Toilet training and cloth nappies

Although we are usually talking about the nappy stage, here at ecobots, at some point your little one is going to reach the stage where nappies become a thing of the past.  Before that of course, is the fun toilet or potty training stage.  I thought that it might be a good idea to look at toilet training and cloth nappies.

Toilet training and cloth nappies

So, is there any connection between toilet training and cloth nappies?  Do you have to do anything differently?  Research suggests that when it comes to toilet training and cloth nappies, a baby who wears cloth nappies will toilet train five months earlier than those in disposable nappies.

Of course, that doesn’t mean that if you use cloth, your child will learn to use the toilet earlier than all children in disposables, but on average they tend to be earlier.  Again, on average, girls tend to learn earlier than boys too.  The advantage of toilet training when you use cloth nappies, is that your baby can already feel when they are wet, which makes it easier for them to get the hang of it all.

When to start potty training?

One of the hardest questions to answer when it comes to toilet or potty training, is when to start.  There is no right age, or age that your child should be toilet trained by, no matter what well meaning relatives may tell you.  Really the best time is when both you and your baby are ready.

So how can you tell when they are ready to toilet train?

• They show an interest in you using the toilet
• The might start to tell you that they are wet or dirty
• Their nappy can stay dry for a while but get very wet when they do wee.

 

How to start toilet training?

As with many things with small children, being consistent is key.  If you keep swapping between nappy wearing and being in pants, then you will probably just confuse them.  This doesn’t mean that once you start you have to keep going, if you try them without a nappy and you feel that they just aren’t ready yet, then there’s nothing wrong with waiting until they are a bit older.  Try to pick a couple of days when you’ll be at home for most of the day, and then try putting your child in underwear.  I tend to try taking my children to the toilet every two hours, in the early stages, whether they have had an accident or not in the meantime.  Try not to make a big deal when they don’t get it right, but give heaps of praise when they do.  If your child is ready, then after a couple of days they should be getting the idea.

Toilet or potty?

Some parents like to use a potty, as it’s easily portable and can be kept close at hand in those early stages.  For some children though, it is far easier to use a toilet, as they see you using it and get the idea.  Of course there’s nothing wrong with using both toilet and potty in the early stages.  You can get a family toilet seat, with the child’s seat built in, these are quite handy as they don’t scratch the main toilet seat the way some removable child seats do.

Training pants, yes or no?

 

Some people really like the idea of special toilet training pants, and we do have a small amount currently in stock here.  For journeys and when you are out of the house, they can be quite handy as they allow small accidents to be caught when your child hasn’t quite got the hang of making it to the toilet.  They are not an essential part of toilet training though, and you can quite easily manage without.