Choosing Undergarments To Potty Train Your Child In

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You may have read all the books and gotten lots of advice and potty training tips from family and friends on how to potty train your child, yet have you considered what type of undergarments your child will wear during potty learning? Will you use pull-up trainers, underwear or cloth training pants? All of those options have both pros and cons, so let's take a look at each one to help you make the right choice.

To a child, disposable pants feel similar to a diaper and kids may feel like they still have the security of a diaper. They may not feel the uncomfortable wetness that is necessary to encourage the child to use a training toilet. Pull-up disposable pants are nothing like real underwear and kids may have a hard time getting them up or down in time. To potty train your child, you will need to disconnect with diapers and introduce a change that he or she will understand and respond to.

Disposable training pants can induce complacency in parents. When it is difficult to find a toilet or potty for their child to use, they may consider using the pants as a potty receptacle. This inconsistency can inhibit a child's overall success with toilet training for an extended period of time.

When you start potty training, a good way to help young children get excited about it is by introducing them to big kids underwear. Parents can talk with their children about getting to wear fun and comfy underwear instead of diapers. Buy a package of cotton underwear with your child's favorite cartoon character printed on them or let your child pick out the kind they prefer. Discuss how they should try to keep the characters from getting wet or soiled.

With regular underwear, your child will still experience the discomfort associated with wetting or soiling themselves and hopefully they will want to avoid that feeling in the future. The good thing about underwear is that it is relatively inexpensive and reusable. They are also much easier to pull up and down. A sticking point with underwear is that many times, if a child has an accident, they will require an entire change of clothing, creating a lot of laundry and causing surfaces in your home and car to become stained.

Cloth training pants are more expensive than traditional underwear, but much less expensive than the pull-up type disposable training pants. They are reusable, so a good washing will fix up any accidents that might occur during your toddlers potty training. They are thick enough to protect surfaces, but are thin enough that your child still feels the uncomfortable sensation of being wet or soiled.

Cloth training pants may not be thick enough to protect clothing in case of a larger accident, so a change of clothing may be necessary, just in case. As with underwear, cloth pants can create a lot of laundry. Although close, they are still not as thin as regular underwear and may not give the big kid feel your child may want. In some cases, cloth pants may be more difficult to pull up and down.

So whether you choose underwear, disposable training pants or cloth training pants when you potty train your child, know that each option carries with it both positive and negative points to consider. You know your family and your child best and therefore you will know which choice will work best for you when you start to toilet train.