Cloth Training Pants Vs. Pull Ups

I had never used pull ups with my 2 older girls (they didn't even have pull ups back then) but did use them with my 3rd child, now age 4. We had a tough time potty training her and when we started using pull ups I think she depending on those training pants as she did with diapers and had contant accidents in them. It wasn't until we took away the pull ups (except for night time use only) and gave her big girl panties to wear (it did help that they were Dora!) she had accidents but realized soon enough that if she didn't want to sit in wet clothes, she'd better use the toilet to go potty!
Good luck, it's never an easy stage!

B.
www.belleserelle.com

I am so glad to see all of the posts that support cloth trainer pants over Pull-ups. My children are grown now, and I have two grandsons. I used cloth diapers for my children and the cloth trainer underwear for potty training. Don't they still have the rubber pants that you put over the underwear? This stops the leaks from the inevitable accidents. My children trained very quickly, because they hated being wet. My oldest grandson (age 3) was slower to train b/c my daughter started with Pull-ups. Once we put him in underwear, he "got it" and stopped the accidents.

Good luck!

As a nanny for over 17 years and 1 of my own my best advice is this. Never use pull ups. Use cloth and just be ready for accidents. When they have an accident don't punish or shame. Have them take off the wet clothes and put them in the wash, clean themselves up with a baby wipe, clean up the mess on the floor, get new clothes and put them on by themselves. They will quickly discover that is is in their best interest to go in the potty in the first place.

I tried both with my son. The cloth training pants are good in that they learn that yucky feeling, but only is effective if that actually bothers them. My oldest son didn't care that he was wet and I had to do a whole lot of scrubbing. I got very frustrated with those. The pull ups are better because you don't have to clean as much. I preferred them over diapers because my son did have the option to try to go potty if he wanted to without ruining a diaper when it wasn't dirty. He was very hard headed about going potty and was a nightmare. My youngest son on the other hand, potty trained himself. He just decided to go one day right after he turned 3 and never looked back, even at night time. I used pull ups for a week after he decided to go potty because I couldn't believe it would be so easy when my first son was so hard, and he never went once in the pull ups. So, he went straight to underwear. Basically, in my opinion, if the child is ready and willing to go potty, then potty training will be successful no matter what you put on your child - diaper, pull up, training pants, or underwear. If it's your idea for your child to start going potty, then pull ups will have the least amount of mess and would be the most positive. (It's hard to be friendly and positive about an accident when you're scrubbing pee off your couch and the carpets for the umpteenth time in a day. At least for me. :)

I have one word - Snap-EZ. ok sort of 2 :) These are a fantastic alternative to wasting pullups and once your little one is day-trained these are fantastic for at night. I purchased them only as my son was nearly potty trained so I've used them mostly for at night, but when he still had day accidents they were wonderful. Yes they seem pricy compared to a pack of pullups, but when you think about how 2 packs of pullups pays for 1 and then you just throw them in the wash, well its a no-brainer.
Tons of colors, prints etc. If you have a thin toddler opt for the extra set of snaps - you'll get twice as much wear out of them.

Hi M. L -

My daughter is 2 and we started out with pull ups however found that she was smart enough to know that the pull-ups were exactly like papmers and didn't really get the hang of not wetting herself until we swithed to the thick cloth panties, which by the way you can purchase at Target now (3pk for $6). She is doing outstanding every now and then she get distracted with playing but she rarely has any accidents. i think the clothes did made her unconfortable after realizing it was wet and she didn't want that on her. We do however still use the night time pull ups for nap and bedtime.

By the way if your concern is not wanting her to make such a mess they also still sale those rubber panties that fit over cloth diapers and panties.Also the key is not to ask if she has to use the rest room but just to offer it to her by saying come on lets go use the potty. Often time if a child is ingaged in an activity and then they may tell you no i don't have to go when they really do.

Goodluck.

If you put a vinyly cover over the cotton training pants then the oops doesn't escape. It is a little messy to clean up, but I think well worth it. We are right in the middle of training and have gone to cotton trainers 100% and my son understands right away when he has an accident. Good luck...potty training is a fun time ;)

My daughter (now almost 4) wore cloth diapers until almost time to potty train. She did wear disposables when we were out and about and at my parents' house, so she did know the difference. When we tried pull-ups, she had no idea, even at 3, that she wasn't supposed to pee in them. We would explain to her and she still peed in them everytime, but would go all day without an accident in her panties. I don't know if that helps, but in our case, pull-ups were worthless! It couldn't hurt to try cloth. Enjoy potty training! My 17 month old son is already trying to potty train and I'm NOT ready!!!

A.

I've never had good luck with Pull ups with my kiddos. They are too much like diapers and my daughter and son would just go in them like a diaper. The cloth undies got them trained faster because they did not like the feel of the wet or poo in them. Cloth trainers are hard to find though, I had to go online to get them for my son.

Good Luck!

not sure what age you are talking about but........ i bought some training pants from one step ahead. i used those during the day for drips and the occasional accident. they worked great. i used pull ups at night b/c my daughter has no control at night. i know some kids just have accidents on occasion at night but not her. she is full to the brim every morning. she sleeps right through it except for the nights she actually goes thru the pull up. she now prefers the night jams to the pull ups she says they are more comfortable and not such a squishy sound. she is older but this has been our routine from the beginning. her 2 younger sisters never needed pull ups at all that is why i wasn't sure what age you are dealing with. good luck!

I used the cloth at home so that clean up of the inevitable messes was easy. Then I used pull ups for going out and bedtimes. I recommend the cloth trainers because nothing teaches like experience and pull ups are really diapers. Good luck!

ok, i don't know about the cloth diapers, but pull ups did nothing for us! once they had the basic concept down we went to the store and they picked out their own underware and that worked pretty good. good luck!

I do both, we do pull ups at night, naps and when we are out running arround and underwear at daycare. It is more laundry with the underwear and depending on the size you need you might have to special order the underwear. Most stores don't start them until 2T, but there is an online place that sells 18month. We are working to train my daughter before the new baby arrives, but I am not forcing her.

the best advice I can give you is to use both.Biy her panties and out oull up over it.This way she can feel it when she goes but you dont have as big of a mess because it wont go all over her clothes and the floor.

Pull Ups are too much like diapers so they usually don't care if they pee in them. I started out with the training panties becasue they are thick and then I put on plastic pants over top of them just incase she did have an accident. Since you are a SAHM I would try to let her run naked to see how she does that way. I have had some friends that did that and it worked for them. It is really going to depend on if she wants to do it or not. Good Luck it is frustrating.

Use cloth training pants. Pull ups are just expensive diapers. Your child will learn that very quickly. If possible, put her in training pants and sweat pants. It will save time with clean up because of the great absorbency! Use diapers or pull ups at night. Good luck!

We did both. You are absoultely right about the cloth and yes it does help them realize the oops but for us we didn't want our kids to realize they had an oops in the middle of the night so durring the day we used cloth and at night we used the night time pullups.

I have just started the potty training process; however, am in a little bit of a different circumstance b/c my toddler is in daycare. So I have some limitations. However, I do know it kind of depends on what you are looking for. If you are wanting to potty train quickly, pullups would not be the way to go. I have learned that child and parent get lazy in public places. You have a diaper as a back-up. With underwear (or even the training underwear) you are forced a little more into ensuring your child is taken to the potty every 2 hours or so at first. Also, the toddler may be more likely to go in a public restroom knowing the end result. Anytime, the child can actually "feel" it is a good training process. I have also spoken to other experienced moms saying start with underwear. If I didn't have the daycare thing, this is what I would do to start (my pedi recommended as well): for the first week put the toddler in pullups and make it a habit of going to the potty. Even if they don't go, that is fine. The seconde week start with underwear (they have training underwear to minimize mess). Good luck!!

I am cd'ing my second. All of my friends who have cloth diapered their children tell me my dd will potty train faster since they will be able to feel the wet better. Last night I was just looking at cloth trainers online. I found a good selection at Nickis diapers. Many cloth trainers have a waterproof liner so clothes don't get wet. They even have ones that have side snaps as well as being able to be pulled up like underwear. I don't see why they would be any more likely to leak than pull-ups.

Training pants are better because of the feeling of the accidents where as the pullups are just like diapers. I think they catch on faster and want to stay dry when they have on the training pants.

Good luck!
K.

I personally think Pull-Ups are just diapers that you pull on. I used Pull-Ups w/ my 3YO and he treated them like diapers. There's no difference in feel to him. We're just now getting to the end of potty-training (thank goodness) but that's because I made myself put underwear on him all the time and deal w/ the messy accidents. Doing this helped him feel the wetness better and how uncomfortable it can be. I have a 1YO and WILL NOT use Pull-Ups with him, except at bedtime and naptime. Just my opinion. Cloth seems to be a better way to go to get the point across faster.

I never tried cloth training pants (it sounded messy to me), but we did use pull ups. My son seemed to think of them like a diaper...it was "permission" for him to pee in his pants. So I had to go to undies around the house and pull up for when we were out and about. I was a bit messy at times, but he seemed to catch on pretty quickly when we made the switch to undies only. When he seemed to get the hang of things pretty well around the house, we only used pull ups at night time.

If you do find a need for the disposable trainers, I highly recommend the Tom Thumb brand (something with the word Mom in it.) We used Pull Ups and Easy ups and those are just glorified diapers. And they are much more expensive. With the Tom Thumb brand ones, my 2-year-old daughter is feeling when she's wet and is telling us sooner. And they stay dry on the outside (very nice when kids are sitting in the car.)

They're so good that my daughter apparently woke up this morning around 4 p.m and didn't like that she was starting to feel wet and proceeded to strip out of her pjs and pullup and I found her stark naked on her bed having had an accident.

So far I'm loving these things--she's potty training much sooner than I expected because of them.

Good luck!

Absolutely use the cloth training pants. Get the thick ones and that way she can feel when she is wet. I would only use pull ups for outings.

GO CLOTH! Sorry to put so much emotion into it, but if your child is really ready, then go cloth. Otherwise, stay in diapers until she is ready. Pull-ups are just confusing to the child. Only use them if needed when the child is napping or at nighttime. I waited until my son was almost 3 and went to regular underwear. It went well and he had few accidents. We even took a plane trip 2 weeks after starting and he had no accidents on the plane.

I'm currently weighing my options as well. I have realized that pullups to her are just like diapers so she just goes in them and goes about her business because they absorb so well. So I've been putting her in panties. Messier, but definately more aware (both me and her). If we're out and about I put her in a pullup though or if someone else is watching her, etc. But if we're at home we've been doing panties. Well...let me rephrase that...for 2 days now we've done this. :)

Cloth trainers are better for the child and the environment, pullups are so much easier for the mom, dad, sitters, furniture...! That said, my daughter is allergic to all the pullups (weird since she isn't allergic to any diapers that I know of) so at home she wears regular underware or nothing at all and when we go out she wears a diaper. I am considering putting undies on UNDER a pullup when we go out to see if that would work (and she almost never has a poop accident- it's always pee so cleaning undies isn't too bad.

The cloth trainers are a pain to clean when it is poop. They don't hold much pee either, but they do reduce the amount of cleanup. Other than that I think regular underware are just as good.

Dear M. L.:

It's been a loooong time, but I used both cloth and pull ups. Pull ups are better when accidents would be a disaster, i.e., traveling by plane or long road trips. We used cloth around the house and just running around town, when it was easy to dive into a bathroom and I carried changes of clothes. (Also carry a change for you. My daughter sat on my lap at a restaurant and got very relaxed and I got very wet!)

Be sure your child wears elastic pants, not buttons. They wait to the last minute, so make it easy and be ready to dive off the road for the nearest bathroom! A friend of mine carried a child's potty in the back of her van for just such emergencies!

Another note on pull ups, my chld had more trouble pulling them up and down than cloth, so do cloth as much as possible.

L. F., mom to a 13-year-old girl and married to my best friend for 22 years

Pull-ups are diapers. Kids don't think they're big-kid pants and they don't have natural consequences for accidents. I've assisted in potty training a lot of kiddos and pull-ups don't work.

Find plastic pants to put over cloth trainers to minimize the mess.

Good Luck

If I had to do it all over again I would NEVER use pull-ups except maybe at night. Basically it is still a diaper that the kid can take off easier. With the cloth training pants you can buy plastic covers that help protect your home against accidents.

SAHM of two:18 and 5. Home Baker and Candy Maker. Married to the same wonderful man for almost 12 years.