cloth training pants revisited

[kitmama]

Hey everyone! I have been avoiding this forum (sorry) because I need to NOT buy diapers, LOL! But now it's time for training pants. I have looked at past threads, but the information is very piecemeal and I think some of you now have more potty training experience with your kiddos. SO, I was thinking it would be nice to have a more comprehensive thread on training pants (especially because there are now so many more options available, many of them from WAHMs).

- Did you use/are you using training pants at all? If so, all the time or just some of the time? Waterproof or not? If you have completed potty training, how long did you use trainers (if at all)? Has anyone tried a compromise that's worked well? (Like using fitteds without a cover, for instance- if the kiddo can take them off unassisted).

- Which training pants did/do you have? Which were/are the favorites, and why? Anything that didn't work well? Give us some product reviews! :)
Some products I've seen mentioned:
Happy Heinys Pocket Trainers, Snap EZ trainers (cotton, pocket and AIO), Crystal's Cloth trainers, Fuzzibunz nighttime underwear, Bummis trainers, Imse Vimse Bumpy trainers, Gerber trainers (cotton and vinyl-covered), Bright Bots trainers. . . I am sure I am missing a ton.
Maybe mention how much the product currently costs- some of these training pants are really expensive! To me that's a deal-breaker, no matter how good they are. But for some, they are worth the cost.

- And I'm sure there's more information that would be useful to someone considering cloth training pants- if you think of anything else to add, please do so! Thanks!

Incidentally Littleman has been doing really well with potty training. We have taken it slow, and not only has it been pretty painless, he is actually (for now) kind of excited about it. Yea!

[mudder17]

Okay, I was going to get some Snap-EZ trainers, but discovered some Bright Bots (TheECStore), which are not anywhere near as absorbent, but they go on like underwear and Kaya loves them. They are absorbent enough to catch most of her accidents (which she fortunately doesn't have too many of) and Kaya likes that she can pull them on and off by herself. They look like underwear, so she thinks of them more as underwear than as diapers, so she doesn't wear them and think she can pee or poop in them, if that makes any sense. So in some ways, I guess I've sort of skipped the whole training thing (Bright Bots have an inner waterproof layer, but it's not very obvious and as I said, they're not as absorbent as something like a SEZ or HH or CC trainer might be. The Bright Bots aren't exactly inexpensive ($8 each), but they're much better than normal trainers and I've managed to get discounts for the ones I've gotten (because she does preorders or such occasionally and I get the notices because I signed up for her newsletters). If for some reason we think she might have a bad accident (like we'll be out and have no access to potties or something strange like that), we'll throw a wool cover over the "underwear". But that's pretty rare now.

What I like about these "trainers" is that I'll just use them with Kaya as regular underwear until she outgrows them.


Eileen

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33734.gif 28 months...
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_-6_Kaya+is.png
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http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33732.gif for Leah

[Momof3Labs]

We went straight from diapers to underwear. We have some Gerber trainers (not vinyl-covered) that are still in the mix since DS seems to find them comfy. But an accident was an accident; there was no difference in mess or clean-up when we were using the Gerber trainers.

[JBaxter]

I have a few pairs of trainers but we've only used them ahandful of times. Nathan doesnt wear any kind of undies on a regular basis. He has trouble getting them (and shorts) down quick enough. We go commando most of the time. Grandma graced us w/ bob the builder pul ups that we wear at night ( back slid a little on the night times) He is still dry 5 out of 7.

[stefani]

I bought 6 Gerber cloth training pants, and 3 Thomas underwears, 3 Elmo underwears, and 6 white underwears for DS before we started potty training. I was prepared :-)

Well, potty training went better than I imagined. DS had very few accidents (pee, never poop). In the 3rd week he had no accidents. I was even thinking that it will take much longer for him to be night potty trained, but no, he was ready. For a couple of weeks we were just finishing up my stash of diapers and pull-ups. We started Memorial Day weekend, and this past week he has not worn any diapers / pull-ups, day or night, no accidents day or night.

So, for us, the training pants were not that useful. I think it contained pee a little bit better, but he still has to be changed (or not when I did not have a spare!). I still use those now just as a regular underwear.

I would suggest go straight to underwear, but if it makes you feel better, buy a package of 3 of Gerber training pants ($5) and see how much you like it.

HTH!

[kitmama]

Well I guess I should reply to my own thread with our experience thus far:

Littleman is potty-trained if he's naked. We are working on the transition to training pants/underwear. He has several pairs of the Gerber cotton trainers and a few pairs of hand-me-down undies, but that's it so far. We are using them around the house with limited success, and once he's made it through a trip to the grocery store and back dry. I am thinking we could use something different to aid our transition when out and about, or for naps and night. I'm considering fitteds with no cover, or a wool soaker over the training pants. I'm willing to deal with the accidents at home. If it weren't for accidents out and about, we probably could avoid training pants altogether and go straight to undies.

Littleman prefers the Gerber cotton tainers to the regular underwear- I think the trainers are easier for him to pull down. The absorbancy in the trainers is hardly more than the underwear- just enough to catch a teeny trickle if he barely makes the potty in time, for instance. If he has a full-fledged accident he pees straight through the trainers, down his leg and all over the floor. At least this is unpleasant for him, which should help the process along. No fun in the carseat or a store though, and no fun for visiting Grandma either. So we do like the Gerbers, but basically just as underwear. At least they are cheap, at $9 for a pack of 3.

[holliam]

I wanted something like underwear with no PUL, fleece, etc. I finally gave up and ordered the Hanna trainers. I couldn't handle trying to find WAHM ones, etc.

We just finally washed them this weekend so we'll be using them next week, but only if Mari asks for them. She's running this potty learning show... I was totally unprepared for it to be happening already!

Holli

[kijip]

The thicker cloth trainers basically seem like pull on diapers to me. And I was trying to avoid that and shorten the amount of time it took for him to get from diapers to fully using the potty. We skipped them entirely for a mixture of Gerber and Hanna trainers. The gerber ones run small IME. Loved the hanna ones and he still wears them as underwear if we run out of his regular underpants. He has been fully potty trained since a little past age 2 and 1/2 for day and night and for day a little before that.

[hez]

Payton wasn't a big fan of the Gerber trainers. Apparently my kid is bought into the character thing, and getting excited about new Thomas or Madagascar underwear was more appealing along the potty training path. We did disposables the rest of the time, so maybe that was part of our issue with characters? There were very few accidents in the character underwear, and it was a fight to get him to wear the plain Gerber stuff.

I now have a couple packs of 4T Gerber trainers that have been washed and worn less than once per pair.

[squimp]

The Gerber ones are fine, and worked well for I think $6 for a 3-pack. They are neither super durable nor super soft, but they worked OK. The trainers were nice for my DD because even though she was PT, she'd sometimes have little false starts, and the trainers would absorb a little and not wet her clothes. (She would still usually want to change them though). JC Penny also makes a decent trainer that is softer than the Gerbers and really thick, but in the same price range.

As for undies, we love the Hanna ones. I found some for like $8 a 3/pack and then an additional 20% off at the summer sale. You might call the outlets.

[mommab]

I bought dd alot of girl's Hanes panties at Target to get her started on potty training. She started out well naked but has peed in the panties several times and gotten upset (and won't wear them anymore). I just got her some 4T Gerber trainers (plain white 100% cotton) and am going to try those out next. I hope they fit, as they were not available locally and had to be ordered online. However, I think they might be thicker than the ones I inspected in the smaller sizes at Target & KMart. I'm interested to read recommendations for other trainers too - especially something to use at night. I'd like to stay away from Pull Ups. TIA!

[egoldber]

No trainer is thick enough to hold a full accident. At best, they will hold a dribble. You may want to consider separating night time training from daytime training. Many, many children daytime train long before (sometimes years before) they are ready to night time train.

[mommab]

Beth and others,
Regarding night time training: Should I continue to use disposable diapers at night, or should I put her in the Gerber training pants with a diaper cover? If diapers are suggested, would this be a good time to switch to a cloth diaper at night? The reason I ask about the cloth is that I'm very seriously contemplating switching my almost 5 month old to cloth. I want to minimize the use of disposables as much as possible. I'm not sure what the initial cost to cd a 2.5 y.o. would be, but if it's at night for several months it might be a good investment. TIA

p.s. Beth, I saw your updated signature and want to send best wishes and prayers for your baby girl on the way!

[Momof3Labs]

We were in undies at nighttime for a while, but it isn't going so well, so we just switched back. We're using Goodnights, which doesn't thrill me, but there is little else that is absorbent enough for DS1 when he does have a nighttime accident. He pees through Huggies Overnights and regular Pull-ups when this happens, so those are a waste for us.

If your older DD is a light wetter, then a prefold inside a basic cover would probably work.

[mommab]

She's a heavy wetter too! She's in size 6 Huggies, and we usually try to change her in the middle of the night (she's a heavy sleeper too and doesn't wake up) if one of us is up. I haven't read any potty training books yet (going by word of mouth), so I'm not sure about the following question. Should I wake dd to take her to the potty in the middle of the night? Or is that NOT recommended?

[Momof3Labs]

You can try it, and it may work for you. It doesn't work for us (he still may or may not have an accident around 5am).

[mudder17]

You know that's a very good question. My mom said that when we were being trained (apparently my older sister was trained by 1 years old and the rest of us were just a little over a year old when we were trained), she would wake us up at midnight to go pee and then put us back to bed and we would be dry when we woke up. She suggested I tried that with Kaya. Well, as Lori suggested, I decided to separate sleep from daytime, so for the most part Kaya is daytime trained now, but she still wears diapers during naps and night time. She has no problem getting confused between the two, either. I just decided that I'll wait until Kaya is out of her crib before I worry about night time training and then just put a potty in her room if she needs to go in the middle of the night. Until then, she's in a diaper and a sleepsack. :) But that's a personal preference for me to not have to wake her up and hope it doesn't disrupt her sleep, IYKWIM. It's the reason we decided to put a straw cup of water in her crib at night. So if she wakes up, she can have her drink of water and just go back to sleep. I do that all night (plus I do tend to get up for the bathroom), so I figure if it's good enough for me, it's good enough for her. :P

ETA: Sometimes Kaya's nap diapers are dry, so at some point, we may try the whole underwear thing for her nap time, but for now, her night diapers are wet more often than not (because of the water, I assume), so that's why we'll delay that until she's in a regular bed.


Eileen

http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33734.gif 28 months...
http://tickers.baby-gaga.com/t/catcatcvi20040222_-6_Kaya+is.png
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http://www.windsorpeak.com/dc/user_files/33732.gif for Leah

[egoldber]

I would use diapers before a pull-up at night because they are cheaper. There really is no difference in the kids minds (IMO) between the two. Unfortunately, my DD became captivated by the princess pull-ups and would not wear diapers at all after that.

If it were me, I would not go to cloth at night especially if she's a heavy wetter. You'll never get your money back, since if you're using only one a night, a package lasts a loooonngggg time and they are much more absorbant than cloth. If she can pee out of a disposable at night, then you're going to have to spend a lot of money and time finding a cloth solution that will work at night. Also nighttime cloth diapers are HUGE and most pajamas are not sized to go over them.

I did CD my DD, my she was such a heavy nighttime wetter that after a lot of time and money I gave up and just used disposables at night.

[kitmama]

Well there are cloth "trainers" made by WAHMs that are basically just pull-up diapers. So yes, some trainers will hold a full accident without leaking. (NOT the Gerbers). However, if your daughter wets as heavily as you say, I'd probably agree and suggest sticking with the disposables for nighttime. That's not to say there's not a cloth solution that would work for you, just that it would take trial and error to find it, and it might not be worth the trouble if she won't need them for long. If you really want to do cloth though, at least your younger child would be able to use them later! If you do decide to try cloth for her at night, I'd suggest starting with a Benjamuffin nightdreamer with an Aritocrat wool cover, and see if that holds the flood. That's not a trainer, though- you would have to put it on her and she might need assistance to get it off.