Training Pants

Our little #10 hasn’t made much progress in her potty training, and I’m to blame. I’m happy to follow her lead, but with 5 thousand things going on and her not even 2 yet, I’m not in a hurry.

She is getting to know the potty routine well. She’s also getting really good at taking off her pants. That’s helpful when it’s time to go potty, but it can be quite startling when she practices in the middle of school time or while we’re playing outside. 😮 And when I notice, she usually laughs and runs from me, which she seems to think is a wonderful game. She runs from us often, with or without her pants.

I have tried several types of pants for potty training, and I’ve noticed some clear pros and cons that I’d like to share. Let’s go back about 17 years…

Pros and Cons of Disposable Training Pants

When I was potty training my first one, I really wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be doing. (I mentioned that in my other post, The Potty Train, which has more info on what to expect during potty training.) I got some disposable training pants and we started practicing. Disposable training pants go up and down easily, which is important. They are also convenient because they keep the mess neatly contained.

When it’s a dirty mess, you can rip open the sides to take care of it and throw the whole thing away. But as time went on, I started to notice that it was really hard for me to tell when he was wet, and it was really hard for him to tell, too. It wasn’t until he was spending half the summer in his swimsuit and having accidents that he really started to pay attention. Disposable training pants come in handy for outings and car trips, but I don’t recommend them for full-time potty training.

Pros and Cons of strait to Underpants

So when I started on my girls that came next, I tried something different. I can’t remember for sure if I went straight for undies or the thicker ones just like undies (sorry I don’t know the right terms). I had 3 little girls in a row and tried those two things, which had very similar pros and cons. Like the disposable training pants they go up and down easily. Unlike those training pants, they don’t hold puddles, and they’re really difficult to work with when there’s a dirty mess. 😕 I’m sure you don’t need me to describe trying to get poopy undies off of a wiggly toddler. 🤢 But it’s really easy for trainer and trainee to know when they’re wet, so that makes learning faster.

So when it was time to think about potty training #5, I started thinking about a different option…

Pros and Cons of Cloth Diapers for Training Pants

I had a friend who made and used cloth diapers for her baby. I have full respect for those who use cloth diapers for their babies, even though I’m not one of them. I decided to talk to her about them because I was curious if cloth diapers could work better for training pants than the kinds I’d already tried. She invited me to her home where she showed me the ins and outs of cloth diapering and shared her pattern with me. Then I went to work on making cloth diapers.

When I had some made, we got to work on potty training, and here are the pros and cons: They go up and down easily, it’s easy to notice when they’re wet, although poopy messes are still gross to clean up, they’re way easier with the sides opening. And so, these became my favorite kind of potty training pants.

Here’s a link to some cloth training pants you can purchase, recommended by a friend of mine: Lil learners training pants. Of if you’d like to make your own, you might want to try this cloth training pants pattern that you can find on Pinterest: “Sewing Cloth Training Pants”

No matter what kind of training pants you use, potty training is a lot of hard work. There aren’t any easy or perfect solutions. But there are harder and easier ways to muddle your way through. I hope it was helpful for me to share my experience.

For info on a positive potty training method, check out my post titled It’s Potty Time!

Thanks for reading my blog. If you like it, share it. And go enjoy your adventure.