ByEven though it’s been a long time since I’ve had to train anyone in my house, I am helping to train a little girl that I work with, so I sympathize with what you are going through. One thing you do have to do that I did not is to decide what your child will wear while learning. When it was time to train my boys there were two options: cloth diapers or cotton training pants. The “Dy-Dee” diaper truck was still showing up at the door once a week to take that smelly bag off my hands and give me a bag of freshly cleaned diapers. Disposable diapers were just coming into vogue then, but we were poor and couldn’t afford them. I never liked the idea of throwing away a diaper each time one of the boys peed anyhow. Cloth diapers were recyclable and more economical.
You can still find cloth diapers, and there are now many exciting options. From all-in-ones to the more traditional cloth with the plastic pants, and ones with Velcro or snaps (bye-bye pins!), parents wishing to go the cloth diaper route have a great variety to pick from.
You also have SO many choices of things disposable to cover your baby’s butt. Now there’s nothing wrong with keeping the child in diapers until they have mastered this new life skill, but it can be time consuming. You may prefer to opt for pull-ups once your child is ready. Finally, once you decide on using disposables, you must then decide which size and which color, which thickness and which brand, and which comic characters your child would like to wear.
Another option is to go straight for underwear, and in this case you also have a large array of characters and patterns to choose from.
In all cases you can get relatively inexpensive diapers or underpants, or ridiculously expensive ones. I just found out online that you actually have an option to buy cloth underpants for $30 a piece! Don’t try to keep up with your friends: buy what you can afford and if you are having trouble resisting those $30 underpants, just remind yourself what they are for. They are going to be pooped and peed on until their ruin. Is that any way to treat $30??
Choosing which style is not only a matter of choice, it’s a matter of convenience. If you are home during the day then you’ll have the time to deal with diaper styles.
You’ve been doing it for this long, right? You could even try going commando style. You’ve been saying that you needed to wash the floors. Commando style will assure that your floors get washed. If your day involves getting in and out of the car numerous times, hikes or daycare the pull-up style is much easier. The pull-up style can easily and quickly be pulled down to make an attempt on the toilet and then pulled right back up if nothing happens and they were dry to begin with.
Diapers on the other hand have to come completely off in order to put your child on the toilet and if they are dry and nothing happens, they can be a bear to get back on your child and have them fit right now that they are misshapen from being worn. Sure there are changing tables most everywhere you go now, but your child is much bigger, and their feet hang way over the end of the table. They might kick that sweet elderly lady on her way by. There was a time when that little string of a “seat-belt” would have helped. Now if he wants to get off, he’ll just undo the buckle and jump. Of course with some children it won’t be this difficult.
Take a look at your child who is ready to potty train, and you decide. What bottom covering method will work best? I wish you a speedy transition.