Bye-bye Diapers! - Going Diaper-Free

** Old post. sorry for no pics!**
 We are officially diaper-free in our house.

 I washed my last load of diapers ever on Sunday, and once I organize them, we are putting them away...Forever...

 Mackynzie is showing great interest and knowledge in the potty, and since we have done part time EC with her (since 4 months old.), we have made the commitment to go diaper-free, to help guide her in learning to potty independently.

So, Sunday morning was our very last diaper change, and the beginning of our diaper-free journey.

 It's really bitter sweet for me. Not even because she is done with diapers, but that we are done cloth diapering. I really loved cloth!

 It has been so exciting though! Cody went and bought a potty that goes on top of the big toilet, to go along with her little becco potty, and Mackynzie and I were jumping up and down with excitement. We made a pretty big deal about the new addition to the porcelain throne.

 So far -day 4 is now ending- she is doing great! Of course, we have had accidents, but we have had great success as well.

 We call what we are doing potty 'learning' rather than 'training', because we are not forcing anything, whatsoever. This is completely on her time, following her cues, and at her request.

 We decided we needed to get rid of the diapers completely, because we found we were using them more as a crutch, and it was becoming confusing for Mackynzie. (When life got busy, or we had to go out, we would put a diaper on her.) The feeling of toileting in her pants, is very different than toileting in her diaper obviously; with the diaper absorbing all the wet, it was hard for her to make the connection/remember that toileting in your pants isn't very comfortable, thus reminding her to go to the potty.

 Our day (and night) actually runs smoother then before we were diaper free, believe it or not.
 
  We use a timer all day long. We set it for 30 minutes, and go to the potty every time it goes off. (if she toilets in her pants, we reset the timer, clean her up, and go about our day again. so we set the timer to be 30 minutes after each time she actually goes to the bathroom, or after each time she is on the potty, whether she goes or not.) The timer is to remind me to take her, because I get busy and distracted, or time passes quickly. It really helps her too, since she is usually engaged in whatever she is doing.

 We are also making sure that every time she toilets in her pants, we don't make a big deal about it (we are very casual, after all, it is what it is, and she is just learning.Also, we find things like 'oops' and 'uh-oh' to be confusing and unhelpful.) and we take her to the bathroom to clean her up. That way, she associates all the toileting business with the bathroom. (this particular idea I got from a mama friend, when i asked her about her experience with toilet learning in this 'method'. Her daughter now uses the potty full-time (It took them two weeks, if i'm not mistaken.). She told me she always changed her diapers in the bathroom, to keep the association. I didn't even think of that, but it's genius!) So we clean up every single accident in the bathroom now.

 When she has an accident, we say something like "I see you have went to the bathroom in your pants, Mackynzie. Let's go get cleaned up, and get a fresh pair of pants." Then, we clean up, reset our timer, and go back to what we were doing.

 It's really not as excessive as it sounds. The timer has made me more productive in my day though, that's for sure. I just keep thinking:

 "okay, how much can I get done before the timer goes off?!"

It's actually awesome. My house is so clean. (haha)

 The only thing I was really 'scared' about in going diaper-free, was night time. Again, the same mama as mentioned above, told me she puts a very thin piece of pull fabric (the stuff on the inside of a cloth diaper shell) under her bum in the car seat, to protect the seat. This reminded me of the giant piece of fleece I bought a while back, that I was going to make diaper covers with, but never did. (which also reminded me I have a couple fleece blankets kicking around.) So, I use the fleece blankets (one at a time.) on her part of the bed, so that if she has an accident, its not going to get everywhere. (Fleece is awesome, because it repels liquid. You can just wipe it up with a towel and it's dry.)

This is what our bed looks like:

Mackynzie sleeps on the twin against the wall, so nobody else gets wet. (although, this has been our bed set up long before diaper-free time.)

 Night time works much like the day does (no timers! haha). The *minute* she wakes up to nurse, I take her straight to the potty. She will either do her business, or tell me she doesn't need to, and we go nurse to sleep. She only wakes up twice per night, and she does not potty while she is sleeping. (we have only had one accident, and it was because I didn't take her to the potty fast enough.)


 She Is already figuring everything out. She is starting to hold her bladder until we get to the potty, and today, she even sat on her little floor potty because the big toilet was occupied (mama's gotta pee too!). She forgot about her pants, and left them on, but she actually came in from playing, sat on her potty and went, so i'm impressed!

 It is so wonderful to see her get so happy about her new independence (even at 3am she wakes up enough to clap for herself when she goes.).
   She grabbed a diaper that was still in the drawer, and has been putting it on her baby doll. It's so cute. She looks at me and says "that baby." (pointing/signing diaper and showing me her baby.) Then looks at me again and says "none!" while shaking her head. (as in, none for me.)

  I know this journey will be a short one, but it's exciting none the less.

 It's  a huge learning experience for me, as well. Or maybe more validation that I am on the right track in guiding her. Maybe it's both.
  I really love that we don't need rewards/bribes etc, and so long as we treat her like a normal person (since these steps are just natural development in my opinion), she will pick them up like a champ if we follow her cues! Parenting is really teaching me to trust myself, and even more so, trust my daughter and what she tells/shows me.

 I will be sure to keep updated about our diaper-free potty learning!

 I can't believe by the end of next week, I will most likely have a fully potty learned big girl!