Potty Training and Elimination Awareness - Cloth vs. SUDs

[mama-mukti]

I babysat my three-year old nephew today and I had to change him the same amount of times as my (almost) 18 month old! He has been in "pull-ups" for a year and has NO concept of bowel or bladder control - he also is one of those kids who just couldn't care less if he is sitting in his own poop!

On another note: I can't believe the MARKETING SCAM - aren't pull-ups more expensive than a regular disposable?

I remember the good old days when my now 19 year old son was potty-trained. He wore cloth diapers half the time and disposable back then were not these super-absorbant ones like now. He also had those white, padded crotch training pants. He was fully potty trained at 2 years old. No big deal. He just knew when he was wet.

Do kids who wear cloth have a better grasp at elimination awareness or do they just not like the feeling of being wet?

My Fief was DRY for almost 12 hours last night and then peed in her potty this morning. She also tells me when she peed. She will at the very least squirm and cry out when she pees in her sleep. My nephew never even blinked!

Anyone else have observations?

[pb_and_j]

I disagree that kids in cd's pt sooner. Parker wore cloth his entire life and didn't care if he was wet or poopy. We are still struggling w/ accidents even though he's been using the toilet for a few months now (he is almost 3.5). All kids are different and I don't think it's unusual for kids to not care if they are wet or dirty even at the ripe old age of 3. I changed both my boys the same number of times a day for a loooonnnngggg time... and yes Parker was 3 then too.

I do agree that pull-ups are a terrible rip off... they're just diapers that pull on and unless the child is truly ready to pt, they will treat them like dipes regardless of whether they pull on or not.

[detergentdiva]

I agree with pb here. Both my boys were in 'sposies. My oldest was fully potty trained by 25 months. He was dry at night and has only had maybe 3 accidnets at night in his entire life.
He never cared about being wet either.
DS #2 was potty trained right after his third birthday but is still wet almost every night and he is 4 1/2 now. He hated being wet from day one and I always knew the minute he went. But when it comes to night time he will sleep straight through the night in a soaking wet bed and not even realize he has wet the bed till morning. He wears the pocket trainers at night, I decided that since he would sleep through the night in a soaking bed then he may as well sleep through the night in something that kept him dry. Made me feel better.
Now all of dd's cd's are micro lined, she doesn't mind when wet and 1/2 the time she tells me she has pooped and the other half she doesn't. She is ready for potty training, will use the potty to poop and pee, I'm just not ready. She is 25 months.
So I think it really has more to do with the child tan the diaper. I do think that kids who are cd'd do potty train quicker not because of the cd's but because of the lifestyle of the family.

[MamaMonica]

My only experience is that my dd was in cloth since birth with about a week in disposables and potty-trained before three. I will have to see how ds does next year. I think pull-ups are a waste of money, too. With dd I had some cloth pull-ups we used, but she peed in those like diapers so I just took everything away and she trained, but all kids are different.

[Mamaste]

My experience is that it depends more on the child than the type of diaper they're used to wearing.

[USAmma]

My dd's 31 mos. and has been in cloth her whole life except for a few trips. She is still not potty trained, but she is very much aware of her bodily functions. We just recently attempted to potty train her and I was using pull ups for awhile. She treated them the same way as cloth training pants. As soon as she peed she would take them off, declaring them wet. It was the act of going, not the feeling she had afterwards. She is used to cloth dipes and before her potty awareness she could care less about being in a soggy terry dipe. Now she's in Onesize dipes with no covers and when she pees she takes those off immediately and puts them in the pail for me, so I'm saving $$ over pull ups.

I don't believe kids should use pull ups or whatever until they *want* to potty train and until they are using them the way they are meant to be. i.e. able to pull them off to use the toilet or when they are wet/dirty. Some kids take a lot longer to learn this stuff than others, but sounds like that little boy should still be in diapers if he could care less about using the potty or being wet. Sounds like his parents put them on him as part of wishful thinking.

Darshani

[orangebird]

What is SUD's?

[mama-mukti]

Originally posted by mara
What is SUD's?

Single Use Diapers

I like that acronym better than saying "disposable" sometimes.

[Scarlet]

My older son wore sposies and was day and nap trained much younger than my younger CD wearing son. I also agree that it is the kid more than anything.