Complete potty training is one of the biggest and most significant milestones that your child will achieve at an earlier age. For some kids and parents, it is just a 3 day process, while for some, it is a painful process to go through. Like all other milestones, each kid achieves the potty training milestone at their own pace and time. This article will focus on the most important accessory one needs to attain the potty training milestone – The potty training pants. After this article, you will know everything you need to know before you buy potty training pants.
But first, let us understand what potty training pants are and why they are essential in the journey of potty training your child. Potty training pants are a bridge between and a hybrid of a diaper and regular underwear. The design looks similar to regular underwear but has some functions as a cloth diaper. The potty training pants are not waterproof but have multiple layers of cloth sewn together to soak up to one pee. Unlike cloth diapers, potty training pants do not keep the baby’s skin dry. On the contrary, it lets your baby feel the dampness due to peeing or pooping.
Importance Of Potty Training Pants
Potty training pants are one of the most valuable and vital accessories for the potty-training process. They are essential because of the benefits it comes with. Here are some most important reasons why potty training pants are so important:
- Compared to regular underwear, potty training pants give you more protection. They ensure that the puddle of pee and mess that regular underwear would cause for any accidental pee or poop is avoided because of the multiple layers.
- On the contrary, as compared to a cloth diaper, potty training pants have less absorbance. Thus, it helps let the baby feel damp after peeing or pooping. In addition, this dampness and the irritation it causes helps your child understand the cause and effect relationship between full bladder pressure and the pee and poop that soils their pants. Thus, they will start communicating in advance to be taken to a washroom to avoid this mess.
- It helps your child gain control of the situation and be more independent. Potty training pants are pull-up style pants and thus are easy to remove and wear. Your child will be able to go to the washroom, pee and put the pants back on their own and feel more accomplished in the process.
- Potty training pants help in transitioning gradually from a diaper to regular underwear. It is not a shock for the baby or for you to go from an entire leak-proof situation to mess all around.
- It also helps parents and caregivers save the energy and time they would otherwise spend running around with a mop in their hands, cleaning the mess all day long.
Significance Of Absorbance In Potty Training Pants
In older days, parents made kids wear regular underwear or pyjamas for the potty training phase. But lately, potty training pants have gained popularity. Many experts and parents agree that the potty training process becomes easy with padded, layered and absorbent underwear. And here’s why –
The main aim of the extra padding in the potty training pants is to absorb one pee or to stop the pants from leaking in case the child has pooped in them. This avoids mess and puddles of pee all around the house. But this same function even a cloth diaper can perform. So why do we need to have the phase of potty training pants between diapers and regular underwear?
Padded underwear for potty training pants do not contain a dry layer on the inside as most cloth diapers do. So, when your toddler pees, they will feel the dampness on their skin. This dampness will irritate them. But the liquid will not stay on the skin or leak out due to the layers of absorbent material. This solves the purpose of wearing a diaper and aiding a smooth potty training journey.
Up To What Age Can Babies Wear Potty Training Pants
The purpose of potty training pants finishes when your baby can communicate the need to use the washroom to pee and poop. Then, within no time, they will be able to use the toilet independently without your help. But it is wise to keep using the potty training pants for a little longer, just in case your child has any accidental pee or poop; they will be saved from the embarrassment of making a mess around. At night time, during outings and travel, and while parents and caregivers are anticipated to be busier are the times when you might want to use padded underwear instead of regular ones. They are usually lightweight and breathable and thus can be used without thinking twice.
How To Wash Potty Training Pants
You would ideally be changing the potty training pants and putting your toddler in a fresh one when they have peed or pooped in them. Thus, proper washing and maintaining good hygiene are extremely important. Follow the steps and tips mentioned below for clean and fresh potty training pants every wash –
- If your baby has pooped in the pants, immediately remove the poop and flush it off. Use a washroom faucet or jet spray to remove the poop.
- Once the residue of the poop is out, rinse the pants with clean water.
- Similarly, if your baby has just peed in the pants, rinse the pee off the pants.
- Do not let the pants sit for more than a day unwashed, as that can result in stains and odour build-up in the potty training pants.
- Wash them just like you would wash their cloth diapers – in the washing machine or hand wash.
- If, over time, you see stain build up on the pants, use any oxygen-based stain removal – apply a thick paste and let it sit for fifteen to twenty minutes before washing them along with other regular clothes.
- If the pants smell bad, soak them in a water and vinegar mixture before washing them. This will help in getting rid of any foul odour.
Potty training can be easy with all the right accessories and a schedule followed diligently. Potty training pants will be your best companion in this journey, so knowing about them always helps. Happy Diapering!
