When to Transition to Training Pants?

[adamom]

Well, after months of DD using the entire house as her potty, we finally seem to be making progress (we're latecomers to EC, starting at 11 months). In the past few days we've caught more poops that not, and she's finally allowed me to sit her on the potty to pee, so I've been catching some of those, too. Today I didn't have her potty with me when I was at my sister's, so when I sensed she had to pee, I sat her on my 3-year-old nephew's training seat, and she went with no problem!

It's never been hard to catch poops because her face tells it all. Pees have been more elusive. For that I've been relying almost entirely on timing, which means that any pee that isn't after a nap, car ride, or sling time usually ends up on the floor. She's almost always without a diaper at home, but for the past few days she's spent a lot of time in a prefold, sometimes even with a cover. And I wonder if that's the key behind our recent success. If she's holding her pee because she doesn't want to sit in a wet dipe, she also knows to take advantage of the potty when it's offered (she even nodded to me when I asked her if she had to go the other day).

So, to get to the point, does this mean we're ready for training pants? If I'm more likely to catch pees if she's wearing a diaper, it's hard to rationalize letting her continue naked, yet I feel we've reached a turning point, and that putting her back in diapers would be a step in the reverse.

[isabchi]

Probably she and you are ready for training pants. It's more conveniente And also, many times less bulky. I never had to many because my children spend lots of naked times at home but they used trainneSr for a a few months when went out. They transitioned fron trainers to regular undies was fast and was good to have regular undies after couples months.

[theboysmama]

are you talking about cloth pull up diapers or are you talking about slightly padded undies?
Sounds like your dd is ready for the slightly padded undies to me. It is just about changing your system and having plenty of extra clothes on hand for now and a piddle pad on the bed and car seat. It is all about how much you are comfortable to clean up.

[isabchi]

Yep... it's all about confidence and be prepare with a change clothing. In this season it's also more easy that winter time, clothing is less bulky to carry and changes don't take much time.

[riboflavin]

There are so many types of training pants out there, that people can start using them really at any time. There are waterproof, non-waterproof, highly padded, thinly padded, and those where you can adjust the absorbency. Side snap in case of poo accidents, pull ups like undies, and drop flap.

Sometimes buying gently used trainers will help you decide what works best for you.

Good luck, have fun!

[marija_jane]

I think despite the many differences between types of trainers, the key difference between diapers and training pants is that you must change the trainers after one wet. Diapers are meant to be worn over a longer period of time. So, you can start using training pants as soon as (or during any time period) that you are changing your child after every wet. For some people this will be at birth and for others it will be much later, depending on your own preferences and practices.

[adamom]

Hmmm...I guess in that case I've already been using the diapers as training pants. I started DD in cloth at birth, and we only had a few minor episodes of diaper rash. But at 4 months she got an awful rash that wouldn't go away no matter what I did, so I gave up and resorted to disposables; it was November, and going nakey bum wasn't an option. At any rate, I've been a little leery of cloth (especially covers!) ever since, and I change them as soon as they're wet. But I already bought a bunch of the padded undies, and while they're admittedly no different than diapers in practice (for us, at least), I still feel I've graduated to the next level, and that's pretty cool!