Posts Tagged ‘potty training’

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EcoPosh Update

Tuesday, January 3rd, 2017

img_5260Kanga Care, makers of Rumparooz, Lil Joey, and Ecoposh, revamped a few products this year and introduced an entirely new one, too. Our family has always been a fan of the Kanga Care line. We have a wool cover, large pile of pockets, wetbags, and recently upgraded our fitteds to their newest model. If you haven’t shopped in a little while for cloth diaper and trainer products, this post is for you.

The organic bamboo velour (OBV) is one of the major updates in their classic design. The EcoPosh line, known for its use of recycled water bottles in addition to organic cotton and bamboo, really got the OBV upgrade. The fitted diapers still utilize the double gusset and 6r soaker technology. They still have the four-step rise to last from teeny tiny to 40 pounds. Now they come with the luxuriously soft OBV interior. The colors are updated from the previous earthy tones to deep, vibrant jewel tones including boysenberry, Atlantis, saffron, Caribbean, and an icy grey glacier. Kanga Care updated both the one-size and newborn Ecoposh fitteds.

EcoPoshRumparooz, also Kanga Care, got in on the OBV magic too. I think they took the best of Ecoposh and RaR and put them together into the one-size Rumparooz OBV. It offers all the trademark glory of a Rumparooz one-size diaper (the gussets, four-step rise, 6r soakers, and waterproof TPU) to the freshness of the OBV material. Currently the Rumparooz OBV comes in the five Ecoposh colors, not the entire line of Rumparooz prints and colors.

As for trainers, the Ecoposh trainer continues to have its hidden layer of TPU and the waterproof protection it provides. Each trainer is also made with nearly six water bottles among its materials. The major updates again include the OBV material, far silkier to babe’s skin, and the updated colors.

Rumparooz also now has a line of Lil Learnerz trainers with many of the brand’s beloved prints (and a few more to boot)! They offer patented IMWET technology to help children learn the feeling of wetness while remain waterproof on the exterior. The trainer comes in five sizes up to 44 pounds, and the two smallest sizes offer side snaps for easy, stylish clean up.

Pick yours up today!

Lynette is a mom of three children from 8 months to age four. She has cloth diapered all three since birth and enjoys all things eco-friendly and mindful living.

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Pottytraining without Pull ups

Thursday, April 14th, 2016

potty trainingPotty training is not for the faint of heart! No matter what you do or which method you chose it’s going to take a while and probably some bribing to get it figured out. So take some deep breaths to mentally prepare yourself and know that you’ll be picking up a lot of messes! And then remember that this too, shall pass.

For many people pull ups are a natural transition from diapers to regular underwear but I’m here to tell you they might be an extra expense you can avoid. At least you can avoid using them during the day. In my opinion, letting kids wear pull ups is confusing. You’re telling them not to go potty in their diapers anymore but you’re giving them something to wear that feels like a diaper and absorbs moisture like a diaper.

The whole point of potty training is to get them to get in touch with their bodily functions and recognize what it feels like to have to go potty. If they’re still wearing something that keeps them relatively dry like their diapers did then it makes it more difficult to learn. You want them to know as soon as they wet themselves and that means realizing that they’re wet!

Going straight to regular underwear might seem like a bit of a leap but it’s not. First you’ll want to buy the thicker underwear–that way they’ll know that they’re wet immediately but it won’t be quite as much of a mess to clean up. It’s a win win. The sooner they can recognize the feeling that happens right before they pee the better and the quicker they’ll learn.

Get the kids to have some fun with it! Take them to the store and let them pick out their own potty. Decide on what kind of reward you want to use, if any, and let them pick their own too. We used stickers as a reward so I let my daughter pick what kind of stickers she wanted. It’s pretty unbelievable how excited they can get about stickers!

Make sure you’re getting your child to the potty pretty often to practice sitting on the potty and recognizing what it feels like to pee on the potty, too. Most important don’t make the potty training a transition–you have to rip the diapers out of your life like a band aid. If they’re still around you might be tempted to use them. Just stock up on the thick underwear, and use the pull-ups only for overnight or long car rides and nothing else. May the potty training force be with you!

Jacqueline Banks is a certified Holistic Health Counselor and online fitness coach. She works with women in all stages of motherhood, from mothers struggling with conception to those trying to get their grove back after pregnancy to ensure the best health and nutrition for both mom and baby.

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That Time I Tried to Potty Train an 18-Month-Old

Thursday, January 7th, 2016

Screen Shot 2016-01-03 at 2.59.53 PMWhat you need to know is that she was my first. I was terrified of making mistakes with her. So when I stood in line for her class that Sunday at church, I was stunned to see a man in front of me hand his toddler over the door–under her dress, no big, poofy diaper cover, but instead, tiny big-girl panties. Right there in line, I panicked.

Were there other kids her age that were also potty trained? Was she the only one her age still in diapers? Why hadn’t anyone warned me this was coming? I hadn’t even thought about that yet and now we were already behind. It was official: I was a terrible, neglectful mother.

That weekend, or maybe the next, I went out and bought training pants and a tiny princess potty that played music when you flushed. I read an article online about potty training in a weekend. Fantastic! We’d check this off this weekend. I thought about what to write in her baby book. Better take some pictures, too! I scrapbooked success vignettes in my head.

I set my watch and took her to the potty every 15 minutes when we were at home after work and on the weekends. We talked about what to do on the potty. We gave her rewards. We celebrated. She had accidents everywhere. She never asked to go, and said she didn’t have to every time I asked. Honestly, I don’t even think she knew what the question meant. We finally managed a few trips out with successful trips to the potty. It looked like it was all coming together.

When my oldest was just a little over 2 years old, just when we had got potty training semi-down, I started to show with my second pregnancy. And then we learned about regression.

You see, when you’re pregnant, everyone makes a big deal how awful it would be having two kids in diapers. But when your kids are in diapers, the mess is controlled and you kinda/sorta get to choose when to deal with it. When they are not in diapers, you get a big mess everywhere that has to be dealt with NOW. And you’re pregnant. And maybe a touch sensitive to smells. Let me also add, when kids learn to go to the potty, they master number one first and then number two. When they regress, it goes backward in that order. It’s not pretty.

Then, when this child was just older than 4, I got pregnant again. The older two both regressed as soon as I started showing.

During this horrendous experience, a friend of mine who had three kids mostly older than mine reminded me of everything that goes into a trip to the potty for a child. In order to be able to go by themselves, they have to be mature enough to stop what they are doing to take a break, be tall enough to turn on the light, strong enough to lift the toilet seat, and be dexterous enough to undress themselves. That sounds much more like a 3- or 4-year-old than a 2-year-old. Yet as soon as most kids turn two, you have daycares, churches and grandmas bugging you about potty training.

What I forgot about potty training, in my rush to be an amazing mom and fulfill everyone’s expectation of me, is that it’s one of those things, just like sleeping all night and eating solid food, that will happen on it’s own no matter what you do.

All normally functioning kids—all of them!—learn to eat solid food, sleep through the night in their own bed, and use the potty. It may not be on my timetable, it may not be when I think it should happen, but you don’t ever have to sweat these milestones. They happen.

I do still run into smug moms of prodigious toddlers who WILL be potty trained by age two. Good for them. But occasionally I run into an exasperated mom who can’t understand why this totally normal thing is just not working for them and we commiserate. It’s not us, I tell her. It’s them. They have to do it on their own time, and that may mean we suck up some criticism from a few boneheads for a while, but don’t you worry about that because it’s not worth our sanity.

My 4-year-old is 100-percent potty trained now, while my oldest still wears a pull-up at night. I don’t get it, and I probably will never understand what mistakes I made if there is a secret to this thing that I completely missed, or if it’s just biology and physical development that I never could have influenced anyway.

After these last years of potty training hell, my youngest has yet to sit on a potty. I ask her every day if she wants to, and she says “Nope!” Then I ask her, “When do you think you’ll start using the potty?” and she says, “I don’t know.” I don’t know either, and that’s fine with me.

Erin Hayes Burt is a freelance writer and mother of three who doesn’t know shit about pottytraining. She lives and writes in Oklahoma City. 

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Potty Training Dos and Don’ts

Friday, November 21st, 2014

Potty Training Dos and Don’tsPotty training- intimidating, exciting, and a whole new ballgame. For me, it has been a definite adventure. From buying “Frozen” panties to sinking to new levels of bribery, potty training has been successful but definitely something I have learned a lot through. As your child approaches this adventure, here are some dos and don’ts I’ve learned along the way.

Do encourage potty training. Don’t push it.

Many moms see the signs that their little one is ready to start potty training from 18-24 months of age. For my daughter, this was the case. She began to tell me when she was wet and the first time I sat her down on the potty, she went. It’s great to encourage your child towards potty training at this age, but don’t push it.  Many 2 and 3 year olds are still wearing diapers. Pushing your child to potty train usually backfires. Stress, the need to please mommy, and anxiety can creep into your little one’s head and all of a sudden it’s not a fun adventure anymore for anyone.

Here are some signs your little one may be ready to start potty training:

  • They tell you when they are wet or dirty and seem bothered by wetness.
  • They can follow basic instructions and understand them, as well.
  • They seem interested in the potty.
  • They start to know how to pull their own pants up and down.

 

Do praise for good success in potty training. Don’t lose your cool when accidents occur.

Potty training opens up many opportunities for positive reinforcement with little ones. Stickers, treats like m&ms, and the opportunity to wash their hands like big girls and boys, are all great rewards. We’ve used them all. You can find fun, printable charts online to use to track your little one’s progress and get the whole family involved. As your little one starts to potty train, accidents will occur. My daughter had several accidents in the beginning of wearing panties. She knew she had to go, but she didn’t tell us she had to in time. Getting upset or frustrated is easy. Maintaining your cool and being calm with your child is not, but it is important. Make sure they know it’s okay and you still love them. We all make mistakes and move on. Don’t make too much of it. They make all kinds of carpet and sanitizing cleaners for a reason.

Do get your little one interested in their own success. Don’t worry or stress.

You can find fun, entertaining books about potty training online and at your local library. Some of my daughter’s favorites are My Big Girl Potty and Big Girl Panties.  Use potty training as a bonding experience. We read books, sing songs, and laugh a lot during potty time. Johanna looks forward to having our attention while she’s on the potty. Don’t worry if your little one doesn’t catch on right away. Several things can influence the timeline for potty training. For us, introducing a new baby in the middle of potty training was a roadblock. Johanna started losing interest and having accidents. Thankfully, that has passed and she is doing great now.

Remember, you are supermom. You are there to teach and build-up your child. Potty training is a new way to do this. So go get some fun panties and let the journey begin!

Karyn Meyerhoff is a mom of two in Northeast Indiana. Her daughter requests a pretzel after going potty these days.

 

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Five Reasons to Put off Potty Training

Thursday, July 3rd, 2014

Five reasons to put off potty trainingThe diaper-free utopia I was promised when my children potty trained has not come to pass. Instead, I have traded expected, contained messes for ambush, freestyle messes. I am no longer friends with the Earth, as all my natural cleaning products have been traded for stuff that will cover the smell of children’s urine. So it’s probably no surprise that I advocate putting off potty training as long as possible to any mom who asks.

Often by 18 months, just about every toddler has given their parents a false glimmer of potty-training hope by crawling up on the potty and pretending to go. But there is so much more to the potty training puzzle than a potty photo op.

  1. There’s only so much you can do. There are many factors that contribute to successful potty training, and the parent has little to do with most of them. To make it to the potty successfully, a child has to be able to recognize the sensation, remove themselves from an activity they enjoy, reach the bathroom light, remove their clothes, and do all of that in time to make it to the potty. Those weekend potty training boot camps won’t do anything for your child if they can’t do every single one of those things first. You know how kids are when they don’t want something. When they are ready to be done with diapers, you’ll know.
  2. Waiting means your kid has time to grow. A bigger child means larger bladder, stronger muscles, more nimble fingers and better judgement. That means fewer accidents and faster success. If you don’t have any arbitrary deadlines like a preschool or daycare that is saying your child must be potty trained by a certain time, give them time to grow. In addition, there is actually evidence that potty training before age two can lead to more potty-related problems later.
  3. There is such a thing as regression. Are you moving soon? Going back to work? Having a baby? Any stress could spark a regression in potty training. It doesn’t happen all at once, either. Slowly, all the skills go away, and it’s incredibly frustrating because they were just there. It really feels like your child can go potty but just won’t, and that is not the case. Regression is not a choice for them, even though it feels like one to you.
  4. Potty training mess is worse than cloth diaper mess. Just trust me. I don’t want to scare you by going into details. It’s just so much worse. SO. MUCH.
  5. No one cares but you. No one except your mom and your mother-in-law is going to ask about potty training. If you want to take it to the next level and avoid the conversation altogether, trade those noisy, crinkly pull ups for some cloth potty learning pants. Your child will feel the wetness when they go, but won’t leave you a mess to deal with, and if they peek out of the back of their pants, they look just like big girl/boy undies.

It’s so easy to get stressed out by milestone charts, Facebragging, nosey peers and potty training prodigy stories, but don’t. This is never going to be on an application for anything. No one gives out awards for potty training a 2 year old. There is absolutely no reason to rush potty training.

When you are tempted to stress, just remind yourself that absolutely no one will care when your child potty trained five years from now. Then go reward yourself for your laid-back approach to parenting with a glass of wine.

Erin Hayes Burt is a freelance writer and cloth diaper-loving mother of three girls who lives and writes in Queensbury, New York. 

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