Potty Training in Cloth Vs. Disposables: An Intro

Cooper just turned one and it's gotten me thinking about (drum roll, please): Potty Training. Many parents of twelve-month

olds are not thinking about potty training any more than they're thinking about sending their baby off to college: He's not ready! She's too young. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Though no studies have been done that I'm aware of, many moms say that babies in cloth train faster and that disposable pull-ups do nothing but prolong the process. Cloth diapers, unlike their disposable-Sodium-Polacrylate-filled counterparts, feel wet to the touch when they are wet or soiled. This means two things: babies and toddlers learn to dislike the wet feeling and have more of a motivation to stay dry AND they learn the cause and effect of their bodily functions: I pee, I feel wet. Toddlers who pee in a disposable diaper lose that cause and effect lessen: I pee, I still feel pretty dry. Why stop playing to use the potty when you can pee right in your disposable and feel just as good? I think pull-up disposables were invented for two reasons:

so they would "seem" more like underwear because they pull up and down like underwear and
they are easier to put on a standing baby. As a former nanny (over ten years, thank you very much) I stayed with each family I worked with for an average of three years---birth right through potty training, until the kids were off to preschool. So between helping to potty-train three children I nannied for and so far two of my own, it's fair to say I have some experience.

I remember one toddler in particular, little Sarah who is now nine years old and a competitive ice-skater in Alaska. When she turned two, or maybe a little after, her parents bought some disposable pull-ups. They were a novelty at first and Sarah liked pulling them up and down to sit on the potty like a big girl. That soon wore off and Sarah would no longer ask to use the potty if she was distracted, tired or feeling less-than compliant (which as most parents can agree, happens a lot with two-year-olds). She learned quickly that pull-ups were just diapers and "keeping the princesses on them dry" was not enough motivation to use the potty when she didn't feel like it. We tried stickers and treats as rewards but nothing really worked and the process dragged on and on for months. In the next few months I'll write more on potty training with cloth diapers, potty training in general and the history of potty training and how it has changed since the invention of disposables. I also plan to pick my sister's brain because as a cloth-diapering mom who had both of her son's trained by 18 months, I'm sure she has some tips we'd all like to hear. And finally, I plan to chronicle my experiences as I potty train Cooper, my own cloth-diaper-wearing-baby . Please feel free to share your potty training anecdotes with me and each other--both success and failures and let's start a Potty-Training-in-Cloth-Diapers-Revolution!

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541 comments

I’m not really concerned about “waiting till he’s ready”, DH and I are still going to be showing our son how the potty works as soon as he can walk, even if it’s just him watching us on the toilet. Kids learn by watching, so monkey see monkey do :). My God daughter wasn’t fully potty trained till last summer right before her 3rd birthday, the motivation was camping with dh and I. She was wearing goodnights to bed until 2 weeks ago, when her parents realized she was using them instead of getting up to go to the bathroom, even well before she was asleep. They haven’t been using the good nights and haven’t had any accidents, I truly believe that disposables prolong potty training, and I believe they’re designed to do so to maximize profits.

Leslie on August 10, 2021
My son potty trained just after he turned 2. He’d begun to hold his urine for longer periods (changing his diaper 1-2 hrs after putting it on, he’d be dry still). So we talked up the potty, underwear and one weekend we stopped using diapers and that was that! We used stickers, chocolate chips, matchbox cars (after being dry all day) and being super excited as rewards. After a weekend of reading A LOT of books on the potty he was trained! We still have setbacks on occasion when our schedule is disrupted, but he’s totally trained for #2 and day time trained for #1. Btw we used cloth diapers, and for what it’s worth all of his friends in cloth trained around 2 yrs old, those in disposables a bit later. Good luck to everyone…and remember you know your baby best, you’ll know when they are ready!

Danielle on August 10, 2021
My son is 3 1/2 been using cloth since birth still not potty trained.
He is autistic too so that has a lot to do with it:( he were’s fuzz bunz trickle trainers love them
Love this blog :)

Jennifer on August 10, 2021
I started at 20 months with my son and he is extremely strong willed so I’m glad I am not looking at training an almost 3 year old now because it wouldn’t work. He “got it” pretty fast and within 2=3 days was telling us he needed to go, and going in the potty several times a day. Within a month he was pretty much trained but had accidents from time to time, usually because we were in the car and for whatever reason he never told us he needed to go if we were in the car. He has had issues here and there over the last year or so and does were disposable pull ups at night because he gets yeast rashes in cloth at night. But once a week or so he wakes up dry. But we never used training pants – went straight to underpants and didn’t look back. I really believe that is the best way, with cloth trainers maybe for nap or night.

Jennifer on August 10, 2021
All I have to say is awesome! Hope this kiddo is easier to potty train.

Kelly Evans on August 10, 2021