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.
We are just starting to potty train so we’ll see how it goes!
This post was very usefull. I find easier to potty train using cloth diapers as babies feel wet. But I would like to try elimination comunication too.
Great article. We just started training our oldest and it has felt so overwhelming. This really helps.
Definitely adding to the baby registry :)
Looking forward to reading this series as we are just starting our potty training adventure.
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