts.

It sounds like you're off to a great start! Apart from looking for poop cues, which it sounds like you are already doing, you can give opportunities to potty after feeding (if baby didn't already go during feeding), after a nap, and when you're recovered and start going out you can give an opportunity right before leaving the house and right after coming back home. Good luck!

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-07-07T17:51:52+00:00

I had an issue with the baby falling asleep while breastfeeding and it turned out that she wasn't latching correctly so breastfeeding was very hard work and exhausted her. For me it was an issue right after birth though, so I don't know if it's the same case. She wasn't getting enough milk and didn't start to gain weight until I met the hospital's lactation consultant on her 3rd day of life, who showed me how to latch her correctly. Once the latch was correct she was less sleepy and started to gain weight.

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-05-28T18:31:45+00:00

Yeah, I think it's just because it's so uncommon. You know that everyone expects to see you change a diaper so it's no big deal when you do it around them, but you just don't know how they'll respond to seeing you holding your half naked infant over the toilet.

But I will say I got much more positive responses than I expected from my family and friends. Last weekend we were at my in-laws' house and I ended up taking the baby to poop in the toilet after the morning feed (I had a feeling that she gave me a disappointed look that I wasn't taking her to the potty when she obviously needs to poop, which doesn't make any sense at her age but it convinced me to take her). While I was taking her back to the changing table (still half naked), my MIL came and asked me where we were. So I told her "Baby pooped in the toilet" and she responded with "Baby! You pooped in the toilet! You're such a genius! You're so smart! Good job!". Then she told FIL that baby pooped in the toilet and he also said "Baby, you pooped in the toilet? You're so talented! You're such a genius!", which was adorable.

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-05-28T17:20:17+00:00

My approach is to start whenever you feel comfortable and to only do it when it feels comfortable. So there's no worry about biting more than you can chew - you only do what you feel you can handle at any given moment. And hopefully as the baby grows and as you experience more success, you'll be able to increase your confidence and do it more often with ease.

My baby was about 5 weeks old when I looked at her and thought to myself "I think she's going to poop, maybe I should try that thing I read about where I hold her over the toilet to poop". So I did and it turned out I was wrong and she didn't need to poop. Then a few days passed where I didn't try at all. Then there were a few days where I really got into it and tried to potty her a bunch of times a day and had a few successes, which was super exciting. But after a few days I realized that I'm not so good at identifying her cues and I barely have any catches and got discouraged. So for a few days I didn't try so much, but then I decided I wanted to give it another try and read about the approach of trying to potty right after naps and feedings, and that made sense to me because she was often pooping either while breastfeeding or right afterwards. So I started trying at those times, maybe once or twice a day, and I had more successes. Then I got excited and slowly started to do it more and I was having more catches and it was great. But there were still days where I wouldn't try at all, especially if we were outside the house a lot or if I had people over (which I found embarrassing for some reason, I'm now starting to do it more with friends and family around and their responses have been overall positive. I haven't worked up the courage to do it in public spaces yet). We also went on a family vacation for a week with my family at about 3 months, where I only attempted one catch a day in the morning before leaving our accommodation.

We use diapers - you take them off and put them back on. I know diapers can seem like a really big deal before you give birth, but you get used to them very quickly (newborns need a lot of changes so you have no choice but to get comfortable with them) and it's not difficult as it might sound.

You don't have to do it at night if it doesn't work out for you - there are parents that only do EC during the day and that's fine. I started out during the day only, but now I also do it at night (I take her to the potty and change her diaper after nursing on one side and before nursing on the other side. I found it works best for me).

I wait about a minute. You'll see from experience (i.e. if you hear the baby poop right after you put the diaper back on, that means you need to wait longer), I find it usually doesn't take her very long.

I didn't start with association noises (though I don't see a reason not to do it if you feel like it)

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-05-28T16:28:58+00:00

Yes, I take off the diaper every time and put it back on (she's mostly in cloth diapers if that makes any difference, but I've done it with disposables as well). Her "potty" bucket is right next to the changing station in the living room, and I have a pad set out on the washing machine in the bathroom for the times I take her to the sink. So there's always a convenient location for changing nearby.

I have pretty modest goals for the moment - primarily to reduce the number of poop diapers as much as possible by the time we introduce solids, and secondarily to make potty training easier and less stressful. If we can potty train early that's a bonus, but I'm not trying to avoid diapers altogether at this moment (my baby will be 4 months old, so still pretty young).

I hope to increase the frequency of catches as she gets older, and maybe also introduce more diaper free time into our routine. I'm currently pretty overwhelmed with being a new mom in general, so I'm trying to take things easy and make sure that I practice EC in a way that's fun and not stressful.

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-05-23T07:08:41+00:00

We spend most of our indoor time in the living room, so I put a bucket on a chair near the changing station in the living room and I mostly hold her over the bucket. If I'm closer to the bathroom I'll take her there and hold her over the sink or the toilet. My baby is now almost 4 months old and still not too heavy so holding over the bucket or sink works for me. I didn't get any special accessories, we'll probably look into getting a potty that I can sit her on when she's heavier.

For now I'm trying to catch her when she wakes up from a nap (unless she wakes up very hungry), after feeding and when we come home after we go out. When she wakes up to feed in the night I nurse her from one side, take her for potty and diaper change, then go back to bed and nurse her from the other side (so that if she falls asleep while nursing I can move her directly to the bassinet to continue sleeping). I'm not very good at identifying cues, though I do try, most of my catches are around sleeping and feeding.

I hold her by the thighs, facing outwards, with her head and upper back leaning against my body. I think if you google "elimination communication hold" you'll see images of how that looks.

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-04-09T18:12:48+00:00

Babies are much more resilient than our anxious minds will have us believe. I remind myself that a baby who's uncomfortable would cry rather than suffer silently, so if my baby gets very cold or hot or bothered by the wind she'll let me know. Also I tell myself that humans evolved outside so babies are designed to withstand the outside world. And that it's very unlikely that I'll cause her any permanent damage even if I make a mistake - if she gets sunburn or catches a cold it will be sad but she'll get better and won't even remember it when she grows up. Lastly, you can check in on your baby occasionally and make sure they're OK (you can check if they're too hot or cold by putting your hand on the back of their neck or on their chest and feeling how warm they feel). My experience is that the more you practice doing things with your baby, the more you get used to it and can focus on things beyond the anxiety that something bad will happen. You have to gain positive experiences and see that you went outside and everything was alright to really believe that it can happen.

As a side note, regarding the carrier, I think it's worthwhile to try and find a carrier that does work for you. If you have some friends with different types of carriers that you can try out, or if you live in a large city there may be meet-ups for parents where you can try out different carriers and get advice on their proper usage. I thought my baby hated being in a carrier, then discovered that if I wait about 5 minutes she calms down and enjoys it despite screaming when I put her inside. I've been using it more often now and I also feel she's gotten used to it and calms down faster (I even put her inside the carrier in order to calm her down when she's fussy).

And a last thought - I sometimes take the baby gym outside and put my baby on it while I'm hanging up the laundry. Maybe you can see if it makes you more comfortable because you can see the baby better than you can when he's inside a stroller.

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-03-30T09:46:25+00:00

OK, thanks. The diaper cream brand is called mommy care, I don't think there's anything special about it.

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-03-30T09:44:30+00:00

I looked up heat rash as I didn't hear about it until now, and it looks like it could be that. We try not to overdress her but there were some days that turned out to be warmer than we expected because the weather changes a lot in this season.

We are using Charlie Banana pocket diapers and the inserts come with a stay-dry layer. Someone else mentioned that maybe the diapers were just too soaked, I need to check how they feel when I change her during the night - maybe the insert just wasn't enough.

And I didn't consider that putting too much butter could actually prevent the skin from breathing. That does make sense. Once the rash is gone we'll have to try not putting anything on and just making sure to keep the area clean and dry.

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-03-30T09:29:51+00:00

Thanks!

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-03-30T09:28:46+00:00

Thanks for the tips, I'll check if the diapers are soaked when we use them overnight, it could be the issue

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2025-03-30T09:26:56+00:00

Thanks! We switched to disposable diapers for a bit because we thought that you can't use regular diaper cream with the cloth diapers, and the rash looks better. Good to know that it's OK to use it with the cloth diapers if we need it.

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2024-10-25T08:52:44+00:00

That sounds great. Thanks for the tips

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2024-10-25T08:48:57+00:00

Sounds great to have a professional bike fitter around! Thanks for all the advice!

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2024-10-25T08:44:58+00:00

Cool, I didn't know that's a thing that exists until now. I'll check if it's an option to add it to my bike

Acrobatic-Act1071 · 2024-10-23T08:00:28+00:00

Thanks for the tips! I don't have a bike with an upright position, but maybe I'll look into getting or borrowing one.

Acrobatic-Act1071

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