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Monday, March 15, 2010

Who's training who? A few words about cloth training pants...



Now that Sweetpea is three, we're starting to get a little more serious about potty training. We'd been making good progress over the summer, but as I'd expected there was quite a bit of regression after Sugar Plum was born. Between the holidays, a few scheduled trips and the general round the clock care of an infant, I've had my hands plenty full. I had some great resources, including this guest post from Brooke, (go check it out if you haven't yet, I'll wait...) now all I needed was some "transitional" underwear. The price of pull up trainers nearly made me faint, and I've been seriously considering cloth lately. Cloth trainers seemed like a natural choice. With the power of the internet, how hard could it be to find a good option? Harder than I thought, apparently - I had a hard time finding the kind of cloth trainers I wanted!

I wanted something that was at least semi-waterproof to protect the house and allow us the freedom to leave the house while we were training. I wanted something that was absorbent enough to catch most if not all the accidents, while allowing her to feel the wetness. I wanted a design that snapped off in case of dirty accidents that needed more than a quick rinse.

Since I was having a hard time finding the snap option, I went ahead and bought one of the Imse Vimse training pants. These are advertised to have a waterproof layer and catch accidents. There is a waterproof layer in there, but not enough absorbent material, so everything ran right out the leg holes. After one wear, these made an expensive addition to the goodwill pile.

After that I thought to check Etsy. I should have thought of that to begin with! I found several shops that had just what I wanted, and rather than getting frustrated at NOT finding what I wanted, I had a hard time deciding which ones to choose. I settled on two designs, one from QTBunns and the other from 3monkeysclothdiapers.

The QTBunns are thin and absorbent and I love them, the only thing they are missing that I wanted were the snaps. I highly recommend them if you are looking for a pull on design. What I ended up rounding out my stash with were the 3monkeyclothdiaper trainers. They are a little bulkier, but not much. They have an adjustable waistband (2 sets of upper snaps) and can be pulled or snapped on. In the case of a messy accident, they can be snapped off like a diaper to help contain the mess. As you can see here, Sweetpea is a big fan!

I mentioned before that I'm considering cloth for Sugar Plum. I'm still on the fence, so I'm going to be placing small orders for cloth AOI designs from both of these shops. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

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4 comments:

Michelle said...

I'm seriously thinking about going this route for Little Miss for overnights. She's still staying wet, and I just think she doesn't feel it at all. Maybe I'll have to take the plunge. It has to be cheaper than the giant pack of Pull Ups we keep buying, and definitely better for the environment. Do you wash them separate, or how do you handle them when wet?

Kristi @ Creative Kristi said...

as a going on 3 year cloth diapering momma...trust me on the fact that AIOs are a hassle in that they can never get clean enough since it's all one piece. IMO they don't last as long either since you can't replace just the absorbent insert. I much prefer Pocket diapers (Bum Genius or Fuzzi Buns one size) because you can wash the 'cover' and the insert individually from each other & after 2 years I replaced most of my inserts (covers still going strong for baby #2 due in June!). I like the one size cloth diapers because then you don't need to keep buying bigger sizes= more savings!! :) Plus with pocket diapers after you wash & dry them you just stuff the insert and they are all sitting waiting just like a disposable (daddy & daycare friendly as people like to say! haha) Just my 2 cents :)

Nina said...

hmmm I've alwasy avoided training pants as I think they make it confusing for kids but it has been frustrating when he wets or *gasp* poops in them to clean them and him up...I am definitely going to check these out. he's been dry every morning when he wakes up but then when he lets loose (and refuses to sit on the potty) his diaper keeps leaking. that sure is a pain too.

Steph at Problem Solvin' Mom said...

Michelle, if they are just wet, I don't mind throwing them in with other things. Ideally, if I go with cloth diapers for Sugar Plum I'll have a large enough load to wash separately.

Kristi-thanks for your feedback! I will definitely check those out. I like the idea of a one size diaper :)