Pull-ups/Convertibles

We just started potty training this week (Found a Safety 1st potty seat on sale for $4.50, brought it home, and he wanted to use it right away!!!), and DS has already used his potty a few times (yay!), although I'm not exactly sure I'm ready to commit to this "training" full-time. Anyway, he'll only go if he's totally naked, and I'm wondering if I now need to buy pull-ups or those convertible diapers to make it easier to pull down/up the diaper. How far into potty training do you start using these?

If he wants to go while he's naked that's awesome! What I did at that stage was have a friend over (with potty training kids the same age) and they all ran around naked and used each other's potties. After a few days of being naked in the house we started moving towards underwear.

In terms of training, real underwear or cotton trainers might be better for your child (won't know until you try). After being dry for a few days (from running around naked) he may get distressed if he pees down his leg. If you get underwear a size too big with a fabric waistband (eg: fabric OVER the elastic) he will find it easier to pull them up and down. My daughter is an accomplished daytime pottier (now) but she still has trouble pulling her Easy-Up up when she wears it at night. I think diapers just don't flow as smoothly over the skin, if you know what I mean. They seem to bunch and roll (no matter how great it looks in the commercial).

If going to underwear doesn't work then you can try the disposeables. Regardless, disposeables are great for outings and nighttime when you aren't really in a position to make major cleanups, etc. But only make the switch to disposeables (instead of a diaper) if you are COMMITTED to training because once you do, you shouldn't go back.

Also, keep in mind how much more annoying it is to do a change with these things. You really shouldn't just rip them off because then your toddler will figure out that they can rip them off too (ask me how I know.... my daughter picked this up just from watching a Huggies commercial!) so you are pulling diapers full of poop up and down their legs. It makes for messy cleanups!

In any case, if he's doing it on his own (even naked) you've made huge steps. Congratulations!

ITA with Helen. The pull-ups are only useful for nighttimes (depending on how much your DS pees at night... they don't hold much) & outings. DS always referred to them as diapers. That's how they think of them. So it's really hard to get the effect of using real cotton underwear without really using them. Even the largest pull-ups are hard for them to get up & down by themselves. Gerber training underwear are really great for starters... in one size too large. Keep up what you are doing. You will soon have a feel for whether he is really "ready" at this point in time. Just having it available and having him use it during naked time is a really good start. DS knew how to use the potty for probably about a year before he was ready to do it full-time. He was just over 3 years when he trained. HTH!

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, I think it's definitely too early to "train" full time. I'm just glad that 30-50% of the time he announces his pee/fart/poop, even if it is sometimes before, and sometimes after. He seems agreeable to sit on the potty after announcing this, but sometimes it's with clothes on, and sometimes he's already gone. But he's getting the concept, and that's good enough for now.