Best Ways to Use Washable Training Pants

I potty trained my son in a couple days.  Now, before you think I’m some potty training guru I should also state that it took me a year to potty train another child.  I used similar strategies, started at the same age, and had different results.  Children are not all the same and there is no magic potty training method.  I found washable training pants to be useful at the many different stages of potty training.

The first stage of potty training is helping your child connect wetness with having to go potty.  If you are using cloth diapers without a stay-dry liner this connection typically comes earlier than if you are using disposable diapers.  If you are using cloth diapers with a stay dry liner, start putting the insert or prefold on top of the stay dry liner to help your child feel wetness.  If you are using disposables you can switch to washable training pants.  Since your child will still need the absorbency of a diaper at this point you may want to use the Kissa’s PocketTraining Pants or the GroVia Trainer.  These have a pocket where you can add absorbency.  You can continue to use these throughout potty training. 

When it is about time to get out the little potty chair you will want to have several washable training pants on hand.  The type of training pants you need depend on many factors.  Basically there are two main types:  thick underwear style and ones with a waterproof exterior.  Some parents jump right to an underwear style.  The training pants with a waterproof exterior will contain more liquid and are especially useful if your child takes a long time to potty train.  Kushies Taffeta Potty Training Pants, Flip Potty Trainers, and Bummis Training Pants all have waterproof exteriors that will help prevent puddles on the floor and wet spots on the couch.

When your child has mostly successful days, you can switch to thick underwear training pants or regular underwear.  For the first six months or so after a child is using the potty consistency I like to continue to use washable training pants for times when we were away from the house.  Training pants like the EcoPosh Recycled Organic Training Pants and the Imse Vimse Organic Cotton Bumpy Training Pants have a look and feel of underwear and work better for this time period.  They have a layer of waterproofing sandwiched between soft cotton.

Nighttime is usually the last hurdle.  This can take much longer than the rest of potty training.  You can use cloth diapers or pocket training pants for nighttime absorbency.   I continued to use cloth diapers at night until the child no longer fit into the cloth diapers or until the child was waking up with a dry diaper consistently.  When my child outgrew his extra-large cloth diapers at nighttime I put him in real underwear with a couple night time potty trips.

Whenever you decide to potty train remember that all children are different.  Some little ones are so wrapped up in play that they “forget” to do something when the urge comes.  Some little ones are more serious in nature and hate getting messy.  Some children are rather easy to potty train and others need more practice.  Whether you have an easy trainer or one that needs time, washable training pants can be used on the journey.  Thanks Mama offers many different brands of training pants to help you choose the one that suits your child the best.