Did you split the crotch of ordinary pants?

[AliceMay]

Hi All:

DD is 4 months old and we've been ECing since she was 2 weeks. Mainly bare bottom, which works so well in the summer! When we go out I had her in a pocket diaper with a pre fold tucked in. Sometimes at home I use a pre fold with a belt, but she is mainly naked from the waist down. Oh, I am so thankful that DD was born in the spring because the warm weather and being able to pee her outside and all that has made everything so much easier!

However, I'm looking ahead now to the chillier weather and planning how we will deal with it. I know about leg warmers with a pre fold with or without a cover over it and we've done that. I tried making my own spilt crotch pants but that was when she was much smaller (she is only 11lbs now!) and I had to downsize the pattern I found and not sure I did a good job of it. I'll probably try them again, since everybody says it works for them. I may still have to make them smaller though.... I've never really understood how to do that well.

But have any of you converted regular pants into split crotch? If so, did you literally just rip the seam at the crotch, or did you cut and create a bigger opening? Any suggestions for how to do this? I didn't know we were going to EC until DD was born, and we had received lots of clothing already. (I turned a lot of onesies into t-shirts or dresses...) So I have a few pants that I'd like to try this. Would love your advice on this, or just general winter EC! Thanks!

[isabchi]

I tried but it didn´t work well for us. I end up buy a few split pants, maybe 4 total. I love wool and fleece for our split pants. Anyway, both of my kids loves stay waist down naked in the infancy and toodlerhood. They really can care less about cold weather. We end up just using pants to go outside. At home they used legs warmers early in the morning and socks. After a couple ours they end up waist down naked.LOL!.. Maybe, somehow EC babies get more prepare to handled temperatures. Neither of my kids gets cold or sick.

[flyrabbitfly]

I didn't do that, but thought about it... the reason I decided not to is because most of the pants I had recieved were cotton, which will get wet in a miss whether they are split crotch or not, so you may as well use them as they are since you'll have to change them if you miss...My sister made us some chaps from old cashmere and wool sweaters (the cashmere were SO soft!) that she bought at thrift stores for a couple of dollars. They don't really get wet with a miss, and if they do they usually don't feel wet until they have been missed in several times or  an after-nap miss. So I second wool or cashmere or alpaca.

Just heard about these from a friend: rockathighbaby.com; they are thigh high socks with grippy feet- we used to use baby legs, but sort of a pain to put them on AND socks, so I would use socks made for bigger kids, but they usually didn't have grippy feet. So I'm going to try these out this winter:).

Good luck!

[heatherr30]

I just cut the front and seat out of a pair of tights tonight!  Can't wait to try them on DS in the morning.

I made a BIG cut to avoid the cotton (hopefully) getting wet, and I sewed elastic around the edge of the cut cause it looked kind of droopy. (I think fold over elastic would have worked best but I don't have any on hand.)

I think there are 2 kinds of split crotch pants--the Chinese ones, which are meant to be worn without a diaper (when the child is standing up their bottom is well covered), and the kind I am trying to make--I don't know how to explain it really--the whole crotch area is gone so that you can put a diaper over them, but if you didn't put the diaper over them the kid's entire bottom would be showing.

[AliceMay]

Thanks.

Flyrabbit - that is so true about the pants. Should have thought of that. I'll either just use them or maybe donate them to somebody who would get more use out of them.I like the idea of the sweater chaps - does anybody know anywhere that has instructions for that? I can probably try winging it. Oh, and I bet you could make grippy feet with some kind of fabric paint? I might look into that when DD is older.

Isabchi - Glad to hear your little ones did ok naked, or with leg warmers! 

Heard about the tights idea. DD is still so small....I bought the smallest size tights I could find (and hey, it's summer and it was hard to find any) but they are still way to big. Probably because they are meant for diapered babes as well. But she is growing fast, so not for long!

I wanted to knit a pare of wool tights with feet and split crotch (in all my spare time!) because I think those would be great. but can't find a pattern. I'm used to making things up with knitting but sort of wonder if with limited time it wouldn't be better to just knit wool leg warmers, which could fit for longer. Had I know we would EC.... I knit a few soakers before she was born but I wish I had knit tights! ;)

Thanks for the input.

[heatherr30]

I also made a pair of split crotch pants following the free pattern on do it yourself EC.  I used a fleece baby blanket.  It was very easy but I didn't like the pants because it is hard to get DS's padded underpants on over.  I think it would be perfect if you like your baby to go bare bottomed though.

The tights worked out great, I think you could also make chaps out of cotton sweatpants, just cut away the diaper area (cut smaller than you think you need cause you can't put the material back once it's gone haha!) and add a bit of elastic around the top of the leg to hold it up.  My cotton tights did not get wet at all yesterday even during a nap time miss.

[AliceMay]

If you were making wool split crotch pants what sort of cloth would you use? Could you just use a woven wool?

[AndreaOlson]

I've tried but agree that the cotton ones get soaked too. I've made 3 pairs from this pattern: http://doityourselfec.blogspot.com/2008/01/three-seam-split-crotch-pants.html - which I think heatherr30 mentioned. I used cotton flannel receiving blankets for one pair, all natural fleece for another, and some polar fleece for another. They all dry very quickly and are pretty easy to make. Cotton flannel is a good sub for wool, as is fleece, but if you can find old wool sweaters at the thrift store, felt them by putting them in a hot dryer, and then use them, you'd have a sweet pair of pants!

Chaps are when the whole "area" is open, front and back. These are great for nighttime ECing while camping! With a prefold folded inside a diaper cover, all wrapped on top of the chaps, it's a great way to go in super-cold, uncomfortable conditions.

We also have 3 pairs of Rock-a-Thigh Baby socks!!!...I reviewed them on my website. I ADORE THEM! They totally solve the BabyLegs/little sock layering problem. Also, I use Hank & JoJo's Baby Retro Tube socks underneath BabyLegs for a nice, stay-on layering. But the RTBs are way thicker and made of reclaimed materials in the USA. I like all that. Sometimes I put Zutanos on top or wool baby socks for extra warmth. But my babe is also pretty used to the cold. ;)

[ArtScienceDoula]

I just bought a couple of pairs of split pants and they only stay up with the help of an awesome cloth diaper made especially for ECing called Ecapants. I first put the chap-style split pants on and was like "what a waste of money--they just fall off", but with the Ecapants on top (it has a little belt that snaps around baby and a front flap that flips down for easy potty-offerings...I freaking love them) it works well. I will just cut a big hole in the crotch of all my pants starting just above the knees and leaving the elastic at the top. For "real" non-chap split pants, you have to have the fabric cross at the top and can't just cut them out of other pants. For chaps, you need to have a diaper with a good waist band on them to hold them up or have them be more form fitting. Pulling underwear on and off the ones I have wouldn't work..the whole pants would come off.