Pull-ups or Training Pants?

Pampers, Huggies, and all the other well-meaning diaper companies have tried their best to create disposable training pants like Pull-ups to help a child in their quest to learn to go to the bathroom by themselves.

Unfortunately they don't work. Nope, not even the ones with the "feel wet" liner. When you take them off by their sides and dispose of them in the diaper pail, they are too much like a diaper to feel any different to a child. Plus, not even the best "feel wet" liner is a match for wet cotton clinging to their skin.

Despite hearing that pull-ups don't work, I thought I could make them work for me. But, all of my failed attempts at potty training were in a large part due to my use of pull-ups and my strong desire to avoid all the mess associated with cleaning up accidents made in panties. Committing to panties is what has finally succeeded.

Don't worry though, today's washers are so thorough that you'll have no problem just throwing dirty pants into the washer and washing everything out at once. If your child has a poop accident just try and scrape as much poop off into the toilet as possible before putting them in the washer.

These Gerber training pants are what I used... they are inexpensive, comfortable, and they have a thick cotton middle, which absorbs small leaks, but won't stem the flow of a dam breaking

In the beginning, when you have to worry about accidents of major proportion, I used the training panties above with these waterproof covers:

So as not to confuse her, I told Madeleine they were her "warm panties" to keep her nice and cozy in the cold weather.

Many people suggest training pants with their favorite character on them - the idea being that the child won't want to "dirty" Dora or Bob the Builder. Unfortunately this didn't work for Madeleine, but other's have reported success. Now that she is potty trained though, she might be more interested, so I'm getting her these Disney panties (she loves Minnie Mouse):

Out and About

At first I used pull-ups in the beginning of potty training whenever we went out, in case she had an accident. But that was almost like a license to pee whenever she needed to and she didn't even bother telling me she had to go. When I again got past my fear of messiness and put her in panties only then did things improve.