Cloth Training Pants or Straight to Underwear?

Updated on November 20, 2010
A.E. asks from Mankato, MN
19 answers

I have found pul ups to be completely worthless. I've been thinking about trying some cloth training pants. I'm hoping they can feel the wetness but it won't result in a change of pants. I'm skeptical though. I don't want to waste the money if they are useless too. Has anyone tried cloth training pants? How did you like them? What types did you like? I'm thinking about the BUM Unders.

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S.H.

answers from St. Louis on

cloth training pants all the way, please! With my daycare, I've used them all, & the cloth panties rock!! when combined with plastic pants. Just the plain, old-style ones you can find at WalMart...less bulk & they do the job!

I truly believe for many children pull-ups simply delay the potty training process.

2 moms found this helpful

S.B.

answers from Dallas on

I had used the cloth training pants on my little girl and I had also found those plastic covers to put on her as well. They are like underwear but they are made of some sort of plastic that you put over the cloth training pants. Just helps to add some extra protection. Unfortunately the plastic covers are hard to find but if you can find them, you might want to try them. I'm planning to use them for my little boy when it comes time to potty train him. And yes, I agree with you that pullups are worthless - too much like diapers. Good luck!

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J.P.

answers from Boise on

How old is the child? I went from cloth diapers to underwear, there was no inbetween for us.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.B.

answers from Rochester on

I use cloth training pants, pullups, and underware for my son. He sees them ALL as underware. The cloth training pants (gerber from BRU) are nice because they are a little thicker so if he doesn't quite make it to the potty in time and a little drips out, it does not soak through to his pants. Often he will claim that his underware if dry if a little drips out, but I will change his underware anyways. But, if he has a complete accident, then they will still soak all the way through and he does feel the wetness.
I also like the pullups b/c if we are out and about or in the car for a long time, it provides a little extra protection for the clothes in case he has an accident. I didn't use pullups until after he was used to using the potty and call them his "special night time or nap-time or day-care" underware. Even in pullups,he will still use the potty. I mostly use them still b/c he is not always good about pooping on the potty and the pullups are a little easier for me to clean up and throw away if he has a #2 accident.

The gerber cloth training pants are not expensive and I would go ahead and give them a try.

1 mom found this helpful
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J.G.

answers from Springfield on

The one positive thing I would say about Pull-Up is that they're good for naps and bedtime if your kid sees them as more like underwear. We used them until our son was night trained only because he would get so upset if he peed the bed. He really saw it as a personal failure. The Pull-Ups just seemed like night-time underwear to him.

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A.D.

answers from Dallas on

Cloth training pants all the way. We did pull ups with my son and I regret it, it took forever to train him. When I used training pants, I just used the Gerber kind from Target or Wal-Mart because they didn't have the BUM Unders but I'd be very interested in how they work for the next one though!

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J.P.

answers from Austin on

We used regular underwear for our LO and made sure to put her on the potty every hour (following routine that her school had). She was one of few (I guess) that didn't care if her clothes/panties were wet so this method was very effect as it got her used to going to the potty. For naptime and nights we use pull-ups. As she's gotten older she now has naptime in panties. I believe I read somewhere that naptime/bedtime is more dependent on their bodies being ready more so than them not wanting to use the potty. It takes a while for the bladder to have that kind of control especially for night time sleeping. My LO is just shy of 3 years and she is getting much better at sleeping the whole night without an accident. She usually has one if she sleeps really deeply but otherwise, wakes up with a dry pull-up, which we save for the next night.

Oh - I forgot to add that she now tells us when she needs to go. It took about 2 months of putting her on the potty every hour, before she got the hang of it =)

1 mom found this helpful

R.C.

answers from York on

My son has been pooping on the potty since he was 1 1/2...I am lucky about that but peeing is a whole different story. I bought the Gerber cloth training pants at Target. I haven't tried them yet because I am looking for some of the plastic diaper covers to ensure my furniture and carpet do not get peed on. We did try pull-ups and he didn't see them as anything different than a diaper so I don't think they are the best training method for us. My SIL used pull-ups for my niece and they worked just fine. I think it is different with every child. Good luck :)

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A.G.

answers from Norfolk on

The cloth training pants will still require you to change clothes. Really I found that my daughter did fine in normal underwear, but my son has a much bigger bladder and not only would he pee through his clothes, but the pee would run our onto the floor and into the furniture too. The cloth training pants were more absorbent and helped to keep the pee confined to the clothing and not running onto the floor.

1 mom found this helpful

B.B.

answers from Dallas on

Around the house, ODS wore underwear. But when we were out, he wore the snap trainers from this site http://hyenacart.com/ladderhilldesign/ They also have night trainers. I think Pullups are a waste of money, b/c most kids (like my ODS did) see them as diapers, so they still do their business in them. He thought of these as underwear, though!

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D.S.

answers from Tulsa on

I used cloth training pants on both of my boys. one is 21 and that was my only choice and now my 2 yr old I do the same way they can feel the wetness in the cloth training pants and if you are out in public the leak isnt so bad. I use just the regular ones and the only place I could find them is babies r us. I suggest them they may potty train but will get so busy playing occasionally they will forget to go. its the only thing I use cause when they pee they do feel it and get a real confused look on thier face like what is that?

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J.N.

answers from St. Cloud on

I did Pull-Ups...I liked them. Then was told that if I put my son in underwear, he would progress faster. When I did, he started using the bathroom more. Sometimes it also just takes more time depending on how each kid adapts and the things that are going on around them.

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K.G.

answers from Minneapolis on

I debated this a year ago with my at the time 2 year old. I ended up buying the BUM diaper covers. We used these over regular underwear. I was very impressed as to how much they kept the potty in the underwear. It took a few accidents to get the hang of changing when it did happen since it was a puddle in the cover. It only took a few weeks to train her unlike my other daughter who we used pullups and it took a year! Once you start dont go back to the diaper or pull up. We actually did night time all at the same time and she was 27 months when we trained her. Yes we had some wet sheets to change in the middle of the night. Now that she is 32 months we have an accident at night maybe once a month. Usually if we don't put her on the potty around 10 when we go to bed. She did amazing and I was more confident for her knowing that the cart at Target wouldn't get all wet if she had an accident. Sizewise for the covers they are meant to go over a cloth diaper. My daughter didn't have the chunky legs so she could fit in the Smalls. We also used Mediums and they should be all the bigger anyone in potty training age should need. They are pretty big. Good Luck!

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K.H.

answers from Minneapolis on

i use regular underware for my kids then the old fashioned rubber pants that you use over cloth diapers-both are washable.

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R.C.

answers from Minneapolis on

Another option is to put underwear on and then put a pull-up on top. You still have to pay for the pull ups, but the child can feel when he/she is wet with this set up. We finally did that with my daughter, and it sped up the training process. Plus the pull-up held in the pee, and required less changing of her pants.

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B.W.

answers from Seattle on

We do both cloth trainers, underwear and pull-ups with our 3.5 yo twin boys. Now we only use pull-ups for nighttime and nap, but the problem is once they have them on, even if they are not quite in bed yet, they will often wet them. They really see them as diapers. So I want to move them to cloth trainers for sleep. Most of the time they wear regular underwear, but I put training pants on with character underwear over it for one son when he goes to school, the double layer is because he has had accidents at school. We were sending him in trainers with plastic pants just in case but he has been doing okay so this is a compromise.The other less "accident" prone son usually wears whatever is clean, trainers or underwear.

D.G.

answers from Lincoln on

As a toddler teacher that trains many kids, I prefer training pants over pullups. Pullups have their time and place (weddings, airplanes...) but to teach them I feel they are more like a glorified diaper and more expensive too! Kids tend to train faster with cloth so they can feel the wetness. Pants may still need to be changed but typically less of a mess on the floor or furniture. Of course this is just my opinion! Happy training!

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C.H.

answers from Houston on

I had some cloth pull-ups (by Motherease) but I didn't use them. We quickly found they wouldn't hold very much. For my DD, we used panties at home and pullups only away from home. (She wanted them at home, too, but would get lazy. So we restricted them for only away from home.)

I love the Motherease cloth diapers for sleeping at night, though. They are very absorbent. My DD is 4 and sleeps nearly 12 hrs., so her bladder can't wait that long. The Motherease Sandy's diaper in bamboo is the only one that would absorb enough and quickly enough so she wouldn't rash up.

Good luck!

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S.K.

answers from Detroit on

We went straight to underwear when we were at home. When we went out, I put a pull up on over their underwear. With the underwear, they would feel the wetness, and I only had to deal with wet underpants rather than pee everywhere. It worked great for my daughter. My son was a little more willing to sit with the wet underwear in his pullup, but he eventually got the hang of it.

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