Toddlers are mercurial things, they can change their minds at the drop of a hat, although this is part of the wonderful process of them becoming their own people.
When it comes to diaper changes, your child might have started furiously resisting, crying, pushing you away and running around the room.
It’s at this stage of their development that you might be thinking of a change in their toilet training routine.
Pull ups might be the solution to your potty training woes. Attempting to train your child to use the potty takes up a large portion of an already busy parent’s day. With pull ups, you can simply leave it up to your child to decide whether or not they want to use the potty.
But what is the best pull up to use for your child? Which are the pull ups that will ease your child into using the potty without help and which will cause your child unnecessary discomfort?
Why should my child be using pull ups at this stage of their development?
Well, parents can stop tearing their hair out, as we’ve compiled a brief yet useful list of information, hints and tips that will help you make that decision about whether or not your child is ready to progress to pull ups.
What Are Pulls Ups?
Pull ups are nappy or diaper pants that contain an elasticated waistband that will facilitate a toddler or parent pulling their diaper up and down, much like adult underwear. These diapers are radically different to the tapered strips that secure the diaper in place around the child’s waist and can be notoriously tricky to remove.
These diapers are the ideal transition from a toddler being changed on a mat by a parent to a toddler being able to use the potty by themselves. They give children the option of pulling down the pants and using the potty or going to the toilet in their diaper, as it still possesses absorbent pads.
These nappies are recommended for babies and toddlers who have started crawling or walking and tend to wriggle a lot during nappy changes, as it alleviates the stress on both the parents and the child during this difficult transition.
When Is The Best Age To Switch To Pull Ups?
The conventional wisdom states that these pull ups should be used in the transition between diapers and potty training, so they aren’t often used before the toddler turns 2 years old, although a newer range of smaller-sized pull ups have been manufactured to be used before this age.
A lot of pull ups come in a size 3, meaning they can be worn by children between 7 and 12 months old with a weight of around 7 - 13kg.
So as soon as a baby or toddler reaches this age and weight, then you can start considering them for pull ups.
There are a few signs you can look for in children for when they are ready to progress in their potty training:
- An increased interest in watching adults and older children using the restroom.
- Staying dry for more than a few hours.
- An awareness of urinating or having a bowel movement, sometimes they will signal for a parent’s attention when this happens.
- Ability to understand a few simple instructions, usually using single sentences.
- Showing increased independence, especially in their movements.
- The child will move to somewhere private to go to the bathroom.
- Waking up from a nap and being completely dry.
- Trying to undress before going to the bathroom.
Potty training is more than just the ability to use the potty, it is developing the ability to pull down their underwear and signal to an adult when they need to go to the toilet. This ability is one that is perfectly accentuated by the pull up diaper.
By putting your child in pull ups, you are indicating to them that they are ready for greater independence when it comes to toilet time.
Why Use Pull Ups?
Pull ups are generally used for children who have an increased sense of independence when it comes to using the bathroom, but maybe haven’t fully developed the skill set needed to use the toilet successfully.
Toilet training is all about trial and error, and the more control you can give the child over this process, the quicker their confidence will develop when going to the bathroom.
Pull up pants are certainly less hassle than Velcro or taped pants, and offer the parents and child a greater degree of flexibility, while also having the same water catching properties of a diaper, which will reduce mess.
However, keep in mind that pull ups might not always help your child. You ideally want the child to respond to the pull up like they would to underwear, although some children are unable to make the connection at this early stage.
Again, this is all about trial and error. If the child looks uncomfortable in their pull ups, simply switch back to normal diapers.
Are Pull Ups Good For Nighttime Potty Training?
Nighttime and daytime potty training are very different activities. Night wetting can occur for years beyond daytime wetting for a lot of children.
Just to give you some figures, the number of 8-year-old children who still wet the bed was around 6%, according to studies.
It might be less of a necessity to have children wear pull ups in the night, it all depends on whether they feel comfortable sleeping in them.
Some pull up users have reported that their child’s pull ups can leak out, as they are much looser around the legs and waist because of the elasticated waist.
Bedwetting is only a real problem if it starts to affect the child in a social context. If your child doesn’t seem bothered by their bedwetting, you can simply give them a pair of night underwear and waterproof under sheeting which can both be washed and dried the next day.
