Training pants - worth it or not?

[kingfix]

DD 2.5 has decided that nappies are no longer for her. Hurrah! At home she oftern gets to tthe potty in time, but I mop us several times a day, which is fine by me. The question is, what should we do when we go out? After an embarassing wee on the library floor (hers!) I'm not keen to risk pants all the time but I don't want to confuse her with sometimes pants and sometimes nappies.
So are training pants a good compromise?

In my experience (as a nursery nurse my Ds is too young at moment to worry about potties!), i have always found that training pants tend not to be helpful for reasons you highlighted. Great that she has decided herself though, usually quick to 'get it' when they are ready.

Good luck

Thanks. Any hints on dealing with inconvenient puddles until she does get it? Should I avoid playgroups etc until she's a bit more reliably dry or just take a pack of jay cloths, some dettol and a ready apology?

i am using them at the mo and they are useful. they don't totally stop a leak but just contain it a bit yet still allowing your little one to feel the wetness. and as for being confused, how will your dd actually know there's any difference b.w regular underpants and the training ones? we know they are different and look that way but she might not even notice. my ds doesn't notice a thing. and if she does notice a difference, does it matter? she'll know its not a nappy and that's really all that matters.

imo not leaving the house is not a solution so do whatever you need to do to feel a bit more confident about heading out.

Mimsy - that's what I was thinking - to have something that stops a puddle on the floor, but that still feels wet for LO, so she knows she's done a wee.

exactly. so much of potty training has to do with damage limitation. i'm just now coming out of the tough bits and ds is doing pretty well but there's still the job of timing when he had his last wee, looking for the closest toilet, etc.... anything that makes all that easier has got to be a good thing!

And when they have to go they have to go, can't wait till you're off the bus, etc. But I have read threads on here that say that total cold turkey is the way to go. Hmm am feeling rather clueless here.

oh dear. i hope this doesn't start a cold turkey vs. softly sotfly approach debate

Ooh sorry, didn't know it was one of those topics. Still think it's just you and me here. Anyway, have ordered some training pants, as DD refuses nappies and I don't want to force her, but equally I don't want to stay indoors for weeks or be mopping up wee in the post office. It seems like a big deal at the moment, but I'm sure like everything else it will fade away. My mum and MIL can't even remember how they trained me and DH so it can't be that bad.

PS thanks for the tips, both of you!

is ok, not one of those topics. yet.

droning on with 'do you want a wee darling?' and constant taking to loo will usually do it. plus plenty bribing with small sweeties. training pants is only prolonging it.

Can I pop in too? I found with ds1 that they were useful in a don't-get-accidents-all-over-car-seats kind of way but my ds thought of them like nappies really so he would just do what he neded to do without even thinking about it and because he stayed dry everywhere else, it didn't bother him. Got rid of them and went for the pants, which meant some embarrasing accidents (but only a few to be honest) and after having soaked his legs a couple of times in public, the little chap soon got hang of using a potty/loo!!!Not much you can do about avoiding puddles when out and about...we didn't go out and about too much during the training times. If you wait until dc is really ready for it, then it shouldn't take too long.

even if you just use training pants in situations where a wee on the floor would be a real pain, and proper pants the rest of the time? Bribery I'm sure is the way to go - this whole DD-led potty business only started when I got her some pants with Pingu on them. Also I have to confess, becasue there have been a few times when my pregnant brain forgot to take nappies out with us so she had to go commando for a while with no terrible consequences.
Anyway must stop waffling... am quite obsessed by the whole thing at the mo as you can see.

Easiest way to mop up stray puddles on other peoples floors is with a disposable nappy! Plonk on and allow to soak up then into a nappy sack. Wipe floor over with one of those Dettol floor wipes, put into sack with nappy and tie up. Job done.

We used training pants when we were going somewhere that an accident just wouldn't be good (motorway journey, weddings etc) and where we knew it might not be easy to get to a loo in time but it just slowed the whole process really as ds didn't "get" the need for a potty/loo instead of just doing it in the training pants. Even with the pictures on the front that changed if he'd wet himself, rather than making him see he needed to use the potty, he was just interested that by weeing in the training pants, he got a new picture!!
It's annoying to have to constantly be checking if they need the loo, but I think it's the only way really. I have to recommend, by the way, those folding portable potties you can buy with disposable liners. They are FANTASTIC for when you're out and about and have saved my skin many a time when ds needed loo but there wasn't one about!
Those disposable change mats are great for popping under your child during those training stages - they're really absorbent and you can relax a bit more!

Do you mean cloth training pants rather than disposible 'pull-up' training pants? Cloth training pants good imo, DCs think they are normal pants, feel wet like normal pants, but the bit of plastic in the gusset area prevents a puddle. Still have to change clothes, but the accident not really noticeable to the general public!! I bought 3 pairs in Boots and only used occasionally in the beginning, if at friends houses, restaurants, buses etc!
If have a potette you might not have many accidents anyway, my DS used his in a black cab and the Underground in London a few days into going nappy free. Not sure what we'd have done on a packed bus though!

yes, cloth ones. What is a potette? Is is that foldable potty peachface was talking about? what did you do with the wee for the rest of the tube ride? Doesn't it slosh everywhere? (Really am new to all this.)
Still DD has absolutely set her face against nappies - put one on her for her nap and went in to find she had taken it off, put pants on and gone back to bed. Sigh.

My DS was the same, nappy free totally from start, luckily was dry at naps before we started. I had to put his night nappy on after he was asleep till he went dry at night!
Potette is a fold up potty. You just tie the bag up and put in bin, or in your bag/pocket till locate a bin, fold potty and put back in bag. The bags you get with the potette have a liner which soaks all the fluid up. But they are quite pricey so I used a piece kitchen roll in those bags you can get to line compost caddies, once I'd run out of the first bag of real potette liners. Don't need anything to soak the wee if you're near a bin. You can whip the potette out pretty much anywhere and fits in a handbag.

thanks maygirl!

I recommend cloth training pants, however once ds discovered pants with character pictures the plain white training pants would not do!

HI Kingfix! came on again this eve to see how you'd got on with your dilemma!
Yes, I'd forgotten those portable potties had that name - potette! Great things - the liner inside the bag absorbs all the wee so you're not sloshing about everywhere!! haha! Good too to have on hand for long journeys if you have any tots susceptible to car sickness! I used to carry mine about in a larger handbag and no-one was any the wiser that as well as my lippy and purse I have a portable toilet in there for my little lad!!!

ah thanks for dropping by! Potette sounds good, had no idea you could wee in a bag.

yes, otherwise your dc may as well just go on the floor cos the potette is like a potty frame without the bottom - you fit the bag round the top much like fitting a binliner in your swing bin!! haha!! Go grab one!

just read this thread with interest as we have just started potty training dd and i havent dared leave the house yet!!

may have to invest in a potette, they sound like a great idea, although dd is very 'private' s cant see her taking too kindly to using it in public!

good luck kingfix! its quite an experience isnt it!!

my ds was the same with privacy (still is) but we used to sit him on it in the boot of the car if we were out and about. Never had to get it out to use it in a public place - there are usually always loos around in that case anyway - so it's not impossible to go out anywhere. Do recall a friend of ours whose daighter wee'd whilst sitting in a trolley in Waitrose though....not a good look...just make sure you always get dc to use the loo before going out anywhere -even if they say they don't need to, get them into habit of trying and then you know you have at least some time before the next urge arrives!

DS used the cloth motherease pants for a short time as they saved his clothes if he didn't get to the toilet in time. He wore them at night as he was mostly dry - bit unusual as he was dry at night before he was out of nappies- but it was just to save emergencies, thye gave him confidence, I think, when he was first out of nappies.

motherease traning pants have the same patterns on as their wraps, but they were enough of a 'big boy' pant for him at the time.

Never took potty out with us, just made sure he went before hand and used public loos. Don't know what DD1 is going to be like!