What to Wear

[Phoebe]

My almost two year old is showing signs of being ready to potty-train. However I am not, especially with the arrival of our second child in a month and a half. We got out the potty chair that we received as a shower gift two years ago. She liked having the seat and put the urine bucket on her head and pretended she was going potty like mommy. I decided I had to put it away because I am not ready for this step.

But I am wondering what types of clothing your kids found it most easily to manuever when learning to use the potty. Common sense tells me easily removable pants with elastic waists, etc. I am also wondering what types of pjs they wore when beginning this phase. It may be during the winter months or later that we may start introducing potty training. I am trying to plan ahead with shopping since I may not get out much this fall with a toddler and a newborn. Last year, Avery wore the one piece zip up pjs and lots of rompers for every day wear. Those don't seem conducive to potty training.

Any suggestions?

Jennifer

[SueC]

It was winter-time when my dd potty trained so I bought elastic-waist sweat pants in just about every color at Wal-Mart. I would just put her in anything that she can pull up and down by herself--no overalls and definitely no belts or fasteners that she cannot manage. For a while Maya went commando (no panties) because she couldn't manage to get both panties and pants up and down.
I'm of the school of thought that pull up's are useless, so I bought the thicker training pants initially. They are somewhat absorbant. I ended up going to regular panties, though, because it was so much rewarding for her to wear panties with Blues Clues, Clifford, etc. on them.
Good luck!

We made the mistake of using Pull-Ups....I think they feel too much like a diaper. Only plus side was that Bryn could put them on by herself in the am and change wet diapers by herself. I agree that the choice of panties is a huge reward. That is how we (Eric, really) got Bryn out of the pull-ups. He made a BIG deal of going to Mervyn's to buy undies and let her pick them out. She was really excited to wear -- and use -- her big kid undies. Another help, she had been using the toilet for a while -- she runs around naked quite a bit and would use the toilet when she had to go. Transitioning to undies wasn't too hard for that reason. The harder thing is going to be getting this kid to keep her clothes on!!
When she started wearing the undies, she wore a lot of dresses or elastic waistband leggings or jeans that were easy to get off and on without buttoning.
re: the PJs. She still wears pull-ups at night so we just take them off in the am even if she is still wearing the PJs. The two piece PJs work best, but she is able to take off the union suit kind (just can't put those on as easily).

[Rapunzel]

I agree with Nellie on the pull-up problem. In our experience it just prolonged the potty-training period and led to more mishaps. Good luck!

Jennifer

We are doing the pooty training thing now and have found that the best way is just to use the pullup at night if necessary. We aren't usually out too much lately and at home Ryleigh usually wears loose paties under a playdress or many times as we have just started this she goes au natural under her dress.